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Features The Ugliest Kustoms of the 50s

Discussion in 'Traditional Customs' started by Jive-Bomber, Feb 21, 2013.

  1. hugh m
    Joined: Jul 18, 2007
    Posts: 2,143

    hugh m
    Member
    from ct.

    :)Gotta remember not to think too much, this is about ugly, not art...
     
  2. Saxon
    Joined: Aug 9, 2008
    Posts: 2,157

    Saxon
    Member
    from MN

    oh there was some ugly ones. Some already posted.

    Too bad the old 50s mags weren't in color, just the cover. Paint descriptions of car features were sometimes odd and probably made or broke a few customs.
     
  3. RexMason
    Joined: Apr 17, 2010
    Posts: 8

    RexMason
    Member
    from Denver

    I agree the spaced-out cars are the best.

    Any car with a bubble top is okay with me...or a separate bubble top so you don't have to listen to your kids...like The Homer.
     
  4. Customs..you either get it, or you don't.
    They aren't intended to satisfy everyones taste, just the creator..and/or his client.
    Boring they're not.
    Take for example, say a Goodguys event..in one section nothing but Chevelles, Camaros, Tri Five Chevs, and the like, looking very similar to each other.
    Another section with Customs, and Traditional HotRods.
    I'm the guy walking right past the first section so I can get to what is unique/different, and therefor of interest..kind of like this site..hmm.
     
  5. Atwater Mike
    Joined: May 31, 2002
    Posts: 11,625

    Atwater Mike
    Member

    That silver 'Facel-Faced' '39 or '40 was actually a '36 5-window. Joe Wilhelm did it in his San Jose shop.

    (Wilhelm also did Cliff Inman's chopped Chrysler, in the same time era...I saw both of them under construction)

    Can't recall who Wilhelm's 'partner' was in the '36 Ford project...it was a joint venture, not a customer pay job.
     
  6. Great thread. Thanks to the ones that save & respect history..........even the darker days!
     
  7. Opinions are like assholes, everybody's got one. Time for this thread to die....
     
  8. dw123
    Joined: Nov 23, 2005
    Posts: 196

    dw123
    Member

    ....someone I know once put a picture of the Super Bell Coupe on a similar thread on a forum over here....he was soon 'corrected'....
     
  9. metalshapes
    Joined: Nov 18, 2002
    Posts: 11,138

    metalshapes
    Member


    Yep...

    And if we are including modern ones, this one.

    2194214484_57b6e02391_z.jpg

    Some of the comments on the older ones are cheap shots, though.

    They were built in a time and a place that does not exist anymore ( '50s America )


    And no matter what, cars like the Mark Mist, X-Sonic, and El Matador do not belong on a ugly car list...
     
  10. dwaynerz
    Joined: Nov 16, 2006
    Posts: 235

    dwaynerz
    Member

    who is the guy that was constantly chewing/smoking cigars, a well kown name that escapes me now, but he "customized" a little nissan altima or similar by putting a wind up key on it (ala vw) and called it done. seems like it was rod and custom who ran the story, maybe hotrod. they had nothing but praise for the dam thing.it was kind of that deal where the emporer wore no clothes, but everybody pretended not to notice.

    somebody here has to remember the article.
     
  11. Rusty O'Toole
    Joined: Sep 17, 2006
    Posts: 9,657

    Rusty O'Toole
    Member

    You mean Bill Hines? Little guy with long hair brushed straight back, about 4' high and 100 years old? Looks like his back is broke?

    Don't remember him messing with an Altima.

    I know Roth was one of the magazine icons until he got into motorcycles, trikes, and cars with tiny motors. Then you would have thought he just stepped off a flying saucer. They liked way out cars but not that way out.
     
  12. Rusty O'Toole
    Joined: Sep 17, 2006
    Posts: 9,657

    Rusty O'Toole
    Member

    Rod & Custom could get wide at times. They used to feature some weird stuff.

    One I will never forget had a big picture of Dan (Hoss Cartwright) Blocker, all 280 lbs of him, dressed in his cowboy rig out and ten gallon hat, riding a minibike. On the cover of a hot rod magazine.

    Never did figure out if that was a gag or what and they never explained what the hell they were doing. You either dug it or you didn't. Usually I dug it but I know not everyone did, that's why they went out of business.

    Since they got revived in 1988 they have been a lot more "conventional" but still show a little kick once in a while.
     
  13. Thats funny as I was reading this by page I was thinking Golden Sahara !
    I respect the hard work that went in to it but damn its fugly:eek:
     
  14. Blue One
    Joined: Feb 6, 2010
    Posts: 11,459

    Blue One
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Alberta

    Ugly, just about every custom out there. Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder to be sure, but it is obvious that some "customizers" would never make it as auto designers.
     
  15. I find I have to agree with Rusty this time They did some dumb shit. I left reading the mag after they put a four page layout on a el camino
    that Harry B Bradley did one half white and the other black. total sale out !
     
  16. falcongeorge
    Joined: Aug 26, 2010
    Posts: 18,341

    falcongeorge
    Member
    from BC

    Agree 100%.
     
