C. A. Hall Tops

Posted on January 22, 2016 by Rik Hoving

HALL TOPS

When you lived in Northern California, and wanted a custom upholstery job or padded top created for your car, then you most likely ended up having the work done at C.A. Hall Auto Tops in Oakland.

When it comes to Custom upholstery and padded tops in California there are only a few shop names that pop up. The most popular shop was the Carson Top Shop on Vermont Ave. Los Angles. Shop employee Glen Houser developed a non folding padded top for an 1930 Ford in 1935. It was the birth of the Carson top, however it was named that until much later. Another big upholstery shop name was Gaylord who started a little later in the 1940’s in Lynwood, not to far from the Barris Custom Shop. In the early 1940’s the padded tops became very popular among the Hot Rod and Custom Car crowd, and not only in Southern California. In North California, the city of Oakland to be precise, there was a guy named Calvin A. Hall who had a auto top and upholstery business since 1925. When the Hot Rodders and Custom guys found out about the special tops and tuck & roll interiors done in So California they wanted to have those done more locally as well.

The Hall Top Shop came to the rescue an Calvin quickly figured out how to do the padded tops and create the interiors the guys wanted. And business was booming for the shop. The C.A. Hall Tops shop was responsible for most the the padded tops created in the Nor California era. The Nor Cal builders like Harry Westergard, Dick Bertolucci, Gene Winfield and early one also the Barris Brothers who sill lived in Sacramento in the early 1940’s all took their Customs to the Hall shop for a padded top or custom upholstery. Hall never advertised as much as the Carson Top Shop, Gaylord, Runyan and others did. We have only found a few Hall ads in some early 1950’s Hot rod show programs, but not in any of the magazines. This most likely is one of the main reasons the Hall shop name never became as popular in the rest of the country / world as Carson or Gaylord.

This and the fact that Oakland was to far away for the So Cal based magazines to do an article on the Hall Shop is the reason that there is rather little known about the Hall Top Shop. As far as we have been able to find out, nobody has ever really interviewed Calvin A. Hall about his Top Shop, so all his information is most likely lost. Since the Hall name was not as important, it might have been left out in many magazine Hot Rod and Custom Car features as well. The shop did turn out really great work, and customers often came back for an update, or with a new car in need of a padded top or custom upholstery. For this article we have collected a number of cars with Hall Tops shop padded tops and interiors. Special thanks goes out to Ron Brooks, who owns a 1940 Chevy custom created in the late 1940’s with a real and very rare Hall top. Ron has been collecting info and material on the Hall Top Shop ever since he owns his Chevy. Ron has been so kind sharing a lot of his info and photos with the Custom Car Chronicle.

When Ron found his 1940’s restyled 1940 Chevy it still had the original Hall top on it including a very rare C.A. Hall Auto Tops interior tag.
[divider]

Fred Creller created the 1940 Chevy in the late 1940’s and had the interior and padded top done by Hall. This photo is from 1950. (Ron Brooks collection)
[divider]

These photos showing the top a little better were taken in 1959. (Ron Brooks Collection)
[divider]

About the Hall Tops Shop.

Calvin A. Hall was born on December 11, 1901 in Mink Creek, Idaho to Andrew G. and Martha Lavine (Olsen) Hall, his father was born in Denmark, his mother in Utah, USA. In the early 1900’s the family moved from Idoha to Oakland, California. Calvin graduated from high school in 1918 and after having had a few small jobs he started to learn the trade of creating auto tops at Victory Auto Painting and Top Co., at 901 E. 14th st., Oakland, Calif.

In 1925 Calvin A. Hall started his own business C.A. Hall and was located at 72nd and E. 14th, Oakland. CA. creating car tops. The small shop moved in 1927 to 901 E. 14th St. Oakland, CA. (the same shop is currently in use by Earl Scheib Paint & Body shop).
During WWII the Hall shop relocated to 3208 San Pablo Ave., Oakland, CA. The shop would remain on this location till it closed somewhere in 1965. The building is still standing today. Calvin A. Hall was married and had three children, none of them took over the shop, so when Calvin retired for the upholstery business the shop was closed. Calvin A. Hall passed away on January 28, 1979 at the age of 77.

