Chili's Deuce Coupe Side Fins

Nope

 

The side fins have always been a visual hiccup in my book - I dig the grille treatment and stance, but the whole chrome fin thing just screams existential bolt on crap to me ... sort of the opposite of what a hot rod is in my mind.

 

I know it's and icon, but that kind of modification on a Deuce doesn't look right to me. I know a lot of hard work was put into making that look, but to me like he should've been working on a shoebox instead. JMO.

 

I'm glad Chili didn't ask any of you for input, because his car would have just been yet another forgettable deuce coupe...

A Barris chopped, Ayala channeled, blown Olds powered '32 is badass in my book, with or without side fins. Remember it was a show car and the period it was campaigned in wasn't known for restraint. How about you compare this one to a few other "butchered" '32s like Lil Coffin or The Eclipse. All of them are radical, all of them would get laughed out of the building today, yet all of them are KILLER. Long live early '60s show rods...

 

I second the motion, Long live those old show rods... Yep, some different times.

 

It might not be a skittle but it ugly! Is there any black skittles?

 

i never liked em much, but theyre part of an icon. as such, i think it would look wrong without em.

 

Our vision of the Perfect Traditional Hot Rod would not be what it is today if a couple of the pioneers of Hotrodding wouldn't have gone down a couple of dead ends, styling wise.

This car would not be right without them...


They kinda remind me of the bumpers on the Corsair Phantom.
That car wouldnt be right without those either.

 

Guess i'm goofy but, I love it!

 

Yeah, I know of at least one in my barn. Hell, I thought a dozen times in Louisville that someone had stole my sedan and was driving it around

 

The plastic pieces on the hub caps were put on last minute for a show cause Chille ran out of dough to have the Chrome reverse made.

I love every part of the evolution of the car.. it is what it is,,, makes perfect sense to me.

60's show cars rULE

 

Just busting your chops a little...

 

Not my particular style, but, its still cool.

 

Love it hate? Doesn't matter, 50 years later and were still talking about the car, it left it's mark on history, so they did something rite or at least at the rite time.

Here's a shot of it where I'm sure most people thought it would have been done, but even in 1958 it's just another Deuce, so they went further.

 

The show deuce? Kool.

The hawg? bizarre...
.

 

bizarre = the '60's

Deuce coupe side fins look conservative compared to the other machinery.

 

I'm with you on this !

 

The car was channeled the width of the frame before Catallo ever got the car. It was channeled by the previous owner, named Ziggy, and not Ayala as stated somewhere here.
I was there the day the car was bought.
The lower body was cut off and cleaned up by Pete's Custom Collision before Alexander Bros ever saw the car.
All of the versions of the car occured between 1958 and 1961.

 

i'm with the group that says it's ugly. i love the early channelled version with the silver scallops and the centrifugal supercharger.

funny how this car became known as the Beach Boys duece coupe, but the one in the song is a completely different car. i guess that album cover made all the difference?

Dave

 

Awesome,but not real traditional for the time i guess.

 

That car is so fucking awesome I just don't know how to express it.

 

I heard its to hide the shortened doors from the channel.......i almost did a treatment to mine... i hear the short doors were an east coast thing in the 60s...THe cool thing is you dont see the channel from the inside. you just slide in!

 

I think those side fins were there because the bottom half of the car was badly rusted. It was one on the steps the builders did as the car progressed to full blown show car.

41 Dave

 

Yeah, maybe I wouldn't want to drive the Ala Kart to the local 7-Eleven/Circle K, but I still recognize it as the definition of a certain time (late '50s, early '60s) and a certain genre (indoor shows).

Chili's coupe is equally iconic, and WE WOULDN'T KNOW WHERE WE'RE GOING IF WE DIDN'T KNOW WHERE WE'D BEEN.

So lay off today's critiques of yesterday's breakthroughs, and admire the workmanship and daring that made us what we are today.

Hey -- did YOUR deuce make the cover of a Beach Boys album?

 

exactly

 

The fascinating part of the Lil Deuce Coupe story is that the car went through several incarnations and it was all when Chili Catallo was still a teenager. He towed the car from Michigan to California during the build. The leaders of the hotrod movement in the day found it cool enough to be on the cover of Hotrod magazine and the cover of the Beach Boys album. It was the star of most of the shows it was in.
As proven by his success later in life, Chili Catallo was a mover and a shaker in the golden days of hotrodding.

 

I think it was probably very forward contemporary styling in the early 60's, its a cool car in my opinion, I'm a sucker for Oriental Blue Laquer paint...

 

I only ever saw the front on the Album Cover untill yhe car was restored a few years ago.The side looks ok but the rear is weird even by 60's show standards.

 

I'm in your club as well!

 

Chili's coupe is a true Hot Rod Icon. It may not be to everybodies taste through its different evolving stages, nor were a lot of the kustoms, or some of Ed Roths wk.

However they made personal customising statements back in the 60s which shot around the world.

Its fantastic that it survived for 1 & faithfully restored so we can continue to enjoy it.

I'm definitly for " The Little Deuce Coupe "