History What Ever Happened to..........?

Yup, I'm pretty sure it's the same car. Cool you found some older pics of it.

 

I guess I do get a little bummed when the information on a kustom is incomplete. I guess trying to find all the information about a car and owner is kind of my way of paying respect to the hands that put some awesome machinery on the road. The pictures are nice if I can find them. Sometimes trying to explain a car by just describing it is really hard. Whoever said a picture is worth a thousand words really knew what they were talking about!
I have to admit though, that it is really cool when all you guys add information--it has helped keep this thread very interesting.

Lincoln Land Kustoms has always been a club that I've really admired. It all started when I got my first kustom videos back in the late 90s on Ebay. A lot of the really neat cars on the videos at the shows seemed to have Lincoln Land Kustoms plaques on them. A few years ago when Ebay was still really good, there was a guy that sold drag plaques there. I managed to score a L.L.K. plaque that is proudly displayed in my tiny garage.
The custom movement of the 80's was really incredible when you stop and think about it. All the guys that grew up in the 40s and 50s during the "golden age of customs" were all old enough to have some disposable income and were still young enough to pull off building their dream cars. Project cars were still plentiful and affordable (for the most part) and the "resurrection of customs" was in full swing.

Clubs like Lincoln Land Kustoms had memberships of 40, 50 or even more, all with great customs. At this year's Leadsled, me and John Tretten (@PasoJohn) were talking about the "good ol' days" of the 80s. He told me when he first got into customs that the KKOM (Kustom Kemps of Minnesota) was THE club in his area to be in at the time. He was eager to build a custom and get involved. He said that he was one of the youngest members (he was in his late 20s or early 30s at the time), but the "old" guys in the club were very active and the club was thriving. John said he could remember the club all caravanning to shows and it was normal for 30 or 40 club cars to all roll in together--sometimes more!

This is something that I can hardly imagine. Nowadays, you go to a show and if you're lucky there are maybe 5 real customs there. Sadly it's usually less. Shows anymore seem to be full of muscle cars, street rods, modern muscle cars (like new Challengers, Chargers, Vettes and Camaros), rat rods and body dropped trucks. Where the hell are all the sleds?

We have to take our hats off and give credit to the older guys that were teens in the 40s and 50s, that built the cars of their dreams in the 80s and were so hardcore and dedicated. Bums me out that so many have left us and a lot have drifted away from cars for some reason or another. The sad truth also is that many of these guys are now too old to build cars anymore, and maybe can no longer drive. The world of customs has suffered because of all these things. Time has moved on.
The 1980s were the "resurrection age of customs", and unfortunately, I don't think it will ever come back like that again..........E

 

What Ever Happened To..........? number 21.

1956 Pontiac "Party Doll"
Owner: George (Teddy) Coffeen
Warrick, Rhode Island

Wow, can you believe that it's almost Labor Day? Where did the summer go? It sure goes by fast. There's something sad to me about the "unofficial" end of summer.
Every Labor Day weekend for 34 years now, east coasters, as well as a lot of people from all over the country gather in New Jersey for the "World's Biggest '50s Party". Now, when this event was started, it was all about the leadsleds and customs, but as time has moved forward and times have changed, the event is now more open to a lot of later makes and models (i.e. musclecars and restored stockers). This is unfortunate, but what can you do?
The east coast has always been a hot bed of customs, but many of us have never seen them at shows further west as they don't venture out much past the Mississippi River.
There are a bunch of hardcore leadsled builders that are still doing what they always did back in the 50's and 60s. To them, it's still 1961.
One of the guys from Rhode Island that was all about customs was Ted Coffeen. He built a '56 Pontiac that looked like it rolled right out of the little pages. Shaved. frenched, Continental kit, kustom taillights with frosted plastic accents, the whole nine yards.
Ted was a regular at Lead East, and attended at least two Leadsled Spectaculars. In my video research I found he was there in '84 and in '85, but I couldn't see his car in any other videos. His car was also featured on a video called "Lead It Roll" that was filmed at Lead East in '92 or '93. They did a great interview of Ted and had some nice shots of his car. Now as far as pictures, I was only able to find one picture of the car. I hope somebody out there has more.
Ted is the cousin of George Desomma (W.E.H.T. #10), and according to a reply by George Desomma's son, George Jr. in this thread (post #154), Ted moved to Florida and eventually sold the car. Rumor has is that the car was repainted a different color, but hasn't been seen for years. Have you seen the Party Doll? I sure wish I could! E



What Ever happened To..........? number 22.