This photo of this amazing 1938 Lincoln Custom with Hall padded top was found on the walls of the former Hall shop on San Pablo Ave. (Ron Brooks Collection)
[divider]

Close up on the really well shaped and proportioned Hall padded top.
[divider]

We are not sure if Hall also updated the interior in the 1938 Lincoln, but more than likely he did the cover on the rear.
[divider]

The weather in Nor Cal is not always as sunny and warm as in So Cal, so often Hall was instructed to create the chopped padded tops for roadsters, with side separate window curtains to make sure the driver and passengers would stay as warm as possible. This top and window flaps/curtains was created for Max Ferris’s Harry Westergard restyled 1936 Ford roadster.
[divider]

George Barris created this 1936 Ford convertible as his own personal driver when he was working at the Browns Body shop and Harry Westergard in Sacramento. The padded top on the car was done by Hall in Oakland in a dark material.
[divider]

Close up of the Hall padded top which has seen better days. After the car was finished and painted George Barris took his 36 Ford to Hall’s shop who re-covered it with white material.
[divider]

Harry Westergard restyled Pittsburg Ca resident Sal Cacciola’s 1938 Chevy convertible in his typical nose up narrow grille style. Sal took the car to Hall for the padded top. Inset is one of the very few ads Hall’s Top Shop ever ran.
[divider]

This is another photo that was found in the old Hall shop building. It is an unidentified 1940 Mercury with unique exhaust tips true the rear fenders. Hall was responsible for the padded top.
[divider]

Pierre Paul was a Custom Car builder from Oakland Ca, and he had the interior and padded top of his own personal 1941 Buick created by Hall.
[divider]

Gene winfield had his shop in Modesto California, and also used the Hall Top Shop quite a bit for his customer cars. This 1946 Ford was restyled by Gene in 1949 for owner Al Serpa. The traditional styled padded top was done by Hall. This photo was taken in 1950.
[divider]

Gene Winfield also restyled this 1948 Ford for owner Benny Furtado during the same period as he did Al Serpa’s 1946 Ford. However Hall created a different style padded top for Benny’s Ford with open rear quarter windows. Creating a much more open and light feel inside the car.
[divider]

Herb Cattani’s Custom 1942 Buick also received an Hall padded top with open rear quarter windows, creating a wonderful shape.
[divider]

A rare look at one of the Hall interiors in Herb Cattani’s 1942 Buick shows a lot of soft leather tuck and rolls creating a very luxurious feel.
[divider]

Dick Bertolucci from Sacramento restyled this 1947 Cadillac convertible for Tony Sestito. When it was time for the padded top and new interior the car was driven to Oakland for the full Hall treatment in 1953-54.
[divider]

The latest trend then was to add full width wrap around plexiglass rear windows to the padded top. So that is what Hall created for Tony’s 1947 Cadillac. Close up of the wrap around rear window courtesy of Rod & Custom magazine.
[divider]

Hall created the padded top on Sil Moyano’s 1935 Ford Phaeton. This photo comes from a feature on the car in a 1973 Street Rodder magazine, and we have no idea when the padded top was created, but more than likely this one dated back into the 1940’s.
[divider]

The interior was done with relatively narrow tuck & roll in black, and the white top was also upholstered in black on the inside.
[divider]

Hall’s Auto Tops invoice from the 1950’s with another rare ad from an July 1951 issue of Motor sports World.
[divider]

This ad was used in one the Oakland Roadster Show programs and shows an panoramic rear window padded top Hall created for a stock bodied Buick.
[divider]

Warren Gonzales 1950 Ford Convertible

Possibly the best publicity the Hall Auto Tops shop had for their interior and top work was with Warren Gonzales’s 1950 Ford Convertible. The shop worked on two versions of the car. The first time in 1953-54 they did a complete interior, and traditional styled padded top. The second time a year later they added more to the interior, to keep up with the demand for winning show points, and they redid the padded top in the latest trend with cantilever (over-hanging) rear portion. The July 1956 issue of Car Craft magazine had two color photos of the car on the cover, and four pages for the feature inside. The feature showed many photos of both the top and the wild interior.

