History Custom Car builder Spotlight: AYALA BROTHERS

I never got an answer from Gary Emory about the guy in the photo. But I also think its a young Neil Emory.

Yesterday I got another email from Memo about the car. I had send him a link to this Hamb post and asked him if he could remember anything that could help us with this.


Here is his response.


"rik its getting harder for me to remember stuff but not bad for a 78.yr young old guy lol. rik, i do remember the first time i asked gill about buying his car. he said if i sell my car it will be to you cause i know you will fix it up nice like your 37 chevy with your 40.ford headlites. you will be getting one kind of a car. what did he meant by that?. rik.
and yes black plates. rik . like the saying goes you got all of them over the barrell lol. means you are absolutly right. the zebra thing thats 40.s interrior look at the reavel moulding garnish moulding inside thats not how mine looked inside. mine was longer an chopped lower plus had the rear window moulding. rik. every thing you have told this guys is right on. on the 42...46. question its a good one. could have re registered as a 46?."

 

Rik do you think Memo meant to write one of a kind car rather than one kind of car?


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Yes I do...

This is what he wrote me this morning (European time) after I had not let him know I had received his last email.


"hi rik. hope you got my e.mail. went thrught an read it again. i dont go in the hamb very much once in awhile. to me i think there was only one car. hoped i help you. take care .memo"

 

Ya I don't know anything about no zebra interior.
The questions remain.

 

Right... there was NO zebra headliner in Gil's car. This was all the result of a misinterpreted photo on the Custom Car Photo Archive site scanned from the Trend book #101 Custom Cars.
Memo got confused about that, since he could not remember it ever being in the car, but now there was a photo showing it... well not.

We can forget about this Zebra headliner.

 

Just wondering if anybodys research has discovered who the guy in picture A is (TRJ) ? I have tried to look but didn't find much.Has anyone had confirmation about that being Neil Emory in the other picture ?

These unanswered questions are still not sitting well with me.

 

This morning I got an email from Gary Emory about the photo of Ford sitting at Gil Ayala's Auto Body works from his collection.

This is what Gary said.

"It's not my dad. Don't know who it is. I don't remember seeing Gil ever that I know of. It could be Al , Gil's brother but not sure. I knew Al in later years when he had a little shop in Santa Ana Ca. Late 70's"

 

Rik I didnt think that the guy in that pic was Neil Emory.It did not look like him at all to me but I didn't want to say anything since I figured you would probably email Gary.

So that really doesn't help much.It just seems back in these times men didn't take pictures in front of other cars very often unless.. they built or owned the car.I mean their were exceptions like in Andy Southards book where it shows him with plenty of cools 50s cars.There has been others but I don't think posing for a pic in front of someone elses car was real popular.I mean its not like today,when these cars are all classics and people love to take pics in front of cool cars.I could be wrong though.I wish we could find out more.

 

Any updates on who was posing in the pic in front of someone elses car ?

 

There has been some controversy about Gil Ayala's personal 1942-46 Ford Custom Coupe. The question was if there was just one car, or perhaps two very similar styled cars. And then there was the info and drawing about a later version of Gil's Coupe when it was owned by Memo Ortega. Well the first question is still sort of unresolved, although I personally think there is only one car that was owned by Gil styled like the inset photo on the bottom left side. But the main photo shown here shows the later version of the car when it was owned by Memo Ortega.

Memo had told me stories how he got good friends with Gil in the 1950's and eventually was able to buy Gil's old Coupe in 1959. Gil had started to rebuilt the car for himself and had included the quad headlights (Ford units) but never finished the work. When Memo bought the car he finished the installation of the headlights. Not the most beautiful styled mods on this car, but we have to remember this was 1959 when this was done, and the quad headlights were the trend. Memo also cleaned up the rest of the car and painted it a nice dark blue once again. Also note that the car has a set of dummy spots, again very popular in those days.

I came across this photo when I was browsing an old photo album at the GNRS. I wrote down the owners name on a piece of paper which I have since then misplaced. So unfortunately I cannot give credit for this really amazing photo. But we know that it was taken on a trip he took from the east coast, where he lived, to California where he took the photo at a drag strip. The even better thing was that about an half hour before I discovered the photo I had met with Memo Ortega in person for the first time. Later that day when Memo came by the Kustom Kar Books booth again I asked Memo (Inset top Right) to sit down for a moment and showed him this photo. He had not seen a photo not the car since 1962 when he sold it to an unknown person. Memo started long at the photo and was really touched. He was so happy to see his old ride once again, an was now able to show his friends how the quad headlights looked on his old car which he bought from Gil Ayala. I think its really great to have another photo of this historical important Custom Car in its last known version.
The question is... what happened to it after this photo was taken.

 

Rik ...thanks for posting.Very important piece of history this photo is.I personally feel there is to many unanswered questions like the license plates,the fact that Memo said he never found any trace of any bronze paint anywhere,the slight difference in tailights and the different guys(or were they) posing in front of the car and a couple more unanswered questions.There are questions raised now that I cant just sleep on but thanks for the great picture.

