In the Works – Gary Emory 1939 Ford

Posted on May 30, 2015 by Rik Hoving

GARY EMORY 1939 FORD

Gary Emory, son of the legendary Custom Car builder and co-founder of the Valley Custom Shop, Neil Emory, is working on his tribute to the Valley Custom Shop Custom 1939 Ford convertible.

Having been always very impressed by the cars that have come out of the Valley Custom Shop in the 1940’s and 1950’s it was now time to Gary emory to have his own real Valley Custom Shop inspired Custom. The car is being built by Gary’s brother Don Emory and is coming along really nice.

Eric Black created this wonderful Artist impression of how Gary’s 1939 Ford Convertible Valley Custom Tribute will look like finished.
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Automotive designer and Illustrator Eric Black just finished the artist impression for Gary. Gary has his own ideas about the custom, invluenced by the creations created by his father, but also his brother Don had a few things to say about the design. So the 1941 Buick skirts Gary had planned to use have been tossed advised by Don, and Don also “hates” white wall tires, so despite the Eric Black illustration with white wall Gary will also prepare a set of black wall fitted wheels to keep everybody happy.
Speaking of wheels. Gary is still looking for a full set of Single Bar flipper hubcaps. So if you know about a set, similar to the once in the photo below, let us know and we will pass it on to Gary.

How it all started back in 1957
The front half of the car was done in 1957 by Gary’s father Neil Emory and his uncle Clayton Jensen. It was part of a Rod and Custom how to channel series in the December 1957 Issue of Rod & Custom magazine.
The body has been channeled over the frame, with the fenders left in stock position. The cowl and hood are sectioned and the rear quarter panels cut to allow the body to be dropped.

The four page R&C article from 1957 shows the steps needed to channel a 1940 Ford. This was one of the specialties of the Valley Custom Shop.
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A the 5-inch strip has been removed from the firewall and cowl, and the body has been repositioned. The gap is in the process of being seam-welded. Lotsa bodywork lies ahead.
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Since the 40 was to be dropped 5 inches, a 5-inch panel of metal was welded to the stock flooring, following the outline of the frame. The floor was then cut out along the inside edge of this panel and rewelded to the top. In the 50s it was not uncommon to see the body welded to the frame after channeling, but devising rubber or leather body isolators is preferred.
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In order to retain the stock height of the rear fenders, an arc was cut in the body from the bottom of the wheel opening to the deck opening.
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Once the body was dropped inside of the lower arch, the overlapping metal was cut away, and the pieces were seam-welded. A load of metalwork? Yup, but leaving the fenders at stock height looks better and emphasizes the lowered look.
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Once the reinstalled body was welded to the fabricated 5-inch step, the floor was welded atop the step. Here, Valley Customs Neil Emory does some final body welding.
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The work done on the car as of the end of May 2015
Gary and Don have joined the ’40 standard coupe customized in 1957 with parts of an ’39 DeLuxe Convertible, to create a phantom 1939 Ford DeLuxe Convertible. The car will have no running boards, similar to the Glen Hooker 1939 Mercury the Valley Custom Shop built. Further inspiration for the car comes from the Ralph Jilek sectioned 1940 Ford and also from the 1937 Dodge convertible, Gary’s father built in the 1940’s, before Gary was born. We will keep you posted on the progress on Gary’s 1939 Ford here on the Custom Car Chronicle. Stay tuned….

The back of Gary’s ’39 will have 2 set in plates, just like his fathers 1937 Dodge. One for the license plate, and one for Throttle Stompers Burbank club plaque.
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Chopped windshield and top of the cowl from the 39 Ford convertible has been added to the 1940 lower cowl section.
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Gary is still looking for a full set of these single bar ripple disk hubcaps for his Valley Custom Shop tribute project.
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Updated on June 25, 2015. The car is now in primer, and nearly ready for the black paint.
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Update from August 17, 2015. The car has now been painted.
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One of the cars Gary was inspired by to create his 1939 Ford was the perfectly proportioned sectiond 1940 Ford convertible the Valley Custom Shop created for Ralf Jilek.
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Gary’s father’s 1937 Dodge Convertible which Neil built in the early 1940’s was the inspiration for the the double set in license plate set-up.
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Amazing style and details in Eric Black’s illustration.
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Tom Hocker Ford Restoration update

Posted on February 26, 2015 by Rik Hoving

TOM HOCKER FORD RESTORATION

Tom Hocker’s Barris Kustoms built 1940 Ford Coupe has been around since the early 1950’s. It has been updated a few times, but now its getting close to beeing restored back to its 1957 Barris Version.