Warren’s 1950 Ford convertible was first done in a more conservative way with a “regular” style padded top created by Hall Auto Tops. The photo on the left is from the 1954 Oakland Roadster Show, and the one on the right from the 1955 show. By then the car had been completely redone with a wild interior and complete new cantilever padded top.
[divider]

The color photo of the Hall Auto Tops created interior in Warren’s Shoebox must have had a lot of impact. The interior was done in three tone leatherette, dark green, white and soft green. The same soft green was also used on the second version top.
[divider]

C.A. Hall created the interior for Warren’s Shoebox with the latest in luxury in mind. The create a custom made semi-circle rear seat, which is divided by a large Hi-Fi radio speaker. On both sides of the bench a refreshment bar has been incorporated. A console has been created on the floor to house a small upholstered TV set. The seats back are reshaped both front and rear and are upholstered in a bolt design with rolls and pleats. The dashboard has been made “crash proof’ by adding padding and upholstery on the whole unit. The center was cut out to make space for a 45 rpm record player. A radio and Hi-Fi speaker have been installed in a custom build center console underneath the dash extending the front bench. The carpets are dark blue green and outlined with white trim.
[divider]

A few more samples of car with C.A. Hall Auto Tops padded tops and or interiors.
[divider]

This is how the former C.A. Hall Tops Shop building at 3208 San Pablo Avenue in Oakland, California looks today in 2016. (Google maps image)
[divider]

As mentioned in this article the amount of information on the Hall Top’s is limited. We have tried to gather as much information as possible and added as many photos that would mattered the most for this article. As always we would love to hear from you if you have any additional information about the Hall Auto Tops shop, or any cars that had the interior or tops created by this shop. If you have more info, please let us know, email Rik. We would love to add more info to this article and share it with Custom Car enthusiast from all over the globe. Thank you.

Resources

Ron Brooks
Coachbuilt.com, Mark Theobald
Barris Kustoms Technique books.

[divider]

(this article is sponsored by)

Contact Rob Radcliffe at King Kustoms for more info on these T-Shirts Email Rob

[divider]

[divider]

.

Pre War 38 Lincoln Custom

Posted on August 18, 2015 by Rik Hoving

EXQUISITE 1938 LINCOLN

This exquisite padded topped 38 Lincoln Custom was restyled when the car was very new, perhaps even straight from the dealer. It has this wonderful early Custom Car look, a look fortunately getting back in style these days.

Some time ago I was in the progress of gathering material on an article about the removal of the running boards on early Custom Cars. I was researching the subject with some of the the photos I have in my files. I was planning to include a photo of this very nice 1938 Lincoln convertible, but since this car is such an amazing beautiful restyled car I decided to not include it in that article, but do a full CCC-Feature on the car. Not that I do know a whole lot about the car, but just because it is absolutely stunning and hopefully an full article might be noticed by more people, and hopefully one day we will be able to know more about this car. Let me share what I do know about this exquisite 1938 Lincoln.

Several years ago, Ron Brooks from Castro Valley, North California, send me a couple of photos of some very early Custom Cars. Ron had received some of them them in the 1990’s from an retired fireman who knew Ron was into Customs, and particular into Custom Cars with an C.A. Hall Top Shop padded top. You see, Ron owns an old Custom, a 1940 Chevy convertible with an original Hall top. The retired fireman came across these photos when he was in the old Hall shop, where he found this stack of old photos, which happend to be all Hall topped Custom Cars from the very early 1940’s. Ron has tried, but never was able to find out anything else about this Lincoln.

