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History Larry Watson's Personal Photo Collection

Discussion in 'Traditional Customs' started by Rikster, Mar 25, 2011.

  1. Roger Odell, has reprinted the clock poster and has many of the original Tshirts of Larry Watson available at the website listed in my signature.
    The Clock poster was designed and painted by Steve Stanford, with Larry Watson looking over his shoulder and features most of the cars that are listed in this thread.
    Thanks, Roger, for the trip back through time.
     
  2. Boones
    Joined: Mar 4, 2001
    Posts: 9,691

    Boones
    Member
    from Kent, Wa
    1. Northwest HAMBers

    what color was Notebooms hardtop? is that brown or a burgandy with a silver roof? my computer is not showing the colors very well
     
  3. My computer is showing definitely burgundy.
     
  4. Rikster
    Joined: Dec 10, 2004
    Posts: 5,795

    Rikster
    Member


    Larry's Firestone Blvd shop in the late 1960's...

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    Fantastic Custom paint job by Larry Watson is on this 1963 Pontiac owned by Carl Sampier. Wire wheels, thin line white wall tires, perfect stance, cleaned up body with the door handles and trim removed. Painted in a fine silver metallic with purple cob webbing on most of the vertical parts of the body, and Candy grape on the horizontal parts of the body and on the lower body. The way Larry did these colors make the body look a lot lower and longer. A really great sample of the paint jobs Larry did in the mid/later part of the 1960's.

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  5. Nads
    Joined: Mar 5, 2001
    Posts: 11,862

    Nads
    Member
    from Hypocrisy

    See the bottom middle picture in the Watson's interiors pics, that blue chair is a Vernor Panton heart or Mickey Mouse chair, I have one of those, rare as hen's teeth.
     
  6. sidsullivan
    Joined: Apr 29, 2009
    Posts: 38

    sidsullivan
    Member
    from Boise, Id

    Rikster, you got any pictures of Amadee? I remember visiting him once an he invited me into his house an he had a whole wall with pictures of her.
     
  7. bob-o
    Joined: Aug 12, 2007
    Posts: 334

    bob-o
    Member

    Thanks Rik. This GP is gorgeous!
     
  8. Lunatic
    Joined: Sep 28, 2004
    Posts: 1,198

    Lunatic
    Member
    from Carson,Ca.

    I look forward to these pics each day...nice work Rik
     
  9. Don's 55
    Joined: Apr 17, 2009
    Posts: 92

    Don's 55
    Member

    What I also like was Larry's shops all had his signature style.
    I bet when you passed by any of his shops you couldn't miss it!
     
  10. Rikster
    Joined: Dec 10, 2004
    Posts: 5,795

    Rikster
    Member

    A nice photo from the Larry Watson Personal Collection of Ron Aguirre's 1957 Corvette the X-Sonic. I'm not sure who took this photo, but it was titled "Watson-Indy". Perhaps it was taken at an Indianapolis car show... who know. What we do know is that the sign reads that the car is owned by Roth Showcars and that Ron Aguirre was the president. And that they would show this car all over the USA, and in Germany. Which makes me wonder what the tie was with Germany... I have never heard the car ever went to Germany though... I guess this was at the time Roth showed the car for Ron who did not feel much like going to the shows with it anymore. Larry Watson of coarse was responsible for this yellow orange brown paint version of the X-Sonic. And his name is on the car on the front fender/hood. The "Headlights inside the GRILLE" sign is kind of funny as well. So weir that they put these ugly cards on a car like this just to show the people the car does have headlights?

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    Enlargement of the show sign...

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    Most of the photos from the Larry Watson Collection we can see Larry, or others in the paint booth or outside painting with no protection at all. We do know this happened a lot back then. I was happy surprised to find this - a bit grainy photo - of perhaps Larry, or one of his helpers getting ready to paint another car at his Rosecrans Blvd shop wearing a mask of some sorts while carrying his paint gun, paint and thinner...This collection has some odd photos, at least thats how they appear to me. This photo is one of them. But for some reason the photo was taken, and it was saved all those years. So it must have meant something to Larry. Plus I just always like the odd ball photos. Other than the cars, these usually show the back stage of the scene, and help us give a more complete look at the old times.