Tom Hocker from Oakland, California took his 1940 Ford coupe to the Barris Kustoms shop for a full restyling. In the early 1950’s the Barris shop chopped the top 2-3/4 inches in the front and 3-1/2 inch at the rear. The windshield was leaned back and the rear window leaned foreward for a pleasing flow of the lower top.The rear corners of the door were rounded and the drip rails removed, which changed the looks of the top completely.

The first version of the Tom Hocker 1940 Ford shows the Cadillac Sombrero hubcaps, and the molded in headlights.
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All fenders where molded to the body and at the rear a new gravel pan was molded to the body. The hood was peaked and the side grilles were replaced with solid panels molded to the body. The headlights where molded in and all chrome removed. Narrowed 1949 Pontiac bumpers were used front and rear. At the back the bumper guards were madified to house hand made clear red lucite taillights and the front guards were modified in a similar way to house a set of clear parking lights. Fender skirts appleton spots and v-butted windshield complete this gorgeous custom.

This is an early version of the Tom Hocker 1940 Ford. Originally the car had Cadillac sombrero hubcaps, so this photo was taken a bit later, after Tom had replaced them with 1953 Cadillac units. The car still had its original Fushia Orchid paint in this photo.
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Around 1953 Tom’s Ford was painted fuchsia orchid and later it was repainted in light metallic blue with lighter scallops. In the later part of the 1950’s Tom wanted to update the Ford with the hit of that time, quad headlights. So back to Barris who removed the molded in headlights and replaced them with a set of double molded headlights. The car was once again painted light metallic blue with lighter silver blue scallops. In the 1970’s the car was painted pearl white and later a set of lavender scallops was added. It was like this when it was used in a evening cruising scene in the American Graffiti movie.

The Hocker Ford at the 1959 Oakland Roadster show, photo from the Rod Powell Collection.
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Movie still from American Graffiti with the car in pearl white, new taillights different wheels, no skirts and lavender scallops.
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2004, Restoration underway.
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2012, the partly restored Ford was primer painted and put back together for a special event.
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Ed Hegarty, also owner of the Buddy Ohanesian 1940 Mercury aquired the Ford quite some time ago and planned to have the car completely restored into the last Barris version. Sadly Ed passed away, and the car passed on to his son. The restoration of the car is still going, and we have just recieved some new updated photos from Rich Hubbard who is completing the restoration on the Tom Hocker Ford. The body is completely metal finished now. And we are looking forward to see some new primer and paint on it… hopefully soon. Stay tuned.

Thank you for keeping us updated Rick Hubbard.

February 2015, this is how the car looks now with all the body work metal finished.
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Pierson 36 Resto update

Posted on December 4, 2014 by Rik Hoving

PIERSON 36 RESTO

The Bob Pierson 1936 Ford is currently being put back together at South City Rod & Custom for current owner Jim Bobowski. The car been completely restored to its late 1940’s looks.

After having been disguised as street rod, the original Bob Pierson 1936 Ford coupe was acquired by Jim Bobowski in late 2010. Jim had known about the car for a few years, and had been trying to buy it to be able to restore it back to how it looked in its glory days. Frank Nay, the then owner at first did not want to sell, but eventually let it go. In late 2010 a big historic Custom Car event was planned to be part at the 2011 GNRS. The Customs Then & Now. Jim knew about this event, and knew it would become an amazing event and wanted to be part of this with the Bob Pierson Coupe.

Pre-chopped version.

