Features The Ugliest Kustoms of the 50s

I can't help myself.......A picture is worth a thousand words......This is NOT an ugly Custom.

 

I'd rock the Grecian in an earlier look:



From this link: http://perrykustompaint.blogspot.com/2011/01/grecian-hate-it-or-love-it-finished-in.html

 

Stude dude I have seen your thread and it lives up to the title. You built it with taste and resraint, its gorgeous.

Centurion9, definently not a an ugly custom

All I'm saying is the cars in the original post and some of the others posted too are too much. Its like there was a checklist for everything available custom and you checked every box...thats pretty much impossible to pull off unless you are seriously talented. If you check SOME of the boxes, you have a better chance of pulling off something beautiful.

 

One aspect of this whole "debate", that's not a debate is this. It's so obvious that it's easy to overlook. Several of you have alluded to "the times" in which these cars were built. That's something so intangible, but it's also as solid as a brick wall...we simply cannot deny it. It would be like a 12 year old today hearing the Beatles music for the first time, and shrugging his shoulders....I'm sure there's a wiser, more scholarly term for this, but I'm not sure what to call it. Much like trying to tell a stranger 'bout Rock n' Roll. Times cahnge, styles change, tastes change....I'm just happy to be a very small part of it all.......

 

Very well said Sir.....Especially the last sentence. Restraint is not a thing many of us are aware of today in any arena. Maybe it's just a "phase"..... Centurion9

 

Seems the Boss is making an effort to be inclusive.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/?p=18373
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/?p=18380

 

I've been a "traditional hot rod" nut since the first revival, when Bud Bryan was doing a series in R&C on building his highboy. Honestly, I have ALWAYS thought alot of the cars mentioned on this thread were ugly as sin, well for over four decades anyway. Hot rods are, for the most part, about purity of form, a few customs are as well. A LOT of customs are about anything BUT purity of form, instead they were about hanging as many fins, headlights, skirts, spot-lights, connie kits (god forgive them) and other wierd shit as humanly possible on one car, ESPECIALLY on the customs of the late fities/early sixties, when gaudy excess was the order of the day. The point I'm making is, there has always been a certain distance between the rod and custom sides, and over the years, alot of hot rod guys have looked at a lot of customs, and thought "WTF??!!!" If anything, I think that distance is less than it was back in the day.
I lived through this era, and was just as horrified then as I am now. I have a humourous/satirical article in an old 1001 Rod & Custom Ideas, I am going to dig it out and post it here, it really belongs, and it really illustrates the way a lot of guys saw this stuff as it reached its nadir.

 

True, but thats because doing anything other than endless minor variations of the Doane Spencer car is frowned on nowadays, and the vast majority of guys are sheep, that live in absolute terror of the disapproval of thier peers. Look how many guys say "black is the only color" any time theres a color thread, or how many guys get pissy when someone wants to put cycle fenders on thier car. Hell. look at the reactions on the thread about stacks on PU's.
Now look at '32s in the magazines of the fifties and sixties, and you will see all kinds of variations. The "sameness" you refer to is a modern phenomenon, has no relationship to what hot rodders were doing in the past.

 

^ good stuff. I'd like to read that article.


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meh. I didn't see anything I wouldn't gleefully drive. They all looked fun.

 

My Kripple Kart will be going under the knife for a new front-end treatment. As a quadriplegic, I need to use other people as my "hands", and they are not free until the end of the year. You can bet your ass that there will then be build thread and in fact, you'll probably be sick of the site of it. You have been warned. Up until that point I, like a lot of other Kustom guys on here have nothing to contribute. And I personally don't like doing the "you should paint your wheels red" for the sake of running my mouth off.
And I'll take a thread about ugly Kustoms over a thread about 32's any day of the week because I'm not a hotrod kind of guy
Paul

 

Yeah, us custom guys are in the minority. I try to contribute whenever I can, but often, even when you do put up something good, the majority of the Neanderthals can't understand what's going on. FLat black, red wheels, and wide whites don't make a custom. There are more threads here about how to do crappy paint jobs (Rustoleum, spray bomb, roller (!!!!!), tractor paint,etc., than there are tips or instructions on doing a good job!
It takes money to build a nice sled, and that definatley doesn't fly here! Real chrome, nice interior, and nice paint all cost, but the rat rod dudes here just complain that you're a gold chainer if you can afford a gallon of paint. Even if you do the whole job yourself.
Another issue is customs take a lot of time and dedication to build. Most guys here dont[ have it. How many even mild cusotm builds do you see get started and then drop off the face of the earth? Or a rotted out car gets a radical chop, then abandoned, or sold to some sucker who then has to try and put glass in it? Or finds it's distorted out of square?
I take more than a year, sometimes up to 4-5 to build a nice custom, so you won't see a lot of "new car to me" posts from the leadsled guys! The real dedicated customizers might put up a few pics once in a while, but progress is slow. But I still look forward to updates from Palle, Jersey Mike, Bass, Kustom7777, straycat, or the guys from north Jersey.
Even the good posts get pushed out quickly, due to very little response or encouragement. Pushed out by "what's it worth?", Rustoleum questions, or "can you photoshop different colors on my wheels?" threads.
And don't get me started on all the negativity towards spotlights, lakes pipes, even skirts!!!!!!!!!
We custom guys gotta stick together, post more and reply to other good cusTom themed threads!
Viva La Leadsled!