1951 Ford
Owner: Chris Bogas
Salt Lake City, Utah

Surprise! Since we have an upcoming holiday, I decided that this week's post would be a "Two fer Tuesday". Hope you enjoy the bonus pick.
This Ford is truly a one of a kind. Hard to do something different to a shoebox, but Chris did it. The distinctive '59 T-Bird front bumper sets this car out from the rest, as well as the hooded headlights. The re-worked rear quarter panels and the Mercury Meteor lights help out as well. The car is definitely different, but once you see it, it's a car you will remember.
I know I've seen this car in a magazine somewhere before, but all my searching turned up nothing. I did find it on a few of my videos though. It was at the Leadsled Spectacular in 1984 and 1987. It may have been there other than these two years, but these are the only two I could find it on. It is commendable that the car was driven from Salt Lake City to Des Moines in '84 and Springfield, Ohio in '87.
After finding it on the videos, the trail for this car went cold. So, it appears this sled disappeared after 1987.
Luckily, I found some great pictures of it on Riksters' site, and hopefully with the help of these pictures, we can find out "What Ever happened To..........?" this cool custom.
Until next week, have a safe Labor Day, and take that sled out for a cruise before the weather goes south! E

 

Great thread guys, I'm glad you're keeping up with it! I've got tons of pics from KKOA's Spectaculars (1985-2001) and Sledscene East (1983-2004). Lead East, 83-2014 (after that it sucked!) Tough to find time to take them out of books and scan them, though!

 

Hey @chopolds, you were one of the lucky guys that was there during those great times when customs were king at those shows. We'd love to see some photos. I'm sure there's lots of history there. Thanks for checking in on this thread! E

 

I thought I had a pic of the shoebox, but I'm mistaken. I've never seen the Party Doll before. I just love plexi finned tail light lenses!

 

The T-Bird front is different and "fish mouthed" like you said. Maybe some bullets or something might have helped the "fishiness" (lol). I like the fact that it is different though. So many customs are awesome but have a lot of the same grilles. This took some work and wasn't run-of-the-mill.
Thanks for the kudos! I appreciate the fact that the custom guys here on the HAMB are enjoying the thread!

Party Doll is one of my favorites. Wish I found more pictures of it. I dig the plexi do-dads too, Doc. Reminds me of cars in the magazines in the late 50s and early 60s. I've always wondered what glue they used to keep them on, and wondered how many got knocked off by "touchy" onlookers at cars shows or in the parking lot at the grocery store. I've also wondered how they got them all even. If you look at them they all look perfect like they were made on a production line with a machine. True craftsmanship!
I've always wanted to try something like this on one of my cars, but the right one hasn't come along yet. E

 

Say Hi to Dad for me and Sue, Jr.

 

I liked Party Doll so much, I took a close up pic of the rear quarter panel of the car capturing the name of the car. During the dance Saturday night in Springfield Ohio, they had it displayed in the building. Something that didn`t happen at all at any of the KKOA events. Chris`s car was also at the Springfield Missouri show. I often wondered why people don`t flip the bumper upside down. It seems to me it would flow a lot better. You have to admit, that would be a heck of a long way to travel to a show in the Midwest back then. It seems like a common thing to do today.

 

This forum is bringing back a lot of memories for me. I was heavy into customs in the 80s and was a member of the Lincoln Land Customs. I was asked to join by John Gullett your number 11 "what ever happened to." Its also a little frustrating, when I moved to Florida I threw away hundreds of pictures of customs taken at KKOA events, many of them were of cars featured in this forum.

 

That's a great tutorial, Mark. Really similar to gluing acrylic together to make teardrop knobs. Something I enjoy doing but haven't made time to do in a while.
It constantly blows my mind how people touch, grab and rub other people's cars at shows and cruise nights. Some people don't mind it, but I've seen others get really upset. I can understand guys getting upset about it. Some cars have a prince's ransom in the cost of the build. E

 

Personally like the T bird bumper/ grille, although I agree the vast blank space needs something to break it up.