Chopped version This is the version the restoration will be brought back to. (photo courtesy of Robert Genat “the Birth of Hot Rodding” book)
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This is how Jim bought the car. Quite a different look that we know from the 1940’s and early 1950’s.
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Jim took the Coupe to Jimmy White’s Circle City Hot Rods in Orange, California to see how much could be done in just two month before the show deadline. Plan was to back date the car as much as possible from its Street Rod looks in bright red with billet wheels, almost unrecognisable from its wonderfull white with red wheels version we know so well from the dry lake race photos. The team realized a full rebuild was out of the question. White primer was talked about, but quickly let go because of to less time to pull that off. Instead all the time was spend on the most cosmetic elements. The suspension was modified, steel wheels added with whide white wall tires mounted, which alredy changed the looks completely. A set of 37 DeSoto bumpers was found restored and send out to be plated. A Spare tire cover was found as well as the teardrop fender skirts. Appleton Spotlight were added in the original holes which could be located on the inside. And finally chrome plated windshield frame and door garnish and a period license plate changed the look of the car completely.

“Finished” and ready for the Grand Nations Roadster Show at Jimmy White’s Circle City Hot Rods Shop.
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This is how the car was displayed at the prestigious Customs Then & Now exhibit at the 2011 GNRS.
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After the show the car was taken to Bill Ganahl’s South City Rod & Custom shop in Hayward, California for a complete restoration. The car was disassembled and stripped from its bright red paint. When most of the car was restored, it was put back together and prepared for one of the famous Rodder’s Journal Bare Metal Studio Photo-Shoots. The car was featured in bare metal with a selection of never before published original photos from the 1940’s and 1950’s in the Rodder’s Journal issue #63. With a story written by Pat Ganahl. After the photo-shoot the car was taken apart once again for more fine tuning and of course final paint and detail.

Right now the car has been painted gloss off white by Compani Color, who actually used the paint booth of Daryll Hollenbeck since their own paint booth was being rebuild. The team at South City Rod & Custom is now carefully putting back the car, for its debut at the 2015 Grand National Roadster show at the end of January… So we all know that it will be a hectic couple of weeks for the shop. Good luck, and we are looking forward to see the completely restored coupe.

The original dash was modified during the cars Street Rod phase, and had to be put back dated before it could be chrome plated.
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Fresh gloss off-white paint. Looking forward to see the car outside so we can see the white color really good.
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Frame, suspension and engine are all painted and put back together. This is the first time the painted body is placed back on the detailed chassis.
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We have started a Custom Car Chronicle Forum post to share the updates on the Bob Pierson final restoration progress. The material is shared by Bill Ganahl’s South City Rod & Custom Shop, thank you very much for that. Take a look at the CCC-Forum-Post, and make sure you check back regularly for any new updates.

Ron Dunn Finished paint

Posted on November 29, 2014 by Rik Hoving

RON DUNN FINISHED PAINT

November 26, 2014, The Team at Steve’s Auto Restoration in Oregon have completely finished the paint work on the Valley Custom Shop-built Ron Dunn Ford. Next up is final assembly.

Over the last couple of weeks the Ron Dunn Ford has been painted, the paint left to rest for a while and then it was time for countless of hours of wet sanding. The Sierra Gold paint was carefully sanded to a perfect smooth surface before SAR employees Jay and Duke went ahead with the cut & buff stage to get the paint till absolute perfection. The body is not looking absolutely gorgeous with super paint and the team is very eager to get started on the final assembly. Goal is to have the car displayed at the 2015 Grand National Roadster Show which is held in Pomona California from January 23-35, 2015. As these photos show, there is still a LOT to do to get the car ready…

Jay and Duke doing what they do best to get the paint finish into the best condition possible.
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The paint job is all finished now, and the team has started to remove the taped sections to have a first good look.
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First steps of putting the car back together were to install the front inner fenders which where painted gloss black.
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Looking forward to see all the panels back in place and the white wall tires to set off the paint… soon.
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Billy Powell 39 Mercury

Posted on November 25, 2014 by Rik Hoving

BILLY POWELL 39 MERCURY

David Martinez at Martinez Industries Co. creates another period perfect padded top, and much more for Billy Powell’s 40’s style 1939 Mercury Convertible.

