Anybody know this old Skool 47 Ford???

Those skirts are long gone from this car. the last california owner kept the skirts that were on the car. The skirts that are now on the car were put on by the previous Minnesota owner, the guy we got it from. he had to have them painted and if you look close the paint doesn't match 100%.

interesting info though. and if you can find pics of the car that would be spectaculour. This car has a rich history. and has involved a lot of people along the way.

 

I sure do remember the shop. But the skirts I bought were original 48 Ford skirts and I paid $650 for them in Hershey back then but there was a big rust hole in one of them. Your dad found a piece of metal from a roof and neatly welded it in. then matched the paint and that is the story on the skirts that I put on the 47. Now it seams there have been skirts made by some other owners along the way. The GANG-GREEN lettering I had painted on at the NSRA Western nationals in San Louis Obispo California back in the earl
80s. The name was given by my friend Jerry Hill’s wife Linda they were with me when I bought the car in Memphis. Ask your dad if he remembers Jerry Hill, I am sure he does.
At the time names for Kustom Kars was a big thing so the name stuck. The license plate I had in California was KKOA. The skirts I had actually stayed with me when I sold the car, I was in the process of repainting them so when I sold the car it went without the skirts. I don’t remember what happened to them

 

I remember Jerry. Great guy, and a great talent..RIP!

 

ttt

hope to find some more people who know this car.
I will update this thread if I find more info as well.

thanks to all.

Todd

 

I don't have any history on the car but do remember it. What a great looking car, some customs don't really look very good, this one looks perfect. I can't remember when but I was quite sure I saw the car for sale at Yesterday's Auto at one time.

 

By the way, here's a picture of the model Helipilot16 was building that led to
the identification of the original owner. Pretty neat, No?

 

The HAMB once again proves that it is the only forum you'll ever need.

 

It has been awhile. I am bringing this thread out in the open again.
We have met Dick Graese and have received some photos of the car from back in the late 50's and early 60's. I will try and post some of those later.
We have traced the history and ownership of this old custom for quite a few years. there is still some owners we have not found (at least one guy in California).
I just received a PM from Rikster. It seems that there is a guy who recognized the Ford from Rik's website and sent a message to Rik.
It now appears to be another piece of history brought to light.
The Message is as follows

"Hi, I first met Dick Grace at the very first Sabers tri state auto show (1958) where our cars sat side by side in the Denver collusium at the south east corner. my car was a 1946 barris built convertible that I bought from Bill Chamberlain in grand gunction,Co (He had spent some time in LA )
The next year Dick bought the carson top,windows,glass,dash,trim and moldings from my car and installed on his. So the top is a genuine carson top(I had the little blue tag in my tool box for years) funny to think the basis of the frame work is 1/2" rebar ?????
I would love to talk to the current owner if you could get my E mail to them. Thanks Jerry O."

So now the hunt is on again to find more information and history about this old Ford. By the way, the dual 58 ford headlights and olds grill is the second custom treatment to the Ford, the first time it was customized it had single frenched headlights and a plymouth grill. We have a photo of that. I will try and post that later. So if anybody knows anything about this car or wants to keep this thread fresh please reply. Any savvy web goers out there that can dig up the old TV Commercials mentioned by Bangkok Dean in this thread? I have searched but came up empty on the commercials.

Todd

^

 

I hope you get in touch with Jerry.. and hopefully he will be able to tell some good stories on the car.

I can add another cover with your car on it... Swedish magazine.
The car only appeared on the cover, nothing inside.

 

You have always talked about this car Todd, but I have never seen it. Rad is all I got to say!

 

Thanks Lance.
I have been meaning to call you.
Will do soon.


^

 

Wow! that is COOL.
Thanks Rik for all your help on this. It has been tremendous.
That is a cool cover, never seen that one. Do you have a high res image of that? I would like to print one out and keep it with the documentation of the car. Or is there anybody selling old issues of that magazine over there?
I would like to find one.

Thanks again for all your help and information.

Todd

 

Todd,

If you now click on the image in my post, a larger file will open.
Let me know if that is big enough.. if not send me a pm and I will scan it larger for you.

 

Thanks Rik.
I will give it a try. I am in commercial printing so I will try and get print made at my shop. I will let you know how it goes.


Todd

 

Todd, do you have any photos of the car in it's present state? after reading this thread I noticed there were no current pics.

 

I will post more photos soon, however if you go back to post #1 in this thread. The photo in the upper left - brown with the flipper hubcaps is currently how this car appears. I will update more over the coming week.

Todd

 

did not realize that was a current shot...wow! nice ride. thanks for the thread.

 

It's a very cool car... I enjoyed seeing it at Back to the 50's last year.

 

Cant wait to see some more of vintage pics !!