Sent from my SM-G920T using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

What Ever Happened To..........? number 23.

1950 Merc "Hammerd"
Owner: Jeff Johnson
Green Bay, Wisconsin

This week's "What Ever Happened To..........? is probably the most radical car that I've posted on this thread so far. At least as far as the chopped top goes. According to the information I've found on the car, it was chopped a whopping 9 3/4 inches! In my opinion it might have been chopped too much, but it was a sensation back in the 80s. It is definitely a Merc that you would have remembered if you ever saw it at a show or in a magazine. The quad headlights that were from a '58 Chevy also add to the unique look of the car as well. The front clip was made to tilt forward and was opened via hydraulics. The car also had a louvered hood, skirts as well as the trunk lid.
The car seemed to transform a little as time went on. The earlier pictures of it showed that it had no sunroof or flames. Later on, the sunroof was added as well as the flames.
Surprisingly enough, I was only able to find a little magazine coverage. There were a few pictures of it in the article called "Those Magnificent Mercs" in Custom Cars by Hot Rod Vol. 1 #5 from 1983. It was in black and white on page 49, and in color on page 54. In these pictures it had no flames or sunroof. The car was also featured in Custom Cars by Hot Rod Vol. 2 #2 from 1984 on page 30. The article was called "Low Lid Special". In this article it had the flames and sunroof.
I was able to find some great pictures of it on Rikster' site. One early photo before the flames and sunroof, and two of the later version.
Jeff Johnson was very active in the KKOA in the mid 80s. On videos, I see that he had the car at the Leadsled Spectacular in '83 and '84. He also ventured out to the west coast for Sled Scene West in 1986. After that, they dropped out of site. Did he sell "Hammerd"? Was it wrecked and destroyed? Did it go to live overseas? That is the mystery..........
Until next week, cruise on..........E

 

And yet another car from back in the day that that you can not forget if you ever saw it in person. With the addition of flames, you don`t notice the heavy chop as much. He is on the HAMB. I believe he goes by hammered. Notice the louvers on the trunk.

 

Thanks Mark. I figured that you mid-west guys would like this one since he was from Wisconsin. Just a stone's throw from Minnesota and Iowa.
Be cool if Jeff were to find it. There are some cars a guy builds, then sells and can never shake the regret of letting it go.

I agree with you Jim. The flames helped take your eyes away from the crazy chop. I bet putting the windows in after the chop and paint was a real bear! E

 

Surprisingly, even though I grew up less than an hour from Green Bay, I have no pics of Jeff's car from any local shows. Certainly, I saw it in the mags, but don't actually recall having seen it in person. Go figure that. LOL

Here's a thread Jeff started that has lots of pics of it...he says he sold it in '92 when he lived in CA and hadn't seen it since '93:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/pics-of-the-merc.627107/

Jeff also started a thread back in '09 that said he was starting over and building a copy. One guy replied that a friend of a friend had recently bought the car but it was in a warehouse and hadn't been run in a long time....
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/starting-over.404604/

 

I am with drdave. I attended a lot of Midwest custom car shows back in the late 80 early 90s and never saw this car. If it was around Wisconsin during that time I am sure it would have been at one of the Mid Century Mercury car shows. It looks like he might have moved to the west coast in the early 80s

 

Thanks for posting those links, Doc. Lots of great information there, and a great tie in to this week's car.

Funny you mention Jeff's moving to California. On the Sled Scene West 1986 video, Rowdie interviewed Jeff and he was telling a few things about his car. In the interview he said something to the effect that "I hope you people love the snow this winter when I'll be out cruisin".......... That might be about the time he moved to California, huh?

