The ultimate library on traditional custom cars.

[Bert Gustafsson]

I suppose a lot of you guys that are active on this forum are a bit like myself and have been buying custom car books and magazines now and then, and over the years it has become a small collection in the book shelf. A few years back they were one of the most important source of information if you were into this type of cars. That has obviously changed lately, now you can get a lot of information just by a few clicks on your mouse. And I must admit that I haven’t bought a custom car book in a while myself, the latest was actually the excellent book Rik wrote about the Jack Steward Ford. Anyhow, there is something special about books, even though the information you find on the internet may be almost endless, it may not be there the next time you try to find it. The books will stay the same for at least another 50 years.
Last week I spend a bit more time than usual in my bed since I had catched a cold, and that was a great opportunity to pull out some old books from the shelf. But it also made me start thinking if there are other books that would be fun to have in the collection and I asked myself, what titles would be included in the ultimate complete collection of books devoted, at least partly, to traditional custom cars? I will start and hopefully you guys will add what I have missed.

Let’s start with the Dan Posts books:
Remodelers manual for restyling your car 1944, 1945, 1946
California custom car album 1947
Master custom restyling manual 1947
Blue book of custom restyling 1949
Blue book of custom restyling, enlarged super edition. 1951
Blue book of custom restyling, revised edition. 1952
Abc’s of Custom How 1954

The Trend books: (I suppose there are more Trend Books made that should be added?)
TB101 Custom cars
TB105 Restyle your car
TB107 Dream cars
TB109 Custom cars annual 1954
TB116 Custom cars annual 1955
TB122 Custom cars annual 1956
TB133 Custom cars annual 1957
TB143 Restyle your car
TB156 Custom cars annual 1958
TB175 Custom cars annual 1959
TB181 Custom show cars
TB189 Custom cars annual 1960
TB197 Custom cars annual 1961
TB205 Restyle your car
TB206 Custom cars annual 1962

Trend books by Justin Kudolla:
TB207 Custom cars annual 2009
TB208 Custom cars annual 2012

From Custom rodder:
Custom handbook No.1 1961
Custom handbook No.2 1961
Custom handbook No.3 1962
Custom handbook No.4 1962
Custom handbook No.5 1962

Barris Spotlite: (There are more Spotlites but I don’t know how many more there are on customs)
20 top customs 1961
Custom car grilles 1961
Fins and taillights 1962
Scoops and sculpturing 1962
Custom painting 1962
Custom headlights and fenders 1963
Custom wheels and lowering
Custom dashboard and detailing
Custom Corvettes 1963
Custom Chevies 1963
Custom Fords 1964

From Hot Rod magazine custom library:
Custom Car yearbook No1. 1963
Custom Car yearbook No2. 1964

Consumers guide:
Grease machines 1979

From Hot Rod magazine:
Custom cars 1982
Custom cars 1983
Custom cars 1984

Tex Smith’s: (there are a few more but I think these are the ones covering customs)
How to build custom cars 1989
How to chop tops 1990
How to build shoebox Fords & Mercurys 1991
How to build Fat Fords 1991

Mike Key:
Lead sleds 1984
Wild lead sleds 1992

Timothy Remus:
Custom cars & lead sleds 1990

KKOA
KKOA 1980-1992 1993

Andy Southard:
Custom cars of the fifties 1993
Hot rods and customs from the sixties 1997
Hot rods and customs from the seventies 1998
The Oakland roadster show 1998

Barris:
Kustoms of the fifties 1994
Kustoms of the sixties 2002
Kustom techniques of the fifties Vol1. 1995
Kustom techniques of the fifties Vol2. 1996
Kustom techniques of the fifties Vol3. 1997
Kustom techniques of the fifties Vol4. 1997
Big book of Barris 2002

Pat Ganahl:
Hot rods and cool customs 1995
The American custom car 2001

Bo Bertilsson:
Classic customs and lead sleds 2001

Thom Taylor:
Hot rod and custom chronicle 2006

Rik Hoving
The Jack Stewart Ford 2012

[Rik Hoving]

hmmmm…. What a fantastic topic…. I love Custom Car books, and I also love Custom Car related stuff found on the internet.. But I’m totally with you that there is nothing like being able to browse thru some real paper books… and even better some old paper books about Custom Cars.

Fantastic list…. I have most of those as well… but I realize I also do miss a couple.
And I have a few more to add.

How to Customize Cars and Rods, George Barris and Wayne Thoms 1963
The Legendary Custom Car and Hot Rods of Gene Winfield, David Grant 2008
Kustomland, Thom Taylor 2008
Watson’s Custom Car Confessions, Thom Taylor and Larry Watson 2010
Hot Rod Gallery, Pat Ganahl 2013

Will add a few more tomorrow.

Enjoy the beauty of Customizing

[Janne Kutja]

Anyone got this?:
Kustom Kemps of America: 1980-1992, Jerry Titus 1993

Just curious how is it, good? Color? etc..
Edit: Just noticed Bert mentioned that, but still looking for basic info.

Now on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/kutjadesign/

[Jason]

I think I have a copy of this book. I’ll dig it out and take a peek when I get home.

[David]

Great list! I have just a few of those, mostly the “newer” ones. I’ll be printing this list and start my hunt. Thanks for compiling it!!