 

Hey Jeff,

At the end of the day, the facts ( as we know them ) don't support the ''second car theory'' Gil probably stripped all the bronze off before he reprimed the build prior to sale. Trying to establish ''truths'' from photos taken over sixty years ago, by different sources, and from different photo angles is an exercise in wishful thinking
Yeah, I'd love like hell for there to be more than one '42 Ayala coupe, but I ain't seein' it


" The ice cream truck in his neighborhood plays Helter-Skelter "

 

As usual, Rik has the best info and digs deep to get it...

 

Second Car Theory.....that is pretty good.Ya Gil must have pulled off the vent and stripped all the bronze before he welded the piece of metal to cover the vent up in which his coupe had.The fact that these very similar coupes had different plates in the same couple years and the fact that Gils wife said that the bronze colored photos were not Gils car holds no weight and is just a case of wishful thinking and establishing truths.Well maybe to you but those coincidences actually do raise up questions.Nobody said that these issues make any truth but they do make the people who care dig a little deeper.Cant just assume everything we read with these old Customs is fact now can we.

Oh ya.Memo said the pinkslip said it was a 46 ! So lets stop calling it a 42/46 there is NO such thing especially if there was only one coupe.

 

Just to stir it up a little, Maybe ol' George B. wasn't the 1st to start building 2 or 3 or the same "custom" cars. He did it with the 2 chevy coupes, and then all the 60's tv show cars.
If someone came into Gil's shop and said I want a car just like yours built, think he would have said no? I think had he done that though, somewhere someone would have a shot of the 2 cars together. It's too bad those who could REALLY answer the question are no longer here.

 

But the problem is if there were two cars the bronze one would have been built first for a customer and then Gil would have built a second for himself which seems highly unlikely to me. Maybe in a stretch I could see him doing it the other way but I absolutely don't believe he "cloned" a customers car for himself.

Now I could believe that he started the car for someone else and then bought it from that person or the guy couldn't pay his bills and gave the car to Gil as payment something along those lines (it would explain the different plates) but I can't believe he would build an almost identical car for himself after he had built one for a customer.

 

The Jack Stewart 1941 Ford is listed as a 1972 ASVE on its title...

 

Jeff,
As mentioned before, in the same photo caption in The Rodder's Journal Ayala article were Lucille mentioned the bronze colored car was not Gil's, she also mentioned it was a 1947 car. And that Gil's car was a 1942 Merc?

 

I think it said she didn't recognize the guy and the car was ID'ed as Bob Gillium's '47 whatever that means. She Id'ed it, it was written on the picture? It was kind of a vague description of the whole thing.

 

Was thinking about this today and was wondering if anyone has heard of any updates ?

 

wandering if you would know if the last 2 feet of a 1954 merc quarters would adapt to a 1954 ford victoria. your input would be deeply appreciated. thanks gary

 

wandering if you know if the last 2 feet of 1954 merc quarters would adapt to a 1954 ford victoria. your input would be deeply appreciated .thanks gary

 

I have no idea if there is any truth to this at all.So a friend of mine was at a show today and claimed that he was told this car was an old Gil Ayala car.He sent me the pic after the show so he didn't get a phone # or any other info on it.So like I said.....not sure if there is any truth to this.I know there isnt a lot of people who care about this but it might get interesting.


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The guys claims it was actually Gils car or that the Ayala's customized it? It has some sweet wheels and tires on it now.

 

^ Yes very sweet wheels and tires on it and the hood is just great.He didn't say Gil's personal car but just said an Ayala custom.The only thing that makes me wonder, is the chop with no driprails and the molded rear fenders.Not very many recent streetrods remove driprails these days.Its hard to even tell exactly what the car is.

 

Yeah it does have the look of an older custom that has been reworked. It would be cool if it was another Ayala car. I assume that's the only picture you have?

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Ya its all I have........I can't believe that guy only sent me this pic.

 

Looks like it was at the Street Rod Nats this weekend in York Pa. There may be more pics of it out there.


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Even though this is my second post I had to contribute these, dug around the web and found two rear shots of the same car at the York PA show, It looks like it's for sale and there's a plate, fingers crossed this story pans out. I have read this entire thread over and over for months, truly great stuff, and perfect merc jeffsled, Dick Dean did wonders. Thanks -Ross <a href="http://s153.photobucket.com/albums/s220/wa_ross/?action=view&current=28D13685-FD40-42EC-BB23-B4E4AA1B7348-1030-00000167C2EC873B_zpse042c668.jpg" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://s153.photobucket.com/albums/s220/wa_ross/?action=view&current=DDF82930-06D4-44BA-992F-AF81CEC7D815-1030-0000016630C9D779_zps5da74de7.jpg" target="_blank"></a>
It's not looking like a ford.

 

It looks like a '41 Chevy.