Ray Lisea's roadster as featured in the January, 1959 issue of Rob Builder & Customizer... It's hard to ignore the fact that this is really an awkward car. It's proportions are just a tad off, the front-end feels incredibly heavy, the caps don't work... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some times our perspective just doesn't line up with theirs. Later, Dick
That is a pretty cool rod for its time,lots of guys may not like it now and like many rods and custom from years back,the eye you have now ,it not the same at all as you may of had if you were there then. I was,an talking to yonger guys now,I often get amazed by some of there ideas of what they think baced on there understanding. Most of the time I'm told,hay that would be bad at any time,but that is very wrong an show how little they really know of the times an how it shaped things. But for the most part,I'm like Ryan,I nearly always can find things I think could make a rod better in one way or another,and stuff I really like as it is. There is something outstanding on most rods an customs if you just look long enough to find them,even if your first thought is"Fugly" n then it starts getting better as you look with eye a bit more more open..
Think about all the chrome trim and odd color combos of that time -- definitely a traditional rod with fad mods of that time. I'd wear it out!
So I own what is left of this car and as much as it may pain Ryan it will be restored back to its 1959 glory haha... Unfortunately Ray has passed on but I have been in contact with his son Scott. Scott asked his mom about the car and here is what she had to say: Hi honey. great photos! I really don't have any stories as I never got to see it and I don't remember any stories from him. He just described it to me and showed me the Hot Rod magazine. He was very proud of it, and indeed it was gorgeous. I don't know why he sold it. During our courtship, we were always souping up a car. He was driving a '55 Chevy with 3 carburetors with progressive linkage, 3-on-the-floor instead of on the steering column and with a palm sized polished steel ball as a gear knob. We then put in a new clutch (truck clutch) and there were only 3 people who were able to shift it (I was one of them). He was a great driving teacher. He even drove to SF and parallel parked in on a hill and had me drive it out of there! I done good. He frequently traded his cars throughout our life, trading up. He loved to race but I hated road racing and it caused many an argument if he jumped into a spontaneous race when we were out together. Lots of teenagers died in our area in auto accidents. I did love working on the engines but it made my Dad crazy - he wanted me to take up knitting or something when I would come home with a carburetor in a shoe box smelling like gasoline. I could take it all apart and adjust the butterfly valve and the venturi system and get it all clean and pretty. In my Senior yearbook, they have "3 carburetors" under my name. It was a song that I lip-synced in a drama class show. I'm glad you have such a good photo of your dad when he was young. I love you, Boy. mama There is a bunch more pics and info here. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=628433 By the way I think the look is spot on for a late 50's hot rod but like the 1952 version too.
That doesn't pain me AT ALL. I had no idea this car was still around... And it makes me damn happy to hear a guy like you has it!
I actually really like the proportions on this car. The short, squat, and rounded look, makes me think a Crosley Radio and a Buck-Roggers spaceship had a night of passion together. While goofy to our eyes now, it'd fit right into Disney's Tomorrowland or any Palm Springs Ranch, circa 1958.
How could anyone not love the front of this hot rod? When something is that ugly it is actually beautiful.
Great car but the front looks a bit "tractorish". Wonder what it would look like with the headlights lowered?
Yep, I have 2 shells and a nice set of grill bars. They are kind of a pain to come by. I am also pretty sure the car was on a model A chassis not a '32 as was listed in the '52 Oakland Roadster program.
I like it. The article says "Nerfing bars", can't say I've ever heard that before. I think the Chrysler grille gives a nice track nose effect, looks right at home to me.
This car is a perfect example of something that I was trying (but awkwardly wording) to explain on T-Feverfred's thread called "The Eye". That car that has so many things that just don't add up, yet when you step back from it and really look, it's bitchin'! It's the strangest way of "styling" a vehicle, and it misses sooooo many times more than it hits, but like in this case when it does hit, it works. I too would play a bit with this one and as Ryan suggested lose the nerfs, and maybe go to the next step in the car's evolution and bolt on some full polish 6" American mags. Hell, dial the way back machine forward a couple of years to '61, and it's one of the few cars that I would ever consider putting whites on with mags...
Luck 1974....you are lucky!! That's so cool that you have the remnants of this car! I've only seen one picture of it before and have always liked the look of it. It's kind of "odd" in some ways but I think for the time it was built in, it was on track with some of what was going on. I really like that front end. I've never seen one used in that fashion before but it really works with the build. I dig it!!!!
Viewing the photo and reading Ryan's comments bring a couple of things to mind. First of all, that photo looks suspiciously like a highly retouched photo, not at all a 'natural' look to it. As such, the rear quarter heaviness may be a result of a careless, or tasteless, artist/editor. Even the interior coloration may be far from accurate. Second, the car was built in the late '50s for goodness sake! I am old enough to remember those days well and that car was not that much out of line for many built in the era. Flipper wheel covers were quite popular on all types of cars in the period. In fact, many were far worse. True, there were some very clean builds that have become iconic, but their rarity is why they achieved that status. EDIT: 12/19/20. Reading the text accompanying the magazine photos, the color of the paint was described as “Royal Lilac”, not maroon or candy red. That would go along way in accounting for the upholstery treatment and supports my speculation above that the photos were altered. I, too am glad the car survived and will be restored to 'as built'. That preserves real history....not revisionist "history".
why criticize a car that was built nearly 60 years ago? I see it happen too often and I believe it's disrespectful in some way. Don't critique, don't photo shop, don't do anything but admire a piece of history. Remember, those guys lived it.
The front reminds me a tiny bit of the Mechanix Illustrated "build your own sports car" but not as ugly. Interesting radius rods - combined hairpins and stock? The back ones look kinda long to me, but maybe just perspective. Chris
As Hnstray said, I think a lot of what makes that car ungainly to modern eyes is that obviously retouched cover photo. Just read the article and look in the black-n-whites and a different picture emerges. Imagine it in nice shiny lilac paint, and a not-quite as-contrasty interior, and I think it comes out just fine.
I have always been attracted to rods like the Lopez/Lisea roadster. It is the unique and quirky styling that makes this roadster so cool. These days so many people play it safe when building their hot rods that you get the mentality that anything radical isn't period correct to the early days. Also when a quirky survivor shows up it brings out the "it's hideous" you must change it and conform to a narrow definition. Lastly the Lopez/Lisea roadster may look a little oddball for the late 50s that maybe due to the fact it was originally built in the early 50s by Mike Lopez.
This is a prime example of "customizing". The guy that built it built what he liked, and the rest of us could like it...or not. Personally, I'm damn glad that each one of us wants our car to be "our own". I'm reminded of that every time I watch a "NAPCAR" race.
I think its neat. Not how I'd build one today necessarily, but I'd still be stoked to see it parked outside.
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