Custom Car Chronicle
Early Custom Cars

Custom Cars – Pride and Joy – Part 2

PRIDE AND JOY

A collection of snapshots of Customized Cars with their owners or loved ones.

 
[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hile I was browsing my collection of old Custom Car photos I noticed that a lot of people back in the 1940’s and 50’s loved to take photos of their custom car with their beloved girlfriend, boyfriend, husband, wife and even dogs posing with the cars. These snapshots show us a bit more about the people behind the cars. How they dressed with their finest cloth to look at their very best in front of their beloved custom cars, having no idea that 60 – 70 years later these photos would be part of an online article… How great would it be if somebody today would recognizes one of the people, or cars in these photos! If you do recognize one of these, please let us know, we would love to add some more names and info to these photos. This is part two in this series. See more in part ONE.

CCC-custom-car-pride-joy-2-05Marsh Baldwin poses with his restyled 1940 Mercury Custom Convertible in 1944. March his Mercury has a heavy chopped windshield and a dark colored Carson Top Shop top. The stance on the car remained nearly stock. The really great thing is that this Mercury is still around in 2014, and that after it was a victim to become a street rod, it now is in the hands of a enthusiast who will bring it back to how it looked in this photo. We cannot wait to see more on it.
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CCC-custom-car-pride-joy-2-04This color slide, most likely taken in the early 1950’s came with no aditional info. What we can see in the photo is a mildly restyled 1951 Chevy hard-top with Cadillac style aftermarket taillights installed. Possibly a set that Eastern or one of the other well known Car aftermarket mail order shops offered to make your Chevy look like a Caddy. The car uses the stock Chevy rear bumper, but it was dressed up with custom corner pieces, as well as Sombrero hubcaps mounted on wide whites. The car is painted a wonderful green metallic with a light green, or cream top. The woman posing with the car, perhaps she is the owner, or the owners girlfriend spend some time to dress up to look at her very best. Sadly I cannot read the yellow lisence plate, but style of house sure looks to be somewhere on the east coast?
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CCC-custom-car-pride-joy-2-03Close up of just the car and the girl in the photo gives us a better look at how nice and classic the car looks. A poor mans Cadillac.
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CCC-custom-car-pride-joy-2-021941 plymouth convertible typical 1940’s daily driver customized convertible. 1937 DeSoto ribbed bumper, white wall tires with single bar hubcaps, skirts, fog-lights, a single spotlight and a slighly lower stance created the dream ride for this owner. He is looking cool and poses proudly with his car. I have a few more photo’s of this car in my collection, and there I can see that the photo must have been taken in California, around 1945-46.
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CCC-custom-car-pride-joy-2-01A young navy guy, posing with a nicely done early 1940’s style 1937 ford, convertible or perhaps a sedan convertible. Who knows his photo might have been taken shortly befor the guy was sailing off for WWII. The car has a chopped windshield, off white, possibly tan padded top, 1937 DeSoto ribbed bumper, ribbed hubcaps on black wall tires. And a set of chrome plated aftermarket sealed-beam headlights.
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CCC-custom-car-pride-joy-2-15This 1940’s photo from two 1939 Ford Convertible Customs. Guy and girl having a beer and a good time with the cars and friends. The car on the right has its windshield chopped, a padded top added and a 1937 DeSoto bumpers with some accessory bumper guards added to it. It also has a single 1940’s positioned (with the glass facing backwards) Spotlights. Both cars have what looks like painted sealed beam aftermarket headlights. And the car on the left has a set of Single Bar ripple disk hubcaps. From the material on the round it appears like the guy on the right is working on his car, and possibly he has his hubcaps removed at the time. The license plate of the left un-chopped convertible is from Texas 1947. I love these early Custom Cars and this photo is really nice since it shows one car going a bit further than the other, and two happy people with them. 
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CCC-custom-car-pride-joy-2-14A Fallbrook High baseball player sits proudly on the bumper of his 1938 Ford coupe custom. This photo was taken in 1947, and the car has all the popular custom touches from that period: single Appleton spotlight, mild lowering, 1941 Buick fender skirts with the chrome trim pieces, and ripple disk flipper hubcaps on blackwall tires. One smooth ride for this young owner!
