Last monday, me and Toast drove over to Morris, OK to an old time friend of mine Harold Watkins. He's the owner of Watkins Automotive, if you've ever browsed through Truckin' magazine in the past 20 years you've seen his ads for louvers. He used to do a ton of louvered tailgate skins. Shipped em world wide. Toast got with me and we set up an appointment to get his 40 hood punched and a radiator shroud for me. I only got 7 louvers while Toast got 104!! Harold is one of the greatest hot rodders I know, he's be into it since he was very young. He built his own louver press and the thing works like a precision tool with his guidance. Anyway... Here's some pics of his shop and the punch jobs he did for us!! When we got to his shop, this was in there.... 1916 Star, he built it only starting with a hood, grill, frame, front axle and seat.... it sports a 302 roller motor, 9" rear and C4 all tucked inside and hidden!! He made his own wheels, started with hoops and welded in his own metal spokes... said he's taking it down the road and it hasn't had any kind of shimmy... and they aren't balanced at all!!! WOW!!!
Here's where the louvers start... he chuckled as he brought out these pieces of paper that had louvers drawn on them, said a customer brought them and he laughed when he seen them, thought they were a joke, been using them every since to layout the louver patterns!!! Worked great and gave us an idea of how they'd fit in there!! And the Final Product!! No bad for .75 each huh!!
Thanks for posting these Chad! Harold is a Great guy. I could have sat and talked to him all day. The hood turned out fantastic and the price was great too! Can't wait to get some paint on it and get it on the 40!
$0.75 each ... that is a bargain, when I lived in Colorado in the late 80's early 90's there was a guy there charging $1.50 per and a $25.00 "set up" fee.
75 cents a punch is a gift. Send him more business. Hood looks great. I use 3by5 cards taped together to layout patterns. Seeing his strips proves to me once again there are few original ideas out there. Pricing for louver work is pretty much like anything else its what your local market will bear.
I have been trying to find this guy for a while, but I didn't know his name. Only that he was near Tulsa and did louvers for .75 cents. I need a few for my Buick Wagon.
Neat thread. Talk about a deal, man alive. Really turned out nice, love them punched hoods. ~sololobo~
Larry I believe he still does... He used to advertise in truckin' and some other magazines but the advertising prices went crazy on him so he quit. Pm me and I'll get his number for you if you need it!
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