I just re-watched that interview and I noticed a few details about the car that I had missed before. In the interview the car had wire hubcaps--the moon discs were gone. Also, Jeff had a banana painted on the trunk lid of the car, with the inscription "Just one of da bunch" lettered on it.
Always wondered, at least in the pictures I've seen of the car, why Jeff never ran whitewalls on the front. Go figure.........E

 

Found this great pic in one of the threads Doc linked us to.
In the '83 video, Jeff was wearing a huge pair of sunglasses clowning around while cruising through the fairgrounds. Low and behold, there they are on the back deck. Also dig the GIANT pair of fuzzy dice sitting next to them. Love the pic! E

 

Found this: http://joanhigham.com/PizzaParty3/PizzaParty3.html
It was from Feb. 2004. Ed, in your description you mention a continental kit but it doesn't have it in the photo you posted. Notice that the pipes have been shrouded and are now triple outlet in this photo. It also has a plexiglass insert in the hood.

 

Man Sancho, I must have been really tired when I posted the picture of Ted's Party Doll as I totally missed the fact that there was no connie kit on it. I was just glad I was able to find a picture of it. For such a beautiful car, it turned out to be an elusive one as far as pictures go.
Like the shrouded lakes, too.
Thanks for adding the picture. You can sure dig up some information! E

 

Don't sweat it. It had one in 2004!

 

What Ever Happened To..........? number 24.

1951 Ford Coupe
Owner: Hank Schlueter
Lowell, Indiana

Wow, hard to believe how tough information is to find on some of these feature cars. This Ford proved to be one of the harder ones for sure.
Hank Schlueter put this tasty little Ford coupe together in the early 80s. This is a text book type of car that a teenager would have built in the late 50s or early 60s. Very similar to Jon Gullett's '50 Ford Coupe that I featured in this thread a few months back (W.E.H.T #11). It is a very mild car that a few high school buddies, and maybe, with a little help of a knowledgeable (and skilled) father could have pulled off pretty easily in a short amount of time--that is if there wasn't a big cash flow problem for parts and supplies.
The body had the usual mods such as a shaved hood, trunk, door handles, and a frenched antenna. The rest is mostly bolt-ons such as a '54 Chevy grille with lots of extra teeth and '57 Chevy turn signals, dummy spots, lake pipes and '55 Pontiac side trim. I think the thing that makes this car stand out so much is the great yellow and white two-tone. It really makes this car look like it rolled out of the 50s. It seemed like there were a lot of customs done in yellow in those days, as well as in the 80s. For some reason though, it seems like yellow has fallen out of favor and you don't see much of it on customs these days.
The car also featured a beautiful yellow and white rolled and pleated interior.
Hank attended the '83 Leadsled spectacular, as well as the '85 Leadsled where one of Rowdie's girls interviewed him. He gave the full rundown on the car, as well as mentioning the car was for sale so he could get started on a '46 Ford.
After that, I didn't see the car on any of the other videos I have. I figured that maybe the car changed hands and the KKOA run was over.
The car was a single page feature (in black and white, unfortunately) in Custom Cars by Hot Rod Vol. 2 #2 from 1984 on page 34. There was also a color picture of it in the same issue on page 29 in their coverage of the '83 Leadsled Spectacular in Springfield, Ohio. That was all the magazine coverage I could find.
I did manage to find one picture of it on Rikster's site, but that was all. I'm sure somebody out there has to have some more pictures of this subtle but stunning little Ford.
Well, it looks like fall is soon to be upon us, at least here in Denver. It was cool today, mostly cloudy and threatening to rain. It will be snowing soon (YUK!). But, it isn't too late yet, get your girl or wife and the kids, load up the sled and get to the local drive-in for a burger, fries and a cherry Coke. 'Til next week, cruise on..........E

 

Haven't been able to find much about the car itself but did find some on Hank. Looks like he is still in Indiana and still into old cars.

This is from 2014:

"Hank Schlueter of Lowell, IN prepares to drive his 1941 Ford pickup truck with rare factory 4-cylinder engine off a trailer at the hotel on Tuesday."

Don't know what year this was:

"Here's the '47 Cabover in front of Richard's in Long Beach Ca. Hank and Heath Schlueter would drive it from Long Beach to Lowell, Indiana on Father's Day weekend after enjoying the L A Roadster Show. "

"Individual class winners at the 2005 Newport Antique Hill Climb were"
"Hank Schlueter, Lowell, Indiana, 1941 Ford, 22.67"

 

That's cool, Sancho! Glad to know that Mr. Schlueter is still around and playing with cars. Wonder if he has any customs..........E