IMO best post in a long while, the featured shots are PRICELESS, thanks much I can't wait to settle in and study this awhile....
I have shown this photo of the Valley Customs sectioned 37 Ford pick-up in the beginning of this post, but not the in progress photo's of sectioning the cab. Here is another intersting custom valley Customs worked on. I have never seen a photo of the car beeing finished, but I sure hope it was finished at some point. It started out as a '36 Ford 4 door Pheaton. It had 46 Chevy front fenders and hood crafted on, and fadeways panels made for the front fenders to flow all the way to the '36 Ford rear fenders. Caddy grille Great photo, wonderfull surounds and what a great lines. The unfinished rear bumper and mount to the back indicate plans for a spare tire cover on the back.
The Kurtis boat type windshield looks great on the car, and so does the '40 Ford dash and steering. The dsh had to be modified to fit the roadster cowl. Mounting pins on the windshield frame indicate a top was in the works as well. A Carson style top would look wonderful. Valley Customs also did this '51 Chevy HT. Olds grille and front bumper Frenched headlights. Very stylish scoop in the rear fender custom made fender skirts and a nice low stance. Classic lines as any Valley Custom car Valley Custom's Polynesian in progress I have scanned all images from an Old Custom Cars Annual on how Valley Customs created the Jack Stewart's '50 Olds "Polynesian". 78 in progress photo's with photo captions can be seen in my Fotki album here: Polynesian in progress album
Here are som emore photo's of Ralph Jilek's 40 Ford convertible. Interior photo showing a 49 Mercury steering wheel and customized dash with SW gauges. Close up of the beautifully sectioned hood. And a nice photo of the Vega '38 Ford with the top off.
I just came across two more photo's of this '51 Chevy HT. Sorry about the not to good quality of these two new pictures. At the back the rear fenders where extended and 52 Lincoln taillights frenched into them. The new bumper uses a Kaiser overrider and the exhaust tips are relocated into the bumper guards. A nice look at the detailwork on the rear fenders. Toothed scoop and wonderfull lip on the fenderskirts. I have never been a fan of redone custom cars, but the second edition of the Ron Dunn '49 Ford is not to bad. Although I feel the original is far better, and I hope the car will eventually brought back into its former glorie as it was built by Valley Customs originally.
The folowing pictures are borowed from a recent Hop Up magazine, and show the current condition of the Ron Dunn custom. Second edition restauration would bnot be to hard to do. But bringing it back into the first edition would be far more intersting. Its done before!
Thanks for the update,Rik !!! Always nice to see something new.I just wanted to show one more Neil Emory's connection to Hot Rods.Valley Custom also did the track roadster-style nose,hood and the full belly pan on the Dick Flint Roadster.All this is done in aluminium,certainly easier to work with and not to mention the weight-factor..Absolutely impressive work.So thought everybody else and the car received a lot of publication back in the day. The last pic shows the Dick Flint Roadster at the 50st Oakland Roadster show and I've got that photo from Alex Xydias.On the backside is written "...the Dick Flint car - just finished ! Dick worked at So-cal in the 50's...".Standing in the background is the LaMasa Roadster,another milestone Hot Rod.
I just recieved a link to some pictures of the Ralph Jilek sectioned 40 Ford. I had heard it was undergoing a full restauration, but so far had not seen any pictures. The custom is being restaured by Steves Auto Restauration, and looking at the pictures it will be absolutely Perfect. (pictures come from the www.realsteel.com) As it used to look. In bare metal... WOW
Primer Super black paint this is gloss paint... you are looking at a reflection in a polished door in this photo. original Carson Top badge.
Now that's cool ! SAR is known for their high quality work and there's no doubt about it the Jilek Ford will be nicer than it ever was back in the day.Now let's just hope they get rid of those tires but I'm pretty sure they will do so.Thanks Rikster !
