What Ever Happened To..........? number 268. 1955 Chevy Owner: Mark Moriarity Mound, Minnesota This week, I thought we'd pay tribute to one of the big time custom guys we have here on the HAMB. I'm pretty sure that everyone who has had any interest in following any of the threads about customs here on the HAMB has seen Mark chime in here and there. Mark has definitely been a true one of the few that has "been there and done that". Now I'm sure many of you are familiar with Mark's awesome collection of famous customs, Roth memorabilia, hot rods and anything cool that is (or isn't) automotive related, but what I want to focus on is his little black '55 that seemed to get the ball rolling with Mark way back in the early 80s. I've been taking notes on Mark's KKOA history for quite sometime, but like I've said many times before, I may not have all the facts correct. So, if I have anything wrong I hope that Mark "hisself" or anyone else can chime in and set the record straight. I guess I could have contacted Mark directly and found out all I needed to know for the article, but what fun would that be? Here we are able to present Mark with a surprise feature that is very well deserved! So, on we go.......... According to my scribblings, Mark's first trip to the Spectacular was in 1984. At that time, Mark didn't have a custom of his own, but he caught a ride with a friend in the back seat of a chopped Merc. Mark has mentioned that trip did something to him that he has never recovered from--a new life of custom craziness! I guess I can relate to that as my cousin introduced me to Classic and Custom magazine and the KKOA and I ain't been right since then either, so.......... After Mark returned home, he quickly decided to convert his nice black '55 Chevy into a custom. The car was more of a street machine at that time, but a small change here and there and viola, leadsled city! According to my notes, Mark took the '55 to the Spectacular in '85 in Springfield, Ohio. There was a black '55 driving into the fairgrounds on the video, but the shot was so blurry after my still photo you couldn't even tell it was a '55, so I deleted it. Also in my notes I have it written down that Mark attended the show again in '86 in Springfield, Missouri. I never saw the car on that video, so no help there either. Finally, for the '87 show in Springfield, Illinois I saw the Chevy and managed to get a decent shot. This was from the fairground cruise that was done at every Leadsled Spectacular that Rowdie filmed. Sorry the shot is so blurry, since the filming was in motion a clearer shot wasn't to be had. In 1988 the Spectacular was held in Holland, Michigan, and that seemed to be a very big show. Lots of great cars there. Here is a shot from the front where it looked like Mark was cleaning up the car some from the long trip to Holland. Here's a shot of the rear. If you notice in these pictures the car was cleanly shaved and looked to be razor straight. Black is so hard as it shows everything! This next shot is one of my all time favorite things about Mark's old '55. It read "Forget Buddy Holly? That'll be the day!" You have to admit, it doesn't get much cooler than that! I hope I don't have my picture sequence messed up as this wasn't on the trunk lid in my previous picture. I'm guessing the lettering was done on the car at the show in Holland. If my facts are off I'm sure Mark can set it all straight. Anyhow, here is a rare shot of the back of Mark's car with the lettering: For '89, the Spectacular was held in Davenport, Iowa. Compared to the other KKOA shows that Mark travelled to, this was a hop and a skip from Mound, only being about 370 miles from home. I guess the distance travelled is unimportant, it's the trip and the destination that counts, right? Here's a shot of Mark getting the car set up for show time. Notice that right behind Mark is another outstanding custom we've talked about here before, the 1950 Chevy convertible built and owned by Jim Stockton. It was W.E.H.T. #18. It's so awesome the car is still around and is still owned by Jim in pristine condition. The car has been seen at the CCR many times. Here's a link to that write-up just in case you weren't around this thread way back towards the beginning. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/what-ever-happened-to.1016572/page-11#post-11646991 In the next picture we get a good look at the Corvette grille that looks right at home in the mouth of the '55. If this picture was in black and white it could easily be taken for a shot at a high school field one day car show back in the late 50s. This car was timeless! In my last shot from Davenport '89, we get to share a glimpse of the interior. Pretty basic red and black interior that was easy to clean and durable for the road. Check out the cool teardrop knob on the shifter, as well as the cut down, airplane style steering wheel. Cooool! If my notes are correct, which they probably aren't, sometime after the '89 Spectacular Mark bought his '61 Chevy Impala that would eventually replace the '55. Again if my notes are right, '89 was the last year the Chevy was at the Spectacular. I had way more pictures of Mark's car that I found on the HAMB over time, but they were stored on a memory card that seems to have been corrupted or is stuck or something and will not open anymore. Grrrrr, I