I have been following the process of Billy Powell’s 1939 Merucry convertible at David martinez’s Martinez Industires Co. Facebook for the last three weeks. When the car arrived at David’s shop he shared some photo of this very nice patina 1939 Mercury with a wonderful 1940’s stance and period perfect flipper disc hubcaps on white wall tires. So David got my attention there right away. He mentioned that he would be spending the next three weeks chopping the windshield and doing a few other period custom restyling on Billy’s Mercury. And to top it all of he would be creating a padded top.

The look of an early Mercury convertible with a good looking padded top, like they used to be made by the Carson Top Shop, Bill Gaylords, Hall and a afew more shops, is not something you see too often these days. But back in the early to late 1940’s and even in the beginning of the 1950’s these padded topped speed boat stance-ed Mercury’s were much more plentiful. So I’m very happy to see Billy taking his car and going for this period perfect look. Taking the car to David Martinez for the padded top was a logical next step. David has been creating a series of wonderful shaped period perfect looking padded tops in the past few years. But David can handle a lot more than just the top or upholstery.

This is how the car arrived at David’s North Palm Springs shop. Here the stock height soft top bows are being removed. The stance, white wall tires and single bar hubcaps were already there.
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Martinez Industries chopped the windshield on Billy’s mercury, they reshaped the front fenders to accepts 1937 Ford headlights, added 1941 Studebaker taillights, a set in license plate in the shaved trunk, and did some more clean up work on the body. The plan right now was not to create a show quality custom. The car was black when it came to the shop, and only the sections that were modified were repainted to match the rest of the body. After enjoying the car for a while Billy plans for a complete redo in the next year or so. After the windshield was chopped David created the padded top. Owner and builder had decided to go on the more sweeping lines of a Gaylord top, instead of the more boxy look of a Carson top.

The top of the windshield frame was cut off and several inches removed from the height of the Pillars.
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The top and bottom needed some minor adjustments to line up again. Not some of the surface rust on the hood that was also fixed at Martinez.
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The lower height of the top fits the speed boat stance very well.
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Swoopy Padded Top

The Carson Top shop had developed a special jig to build their padded tops on. The most common type cars all had their own jig on which the padded tops could be built. Benefits for the shop was the easy access for the upholsterer, much easier than to crawl around inside the cars. This jig resulted in a special shaped top that was nearly identical for the cars done using this jig. And the shape that was created was a well shaped, but kind of a boxy look which was developed in the early 1940’s and suited the cars from the early and mid 1940’s very good. Later in the 1940’s, towards the 1950’s the cars were restyled with a bit more flowing lines, the cars were lowered a bit more than before. The Barris Kustom shop had been working a lot with the Carson Top Shop for their interiors and padded tops. But for some of the cars the Barris Shop needed a more swoopy looking padded top. The shop teamed up with Bill Gaylord and together they created a padded top with much lower rear bows for a more streamlined look, suiting the style of Custom Cars coming from the Barris Kustom shop then a lot better.

One of the special jigs created at the Carson Top Shop for the padded top construction. The photo shows that the upholsterer can stand inside the top doing his work. This way they could produce the padded tops much faster. The jigs were created to fit the most popular cars of the day.
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David started creating the more swoopy Gaylord style padded top with bending a long piece of metal strip to mark the side window openings. Nice swoopy teardrop shaped side window openings. Next was using the same metal strip to mark the center line of the top. The strip was secured at the chopped windshield frame, and then bended in shape toward the catwalk. From there David started to bent the bows following the contour of the strip. Very important is to have the side radius of these bows perfect as well. And all the time he has to keep in mind that the padding and top layer will ad quite a bit to the shapes he is creating. The shape of these bows is what can make or break the end result.
On Billy’s Mercury David absolutely outdid himself. The shape of the top is really breathtaking.

After the the chopped A-Pillars had been smoothed it was time to start the top. This metal strips were used to shape the side window opening.
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Original wood header, and the shape of the top was decided on using a shaped thin metal strip. This was used as guide for creating the bows for the top.
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This nice overview photo shows the car with the new bows in place. It also shows that some modifications had to be made to the catwalk to make the new padded top work the best.
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The padded top during construction and the finished headliner on the top on the far right was show with the top upside down on Davids upholstery table.
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And the even more increadible thing is that Martinez Industries did all this in just three weeks, the car is now back to Billy home in Texas where he will finish putting it back together. The plan is to enjoy the car like this for a while, and then in a year or so take the car apart completely and do a proper restoration and get all the other details like a full custom interior done. Looking forward to see some outdoor photos of Billy’s period perfect 1939 Mercury convertible.