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CCC-custom-car-pride-joy-2-17A proud Bill Embree posing with his great looking 1936 Ford Cabriolet at the 1954 Oakland Roadster show. Chopped windshield, white padded top, 1934 Pontiac hood sides, Olds bumper, aftermarket ribbed hubcaps on wide white wall tires, and an rather his stance for a car like this… most likely since Bill loved to race his car as much as he loved to cruise it.
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CCC-custom-car-pride-joy-2-16Another one of those photos that came with no info what so ever. By the looks of the car I think the photo is from the mid 1950’s The 1941 Ford is a cross over between an Custom and a Hot Rod, perhaps a project that started out as a customs, hence the shortened side trim, the stainless rock shield on the rear fenders and the wide whites. And later on, when styles changed the skirts were removed for a more Hot Rod look. The owner is smoking a cigarette and looking touch in the camera.
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CCC-custom-car-pride-joy-2-13No name or any other info on this snapshot from my own personal collection. Two guys, friends, possibly ready to go to war, taking a few last snapshots with a custom car which most likely belongs to the sailer who is sitting on the fender, while his friend stands beside the car. The car looks to be a 1936 Ford. Single bar flipper hubcaps, wide whites and Appleton Spotlights are all we can see in this picture. 
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CCC-custom-car-pride-joy-2-11Photo from the Wally Welch Collection shows Wally Welch on the left with his 1941 Ford convertible in the first version. And an unknown friend with his 1941 Ford convertible on the right. Both cars had chopped windshield and padded tops, and both car used filled center grille pieces. But the one on the right has an extra hole cut into it to help cool the engine a bit better.
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CCC-custom-car-pride-joy-2-09Judging the license plate on this mildly customized 1936 Ford Cabriolet this snapshot was taken in California between 1948-50. Two well dress ladies are posing with the car, perhaps their boyfriends are behind the camera? The car has black wall tires, single bar flipper hubcaps, custom bumper and 1934 Pontiac hood sides. A typical Street Custom of those days.
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CCC-custom-car-pride-joy-2-08Cool dressed guy with his 1936 Ford Roadster. Bubble skirts, single bar flipper hubcaps on black wall tires, smooth hood sides, and a rather crooked mounted 46-48 Ford bumper. Also notice that the door handles are removed, but the holes are not filled, and the rear wheels have no hubcaps.
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CCC-custom-car-pride-joy-2-07Another interesting photo shows a group of people and a few cars. One of the cars, a 1940 Ford convertible, has some interesting early restyling going on. The soft folding top was replaced by an non folding padded top, but thenwindshield remained stock height. The running boards were removed, and the holes in the fender were covered wit most likely aftermarket filler pieces. The frame was also covered with an special aftermarket unit for this.
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CCC-custom-car-pride-joy-2-06Enlarged section of the photo above gives us a better look at the car. Not the typical young guys you would expect with a Custom Restyled car… Perhaps these are the fathers of the car owner who might have taken the photo. 
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Rik Hoving

Rik is the CCC editor in chief. As a custom car historian he is researching custom car history for many years. In 2004 he started the Custom Car Photo Archive that has become a place of joy for many custom car enthousiasts. Here at CCC Rik will bring you inspiring articles on the history of custom cars and builders. Like a true photo detective he will show us what's going on in all those amazing photos. He will write stories about everything you want to know in the realm of customizing. In daily life Rik is a Graphic Designer. He is married to the CCC webmaster and the father of a 10 year old son (they are both very happy with his excellent cooking skills)

3 thoughts on “Custom Cars – Pride and Joy – Part 2

  • Fantastic collection of pictures! I just tried looking up the yellow license plate on the Chevy, but had no luck…that house could be anywhere in the U.S., but as you mentioned, it does have an east coast feel to it. Thanks for the article, Rik!

  • These are the best. These also serve as inspiration. One of the most enjoyable and informative aspects of the Chronicle. The plate on the keen green chevy is more than likely 1951 New York… at least that’s the bet here in Vegas. Any Takers?

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