hey guys, I'm posting this up for a friend of mine. I was good friends with his pops and he always told us about his shoebox ford he owned in the late 50's. sadly he passed a year ago and his son (my friend) found pics of his dad and the ford. His name was Dan Norris. so we are trying to find it. It was a mild custom with pinstriping by non other than Von Dutch himself. california plate reads HBF 628. His dad was from Nebraska and moved out here when he was young. any info on this car of its where abouts or current owner would be a huge deal to the family. thanks for your help!! PS. The story he told me about the gold pinstriping, he took the car to VonDutch and asked for red and white pinstriping to match his red rims and whitewalls. VonDutch asked him to walk to the local liquor store and get him a big bottle of wine. When he returned the pinstriping was done in gold! He said thats not what he wanted and it doesn't match. VonDutch then said "well paint your rims gold and it will match, now get out of my shop"! He repainted his rims and the rest is history. He didn't have any pics of the dash but Dan said Von Dutch painted dolphins jumping in and out of his dash like water and he did little footprints that went across the dash and into the glovebox and out the other side and into the door jams.
Interesting car and story.... Was he from the Sunland area as well? I used to live out your way in Tujunga for years BTW.
Oh cool! He was from the La Canada area. His kids didn't even know the story about this car until I told them. I don't think they knew much about his car history cause they weren't into old cars as much as he was. I have been since high school and used to pick his brain about the cars he owned. Wish I could have gotten more! Sunland still has some nice cars here and there, usual group still goes to Troy burger. The old Rudy's beanpot crew. Some other old timers are hanging at del taco by the do it center in the mornings. I'm from la crescenta. Seems like everyone moves to Sunland cause its cheaper ;-)
Very cool Box. My Dad knew Dutch and he has some stories of guys he saw telling Dutch what they wanted. From the stories he told the jobs always ended completely different than what was requested.
Haha yeah I've heard those funny stories as well. Dutch did what he wanted but I guess he had "the vision"
Didn't get much cooler than that guy--I'll never forget that one cruise we took in the blue Dodge with Bach blasting on the 8-track. Major dude.
Cool ride and story -problem is that if it is still on the road likely has been modified over the years so, that it could be right in front of you and you would not recognize it.
That packard was his uncles I believe. Not sure what happened to either car. If I recall correctly he parked the shoebox with his sister or his aunt and she gave it away while he was in the army!!! Thos was in the 60's. So he didn't even even get to say goodbye or see a penny from this ride. Kinda sad story in a way
I think he said it had a flathead with 2 or 3 carbs. Cable pull cut outs and skinny pipes in the bumpers and actual working spotlights.
No paperwork. Trying to get a plate run is difficult. Need to come up with a good convincing story to tell the clerk at aaa or dmv