The front fenders were reshaped to accept 1937 Ford headlights that have a nice peak at the top, and mild point at the bottom, creating a little more “sharpness” to the front of the car.
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The trunk was shaved and a vintage shaped (large radius corners) set-in license plate was created.
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Primer time.
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Some parts of the body, like the doors and quarter panels, were still in good enough shape for this version of the car, so they were taped off.
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Guide coat followed by sanding and then ready for paint.
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Fresh black glossy paint and time for putting the car back together.
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Time to go back home to Texas

When the car was ready David only had time to take some quick snapshots of the “finished” car inside his shop. The car was going to be picked up in the evening after the sun had set, so there was no time to take some nice photos outside. Hopefully we can add some nicer photos of the car with some better lighting in the near future.

1941 Studebaker taillights and the set-in license plate with the light switched on look really great.
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New slightly green tinted glass was cut to fit the chopped windshield and installed shortly before the car was picked up. The front bumper needed work on the brackets and will be added back again, when the car comes back to David’s shop in 2015.
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I have saved the best photo for the last. This photo to me shows the breathtaking shape of the top really well. The shape of the side window openings which tapers slightly down towards the rear, and then has a wonderful large radius when it moves down towards the belt line. The side window opening shape dictates the overall shape of the top which has the highest point a little ahead of the door line. The flow of the top works really well with the flow of the rear fenders and trunk.

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Radcliffe Shoebox sees light of day

Posted on November 25, 2014 by Rik Hoving

RADCLIFFE SHOEBOX

Rob Radcliffe from King Kustoms in Temecula, California, has been working on his personal Custom Shoebox for many years. Today Rob took the car outside for the first time

Rob Radcliffe send us these teaser photos of his Personal Custom Shoebox. After spending many years on the car today November 24, 2014 was the first time that the car was taken outside to have a good look at it. The car is not finished yet, it still needs some more finishing and detailing. But all we can see is that Rob did an absolutely stunning job on this car. Most of the work was done by Rob at his King Kustoms Shop, with final body work by Octavio Shavez.

We will do a much more in depth article when the car is all done, but want to show you Rob’s snapshots of his car right now… since it is so breathtakingly stunning.

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Posted in In the Works, news flash | Tagged King Kustoms, Rob Radcliffe, shoebox | 10 Replies

Jesse Lopez Clone nearly done.

Posted on November 22, 2014 by Rik Hoving

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LOPEZ FORD CLONE

The clone of the Jesse Lopez 1941 Ford build by Jerry Daman from Texas is in the final stages. Today Jerry took the car out side for a good look.

The original Jesse Lopez 1941 Ford was build in the ate 1940’s by Sam Barris and Jesse Lopez.
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Today, Saturday November 22, 2014 Jerry Daman from Texas took his Jesse Lopez clone out of the garage to be able to stand back and enjoy his creation for the first time. Jerry has been working on cloning the Sam Barris and Jesse Lopez created 1941 Ford for Jesse Lopez for quite some time. And in the last couple of weeks he has been putting the car back together. Slowly he saw his month long hard work getting to look like a real car again. There is still a lot left to be done… before Jerry can call it FINISHED. But today certainly is a milestone in creating yet another Vintage Custom Car masterpiece clone.

Enjoy…

Follow the project on the HAMB.

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Posted in In the Works, news flash | Tagged Jerry Daman, Jesse Lopez Clone, KI, KKB, Sledge Customs | 5 Replies

Rob Ida 1940 Mercury

Posted on November 20, 2014 by Rik Hoving

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ROB IDA 1940 MERCURY

In the works at Rob Ida’s Concepts is this 1940 Mercury three window coupe major restyling project for owner Jack Kiely.