Some of the photos Ron Brooks shared with me several years ago. Very nice early to late 1940’s Custom Cars in a clean early style I very much admire.
[divider]

The first photo I saw was this amazing side view. What appears to be a photo taken by a professional photographer. Perhaps hired by the car owner, or possibly by the Hall Top shop to be able to use for promotional matters. The side view is stunning, with the chopped windshield, the removal of the running boards, the perfect stance and the wonderfully shaped rock shield on the rear fenders.
[divider]

When I mentioned to Ron that I liked the ’38 Lincoln so much, he send me another one he had. This one taken from an higher point of view and with the top removed. Ron mentioned that the eucalyptus trees in the background have a distinctive Oakland/East Bay hills look!
[divider]

About the Lincoln

As mentioned in the into there is not really all that much we do know about this beautiful car. We have no name of the owner, no builders name other than that the car most likely had a padded top created by the Hall Top Shop in Oakland California. We also do not know what ever happened to it. At first all we had where two amazing photos shared by Ron. But then in 2012, Dave Welles of Seabright Hot Rods shared some amazing 1940’s footage taken at Harper Dry Lake taken by his uncle Tommy Lorbeer with his brand new 8mm camera. The short movie itself is already amazing, but when I watched it I got goose bumps when I saw this wonderful 1938 Lincoln with padded top cruise by over the dry lake. I recognized the car immediately… That is the same one as Ron send me, the one with the Hall top on it. I took a few screen shots to compare the two, and it sure was the same car. So now we knew that the Lincoln was a very early Custom, and that it was built between 1938 and 1940. The car appears only for a second or two in the movie footage… but it is amazing to see it driving. And even better is that we can see it a little from the front as well. Although very blurry we can see that it has a modified grille.

Movie still from the Tommy Lorbeer movie shows a modified grille in the Lincoln. Its hard to tell from this material if the grille was home made (quite common in those days) or if an exciting grille was used.
[divider]

The car has been restyled with on main goal in mind, improving its looks over the factory stock look. Not just to modify it to stand out from the rest of the cars. We have seen similar restyling done by shops as Jimmy Summers, Bistange brothers, Olive Hill carage, but also by shops specialized in coach building more exclusive cars. So my guess is that this Lincoln was brought to one of the Nor Cal coach building shops for an exclusive restyling.

I added these cropped sections of the photo to be able to take a closer look at the details. Possibly the car was dressed up with a set of Vogue wide white wall tires.
[divider]

The rear fender rock shield is very nicely shaped, and the shape of the padded top is perhaps a bit more upright than we are used to from the later part of the 1940’s, but it fits this Lincoln absolutely perfect.
[divider]

This photo shows the horizontal grille bars in the custom grille.
[divider]

The modifications we can see in the photos are all extremely well done, and in style with the rest of the cars line. Chopped windshield, very nicely shaped padded top, removal of the running boards, with an molded in panel to cover the exposed frame after the running boards where removed. Removed side tim, removed hood side trim. nicely shaped stainless or chrome plated rock shield on the rear fender, front fender reshaped at the back. Modified grille, one of Ron’s photos shows that the grille has horizontal bars, perhaps a 1940 Willys grille was used, but it could also be possible that a new smaller grille was hand shaped and chrome plated.The car was lowered all around and set on nice shaped wide white wall tires with single bar flipper hubcaps and beauty rings. The bumper at the front looks to be stock, but the shadow on the side view photo indicates that the rear bumper might have been replaced with an 1940 Lincoln unit which has the opened-up center section.

I have been able to find one other photo of a 1938 Lincoln that has similar modifications done to it. I do not think its the same car, but the resemblance of the two is striking. I found the photo online a few years ago, and compared it with the photos Ron shared right then. But this car has the stock grille, and an different shaped padded top and the stock trim still in place, and not stainless rock shield on the rear fenders (perhaps a rubber one, hard to tell). Perhaps the car in this photo could be an early version of the Lincoln taken in 1938-39. But more than likely there where two, and perhaps more of these that had similar styling.

Most likely a different 1938 Lincoln Custom with pretty similar changes than the Lincoln in the Ron Brooks photos. The black wall’s indicate that the photo was taken during or shortly after WWII.
[divider]

Hopefully this CCC-Article will lead to some more information about the origins of this well designed masterpiece. A beautifull car like this must have been noticed back then, and some people must know more about it. Even the camera man of that 1940 dry lake movie noticed its beauty. If you know more, please email Rik, so that we can add the info to this article. Many thanks go out to Ron Brooks for saving and sharing these amazing images.

[divider]

(this article is made possible by)

[divider]

[divider]

.

