New Any idea where/when that picture was taken? Don't see a lot of them that low from "way back when". I love it.
It took a while for supply to catch up with demand, though. Somewhere I read about an early hot rod supplier buying up all the local dealers' supply of 16-inch steel wheels to re-sell to rodders. This would have been in the 1947-'48 era, I think.
period correct 50’s hot rods: posted this red roadster in the 60’s styles rods, but it was built in 58-59, so it is edited to fit the 50’s thread Hello, At Lions Dragstrip and most local strips, cars just pulled off the street, paid the entry fee and bought a pit pass. Then they popped off the hubcaps, spinners, and went to the starting line for full on runs down the strip. This chrome fender 5 window had one of the more popular undercarriages during this time for street cars. White paint to seal up everything and make it easy to spot oil leaks. Also, here is a very cool looking street roadster in 1959 at Riverside Raceway in So Cal that portrays "the look" of the cars during that time period, from back in those early days of hot rodding. The paint was just outstanding in the warm, California sun. Candy Red and Tahitian Red were all very popular on the custom cars, trucks, and hot rods. The paint was usually done locally, but the bright upholstery was another story. To contrast this bright red color schemes, white tuck and roll upholstery was usually installed. In coupes, roadsters, sedans, from 1955 to 63, people we knew in So Cal that had custom cars, trucks and hot rods, got white tuck and roll upholstery. The upholstery was half the local, USA cost and it was usually done across the Mexican border in TJ. Those upholstery jobs did not take too long, but it was tiring wandering around until the job was done. Also, some of those upholstery jobs had straw stuffed into the back seat rests instead of foam. It the job was done right, no one noticed. But, if not, some straw stuck out around the edges in the back. We thought the seats were always foam, as they were soft and comfortable. But, we did find straw in three cars, a 53 Chevy hardtop, 56 Chevy post and a bright purple 48 Ford coupe. The seat backs weren’t as noticeable as the actual seats when sitting for periods of time cruising. You get what you pay for away from the local USA shops. But, for cash strapped teenagers that saved for weeks and months, it was the only way to get a cool looking white tuck and roll upholstery in your hot rod/cruiser. Jnaki
photo from AAA archives Hello, Any border crossing in the southern USA led to custom upholstery jobs/shops in Mexico. The upholstery was called Naugahyde and sometimes smelled like Formaldehyde. The official name was "man made artificial leather." But it did look fabulous and smelled ok after airing it out for a couple of days. Cool cars going in and out of the border crossing in search for low cost upholstery shops. Jnaki
My brother's old jalopy. He got it from the original builder, over 30 years ago. I'm glad that he never changed it. I think I posted this picture somewhere before. So sorry if you've seen it. Fun old Rod.
Bumping this back up with my recently rescued Drag Coupster... It has came out of a shop/barn after at least three decades, and was last run long before that. I'm guessing that it was raced in the mid-to-late '50s and shelved when a flathead powered car no longer made much sense. 59AB Flathead, Evans 3-pot intake, Stromberg 48s, Edelbrock heads, Harman Collins mag, Belond headers, '39 box, Kelsey Hayes bent-spoke wheels, Firestone frontrunners, sawdust slick recapped Goodyear truck tires in back, '52 Ford swing pedals, '49 Buick gauges. It's gonna be back on the strip this summer...
Beaner: That sure is a good lookn' coupe. Wonder if it was some of the inspiration for Marcus Edle's car that was a build thread on here?
Could be at this point and us leaning toward all things obsolete pretty much everything we do has some inspiration in the past. @Tim sent me this pic the other day, more of a '60s car. But it has landed right in my inspirational zone. The idea of fenders no fenders is growing on me like weeds in a corn patch.
The Jalopy Journal
