Mid 50’s Outdoor Car Shows part 2
OUTDOOR CAR SHOWS 2
Part two in the series of Ina Mae Overman’s mid-late 1950’s outdoor car shows. More photos from the High-School sport-fields.
This is the second article in the out-door car show series of photos taken by Ina Mae Overman. Most of these photos Ina Mae took were taken before the public was allowed in the show. Which is nice so we can see the cars in the foreground and even in the back ground really well. We can see the car owners or sometimes even whole “teams” getting the cars in the best possible shape for the show. And make sure the owner returns home with yet another trophy. Most of these photos were taken at South Gate High School on Firestone Blvd. in South Gate. (thanks to Billie Kennish for identifying the location)
South Gate, CA 90280
Special thanks to Marry Ellen Marcy for providing the scans of her mothers slides.
Dick Gonzales from Long Beach brought his 1955 Studebaker mild custom to the show. The car has a 1954 Chevy grille set in a modified opening. The body was shaved and smoothed before it was painted Oldsmobile Rose Mist. The low stance looks great with the 1956 Chrysler hubcaps and white wall tires. Dick would later take his Studebaker to Larry Watson were it would get the famous candy yellow with white outline paint job. In the back ground on the left side we can see Kermit Hanson 1957 Buick with Larry Watson flames.
Ed Cousin 1932 Ford Pickup restyled by Dick’s Body Shop. Ed, dressed in all white cloth – typical for the era – smoking a cigarette in a long holder is cleaning the engine before the public is allowed to enter the high school sports field. The truck has a mild chop, 1937 DeSoto bumpers, and full paint detailed three bar custom hubcaps on wide white wall tires. The trophies in the front show it was very much liked. Ed Roth’s F-100 is parked behind the pick up.
Paul Richards 1950 Ford convertible was another mildy custom that was looking really great. The combination of modifications worked really well on this car. The scooped and frenched headlights, rounded hood corners, 1956 DeSoto grille and 1955 Buick side trim give the car a whole new feel. Paul used 1957 Chrysler Imperial components combined with 1953 Olds taillights to create a much more modern look at the back.
1956 Ford F-100 with nicely done maroon to silver scallops over white paint. Bob Erwin’s 1956 Mercury can be spotted on the left side of the photo.
Very nicely done ’53-55 Ford F-100 Pick-Up with a perfectly proportioned chopped top and wonderful two tone maroon and gold paint job. Hubcaps are modified 1957 T-Bird units.
Scotty’s Muffler Service ’23 T roadster with the body taken off. Cub Barnett and his brother Bud drove the car. The team is working hard to get everything polished before the public is allowed on the field.(thanks to Curt Iseli for this info).
Silver scalloped Corvette with chrome plated full moon hubcaps on white wall tires and full lake pipes create a wonderful dry lake style.
The Chrome plated Moon disks on the corvette show reflection of Kermit Hanson 1957 Buick. Bold white pin-striping was hot back in 1957-58 when this photo was taken.
This wonderful sports car roadster was built by Dick Kraft with a body done by Art Ingles. The roadster had a state of the art truss-tubular chrome-moly frame contructed by Dick. The Barris Custom Shop did the paintwork on the Roadster. The wire wheel were created by cutting down four sets of Rudge wire wheels to 15 inches before they were chrome plated.
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[box_light]Go to: Part one, Part three or Part four in this series on outdoor car shows, photographed by Ina Mae Overman.[/box_light]
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Her pictures were of very high quality. They capture the essence of those wonderful Southern California late 50’s outside car shows.
That bronze ’34 pickup picture is awesome!
So much to enjoy in these images. Thanks Ina Mae and Mary Ellen for taking and sharing these time-capsule pictures!
-Dave
Rik, do you have any photos of the metallic blue ’56 Buick with Fiesta caps behind the maroon and gold F100? I’ve always been partial to mid-’50s mild custom Buicks, but I’m not familiar with that one.
The car in the shot with the drag racing team is actually the Scotty’s Muffler Service ’23 T roadster with the body taken off. The fact that it was owned by a muffler shop (Charles Scott was the owner) explains the beautiful exhaust and chrome injection stacks rolling off the Ardun. As I recall, the frame rails were made from wing struts from an airplane with tubular crossmembers. I think that’s Cub Barnett leaning over at the far left. He and his brother Bud drove the car.
Thanks for your info on the ’23 T-Dragster. I have added the info to the article. Unfortunately there are no color photos of the 56 Buick in Ina Mae’s collection.
Richard’s shoebox is superb !