hate it when that happens! I went back through the HAMB for weeks but I wasn't able to find very many of those old pictures. One nice shot I found was taken by Scott Pavey that was featured over on Rikster's site. In this picture we see the '55 had red pinstriping on it at one point. I don't know the timeline of the striping, but I'm sure Mark will fill us in about that. Also, I don't know what show this was at. Our next shot tonight was taken by our very own Jim Stanley (@stanlow69) and was (and may still be) hanging on his infamous photo wall. Again I can't say when and where this was taken, but Jim will remember--that's for sure! Our last picture tonight is one that Mark took himself and posted just a few weeks ago. Mark posted it when we were discussing Tony Jobson's '50 Chevy Fleetline. This picture is great as there is a ton of custom history in it. The first car in the picture is Mark's Chevy, then there's John Tretten's (@PasoJohn) super '58 Plymouth convertible. This car made the rounds and eventually ended up in John's capable hands where it was finally finished up. We discussed this car here a while back. It was W.E.H.T. #244. The link for the '58 is below. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/what-ever-happened-to.1016572/page-154#post-14082610 The next car is Tony's Fleetline that was W.E.H.T. #266. Here's the link to Tony's car: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/what-ever-happened-to.1016572/page-154#post-14082610 The last car in this sensational line up is Doug Shoemaker's chopped Fleetline. We haven't discussed this car, but Doug did own John's '58 ragtop at one time, and a '50 Dodge Wayfarer that we featured quite a while back. It was W.E.H.T. #177. Doug had a knack for digging up some cool rides. Most were Mopars, but there were a few other neat ones as well. Here's the link to Doug's Dodge: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/what-ever-happened-to.1016572/page-122#post-13166071 Here's Mark's picture of the great four sled line up: And that's about all I have on Mark's car. However, this is no problem as we have the resident expert on this car hanging out right here on the HAMB. So instead of listening to me ramble on and getting the facts goofed up, let's see what Mark has to say. Before I close tonight I just wanted to say thanks to Mark for being a pillar in the custom community here on the HAMB. It seems like the custom guys here on the HAMB are far outnumbered by the rod guys, but it's nice to know that with Mark, along with a few dozen or more other great folks, that customs will always be well represented here. It's great to have friends like this to talk sled with. The custom family is great! So without further adieu, let's see what Mark has to add. C'mon Mark, we want to hear some custom stories! 'Til next time, keep cruisin' low and slow..........E
FWIW, I think the lettering was on the deck lid in 1984 and the car was in Des Moines that year. Memory fades over time, but I'm pretty sure my buddy that rode along with me took a picture of it. Also, I spoke with Jim Stockton at the CCR in Indy on Sat. His beautiful Chevy was indeed there, and I told him how it had been featured on this very thread. He seemed surprised. Said he wasn't on the HAMB, but would be interested to reading the feature.
We definitely need Mark (@Moriarity) to chime in here and fill in the blanks. Where the heck is he? Hey Mark, you out there? Very cool Bill! I can't believe Mr. Stockton would be surprised that his iconic custom would be featured in a thread like this. The car is incredible! Always nice to hear about people spreading the word about our tiny little corner of the custom world with this thread! E
He's alive. I just hung up the phone with him. He's helping a custom novice round up the missing pieces for my build.
Haha, I don't know how I missed this one. I bought the 55 at age 12 for 35 bucks. It was salmon and coral and had a 265 and powerglide that had not run in many years. In High school auto shop I put together a 12:1 301 and 4 speed for it. that son of a bitch was fast but I only got to drive it once, I brought it home, it was late fall and I didn't drain the block properly and cracked the block over the winter. I got discouraged and sold the car to my pal Todd and bought it back a year later. he installed a 265 in it and painted it white and that is the engine that was in it the whole time I owned it. The kkoa show I went to in my buddies Merc was in 82, I came home from that show a changed man, My car got painted black, lowered and nosed and decked and skirted. I had changed to a custom guy and never looked back. and I drove my 55 to the leadsleds in 84,85,86, 87, 88, 89 and 92. I also drove it to the all custom nats and to a number of hanging dice shows in Fort Smith. I sold the car to a man named Brian Rose in St Cloud Mn in 2000. I got 7500 bucks for it. I have not seen it in the last 21 years
Always fun to take a stroll down memory lane, huh Mark? Thanks for filling us in on the history of your car. It was a neat one! Don't you miss the days of buying cars cheap? I mean real cheap, like 35 dollars cheap. Man those were the days! Wow, I'm starting to sound like an old man..........E
Currently the scrap man is paying $500 for 1995 Honda minivans I doubt we'll see $35 cars again..................
