In the 50`s, sport cars were all the rage. So people used what they could find to build cars like the Robert Roeder 34 Ford.
This is a true custom Model A, built circa 1930 by Gordon Buehrig. He moved the body aft on his cabriolet, lengthened the hood, and chopped off the back end of the body for a separate trunk. I think the top is chopped a bit, and the visor is gone. Very custom, but consistent with the era in which he was operating:
There was some nice sportscar looking hot rod's back in the day. And some ugly. There was a thread about some Hawaiian rods, channeled, sectioned, cut down doors and full full fendered. I most confess there are some really pieces of art in this thread. More info in this?:
Though I've got a soft spot for the early show rods (and the later ones - it was some Tom Daniel box art that first got me into hot rods, at the age of seven) I was hoping the thread was going to be about this sort of thing: because I'd asked the same question back in 2011. Surely there were other examples? Rasmus mentioned Hawaiian-style rods: These are all from the thread, "Hawaiian Roadster Survivor," many courtesy of Lucky444. There are a few coupes among the roadsters, but I'd have loved to see a Hawaiian-style sedan, for instance. What else is out there?
Gordon Buehrig worked for the Duesenberg company designing custom, made to order bodies for their customers. He wanted a custom built car but could not afford a Duesenberg so he bought a new Model A and had a body built to his design in the Duesenberg shops (with the approval of his boss). They started by cutting off and scrapping everything aft of the windshield. Then they moved the cowl back 4" and made a new hood. From there, they built the rest of the body of the same materials, to the same standard as a Duesenberg. There were other young guys who wanted something special but could not afford an expensive car, and they got them in similar ways. Most customs at that time were built by guys who worked in body repair shops. It was only after WW2 that this became a big thing, and guys like Barris could run a shop doing custom work exclusively. This was different from the custom body era of the twenties and thirties. They were not making one off bodies from scratch. They were modifying existing cars for a better appearance and swapping parts between makes (tail lights, grilles, side trim) to achieve a novel effect.
I absolutely love this car! The channel job is somewhat reminiscent of this early version of Dave Stucky's sedan (the basis for the Lil' Coffin), but MUCH nicer. What a class act!
I don't think so. Rusty has the story correct; Buehrig was actually going for a Junior Duesenberg. I thought that the doors were retained from the Ford body, but you may be right. Many of the design details -- fenders, bumpers, headlights -- are still Model A, so its Ford origin isn't completely obscured. I think that Buehrig was looking to upgrade his modest car, and to give it the proportions and features of more upscale, expensive cars. This is much the same as a 1950 guy putting a Cadillac grille and taillights on a Chevy. I don't see his intent as being very different from postwar guys; I think he was pointing the way for them.
Buehrig himself said that he wanted a custom built car but couldn't afford one, but as an employee the Duesenberg company allowed him to have his Model A rebuilt at cost price. You may be right about the doors. Buehrig later gave complete details of the build and his reasoning behind each part of the design.He said he paid extra for a Sport Coupe model because of the windshield but it could be the doors he wanted. Some of the guys in the body shop thought he was "nuts" to cut up a brand new Ford!
You can start here (Kustomrama). http://www.kustomrama.com/index.php?title=Joaquin_Arnett's_1934_Ford
What a great thread, pnb. Hoodah thought? I rank the Ala Kart among the top customs ever. It's hard to believe it was built in 1957...quad lights, air bags, and all! Even the name was innovative! The AMT model became the biggest selling model car of the era. The Dean Jeffries scallops were on the undersides of the fenders as well, and were once masked over for a repaint of the car. And the car was once badly damaged by an engine fire, with a 4 inline 2 barrels Dodge Hemi. (The Hilborns were more for show.) I was disappointed when the the Ala Kart did not win the AMBR big trophy for the third time. I think that the tin foil covered jack stands (as had been originally displayed) couldn't have helped. They represented the car as a period icon, rather than the timeless classic that it is. Next time, chrome jack stands! I love this picture of the Eclipse, Sancho. The later re-paint just didn't quite grab it for me. There was once a magazine article reader poll titled "Which is best, East or West", pitting the Eclipse with the Ala Kart. At the time, I prefered the Eclipse. (The Ala Kart won.) The '59 Caddy grille bullets on '58 Ford mesh is one of the best combos ever. And note that there is no cowl/hood seam on the sides of the car. Credit the "outlaw" with breakong all the rules; It had a 4 carb Caddy mill like Norm G's "Kooky car", but left us wondering..."do homemade bodies really count?" Yet it still holds up in this pre-'35 customs thread. The Eddy Martinez stitch work was ground breaking. Roth used to street race this thing! Though not to my liking, this was a once famous custom. But Alas, the front fenders appeared at a swap meet in an old HAMB thread. How the mighty have fallen!
Thank you Ned for sending this thread in the right direction. Will somebody post a pic of Clark Gables yellow Dusenberg with the dual tire carrier on the rear of the car. Also in the issue of Honk(the one with a dog on the cover) there`s a 32 taildragging 3- window coupe.
What an absolutely stunning coupe! If you look closely, it can be seen in red behind the Juaquin Arnett coupe in the following picture.
This one was built in the early sixties by Joe Cruces (of "Tall T" and "Crucifier" fame.) I guess "Custom Rod" would be an apt description. How about an "A" coupe, with a '59 Chevy deck? The "Time Traveler" appeared in Car Craft in 1965, still exists today.
I am a custom guy but have a wide variety of eras/styles that I like. I also like Ned's post but don't understand why there has to be a "right direction" for a thread. Like it or not the custom rods were part of the hot rodding history. 'Beaner started off with a picture of the Lil' Coffin, so I assumed that was the style he was talking about. Sorry I took the thread off course.
There have been some outstanding examples built over the years but IMHO there have been many,many more that looked like circus wagons and didn't stand the test of time. Some of the cars shown in this thread look as fresh today as the did back when they graced the covers and pages of the magazines in which they were featured. Personally,I like customs but some,not all of the over the top creations built from the cars of the 30's are ugly as a mud fence. HRP
I guess any open-wheeled car can more aptly be called a "hot rod" than a "custom", but the Ayala built Eddy Dye roadster sure had some beautiful bodywork. There were many others as well (Dick Flint's, Dick Craft, etc.) featuring custom noses, hoods, belly pans, etc. by the top metal men of the day (including Westergard, Craig Naft, Steve Moal, et.al.), but I guess that's best left for another thread. I'll just leave this as an example. (Note that the cowl reveal has been removed and the wheel well filled.)
I noticed that a lot of the cars in this thread have what we used to call the crouching tiger look, channel the body and leave the fenders @ stock ride height in relation to the body. That is something that almost no one does any more. Also a lot of the "customs" are show rods, no disrespect intended. Very early '60s. I am not sure that show rods sucked me in when I was young but they sure played a big part in my becoming an addict. Thanks fellas for helping me remember a big part of our hobby that we have seemed to forget.
I guess the title of this thread threw me off a bit. But in a way you can see how one build style evolved into the radical builds. I love all styles(almost) of builds as most people do. If anything, maybe we can educate the public of a build style they might not have noticed before. Time will tell what direction this thread will take.
Following this exchange, I re-read the chapter about the Model A in Buehrig's book, Rolling Sculpture. The body fabrication and top structure on his car (from the B-pillar back) was actually done in Augie Duesenberg's race car shop, and then the paint and detail work was done at the Duesenberg factory. The model A doors were apparently retained, and the windshield was chopped 3". Nothing important there, I've just always found this car attractive and interesting, particularly as it was a custom that was built by one of my heroes in production car design.
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