RIKSTER, ANYBODY, PLEASE HELP! i need info and photos of the KANDY (or CANDY) WAGON. it was a 56 buick i believe. any info and photos would help VERY much. thanks everyone
i do believe it was a deep red almost crimson candy 1956 buick built in the mid to late 50's. i want to say 1958? i have no idea who built the car though! i used to have an old rod and custom magazine with it in there, but after many searches through my collection i cannot find it for the life of me!
Joe Bailon built this 1957 Buick for Bob Pallidino and named it the Candy Wagon.... Same car as you remember?
Here are a few more photos of the Candy Wagon. Slightly better scan than previously posted. The car is still around. The black and white photos were published in the May 1995 issue of Rod & Custom as how it was found. I don't have the February 1958 Issue of Custom Cars.... but perhaps somebody else does, and can scan it for you. Perhaps you should change the title of this post and add Joe Bailon and Candy Wagon to it.. then you might get a few more reactions...
The 1959 Custom Cars Annual has a two page feature on the car. It looks like car owner Bob loaned his car out to a Pin-striping student... Who went "slightly" overboard.
My friend Paul Kelly had the magazine and scanned the cover and feature. It looked so much better without the striping. According the R&C article the car was later painted black with lime gold fogging. Not sure if I have ever seen that version. Scans by Paul Kelly
That is sad to see such a beautiful car in such a bad shape! I really like the headlite treatment and really dont like the striping...actually it can easily be the worst ive seen! And the Desoto grilee its kinda outta place also....Just my useless opinion of course!
It never ceases to amaze me that a car is built to the standards of that era and abused to the point it ends up discarded looking like the last photo,, HRP
Now that was a cool car! To bad it went to shit as most customs did. Did anyone ever try to restore it or is it in the process?
I have not heard anything about this car after reading it in the 1995 issue. Below is the text that went with the photos.
C'mon Rikster...I think I called you down on this one once before... "where" means a place... "were" means as before, the past... "photos "were" published in the May..." I know, I know, you don't have a 'proofreader' for the HAMB... but I'm still around...!!! R-
well....rumor has been going around that is INDEED is very close to me and where i live. but thats all im saying. thanks for all the info and photos everyone. although i am not building a clone or restoring the car (although i would love to find it), i simply want to incorporate some of the ideas from that car to a project im working on! thanks again everyone!
well...i went on a treasure hunt yesterday to look for the elusive kandy wagon. i did some research online for the ranch in brentwood ca. i drove out to the house with a buddy of mine and went up to the door of the house and rang the bell. a man answerd the door and i intoduced myself and told him i was in a local car club. he stopped me right there and said "if youre looking for the kandy wagon its not here anymore" i laughed and said thats fine, and told him i was just looking for any info i could get on the car or what happend to the owner and also that im building a custom and taking some ideas from that car. boy it was like a light switch flicked on. he told me " well....im bob palladino, i was the owner" he was so excited to tell us about the life of the car. i mean after 50 years, someone comming to you and saying i really loved that car and im taking some ideas from it. how would you feel right? he said he bought it new from a buick dealer in antioch and took it right to bailon. where it was done for the 1st time. he showed it for afew years and took an award at the oakland roadster show for it. the car was striped by a local guy that went by THE MAD STRIPER, who ive actually heard stories about around town for a long time. he also told me that the car was shot at the old high school before it burned by none other than george barris for the motor trend spread it was in. pretty damn crazy. he told me that the car was redone black with different interior after years and then it got parked in the barn. the barn caught fire, and since the car was done with tons of lead it pretty much melted away, and what was left got sent to the crusher. a sad domise for a great custom. although the car is no more and i diddnt get to see it in person, i walked away with a great new friend. i told him id swing by again and show him some pictures of the progress on the custom im doin, and he was more then stoked for that. my treasure hunt ends, but the work and semi-homage to the car continues!
Thanks for the update on your treasure hunt... Great you where able to locate Bob. It sounds like there where several people there before you, to find out about the car. Did he say when the barn caught fire?... right now I can place the photos that John D'Agostino took of the car. I assumed those where taken (outdoors) in the early to mid 1990's. But somehow when I read your story I have the assumption the barn burned down long before that. Did he have any old photos of the car in his collection? Photos that he could share on here. I hope so, that would be really great.
i asked if maybe he had some photos of the build, or shots around town, and he said he diddnt think so and that all he had was what was in the magazine, but i asked his daughter (or maybe his wife! hahaha) if she knew of any others and she said shes going to poke around. i think he said the barn caught fire in 97 or 98....
Thanks... would be great if she would find some photos. Okay, so the barn burned down after John took the photos.... Sad, must have been hard for him. Holding on to his car for so long and then loosing it in a barn fire. PS... When you have your project up and running..... make sure you will stay away a few blocks from this Mad Triper guy!!!.. he is dangerous!
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