History When did the 50s 60s custom look end and when did it return ?

Just woundering when the 50s 60s customs went out and its back ,but when did it come back ?

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It never went away in many places. Just depends on where you are, I suppose ...

 

It never ended.

 

It ended? No one tells me anything!!

 

The '60s part still hasn't returned IMO.... You see lots of '50s-inspired cars, but when was the last time you saw somebody install quad lights on a new build? Hell, most guys if they find a old '60s custom, the first thing gone is the quad lights...

 

It's going to end next week, maybe tomorrow, depending on leap Chinese New Year.

 

Its always been around, you just haven't noticed.

 

For practical purposes, the dawn of the Muscle Car Era effectively spelled the end.
The auto manufacturers were heavily invested in performance automobiles, credit was readily available, the military had instituted the draft, and young men were buying off the showroom like there was no tomorrow.
Of course, customizing continued, particularly in the Low Rider scene, but by and large, emphasis was mostly on performance.

The Kustom scene was revitalized in the seventies, due largely to the efforts of Jerry Titus,

From the Hot Rod Network...
"credited with helping save the movement from oblivion during the ’70s...Jerry promoted the first Merc/Deuce Reunion, following it up two years later with the creation of the Kustom Kemps of Amercia (sic) club, which in turn produced the first Leadsled Spectacular in Wichita, Kansas, in 1981."

 

Did I miss something? The Wizzard

 

It ended on August 23 1976 and came back on February 12 1987.

 

Customs began to fade away in the late 50s. Cars were longer, lower, wider, better styled. Major mods like top chops, welding on different fenders, grilles etc were not necessary. You could buy a new car, shave off some of the chrome trinkets, give it a wild paint job and you were there.

Then came the muscle car era and customs practically disappeared.

The first efforts at revival were in the early 80s. Lead East and the Titus brothers come to mind.

 

I am still reliving my Pissed away childhood.

 

Customs have been around since cars have been built and will continue forever

 

So there you have it. Midwest and east coast guys think that customs evaporated, if only for a decade or two, while the west coast folks witnessed something entirely different
Proof: The Grand National Roadster Show that has run every year since 1949, and Blackie's Autorama that ran for over fifty years beginning in 1958. Both on the west coast.
Location, location, location.

 

The Muscle car era only effected those Car Guys that did not have there Basic roots firmly planted. I have always known and built my Cars the way I think it should be and all my Kustoms have always had plenty of Muscle.
I have always known you can have the best of both worlds. I guess you could call it my Religion. I'm over 70 and No regrets.
The Wizzard

 

Just attended the 2018 NSRA Nats with over 10,000 car. Very very few customs were there. Jus saying. Sure didn't look like customs are returning to me. 50's & 60's muscle cars seem to be in the majority.

Gary

 

For those of us that grew up in SoCal, and I'm sure other areas, during that era, it never died! It's as much a part of us as the nose on my face, see avatar!!!!

 

I want to build me a custom '60 Impala with single headlights. Just so it will be custom.

I have never been a real custom guy, but I have either built or helped build quite a few and customs as we know them never really went away.

As for when they came back I guess when the Newstalgia trend hit. That is when they came back for the Nouvelle Hot Rodder. For the ret of us there has always been a place for anything that was not trendy anymore.

 

here you go.........

 

I think for So Cal general scene, it faded in late 60's and was held on by the Low Riders, especially paint. And Customs were out there, but not in numbers like now. I got into the car scene with vans on the early 70's and they would/could be customized, Yosemite Sam comes to mind.

Then after a few years rattleing around in a 65 Chevy truck, a friend convinced me to to a road trip to Oakland for some car show. At the GNRS was a chopped Merc like American Graffiti.

A move back to So Cal around 85 and a new job I actually had a boss that was a car guy, he built Merc's as a teenager. One day reading the Recycler I found him a Merc project and made him call. He ended up buying the Merc from Gene Winfield.

Then I ran into the West Coast Kustom crowd. Paso here we come. So, for me, it was Rich and Penny that held onto and pushed to revive Kustoms.

Did you ever hear the story of when the Choppers rolled in-mass and parked as a group at the park for the first time,,,Greasers!

 

I wonder when the KKOA was established? Granted that are a fringe group and never have had numbers.

 

NO! Not single headlights, it's got to have a Mercury grill...



and don't forget the Pontiac tail lights!

 

It was still going strong in Southern Michigan, clear into the late 80s. moved to Wichita falls, Texas in 91, still pretty big there too. Moved to Montgomery Alabama, in 99, crickets. it depends on your location.

 

LOL I forgot this guy,


In Oregon when I was in high school Lucas Flame Throwers were illegal (although you could by them from Whittney). Anyone with quads and money first went to the local airport and bought landing lights to go in the high beam hole, for whatever reason the cops didn't bother you with landing lights, then next was a tube grill. I remember that in '68 I bought a bunch of 3/8 chrome plated copper tubing from the Army Surplus ( who knows what they used it for), 6' lengths. For a couple of years I was the tube grill king in my town. Helped pay the bills.

There was a '59 Bisquit running around that was a sweet custom and it had single headlights. Looked like it came that way, had a plate in the headlight bucket like a '62 Pickup only chrome. But that was a pretty rare sight.

 

So there ya go, modern classic customs started around '79.

 

All kidding aside, I do like the single headlight treatment...


as well as the no headlight treatment...


but much like the Mercury grille, the Cadillac grille makes for an appealing change...

 

I love that friggin car

 

Some say customs died, but lets not forget Mr. Pat Ganahl and the work he did to not let us forget them.
-Dave