Custom Car Chronicle
Memo Ortega Files

Memo Ortega Stories Part Two

CUSTOMS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Memo Ortega, the Uncrowned Champ, remembers his childhood years in La Verne Ca during the 1940’s. Custom Cars from his neighborhood that changed his live forever.

 
[box_light]Memo Ortega is a well known name in the SoCal Custom Car and LowRider Scene, but perhaps not as well known as it should be. Memo has been working on custom cars and Low Riders since the early 1950’s. He became good friends with Custom Car Icon Gil Ayala, and in the late 1950’s he even bought Gil’s famous 1942-46 Ford Coupe as a persona driver. Today, 80 years young, Memo is still chopping tops, and any other custom car work you can think of from, his garage work-shop. Check out more of the Memo Ortega Stories in the Memo Ortega Files on the CCC[/box_light]
 
By Memo Ortega
I sure am lucky I can still remember all this, and it gets better as I’m going, writing down all these fun memories of me as a kid back in the 1940’s, so here we go some more.
 

Early Customs

Let me tell you about the Cruzers. They were the Vagabonds of La-Verne Ca. As I got older I got to know what kind of cars these guys were driving. And I learned the guys too, and there names also. There was this guy, Beaver-Al Reza, he had a 1930 model-A, 4.dr. Sedan. Lowerd in the back with homade skirts – yes – skirts. And white walls with one bar flipper hub caps that everybody was using back then. The model-A also had Appleton spotlites, can you dig it. What he had done was cut the handles off, and made a braket to bolt them on to the winshield frame. The car was black, to me it looked awesome. The car also had a ’36 Ford steering wheel and dashboard, and an tall antenna from Western Auto. A lot of these guys were running them back then. To me this all looked really cool. He lived on 2.nd st. I lived on 1.st.
 
CCC_memo-0rtega-part-two-01By the way this is my cousin Panya’s original Vagabond plaque from the ’40’s. The club these guys belonged to back then. I hope one day he will turn it over to me, he says not yet. I lost mine many years ago.
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Then there was Tony Gandara.on 1.street, one block east of me. With his ’36 Ford Phaeton. His car was black with a chop windshield an a Carson Top. It also had Appleton spotlites an white walls, red rims with the one bar hub caps and a white tuck n roll interrior. The car was lowered also, and it had deSoto bumpers. He too had the tall antenna, I’m- telling you I realy liked seeing them with the antenna all the way up. It made the cars look cool to me.

I might as well talk about Goofy’s car. That was his nick-name, he had a bad mean looking ’37 Chevy 2.dr- sedan. He lived on Palomares st., which is now Arrow High-Way. When I would see his car coming I would just drool as he went by. His car was – metalic blue – a tail-dragger with skirts – ’41 Chevy taill lites – Appletons- and of course the one bar flipper hub caps. And a big long antenna on the left side like the other cars. Neat white interior with chrome garnish moldings, and of course loud pipes. Thats the way this cars rode on the Barrio, meaning in this part of town.

I am telling you these cars were the real deal, just like you see on Rik Hoving’s site on cars from the 40’s. Thanks to him for keeping the memories going. And I feel all of you younger generations from all over, should know about this since nobody has ever mentioned this ever before in any of the magazines… why? I don’t know why. Especialy here in southern California, I feel (me memo) it was my duty to mention this here and give these guys credit for what they did back then, even though most are gone now. But one is still here, and that is my cousin Panya.

Another one I remember was two blocks from my neighborhood, Roy Cardenas his ’39 Ford phaeton had a chop top and carson topped black beauty. It had deSoto bumpers, white tuck n roll and of course Appleton spotlight also. White walls, and yes the one bar spinners also and the big Pep Boys or Western Auto famous large antenna. This tall antenna was a thing they had to have, cuase they all had one on the left side of there cars.
 
CCC_memo-0rtega-part-two-03Memo Ortega’s shop window tag MEMO-CHOP
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The next email from Memo
Here we go again Rik…
More that needs to be mentioned, Ruben Escoto – el tee tere – was his nick name. It means the clown, funny but like I said everybody there had a nick name. Anyway his car was a ’41 Chevy convertible. Chopped with a Carson top, white tuck n roll interior, white walls, and, yes the one bar spinners, ’41 Buick skirts of course Appletons. It was a real beauty, he lived next door to my cousin Panya and one block south of us. Like I said La. Verne was a hotbed of customs. Funny how I used to tell other people about this an they ignored me, and looked at me like what’s he talking about. But its cool, its here now, in black an white, and there is so much to tell, and I’m just getting started, ha, ha.
If only those guys knew what I was writhing about them and there cars. Finally they get there names out there and some recognition for what they did back in the 1940’s.

More on them and their cars. 5 blocks east of my house were the Seco brothers they also were heavy cruzers. The older one had a ’40 Ford convt. chopped windshield and Carson top, deSoto bumpers, Appletons, white tuck n roll int. white walls an again spinners… the works, a black bueaty. all those cars I’m talking about, customs all the way. The other brother had a ’41 Ford convrt. Full custom also. Black, choptop, Carson top, skirts, Appletons of course tuck n roll, like the others, white walls, an yes spinners. He latter moved to east Los Angeles, never to see the car and him again. that car to me looked like an Ayala built kustom. I never asked who built their cars. I wish I would have asked them… to late now. I have asked my cousin Panya, but he does not remember it anymore. He’s 84 yrs young. more on Panya later. Wish we had camera’s back then to take pictures of all these beauties. But we did not, nobody took pics, nobody thought people would care 60-70 years later.
 
CCC_memo-0rtega-part-two-02Photo of me and Rik Hoving at the 2013 gnrs at Pomona Ca.
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On June the 8th, 2014 the second Annual, Memo Ortega Car show will be held in down-town Pomona. More information about the show can be found HERE.
 
CCC_memo-0rtega-part-two-06Image taken from one of the t-shirst which will be sold at the show.
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Go to part Three.
Go to part One.
 

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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)

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