[dropcap]Rob[/dropcap] Ida Concepts in Morganville, NJ has been working on a 1940 three window coupe custom for several years already. The project had been on halt for some time, but now the cars owner Jack Kiely asked the team to go full speed ahead on it again. Rob Ida Concept is known for its exclusive out of the box and finely crafted cars for many years. The shop is know for their series of Tucker projects which we will cover in an other article. Rob send me a couple of photos of the progress from the last couple of month. The body is not mostly shaped and the shop is working on all the finer details including the brass trim, the amazing engine, and all other hand made parts. This one will be exceptional.

The photos above are from 2009-10 when the shop was full force on the project. They show the car in the early staged and how much of the original body was replaced to get the desired shapes. The base car with the 1939 front end on the top left. The top right shows that the complete top was cut off and later the rear fenders were also discarded as the cardboard template shows. The two bare metal photos show the new very sleek lines of the car.
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The team at Rob Ida Concepts has been working on the Mercury for the last couple of month and has made great progress with a lot of really amazing details. The Mercury will be something completely different with a lot of Coachbuilding influences. Every part on this car is specially designed and crafter in the very well equipped shop. Rob mentioned that despite the on the floor stance on the first set of photos, the car will actually have a more speed boat style stance when done.

This near profile shot shows the new three window roof line really well. And also shows the plans for the fully skirted rear and front fenders. The front skirts will steer with the wheels. The tape around the belt-line indicated the new scratch-build side trim shape.
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This more recent photo shows that the brass side trim includes the side mirror as well, once completely done the bras will be chrome plated. Its great to see the original style window trim to be part of the new design.
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This photo does not only show the AMAING attention to detail on the engine, but also shows the unfinished brass side trim pieces.
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The copper colored cloth wires add a wonderful early feel to the engine bay. Notice the scratch-built details as the wire loom.
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Posted in In the Works | Tagged Mercury, Rob Ida Concepts | 7 Replies

Oz Welch Project ’41 Olds

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Rik Hoving

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OZ WELCH PROJECT 41 OLDS

Master builder OZ Welch, owner of OZ KUSTOM is building a new personal ride. 1941 Oldsmobile 30window coupe with Buick front.

[dropcap]O[/dropcap]z bought the car as a project from Sacramento Customs. The car is an 1941 Oldsmobile and came from the show with the Buick front end grafted on. Oz like the overall look of the car and decided it would be a perfect candidate for a next personal Custom. The only thing he did not like about it was that with the new Buick front end, the rear of the car looked a bit to short.

Oz decided to built this one as a three-window coupe. He is always looking for some new shapes in the cars he built. So Oz decided that after doing the ’39 Cadillac Hard-top for John D’Agostino, and an ’41 Cadillac with Padded top he would do his own ’41 Olds as a three-window coupe. As a three window coupe he could give the top new shorter shape which made it more in proportion with the longer front end of the car. And the three window Coupe would be a nice new style to add to the full fenders line of recent Customs from his Oz Welch Kustom shop.

When it was time to chop the top, Oz decided to move the top forward a bit to make the rear appear longer, more in proportions with the longer Buick front end. He moved the back portion of the roof 8 inches forward, chopped the a-pillars 4 1/2 inch and the rear 6 inches. Right now the chop is roughed in place and has the right look and feel. To further lengthen the rear Oz will stretch the rear fenders a little bit.

Snapshot taken by Oz after he had the rough shape of the roof tacked in place. This shot also shows the ’41 Buick front end and how the Olds hood was extended and reshaped to make the Buick grille and front fenders fit.
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The c-pillars have been removed completely at this point. The rear of the roof has several relieve cuts allowing for reshaping the roof to the right shape for the shorter top.
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Door frame was cut and tacked in place to get a feel for the new window height. Later it will be cut, lengthened and reshaped to fit the new opening.
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The new position of the rear window shows how much shorter the roof now is.
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Rear quarter windows are now filled in giving the top an complete different feel.The C-pillar metal of the Olds top has been reshaped and welded in place to form the 8 inch shorter top.
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We will keep an close eye on this one from Oz. And when there are new developments we will do a follow up here on the Custom Car Chronicle… stay tuned.