 

I stopped by an antique shop yesterday and seen this small book for sale. They asking price is $20.00 which didnt seem too bad but I didnt buy it. August 1959 Custom Cars:

 

i agree with mark 100%

 

Dear sweet Jesus, please tell me you're not saying those are ugly!?!?!

 

Wow! Spot on! I particularly liked this comment of yours:
"There are more threads here about how to do crappy paint jobs (Rustoleum, spray bomb, roller (!!!!!), tractor paint,etc., than there are tips or instructions on doing a good job!"
I hadn't put that together before .... that's really a sad commentary, isn't it?

 

I think its a great thread personally, nothing wrong with a good debate

 

I just like cars ! Damn why cant we all jus get along lol!

 

I do have to agree with you on alot of that. And customs do take dedication, alot of details and alot of bodywork. I dont agree totally with every custom thread getting filled with rat rod guys...its usually just the few custom guys who posts conversing with each other, I didnt see any of that kind of stuff on royalshifters victoria secret thread. Also just because a thread doesnt get bumped all the time doesnt mean people arent watching, there aere way more lurkers on the hamb than registered users or regular posters. People are watching and learning...I'm one of those folks

 

I remember this car from magazines of the day. Didn't it have a Caddy engine?

Frank C.

 

To Me it looks like we're getting farther and farther from the original intent of this thread.

We're talking about the Ugliest Kustoms of the 50's. The message I'm getting from a lot of the most recent posts is that if someone calls out a 50's Kustom for being ugly that means that person:

a. Is a rat rodder who's only vision for a cool car is a chopped top, air bag suspension, red wheels, Kustom Flatz paint or Primer, Shaved door handles, etc...

b. Is a young guy that simply doesn't understand the history of Kustoms and needs to be enlightened in order for the blindfold to be removed.

c. Is not a REAL kustom person if he or she points out a few truly ugly cars from that time period.

d. Has no interest in the cool kustom builds that come up on this site every once in a while (Berky, NTAPHSE, Bass, etc) but would rather follow junk builds

e. Doesn't appreciate the level of skill involved in building these wacky creations.

Personally, there are quite a few early Kustoms that I think are undeniably ugly cars...and I hate rat rods, I'm not a young guy, and I'm lover of Kustoms like the one's on this magazine cover below. Why? Because they all appeal to the eye !!

 

Nope, I think these look fine, I posted the picture and if some stated they wanted it I would go back for it on the way home.

 

I will hunt it down tonight and post it.

 

Amen to Chopolds post.... agree 100%...

 

X 2
It was a sin to change anything on this car.

 

Krip - I for one will be following your refurbishing of the Kart. I loves me some custom work on the older cars and trucks.

 

Chop - I agree with everything you've said. Keep on spreading the tenants of a good custom. First and foremost, think about what you are doing and then be sure it is tasteful...cn't go wrong there.

 

Well I will definately be looking forward to your upcoming build thread Paul! I have been on here a bit less lately but thats because I have been able to spend a bit more time in the shop! I am a die hard custom fan, but a bunch of my favorite build threads arent customs, in those cases its the quality and or uniqueness of the build and usually because I like the attitude of the builder regardless of what they are building....mind you I love any new custom build or pic threads !!

 

Customs or Kustoms (a label, as I believe George Barris first introduced), are appealing to the people who "get it", because of the individualism, talent, vision, artistic abilities, followed up with a dare to be different attitude.
Understanding that, makes the realization that peoples taste vary considerably, one mans ugly, may be another mans beautiful. Thankfully we're not all the same.
A label such as "Ugliest" is a matter of opinion not fact.
To the creators of the customs, I thank you.

 

Guilty as charged for going off on a tangent, fellas! Sorry!

Back to the game: Yeah there were some ugly things being built back in the day, but youd think there would be less of that today....if we learn from our "mistakes". Obviously that isn't happening.
But it was an age of experimenting, pushing the envelope, trying new things. Of course some ideas didn't prove popular, but you have to give it to the designers/builders for trying new things. Hell, even the OEM manufacturers picked up on a LOT of what the custom guys designed. And speaking of OEMs, even they were not immune to getting bit by the ugly bug.
Even an exercise as fantastic as the first fiberglass cars, starting with the Corvette, the Corvair, and the Waldorf Nomad.....Leading into the GM designers building versions of these cars for the other GM marques, the F-88, Wildcats, Club-de-Mer, Bonneville, Golden Rocket......Even some of the best designers in the world did some dogs among the jewels! Sometimes excess ornamentation was to blame, others, basic design and proportion was off to begin with.
In any case, even the old dogs should be treated with some respect. If not anything else, they teach us what NOT to do!