Phones in customs.

[Torchie]

Been looking at the comments in regards to the Barris built 1955 Chevy custom that is currently for sale.

Tinwolf posted a link to it in the Customs for sale on e-bay section here on the CCC.

My question is this.

When did the phone in the car thing become a must have for a custom?

I have seen more then a few and it never made a lick of sense to me. It’s not like they worked. Or did you just carry a 50 foot phone cord with you.:)

And not all of these were “show” cars.

I can understand the under dash 45 RPM record players as they really worked but the phone(And the TV’s) just seem silly to me.

 

Lets hear some comments.

Torchie

[Rik Hoving]

Been thinking the same thing about those Torchie.
My guess was always the custom builder, or car owner wanted to impress the viewers, making them think it worked, as in high tech. I do think that the one in the Golden Sahara really worked. I remember Jim Street telling me something about it. I will ask him next time I speak to him.
Not sure when it started, never really did any research on the matter

Enjoy the beauty of Customizing

[Quentin Hall]

A 59 Biarritz came to Australia in 1960. It was triple Persian sand with bucket seats and fully optioned. Apparently during the early 60s it was one of six cars in Oz to be fitted with operational car phones, the other 5 were all government vehicles. To make a call you had to book time with an operator. I did a lot of restoration work on it a dozen years ago. Sadly the ph and valve equipment that took up most of the trunk space were long gone . There was a now poorly plated hole in the middle of the trunk where the ph antenna once was.

[Tinwolf]

I worked on a 1958 Cadillac a few years that had parts left from what I figured a phone , the story that came with the car was that it originated from its time at an airforce base , if it was a local phone for the airport or “go anywhere” type , I dont know USA is a large country and my guess this must have been tied to a city or some kind of installation , I found this link that tells the story of phones in the US started in 1946

:http://www.wb6nvh.com/MTSfiles/Carphone1.htm

As for the phones in customs , did they show up in late fifties in customs , did they work ? Looking at the tech marval Golden Sahara that had so much other futuristic inventions built in , why not a working phone ? For the others , maybe bling ?

 

 

Wolf

[Torchie]

Thanks for the comments Gang.

I guess we will have to just chalk it up to a “Bling” kind of item. LOL  Just seems kind of silly to me.

Indeed they would have been considered High Tech for the time.

I would think that the one in the Sahara could have worked Rik. Given the level of “High Tech car of the future” equipment in that car.

As Tinwolf’s  picture of the Sahara trunk shows. Not much room for suitcases. LOL

I have always loved this picture of Junior Conway. Wonder if he is ordering a Cheese Burger to go……..:)

Torchie

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