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Posted in In the Works | Tagged 41 Oldsmobile, in the works, OZ Welch | 2 Replies

Sledge Customs Classic 1940 Sedan

Posted on January 2, 2014 by Rik Hoving

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CLASSIC 1940 SEDAN

In the works at Sledge Customs is a classic styled chopped 1940 Mercury sedan. Created by the cars owner Vic Jimenez and Kevan Sledge.

In 2007 my wife, our son, and me decided to leave down town Amsterdam and move to a very small village in the Northern part of the Netherlands. From a 5th floor apartment to an old farm with a two car garage. A few month ahead of the move I decided that my time to create my dream custom would come as soon as we would have settled in our new house. So I started out designing my dream custom. I have always loved the shape of the 1939-40 Mercury bodies. And could not understand why we do not see these bodies on more traditional styled customs back in the day, or now. The body has this perfect teardrop shape. This same shape also makes it hard to chop. But I knew it would not be impossible to do, just a bit harder than the coupe or convertibles.

I used Photoshop to create my dream custom 1939 Mercury sedan. A nicely balanced chop with the rear of the body and rear side windows shortened for the perfect lines. Actually I did a few different versions, but all were based on the chopped sedan body. My personal favorite was the one with the running boards removed, stainless trim on the frame covers and rock shields on the rear fenders.
Sadly only few weeks after we moved to our new home, the economy collapsed and now working free-lance made it financially impossible to get started on my dream custom project.
I decided to show my designs on the Custom Car Photo Archive and hoped that somebody would get inspired seeing how good these sedans looked fully customized. I’m extremely happy to see that my original designs helped inspire Vic Jimenez to get his project 1940 Mercury Sedan started.

One of the original Photoshop designs I made in 2007.

Vic Jimenez will be doing most of the work on the car himself at the Sledge Customs Shop in Grass Valley. The Sledge Customs Shop is owned by World leader – when it comes to chopping 1939-40 Mercury’s – Kevan Sledge. Vic will be using the Photoshop design as base for his dream Custom. Vic’s Mercury is a 1940 Model, while my original design was based on the more basic 1939 model.
Kevan Sledge has created a CCC-Forum post about the project, where we can follow the updates.

The chopping of the top has begin. In this photo you can see how much the back of the car will need to be laid forward to meet the lower edge of the top.

Vic’s 1940 Mercury Sedan before the work was started. The body is nice, straight and mostly rust free, a perfect project car.

First job was to lower the rear by flattening the rear cross member.

Car owner Vic working on his Mercury.

This is my own personal favorite of the designs i made in 2007. Removed running boards with stainless trim on the frame covers and rock shields on the rear fenders.

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Posted in In the Works | Tagged '40 Mercury, Kevan Sledge, Mercury, Sledge Customs | 3 Replies

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Bob Dzemske SR passed away

Happy Birthday Rik.

Nosed customs

The Hirohata Merc Stories

The Rod Powell Photo Collection

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1957 Sears Parking Lot Show

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Larry Pointer 1937 Chevy Brule

The end of an era?

Any one I.D this Canadian car..?

Hirohata Documentary

Bob Dzemske SR passed away

Happy Birthday Rik.

Nosed customs

The Hirohata Merc Stories

The Rod Powell Photo Collection

1957 Continental

Recent Posts

Westergard classic 36 Ford

Custom 1933-34 Fords

1950 Sacramento Autorama

The Willis Horn Coupe

Bob Lund 50 Mercury

Bob Aguilera 53 Mercury

About CCC

Custom Car Chronicle: THE BEAUTY OF CUSTOMIZING Custom Car Chronicle is a online magazine and forum, for custom car and hot rod people who are looking for inspiration, historical knowledge, and a place were their passion can be shared. CCC is created by a small, international group of custom car, hot rod, model car, art, design-, photography-, and architecture enthusiasts. Editor in chief is custom car historian- Rik Hoving. For centuries people are inspired to built beautiful cars. CCC focuses on everything that ignites that special inspiration: design, history, technology, perfect proportions, the right feeling, and amazing personal stories. PRIVACY POLICY.

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