What Ever Happened To..........? number 269. 1951 Mercury Owner: Wendell Profitt ? ? ? ? ?, Michigan Our custom this week is one I've been hunting information on since before this thread even started. It has been a long journey on this one, and I had about given up on finding any more information on it until my friend the custom encyclopedia, Jim Stanley (a.k.a. @stanlow69) posted a picture last week of this car in one of the canted quad headlight threads. In the picture that Jim scanned out of a book, there it was in black and white, the owner's name! I know you didn't know about the help Jim, but thanks man! This Merc had a long history in the KKOA, going to many, many Leadsled Spectaculars over the years. The car didn't make it on to every video, but my video sightings on this car numbered eight Spectaculars. Wendell and his Merc were there in '83 (Springfield, Ohio), in '85 (Springfield, Ohio), in '86 (Springfield, Missouri), in '87 (Springfield, Illinois), in '88 (Holland, Michigan), in '89 (Davenport, Iowa), in '90 (Holland, Michigan) and in '92 (Holland, Michigan). It may have been there in the years not mentioned, I just didn't see it on the video for those years, and after '92 I never saw it at the show again. I don't know exactly when the car was originally completed, but my sightings of the car started early as it was at the '83 show. Our own @KustomLincolnLady took our first picture I'm posting this evening. It was in her photo collection over on Rikster's site. I've never been able to tell what color the car was as it looked different in all the photos and video I've found, but it appears to be a dark burgundy or black. I'm sure one of the folks that saw the car in person will clear this up. The standout on this car was the use of Lincoln canted quad headlights. This made the car pretty easy to identify. In '83 it featured a tube grille, a white Carson top and basket style wire wheels with black wall tires. I've tried to blow up the pictures I've found on the car to see what the lettering on the lower front fenders says, but I can't make it out. It looks to have said "The Good..........", but I can't see what the last word was. The next little collage of pictures were taken by Jim (@stanlow69) and posted all these years later. Here we see the molded triple cap lake pipes, extended quarters with custom taillights and the Jimmy Jones style bubble skirts. Were these real Jimmy Jones skirts? Being that Wendell was from Michigan, as was Mr. Jones, there is a definite possibility! After those nice snapshots, it's time for some bad still photos I took from the '83 DVD. They are two different shots of the car cruising around the fairgrounds. The next time I saw the car on video again was in 1985. The Merc wasn't on the '84 video that I could tell. If it wasn't at the show in '84 it is very understandable, as it underwent a big face lift sometime after the '83 show. In '85 it appeared in Springfield, Ohio with a whole new look. The paint was now a tu-tone, black over gray or silver. The tube grille was removed in favor of a grille from a '56 Chrysler, and the Carson top vinyl was changed from white to black. The awesome bubble skirts were retained. Sharp eyes will also notice that the blackwalls and wires are gone, changed over to skinny whitewalls and ultra rare "Viking" style four bar spinner hubcaps. The only shots of the car at the show in '85 came early on the video as it was caught cruising into the fairgrounds at the front gate. In '86 Wendell made the trip to Springfield, Missouri, and the video camera once again caught the car as it was coming down the road just after entering the gates at the show. These were the only good shots I could get of the car from 1986. Note that the front bumper was molded and painted the body color. This was changed during the transformation before the '85 show, but I forgot to mention it above. The front custom mods on Mr. Profitt's Merc are definitely distinctive. It's easy to tell his car when it's driving towards you! The car was at the '87 Spectacular, but the shots I got were very similar to some other shots from other show years. I've decided to leave them out because of space limitations, but Wendell and his '51 were there. Here are a few more run-of-the-mill shots of Wendell cruising the fairgrounds at the Spectacular in Holland, Michigan in '88. Sorry that many of the shots are so similar. It isn't until a few shows later that the car was sitting long enough to get some better detail shots of it. Wendell liked to cruise his Merc around at these shows! In 1989 the Leadsled Spectacular made it's return to Iowa after a five year absence. Here we finally get a few better detail shots of the car, even though they are my poor quality stills. Here is the distinctive front end with a better view of the molded front bumper and turn signals mounted on the lower part of the bumper. Here is a shot that I thought was kinda cool. It shows how the top flows into the trunk of the car, giving us an idea of how long and low this car looked. We also get a peek at