Kool article on the Kustomrama web site on Jimmy Jones fender skirts. I'm not aware of the history behind the skirts and this is a good read. Be sure to check it out..... Click the link below https://kustomrama.com/wiki/Jimmy_Jones_Bubble_Skirts
Agree with above , I liked the look , and understood it took mechanical skill (shapeing) , as well as artistic skill (appearance) . A lot have one or the other, but seldom both.
Thanks a lot! Glad you liked the story I got a lot of info and leads on this story from the HAMB. The research goes on, and I'm currently trying to dig up a photo of the man himself...that has not been easy
I talk to an old guy about Jimmy Jones skirts due to the fact that he had a set and he obtain them from Mr. Jones, himself. But it was a painful experience in obtaining them. At the time, he did not have enough money to buy a pair so he had Mr. Jones make one up for one side of his car (1950 Olds). He said it was pretty neat, only the white wall was showing and not the rim, look like he lower the car more than he did. So he save up enough money and went back for the other side. Well one side cost X number of dollars and the other side (the second one) cost X number of dollars plus. So the second one cost more than the first one. He asked Mr. Jones why the second one cost more, because he did not have enough money and had to come back later to get it. Mr. Jones told him the first one set the standard, he did not have to match anything other than fitting the quarter panel but the second one had to look exactly like the first one and also fit the car the same way. But my friend would not let it go and asked him if that was the case with all of the skirts he made. Mr. Jones replied that he usually makes them up in sets, working on both sides the same time, using the same sections of sheet metal the same time, and finishing them the same time. I know fact or fiction, who knows, I did not see the car. I first meet this guy at a gas station while he was filling up his 59 Chevy and that had finder skirts (Foxcraft).
I was reading that article the other day. I have to dig through my gmail, because it always hides it in promotions or some crap. Good job on the article. Root
Yeah, Jimmy Jones was a true artist! The illustrator of the above attachment isn't bad either. I can't decipher the signature. Do you know who it is, Lil E?
That illustration was in the Nov/Dec 1995 KOA Styleline on page 37. It is hard to make out, even looking at the magazine, but the signature looks like J. Rich. E
Here’s an off the wall story for ya. The other day I pull up to the music shop in my Merc (with fiberglass bubble skirts) for my guitar lesson and this older guy pulls in behind me wanting to ask me about my car. He asks me if I knew where the skirts came from. I told him couldn’t remember the name of the place but I could look it up and get back to him. Asks me if they are metal and told him they were glass. Then he says do you know the history? I grew up near Detroit and there was a guy outside town who made them from roofs of cars he says. (Remember, I’m in central Arkansas). Jimmy Jones I says...Inkster skirts! That’s the guy he says...he lived in Inkster so we called them Inkster skirts. Then tells me his brother had a set on his 53Ford and just gave them away to a here in town not too long ago. Rats!!!
I heard more than once that many cars in the salvage yards(back then) all around inskster had chunks of metal messing from them. More than likely used as metal taken for skirts.
There is a pic in a Jimmy Jones thread here someplace that has a pic of a car in a junkyard with a set sliced out of it. Pretty cool! The '59 Imapala convertible pushing the dragster looks really nice with it's set. I didn't realize until reading the link that his "rainbow" is one feature that makes these skirts look so good.
The Jalopy Journal