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    I have to say that I have never been a big fan of the muscle cars of the 1960... But this 1967 pontiac firebird (Please correct me if I'm wrong here) painted by Larry Watson is one that I really like. The candy burnt orange body with the gold cob webbed top and red line tires is just the perfect combination for a car like this. Imagine how much looks this car must have had back in the late 1960's when Larry painted it. The photo was taken at the Firestone Blvd shop.

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  11. 56boracho
    Joined: Mar 11, 2010
    Posts: 91

    56boracho
    Member
    from lot

    Cool pics, any more pics on that white 56 chevy. I really like the grill on the chevy any idea what year or make of car that grill was used off of??
     
  12. zarbtime
    Joined: Sep 1, 2009
    Posts: 56

    zarbtime
    Member

    the grille on that 56 looks to be the parking light housings and teeth from a 53 chevy.
     
  13. Rikster
    Joined: Dec 10, 2004
    Posts: 5,795

    Rikster
    Member

    This photo is from my own personal collection.

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  14. Kustoms Illustrated
    Joined: Oct 8, 2005
    Posts: 319

    Kustoms Illustrated
    Member
    from West



    Yes, definitely ’53 Chevy with extra teeth.
    Looks great in there!
     
  15. 56boracho
    Joined: Mar 11, 2010
    Posts: 91

    56boracho
    Member
    from lot

    I really like how it looks on this 56
     
  16. BOP-Nut
    Joined: Oct 20, 2008
    Posts: 746

    BOP-Nut
    Member

    One of the best threads on the HAMB, thanks for taking all the time to post all of these photos, and thank you for offering such a great website for us all to view Rik.
     
  17. Rikster
    Joined: Dec 10, 2004
    Posts: 5,795

    Rikster
    Member

    Another Mercedes SL Gullwing from the Larry Watson Collection is this one with a really great shade of pearl lime green painted by Larry. I don't think these cars came with fully chrome plated wheels either. Or in case they did, they had some paint detail on the hubcaps. This sample with the all chrome set up looks really great on this car. Larry did a lot of Sports Cars in his career, especially in the later part of the 1960's. They where mostly just a single tone, so a lot less prep time than the multi colored Customs he was so famous for.

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    Nothing really spectacular here, but this photo from the Larry Watson Collection shows a 1950 Chevy painted by Larry in the mid - later part of the 1960's. A really beautiful color on this clean Chevy Sedan that was cleaned up a little, has a nice rake, custom wheels and a set of thin line white wall tires that where very popular in those days. This combination makes this a very nice ride, and all you needed back then to be a very popular guy.

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    1950 Chevy Sedan from the Larry Watson Collection. This snapshot shows a bit of the nice black interior with what looks like 1964 Chevy Impala seats and a late 1950's Oldsmobile Steering wheel. The Larry Watson sticker in the vent window shows the car was painted at Larry's Firestone Blvd shop. The sticker is the same as his most famous outdoor sign he had at any of this shops.

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    And the same Chevy from the front, showing the one piece windshield.

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    This photo was taken in 1964 by H. Lee Hooper from Downey while the crew at Larry Watson's shop was color sanding Larry’s 1961 Econoline Pick up after Larry had painted it his first Salt + pepper Metalflake.
    From left to right: Larry Watson, Carl Sampler (who was Larry’s first cobweb customer with his 1963 Pontiac), Don "Penguin" Loster (Larry did a 1959 Ford twice for him), Famous Car painter Bill Carter (which Larry called his #1 student) and Killer Jesse sanding the cab. Looks like beards was THE fashion for man in 1964.

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    Last edited: Jan 20, 2012
  18. 64crump
    Joined: Oct 17, 2011
    Posts: 398

    64crump
    Member
    from Alta Loma

    Hey Rickster, you say this is from your personal collection, so how did you get this one. And if you notice, the Mercury from the left and the 58 chevy on the right are the same ones and same position as the long black and white photo. So are there more color photos where this one came from? is this a polaroid photo? (does not appear to be).

    Thanks for all the posts.
     
  19. Rikster
    Joined: Dec 10, 2004
    Posts: 5,795

    Rikster
    Member

    I found this photo along with three others on ebay several years ago. The 1956 Mercury sitting on the left of this 1956 Chevy was pictured in one of the other photos. It looks to be the same location as the black and white photo with the cars lined up. I think these photo also came from the Watson Collection, they have paint stains on them... and somehow they ended up on ebay. The seller had 5 photos, or at least that I know of. One was bought by somebody else, and I have never seen it being published elsewhere.
    No these are not Polaroids. They are KodaColor Prints and one of the 4 is dated September 1959 on the back (kodak stamped)

    Here are the other three from my own Collection.
    The Rik Hoving Custom Car Photo Archive Collection.