the sneaky frenched antennas in the top of the passenger quarter panel. Here's the rear of the car showing how far down the quarters were extended, and a look at the taillights. I think they were handmade, but lean towards Packard lights. Your guess is as good as mine. In '90 the Leadsled was in Holland, so Wendell got to stay in his home state to attend the show. Not much new here. Just more cruising shots of the Merc prowling the 'grounds. Comin' at you.......... And the back going away. A detail shot of the '56 Chrysler grille. This is probably the best shot I found of the taillights. I hope someone has some clearer shots so we can determine what they were. The next two pictures are random shots that I found on the internet or the HAMB. I don't know who took them or posted them, but they are way too good not to include. More custom '51 Merc goodness! The next shot is the one I mentioned that Jim posted earlier in this write-up. I don't know what book Jim scanned it out of, but it is one of the best images of the car I've seen. Such a kool kemp! Mr. Profitt's Merc wasn't on the '91 video that I was able to find. Again, this may have been understandable as the car went through another facelift. In '92 the Merc was again in Holland, Michigan with a new look. The silver or gray on the bottom of the car was changed to black to match the top of the car. The taillights looked to be the same.......... On the passenger side we see the frenched antennas look to have had a little striping added around them. Going around to the front, we see that one of the '56 Chrysler bars was removed, leaving only one. I figured maybe the car was involved in an accident and another bar couldn't be located, or maybe Wendell just wanted to try something different. The only interior shot I was able to come across was this shot if the dash. The '51 had a '49 dash all dolled up with 50s doodads. My last shots tonight are when Mr. Profitt was headed for the exits Sunday afternoon at the '92 Leadsled Spectacular. Here he is headed toward the camera making for the gate. And this is "The End". Wendell cruising out of the show and off into custom history. Does anyone know the whereabouts of this fine '51 or Mr. Profitt? Funny how someone so active in the custom movement and the KKOA could just fade away. Did we lose Mr. Profitt in the early 90s? Did he get burnt out and just decided to leave the car hobby and start stamp collecting or bird watching or something? I for one would really like to know! Hard to believe that the CCR is behind us as well as Father's Day. Summer is just getting started, but it is really going fast. The Fourth of July will be upon us soon. I hope I will get to see many of you at the 40th Leadsled Spectacular in about a month or so. If you're going I hope you're getting ready. It will be here in a flash! Until next week, stay cool! E
Here are my pictures, also they are talking about this car on my 1985 kkoa thread here https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1985-kkoa-leadsled-spectacular-springfield-ohio.1181613/ the car is mentioned again here, saying that it is now pink https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/ohio-custom-guys.647197/
Thanks for posting all the great pictures guys! The car definitely got around in those days. Also, thanks for the link, Mark. I don't know how I missed out on the pink Merc discussion. I must have been absent that day (lol)! E
I found a Wendell Profitt in Commerce Township, MI. Age -82 Not sure if it's him, but I kinda feel it is. The car, well going back to that thread about the "Pink" Merc has me thinking about a picture or two I took in 2016. I'm sure the car I photographed five years ago is the same as the pink one in that guys shot on his Flicker account. Mostly based on the park lights in the front bumper, the horrible Jegs decal placement under the hood and the claims of Barris provenance. My apologizes for the dark crappy pictures. Taken at the Ignitors Car Show, Chillicothe, OH in August of 2016
Yes when Wendell first finished his mercury it was painted black. He was a very cool guy....very cool and easy going .First met him when this car was finished , been so long ago I can't remember exactly what year it was. I am thinking it was 81 or 82.
Just spent an hour talking to Wendell on the phone, Yes those skirts are real Jimmy Jones skirts. It was great talking to him .
No. He might be on here later today....I am helping his wife to find the H.A.M.B She will call me when she gets home here shortly.
Great detective work and pictures John! The Merc looks nice in the red paint. I think it's cool that it's still around. E That makes two of us Doc! I know a lot of custom guys don't care for bubble skirts, but I'm crazy about 'em! E Great news AChop! So happy to hear that Mr. Profitt is still with us! If you do happen to talk to the Profitt's again, could you find out where in Michigan they were from? Be nice to get all the info for the header on the write up. Great work everyone! E
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