Rikster, I think I've seen the Dunn 50 ford here in Sacramento recently. The car is unbeleivable. I probably spent 30 minutes looking it over, it's perfect.
Although the Ray Vega tub was modified some years ago -- cut out rear wheelwells and stick-outy slicks, etc -- I was talking to an upholsterer the other day who told me that the hand-tooled leather panels were being re-created for the interior. Sounds like the resto for Pebble Beach is trying for authenticity. OT: Also heard from Pat Ganahl that the Calori '36 3W, which has been at Brizio's for some time, is specifically the project of Pat's son Bill. Can't wait to see that one reborn!
Rikster, after looking at the post again I believe the 50 ford I saw was not the same one, close though. I'll try to get some pics.
Geez, if there is any way to take all these "spotlight on custom builder" posts of yours and make a book legally, I'd sure as hell buy some copies. This is great stuff. Thanks.
I finally was able to obtain this May issue of Hop Up magazine and scanned the cover which is in my opinion one of the best custom car magazine covers of all time (next to the Motor Trend with the Ayala customs in colorized black and white photo). Anyway I thought I share this cover scan with you. What I really love in this photo is the very subtile but extremely elegant hood peak which Valley Customs added. I hope to see some photo's of the completely restored Ray Vega Ford soon... when it will be at the Pebble Beach concours. And here are a few more photo's of the sectioned '37 Ford pick up truck. One thing which is weird is that the color photo shows some steel wheels and single bar flipper hubcaps which I really like on this truck, but it also shows the redicilous looking horn on the top. The other color photo I showed before in this post has the cut down model A wire wheels (later version) and no horn on top... so I guess that the owner wanted the horn... and it was just temporary removed for the color photo shoot... a good thing since it really looks out of place. A nice touch is that the sectioning on this car was done at the width of the belt line... which was completely removed, creating a very smooth surface. compaired to a stocker. The front fenders where cut and the fender bead was smoothed. The '41 Mercury front bumper was cut in the center and "v"-ed And this is how it looks without that out of place horn on top.
Excelent custom... although I have my doubts it is a Valley Custom car. It sure could have been but I also have several photo credits mentioning its the work from Art & Jerry's custom shop. Who can tell for sure who created this custom I would love to know? Anyway here are a few more photo's of it. The rasing of the rear fender done in a similar way as Jimmy Summers did on his 40 Merc is fantastic. Later the car was redone,.. and though it was far ahead of its time... It was for sure not in a direction I like. I for sure love the first rear bumper much better than this one.
On the previous page I showed some pictures of the restoration of the Sectioned '40 Ford Valley Customs built for Ralph Jilek. The completely restored custom was showed for the first time at teh Pebble Beach Concours. But somehow not to many custom car enthusiast made it over there and took photo's of it or at least did not post them on the internet. Anyway Daryll Hollenbeck mentioned the Valley Customs Ford would also be shown at teh GG West Coast Nationals. So I asked Russ Beckwith Russ B Fotki site who was going to the show to take some extra photo's of this Great vintage custom car. WOW Steve's Auto Restoration did a increadible job restoring this one into its former '48 shape. I have been looking foreward to see this car restored for years after reading it was going to be several years ago. WOW the lines on this old custom, the way it was sectioned. the fit of the rear fenders to the body and the perfect straight sectioned hood. Perfect. The interior of the original car was done by the Carson Top shop in leatherete. On the restored custom its all done in leather but very carefully selected so the texture was excactly the same as the original opholstery material... only a bit more comfortable. Carson also built the original padded top, which I had never seen on the car... and it look soo good!!!
'49 Mercury steering wheel, and a wonderfully restyled '40 Ford dash (Photo by Boones) '41 Studebaker taillights fit perfectly on the raised rear fenders. Bumpers are 46 Chevy units. There is a chrome strip between the body and fenders. (Photo by Boones) and in the background the Westergard Bertolucci built Buddy Ohanesian '40 Mercury... WOW
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