Custom Interior Tags

Posted on March 7, 2015 by Rik Hoving

INTERIOR TAGS

In the 1940’s and 1950’s some of the better know upholstery shop used small tags with their name or logo and address information mounted in the cars they upholstered. Let s take closer look at those tags.

We know that the couchbuilders, who build complete custom made bodies on exciting chassies usually had some sort of tag, or crest on the body with the company name, or logo. As a sort of business card, making sure the people who looked at the car would see who was responsible for such beautifull work. And of course hopefully some people who see the work and the tag/crest might end up a potential client.

The Houser’s Carson Padded Tops tag

In the 1940’s some of the upholstery shops started to specialize in Custom and Hot Rod upholstery. Some of these shop also started to use small tags in the cars they had upholstered. One of the more famous shops was the the Houser’s Carson Padded Tops shop in Los Angeles. This shop created the famous Carson Padded tops, but also did full interiors and the tag they put in their cars is probably the most famous of these tags used by the custom and hot rod upholstery shops.

An early Carson Top Shop magazine ad.
[divider]

Wally Welch, owner of several early Custom Cars kept his blue tinted Houser’s carson Padded Tops tag in his photo album. Nobody knew if this one was ever used in one of his cars, or if it was he got as an extra. This photo shows the slight shadow on the text and illustration that the relieve etching creates. (from the Wally Welch Collection)
[divider]

The original tag the shop had made was a very small metal tag. These original tags look to have been etched on one side leaving everything except for the letters, the cars illustration and border as a relieve section of the metal plate. This relieved section was painted either with black or a dark blue color, I have even heard somebody mention ehad seen one done in dark red. The most common place for the Carson Top Shop tag was in the middle of the top, right in the center above the rear view mirror. There it was held in place with two small nails. Sometimes the center of the header was needed for one of the hold down brackets, then the tag was positioned next to the bracket. In all my research I have never seen any other location being used. I am not even sure if cars that only had the interiors done by the shop, and not one of their padded tops, recieved a tag. So thismight have strictly been a tag used for a padded top. Perhaps any of the readers could shed a light on this.

Another original tag in a bit worse condition comes from the Valley Custom Shop built sectioned 1940 Ford for Ralph Jilek. Tom Sewell restored the car and documented everything along the way. This photo shows the tagand its original nails that were used to mount the tag to the header on the Padded top.
[divider]

These two photos show the tak on the original position. Left of the tak was the padded top mounting mechanism, so it was mounted to the right of that. Notice how the tag was bend slightly to folow the shape of the wood header.
[divider]

In the early 1970’s the then owner of the Carson Top Shop was asked to restore an original Carson Padded Top. The work on the top was done, but then one thing was missing, the tag. None of the original tags could be found, so a new tag was created. Creating these tags asked for a minimal order of a lot. After the restoration project was finished some of these extra tags where given to friends, other where sold. These still can be found from time to time. The recreated tags are a bit different from the original once, small details in the size of the text. But the main difference is that the reproduction is silk screened on a metal plate, while the original was etched creating a relieved tag.

The three photos above show the replica of the Houser’s Carson Padded Tops tag that was created in the early 1970’s. The center photo shows that the black was silk screened onto the metal plate, creating no relieve section as the original had. Many thanks to David E. Zivot for suplying this sample. The tags are 50 x 25 millimeters in dimention (nearly two inches wide).
[divider]

Jim Thompson used another replica Houser’s Carson Padded Tops tag in his recenly finished 1936 Ford Custom Convertible.
[divider]

This photo shows the replica of the original interior tag on the bottom (almost two inches wide) and one done as key-fob that is three inches wide (thanks to Tom Nielson for the Key-fob). The large one is similar to what Jim Thomson used in his ’36 Ford, and is made out of aluminum silc screened in white and black.
[divider]

The first time I saw an photo of one of these Carson Top Shop interior tags waw when upholsterer Tom Sewell shared the restoration of the valley Custom Shop built sectioned 1940 Ford Convertible wit Carson Padded top and Carson interior with us. The restored interior has the tag located at the excact same spot it was put in by the Carson Top Shop in the early 1950’s.