 

It is usually there every year. This year it should be there, but it has a little light, but expensive damage. Somebody did a little hit and run number on it last fall. Somebody backed into the rear of the car. Damage to the deck lid and other minor areas. There wasn't time to get it fixed as my step father had a lot going on this winter. Plus we are thinking that it might be time for total re-paint. This car gets driven a lot. So usual paint chips and aged paint. The paint on the car was probably done in the mid 80's.


^

 

Here are some vintage photos. We received these from Dick, the original builder of the car. These photos are mostly from 1961. There is one photo of the car with a plymouth grill and frenched headlights, this is also before the chop and carson. you will see stock height and original convertible top this photo is probably 1958. The guy in the photos is Dick Graese. You will also notice that the car now looks very similar to the original look from 1961. The car has gone through many changes over the years and every owner has done something to the car. The car has 327 sm block chev that was installed in the mid 70's. It once had a radical olds engine with 6-strombergs.
Keep the information coming. We have learned a lot about the car from guys on the HAMB.

 

That cars is bad ass!!!
WOW Rikster!!! you have all the cool old info...

 

TTT

I just want to bring this around once more.
Over the years lots of leg work and research led me to 90% of the owners of this 47 Custom. Most of those guys were found because I had their names from the magazine articles on the car over the years. I had to seek out and buy the magazines individually which was a chore in itself too. This thread lead to some new leads. I found dean by doing some intense searching on the internet and found his name in a Harley Club registry in Thailand. I shot off an e-mail and it turned out to be he was one of the owners I was looking for. I sent him a link to this thread on the HAMB where he has contributed info. The original builder's son also ended up on this thread, and a few e-mails were sent to Rob but really got me no information or contact info. However, My searches in the past for the original builder were empty handed as the spelling of his last name was always wrong. Once I learned the correct spelling and state I did some searching and found the original builder/owner Dick Graese on my own through the internet and phoned him which led to my step father (the current owner of the 47) and the Dick (the first owner) getting together to meet and swap stories and photos. That is how the photos from 1958 and 1961 came into our possession, directly from the first owner to the current owner. Dick has been very kind, along with a lot of the other owners I have contacted.
Most of them are very surprised to learn that the car is still around and excited to talk about the car. We have contacted and know 6 of the owners of the car including ourselves. Two previous owners are still in Colorado. We have met those owners, as well as Dick who is in Arizona. We only know Dean via e-mail and internet Dean resides in Thailand but lived in California while owning the 47. We still know and see the guy that My step dad bought the car from he is in Minnesota, lives in the same town as the car. Still looking for another West Coast owner. Don't have any leads on that one at the moment. Car was in two commercials we have not seen from the eighties, and possibly was in a movie???

There are a lot of people here on the HAMB who have given me clues and information that has really helped. THANK YOU to all of you who given me something more to go on. You guys helped solve some of the biggest pieces of the puzzle when I hit road blocks.

so to the top. looking for leads or photos or information.

Thanks.

 

Thanks for puttin up the vintage pics, I love to see pics of cars that still exist...now if only I could find ANY history on my 48 Dodge chopped carson topped kustom from the same era...

 

Any chance it would go back to Green? What color would you paint it? I'm amazed at the perseverance you and your step father have had in contacting the previous owners. How cool is that to track down the car's history and have it all documented?!

Oh, and...yeah... What a bitchin' custom!

 

Nope. The car belongs to my step-father and there isn't a shade of green that appeals to him in the least. He likes the color that is on it now, but I want him to pick a color to make it his. He likes the dark red, burgundy colors, which would be close to the color when it was painted in about 1958.

Thanks. I just started going off with the little information that we had which was the magazine articles. I started doing searches for the previous owners due to their names being published with the articles. One of the guys was really blown away, he hadn't seen or heard of the car since he sold it in the early-mid-sixties. He was shocked. Super happy to talk about the car though. Everybody has been real nice that we have found. It has snowballed into "this" pretty cool.


Todd
^

 

I like the red with scallops. It just seems to go with the period of the build.

Tom

 

This is one of the best pictures ive ever seen!
The chrome twisted stick adds to it also! No?

 

Great car and great story! I am sure your your stepdad really appreciates your work!

 

I like to bring this thread to the top every now and again to see who else finds it and adds to the history of the car. It seems like every time the thread comes back around we learn something new. It is also a good read if you haven't seen this thread before. The HAMB has been a wealth of information that has added to all my previous research on the car. There is still an owner that has not been discovered yet. Anybody have any information to add about the time this car spent on the West Coast? Also supposedly in a Wendy's Hamburger commercial and an AT&T Commercial. Some of you guys are extremely resourceful. If any of you know how to dig any of that stuff up, that would be AMAZING! Thanks again to all.