  17. falcongeorge
    Joined: Aug 26, 2010
    Posts: 18,341

    falcongeorge
    Member
    from BC

    Oh God, jeez, WHY do I keep coming back to this thread. Kinda like watching two hairy dwarfs hump, you really want to look away, and you know you should...
     
  18. The look on that car's face says it all.
    "I've never been so pissed off in my life!!" :mad:
     
  19. Rusty O'Toole
    Joined: Sep 17, 2006
    Posts: 9,657

    Rusty O'Toole
    Member

    Harry Bradley was hard to figure. He did some beautiful designs, his La Jolla 51 Chev that he did while in his teens, was one of the all time greats with some really creative ideas.

    Then he would do some weird shit like the El Camino, or some hump backed Japanese 4 door sedan with a giant tail fin.

    I KNOW he is smarter and more creative than me. But are his designs beyond my pea brain to understand, or is he bat shit crazy?
     
  20. JackdaRabbit
    Joined: Jul 15, 2008
    Posts: 498

    JackdaRabbit
    Member
    from WNC

    Damn! This is a flaming thread, 9 pages in 2 days. Lots of opinions on both sides of the asile.
    But true beauty in any design, whether it's the Acropolis ora Barris custom, has to be timeless; "withstands the test of time". Just because some of these cars were done by a builder with reputation and historical because they were done "back in the day" doesn't make them good.... or better looking than a Lexus sport coupe.

    Some of these atrocities were nothing but "Jet Age" fashion trends with fins and scoops to excess.... in spite of the admirable workmanship.
     
  21. blowby
    Joined: Dec 27, 2012
    Posts: 8,661

    blowby
    Member
    from Nicasio Ca

    To me they look like they should be cruising the ocean floor scooping up plankton and small crustaceans. Not to be insulting, some may like that look, beauty in the eye of the beholder and all that.
     
  22. cosmic12
    Joined: Oct 16, 2011
    Posts: 422

    cosmic12
    Member

    Thanks, Rik. I like that version also but when I was a kid and saw that car on a turn table with the lights just right the paint looked translucant and the green just glowed like neon. Great work I think but thats just me and I am an old phuck that just don't know any better.:rolleyes:
     
  23. Ganahl covered this in the 90's R&C.. car should not be here. As you say man, it blows everything else away. Deserves it's own thread. The thing cost the price of ten Caddy's or sumpin'.. And makes the '59 Cad look lame.
     
  24. Saxon
    Joined: Aug 9, 2008
    Posts: 2,157

    Saxon
    Member
    from MN



    [​IMG]
     
    straykatkustoms likes this.
  25. Dreddybear
    Joined: Mar 31, 2007
    Posts: 6,084

    Dreddybear
    Member

    So rad.
     
    luima98 likes this.
  26. theHIGHLANDER
    Joined: Jun 3, 2005
    Posts: 10,244

    theHIGHLANDER
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Well the DiDia has come up twice. I saw the car in person at Meadowbrook. It certainly has many things out of place, or simply too much of them. The fins for sure. Like a major effort to trump the 59 Caddy. The bubble top is freakin huge. Again, too much of a good thing. The good? Look on top of the front fenders, the doors, the quarters. There's a "shelf" in the design supported by little chrome stanchions, and it wraps around the car. The front bumper by itself is awesome. perfect "jet age" design of the era. A bit too far out considering the massive vacancy from the face to the grille. Ugly? Almost, but more like "out there". Clearly built to shock and awe whomever looked at it in person. I can see taking inspiration from this car and restraining it some. Not copy it, just let it inspire with each individual feature and use your own creativity to see what you'd come up with. It was exciting and kool as hell to see the original builder/designer riding in this period creation. It didn't remove the excess, but it demanded some respect and admiration. Would I roll it? Probably not. I'd actually be worried about some moron driving into it or causing a wreck just by it's presence! As a whole, it's not for me. As for ugly kustoms, it's a pretty damn wild one, but I wouldn't label it as completely ugly
     
  27. falcongeorge
    Joined: Aug 26, 2010
    Posts: 18,341

    falcongeorge
    Member
    from BC

    I have the original R&C article on this car. I'd say this one is past the tipping point...
     
  28. Not before I post this.......Centurion9


    Still amazing in it's own way...depends on how you see it.


    [​IMG]
     
    Spoggie likes this.
  29. 390Merc
    Joined: Jun 29, 2008
    Posts: 659

    390Merc
    Member
    from Indiana

    I saw the Buick pictured above and took many photos of it when it was at a nice show in Bloomington, IL back in 2008. It's original owner/builder was there with it, as Bloomington was it's hometown. It was probably one of my favorite customs as far as wild ones go. It was featured in the magazines a few times up thru the mid 60's. It was also at the big Auburn, IN Labord Day auction a couple years ago as well.
    The Parisienne has been replicated, and very nicely I might add, and was also at the same show in IL in '08. It was a beautiful sight, as it was just a little cleaner and refined than the original. I may have to post pics later.
     

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