The Hall of Oakland tag

The C.A. Hall Auto Tops shop did a lot of Padded tops and Custom Car and Hot Rod interiors in the bay area, and for other Northern California based car owners and shops. This shop used an oval etched tag. The only known sample of the original Hall tag we know of is in Ron Brook’s 1940 Chevy Convertible. Here the tag is also mounted on the front header of the padded top.

The C.A. Hall Auto Tops tag is an etched oval shaped metal tag. (thanks to Ron Brooks for the photo)
[divider]

The C.A. Hall Auto Tops tag mounted in Ron Brook’s 1940 Chevy Convertible.
[divider]

Hall’s Top Shop invoice form and magazine ad. Courtesy of Ron Brooks.
[divider]

The Runyan tag

The recent restoration of the bob Pierson 1936 Ford learned us that the Runyans interior shop also had an interior tag. In this case two small tags were mounted on the seat side base covers. The South City Rod & Custom shop had these small tags recreated by Tony Parker who hand painted them. At this point we have no info on how these original Runyan Interior tags were produced.

Tony Parker hand painted these small metal plates to recreate the original Runyan tags to go on the Bob Pierson 1936 Ford.
[divider]

These tags were mouned in a recessed setion of the tuck & roll panel covering the sides of the beach seat in the Bob Pierson 1936 Ford Coupe.
[divider]

One of the ads Runyan used showed the interior of the Bob Pierson 1936 Ford.
[divider]

Gaylord’s Tops tag

We were unable to find a photo of an Gaylord’s interior tag. But according to Bill Gaylord the shop did use them. When Luke Karosi and Jeff Neppl interviewed Bill Gaylord for an full article on the history of the Gaylord interior for Kustoms Illustrated magazine. Bill mentioned the shop used such a tag, in fact people even came to the shop asking for the tag. even though they did not even have an Gaylord interior. The tags were given away to people like they were business cards. Sadly in non of the photos from the Bill Gaylord Collection this tag could be seen. And Bill also mentioned that non of them were left. We have no idea how these tags looked like, all we know is that the shop had them and used them on the cars they did.
If somebody out there has a photo of this tag, or perhaps even has an original one, please let us know. We would love to add a photo of one to this article.

This was one of the Gaylord’s logos used in the magazines back in the 1950’s.
[divider]

The Gaylord’s Top business regular card showing Bill’s personal chopped and padded topped 1949 Mercury.
[divider]

Some Gaylord ads used this skript type logo. But at this point we have no idea how the actual Gaylord’s interior tag looked like.
[divider]

[box_light]

There were of course several other major interior shops in the 1940’s and 1950’s But so far we have not been able to find any other interior tags from any of these shops. If any of you readers know of any other 1940’s, or 1950’s interior shop tag that was used in the car interiors, please let us know so that we can add it to his article. Email Rik Hoving
Thank you.

[/box_light]

[divider]

(This article is made possible by)

41 Ford Hall Topped Convertible

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Rik Hoving

HALL TOPPED CONVERTIBLE

Roy Herman is the current caretaker of this early 1950’s built custom 1941 Ford. An original custom with rare Hall padded top.

From 1973 and up the history on this late 1940’s early 1950’s built custom is known, and documented with some photos etc. Roy Herman, who bought the car in 2011, has been desperately search for more history on the car. Where did it come from when it was saved from the crusher by Moe Miller in 1973. And who was the original builder/owner of this 1941 Ford convertible. The Hall top – Hall was located in Oakland – might indicate it was built in Northern California.

There is some information that the car may have been customized circa 1949-50 after having the front end damaged in a collision. People seem to remember the car in the early days but no one could remember the owners’ names, or has any photos to proof this. The car looks similar to other 41 customs of the period except for the, turned side-ways 1949 Buick taillight treatment. That is rather unique for the 1941-48 Ford.

These are the earliest photos Roy has been able to find of his Ford. The photos were taken in the mid 1970’s, when Moe owned the car and had started to restore it. The complete body was stripped down to bare metal as we can see here. Moe had added the four rows of louvres by now.

The unrestored Hall top is still in place in these photos. Later the canvas and padded material would be removed and the former Hall’s Top Shop employee would red the top in the same way they did in the 1940’s and ’50’s. The C.A. Hall Auto Top tag below comes from the Ron Brooks collection.