I have the KKOA book. It’s black and white and was filled with pictures of member’s cars. It was announced in the Trend Setter and they solicited members to send in pics of their cars to be published. It’s a great look at the early days of the custom rebirth…..lots of the cars included would not meet the currently held view of “traditional.” But remember, at the time, most of those involved were the guys who were into customs the first time around and now had good jobs, kids growing up a bit and a little extra money to get back into the hobby and build the cars they wish they could have built when they were kids in the 50’s. A great time I look back upon fondly….even though I was just a kid at the rebirth dreaming of my first custom. 🙂

[Dave (a.k.a. rodncustomdreams)]

This is great! Now I have something else to occupy my time with over the winter months – checking and updating my library! Thanks!(?)…

The internet is a terrific resource, but it just doesn’t smell the same as those great old mags…!

Dave

Jus' creepin' along..

[Rik Hoving]

If you are into early Custom Cars, then I think that the Hot Rod books by Don Montgomery also should be part of your library. Although the majority of the books is about early Hot Rods, and Race Cars, each of them also have a nice number of early Custom Cars in them.

I think that Authentic Hot Rods and Hot Rod Memories are the best of them all with the most Custom Car content in them.

Hot Rods in the Forties, Don Montgomery 1987
Hot Rods as they where, Don Montgomery 1989
Hot Rod Memories, Don Montgomery 1991
Authentic Hot Rods, Don Montgomery 1994
Old Hot Rods Scrapbook, Don Montgomery 2006

There are a few more, but I do not think these have much Custom Car content in them.

Enjoy the beauty of Customizing

[Rik Hoving]

Another book that should be on this list is…

The Sage of the Spencer Murray Dream Truck, Mark S. Gustavson and Bill Aitchison, 2001

Enjoy the beauty of Customizing

[kustomland]

Rik you beat me to it….
Don Montgomery collection is awesome…!! There are some photos of Kustoms in the back ground of some photo shots. Tho the original books in the series not the reprints command big..$$$$ One of books is $600 and about the same price as the LARRY WATSON book.

I have a full set of KKOA GAZETTES ” Jerry Titus ” that belonged to Rod Powell. Also the full set came with the George Barris and Rod Powell KKOA induction hall of fame paper work.

The HOT ROD KING COMIC 1952 I issue only….!!!! Have one framed………!!

The 1946 hand typed on recycled WW2 paper 1 issue only ” HOLLYWOOD HOT RODS ”
Only 1 copy known to exist….
I have it framed also. This hand typed book was the first to ever coin the term ” HOT ROD ” before that is states they were called ” GO JOBS ” and ” HOP UPS ” It even introduces the reader what a HOT ROD is and also an explode view of a 1932 roadster and what parts you do not need and to discard….!! Imagine that….. ” Throw Away Your 1932 Hood And Fenders…!!! as easy as 123…..Now wonder why there’s none left..!! lol…..

You can spend hours on ebay searching for books, Tho my AMAZON list is about 20 books long at the moment.

As for the New Barris Book im glad its here after 5 years because I paid for my copy 5 YEARS AGO…!! Amazon was already selling this book before it was printed and they never told you this and when I bought it said the waiting time was unknown…!!! And took my money….!! Tho looks like it was worth the wait…….!!!

As for the Larry Watson book the ebay user ” ithinkibspacemoney ” bought a lot of the 1000 printed…. They were selling the copys that had the covers bent for $600 and I am still kicking my self for not buying one soon as it came out… Now I can not even afford a copy….!!!

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[kustomland]

Janne Kutja Good question….! About that KUSTOM KEMP BOOK because there is only ever 1 for sale on Amazon every now and then..??
They ask about $160 for it and I wanted to buy it myself but was also wondering how good the book really was and was it worth buying…??
Hope someone posts a few shots so we can see….!!
KUSTOMLAND

[Bert Gustafsson]

Thanks for the additions to the list, seems like I have some shopping to do. The KKOA book is a 184 page hardbound coffee table book, see pic below (phone is there for size comparison). It is a fun snapshot in time with 150+ pages showing what the members drove back then. All pics were sent in by the members and there is also a short story for every pic written by the owner of the car. I don’t think there has been any screening so there are good, not so good, famous and quite a few survivor customs as can be seen in the pic below.

[Janne Kutja]

Thanks for the pics and Info Bert and others!

Now on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/kutjadesign/

[Rik Hoving]

Thanks Bert…
Looks like a nice book…
Something that should be part of the collection.

Enjoy the beauty of Customizing

[Dave Tartaglia]

I have another KKOA book:

Kustom Kemps of America Commemorative Book
Turner Publishing Company,
Paducah, KY 270-443-0121
Copyright 2003

full color, 208 pages, hardbound

Content is photos of members’ cars, owner-submitted.

It’s a nice record of what members were building and driving.
Especially for me, asI remember many of the cars shown.

[Rik Hoving]

Thanks Dave, I will add that later to the list on the main board.

I have another to add.
Even though its a thin book, its nice to have with some great material from the first Paso Robles shows.

25 Great Year of Kustoms, West Coast Kustoms 25th 1981 – 2006 a retrospective of the first 25 years. (2006)

Enjoy the beauty of Customizing

[Author]

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