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    The last one -1954 Ford from Jerry Preston - was taken at a different location (Watson shop parking lot)

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    And this was the 5th photo in that collection, the one I did not get. This ebay auction photo is all I have of it.

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  20. 64crump
    Joined: Oct 17, 2011
    Posts: 398

    64crump
    Member
    from Alta Loma

    It looks like they were taken at a High School campus or the likes. I wonder why the Plymouth did not end up in the staged black and white photo. The other cars are in the background. Any ID on the location? I think that these qualify as Watson photos as well, since the paint stain gives it away. They probably walked away at some point and ended up on ebay. They are in good hands, and thanks once again for sharing.
     
  21. Spoke to Roger Odell tonight on the phone and it is fascinating to hear the stories of Larry Watson. What is amazing is this collection of photos that Watson took over the years and thanks to Roger Odell for making them available and to Rikster for sharing them in this continuing series.
    I love that green pearl above and I don't like green!
     
  22. 51wagon
    Joined: Oct 1, 2008
    Posts: 169

    51wagon
    Member
    from northwoods

     
  23. Rikster
    Joined: Dec 10, 2004
    Posts: 5,795

    Rikster
    Member

    A great photo of Larry Watson backing up his 1957 Cadillac Brougham from his Artesia Blvd shop. Bill DeCarr did the body work on Larry's Cadillac at this shop, and Larry painted it there in his paint booth at this shop in the last part of 1960. Backing up a car at this busy blvd was not always fun, so Larry had one of the guys at the shop watch and hold the traffic for him... This photo shows the Cadillac in its second version with the aftermarket tube grille. Bill DeCarr took these photos of Larry leaving the shop for a Custom Car show at the LA Shrine Auditorium in early 1961.

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    This photo from the Larry Watson Personal Collection shows the 1950 Chevy Convertible of Saint Vasques at an outdoor show. Saint showed his car with an open hood to show his well detailed and gold painted engine compartment, open doors and opened padded top to show the dark red and white tuck&roll leatherette interior. The gold pinstriping is done by Larry Watson and the body and paint was handled in the Ed Schelhaas shop. Visible thru the opened hood is the one piece Oldsmobile chopped windshield. Some time after this photo was taken Larry would add some gold scallops to the front and rear of Saint's Chevy. And after that Larry would do his amazing scalloping job covering most of the body. But this photo shows the mild version of this great Custom Car.

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  24. A lot of work went into those hubcaps and wheels, long before the billet wheels became popular. They really look good on this one.
     
  25. That's a cool picture of Larry backing the car out of the shop's driveway. What strikes me the most about it is that you can see just how smoggy L.A. was back then. Nowadays, the air is so much cleaner now out here, but the environmental wackos still want to hammer us at every opportunity.

    I remember the Stage 5 days. Your eyes would burn and the air was brown. I haven't seen that for decades.
     
  26. twofisted
    Joined: Dec 5, 2006
    Posts: 66

    twofisted
    Member

    Thanx Rik for sharing all these photo's and the history lesson!
     
  27. lukey
    Joined: May 27, 2009
    Posts: 668

    lukey
    Member

    In this picture there is Watsons T Bird...who owned the other bird with the very similar paint work sitting across from it?
    This has to be one of my favorite threads here!


    -LUKEY-
     

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  28. ynottayblock
    Joined: Dec 23, 2005
    Posts: 1,954

    ynottayblock
    Member

    craziness...there is 2 of them. Plus another squarebird heading into the booth.
     
  29. redroaddog
    Joined: Apr 1, 2011
    Posts: 348

    redroaddog
    Member

    that is a great shot of the caddy one of my favorites...had no idea the smog was that bad!!!! wowser!!!:eek:
     
  30. redroaddog
    Joined: Apr 1, 2011
    Posts: 348

    redroaddog
    Member

    hey guys check out the photo of larry backing out on the highway the gas station in the background has prices for gas at 29.9 and 27.9 i remember 36 cent gas as a kid:D
     

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