The car is an early custom with an 3 1/2 inch chopped windshield. Most likely after the front-end got damaged in the collision this was replaced with the front of an ’46-’48 front Ford. The fenders were molded and leaded to the main body. Door handles were removed and solenoid latches added. The Ford grille was replaced with an 1948 Cadillac grill and the surrounding sheet metal reshaped. 1949 Plymouth bumpers were added front and rear. And the most unique feature of this early custom are the 1949 Buick Taillights turned sideways, and molded into the rear fenders. Hall’s Auto Tops created the padded top.The car was painted a bright metallic green when found with many layers of paint under that. The 41 had no engine when found but was set up for a flathead with top loader trans and stock rear end.

[box_light]

Timeline of the Hall Topped 1941 Ford

On March 24 1973, Moe Miller of San Jose CA, buys an old custom 1941 Ford Convertible from a local auto wrecker. It was on it’s way to the crusher.
Moe along with help from friends Dean Essex and Ralph Reyes restored the 41 over the next several years.
Moe had an original employee from Hall tops redo the top.
The car was painted 55 Buick Titian Red with black interior.
Moe installed a 48 Mercury motor and punched the hood louvers.
By the time the car was finished Moe had his own shop in San Jose called Valley Custom Auto Body doing restorations, custom work, and louvers.
In April 1980 the car was featured in Vol 1 No. 1 of Classic and Custom magazine, a new California publication.
The car appeared at the Oakland Roadster Show in 1980.
1985 Moe sells the car to a friend, Richard Periandri, also of San Jose.
Richard kept the 41 till 1995 then sold it to Los Gatos Ferarri dealer Brian Burnett.
Apparently Burnett sold the car to someone (unknown) in Texas.
In 1998 it was sold at Barrett Jackson Auction in Arizona. The car was now painted a darker maroon and had a white and maroon tuck and roll interior installed. It also had the Crestliner steering wheel, fender skirts, and Thickstun engine parts installed. A buyer brought the car home to British Columbia, Canada.
Roy Herman, the current owner purhased the ’41 Ford in 2011.

[/box_light]

Top and bottom show the feature article featured in Vol 1 No. 1 of Classic and Custom magazine. The text in the article was not quite accurate. Since it mentioned nothing about the car being an original custom. And listed Moe and his friends actually doing all the customizing.

Ron Brooks took this photo of the ’41 Ford at the Oakland Roadster Show in 1980.

These two photos, above and below, were taken in the early 1980’s. Moe had added single bar flipper hubcaps by now.

Mike Shelley took the two photos above at the 1988 Paso Robles show.

In 1993 Andy Southard used a photo of the 1941 Ford on the back cover of his book Custom Cars of the 1950’s. In the photo credits he did however write that Moe Miller built the car.

[divider]

The photos above show the car as it sits now. When Roy bought the car it was repainted in a darker shade of maroon and the single bar flipper hubcaps were replaced by 1957 Cadillac hubcaps. Fortunately all the other details have been left intact, including the Spotlight and all other customizing elements. Obviously all previous owners after Moe have had the same passion for the car, and wanted to keep it as period as possible.

A good look at the modified 1946-48 Ford grille surround that was needed to make the 1948 Cadillac grille fit the front.

Wonderful period upholstery, the original 1941 Ford dash and the Crestliner steering wheel

A closer look at the turned side ways 1949 Buick taillights and the way the fender body line flows into the hand made and molded in taillight bucket.

This photo above, shows the Thickstun equipped flathead engine. The set in shows how Moe used the 1941 Ford to promote his Valley Custom Auto Body shop business. The ad comes from an early Classics & Custom magazine.

If anybody recognizes the car, from the time prior to 1973. Most likely in California. Please let us know. Roy really would love to know the complete history of his car, and so do we. The most obvious features are the adaption of the 1946-48 Ford front sheet metal, the 1948 Cadillac grille and the best option to identify the car the side way mounted 1949 Buick taillights.

[divider]

(advertisement)

[divider]

(advertisement)

[divider]