NEFERTERI part Two

Larry Pointer, our Forrest Gump of the Conquistadors Car Club, marvels at Europe’s Golden Age of the coach built automobile, and influences that would ripple across the Atlantic Pond. From carrossieres to customizers, the distance is not so very far.



Larry Pointer found himself a survivor of Y2K, retired, a widower, and a more or less empty nester.  He needed a project.  In this series, he shares his passion for all things “Streamline Moderne”, and how it all turned into a 13-year labor of love, to create “Neferteri“, his custom Diamond T truck.



By Larry Pointer with Rik Hoving

Streamline Moderne. In looking at Jack Juratovic‘s paintings titled Road & Track, November 1935, those images of the Milwaukee’s Hiawatha racing with the best of motor cars just define “streamline moderne“.  Motion by design.  Progress.  And yes, Hope.

Hope for better times. America in 1935 was a nation half a decade into the Great Depression. Cities of soup kitchens and “Hey, Buddy, have you got a dime?”



The Great Depression, is search of better times.



In the Grapes of Wrath bread basket turned Dust Bowl, bitter fruits indeed. Streams of jalopies looking nothing like streamline moderne were streaming out across the forbidding desert, laden with children and precious possessions salvaged from foreclosures, following the sunset to California, the land of milk and honey Promise.

Lucky were the youth signed up with FDR’s public works programs; the Civilian Conservation Corps, repairing and re-building America, its infrastructure, its National Parks. Sending money earned with sinew and sweat back home, in promise of better times, “a chicken in every pot”.



“Road & Track, November 1935, a painting by Jack Juratovic.

In looking at Jack Juratovic’s paintings, and especially the one with the coach built Packard, we can’t but be impressed with just how Exotic it looks. A motor car like no other. Custom built. As in the exclusive shops of the European Continent. The pioneer coach builders, the “carrossieres”.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Today, we still can see the best of those one-off customs for the rich and famous, restored to their former grace and beauty or better, at Concours d’Elegance gatherings. At Pebble Beach each August. My own “Forrest Gump” connection to that ascot world would be much more humble, a bucket list visit to the Pebble Beach resort and golf course. Not in August when the classics rolled over the grass, but There, just to stroll around and imagine what I’d seen in after-the-fact magazines.

My wife Dotti began to chuckle. “What?” I asked, coming out of my reverie of ecstasies missed. “Here I am,” she beamed, “walking over Pebble Beach lawns in my Walmart shoes.”



Josephine Baker, Django Reinhart, the Lindy Hop and the Charleston.

Sifting through images of the exquisite streamline moderne coach-built motor cars, it is a wonder so many have survived. Untold numbers were destroyed in the blitzkrieg of WWII. Others were sacrificed to the scrap drives to supply the War efforts. What comes through is that those of the privileged class, traveling in style on the Continent, were not stricken so much by the Great Depression that dragged America down. The night life flourished in Paris. Those who would drive up, or be driven up, to the cabaret night clubs and dance halls, could celebrate in lavish style, entertained by the exotic dancer Josephine Baker, or to dance the light fantastic to the Gypsy Swing of Django Reinhart.

But it would be those custom made automobiles, custom made to individual taste by the exclusive coach builders, “carrossieres”, that would live to be celebrated long after those who “owned” them would slip away in the mists of time.

That swoopy Packard in Jack Juratovic’s painting mirrors the best of the carrossieres of Europe, deep into the decade of the Thirties. I could find a Delage, built by Letourneur and Marchand that had very similar lines. Figoni and Falaschi coachbuilt a 1937 Talbot Lago in that style. And a variety of Bugatti’s of the 57 base model from the same era compare well.



Letourneur et Marchand Delage.

A few more xamples of manufacturer cars of the Jazz Age.



Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. It is fun to pick out the similarities among the European coach built cars of that Jazz Age. They were found with a variety of badges, chassis from such makes as Alpha Romeo, Bugatti, Delage, Delahaye, Hispano-Suiza, Talbot Lago, even marque’s of American manufacturers, especially Duesenberg. The demands of high roller customers who wanted not just to “keep up with the Joneses”, but to out-Jones the Joneses, could explain repeating shapes and forms.



Harry Westergard created this 1940 Mercury for Butler Rugard in the early 1940’s.



Back in America, we can look at the 1940 Mercury built by Harry Westergard and see in its styling, especially in the shape of the hood nose, definite echoes of those very European styling cues. This car was invited to be shown at the prestigious Pebble Beach Concourse, among the few “seminal” customs of the traditional era deemed significant enough for such an unprecedented inclusion amongst the recognized classics.



Similar style nosed as on the Westergard Merc can be found on these Coachbuilt cars.

Saoutchik created this 1948 Cadillac in black and purple, and the brilliant blue 1949 Delahaye 175 S.



In studying the works of individual coach builders, there are recognizable distinctive signature shapes that can be identified. Saoutchik, especially, stands out, whether the base car was a Delahaye, or a later model Cadillac.



Achille Van Vooren Bugatti for the Shah of Iran.



But when the nation of France chose to honor the future Shah of Iran in 1939 on the occasion of his pending wedding, the Bugatti that was chosen first was delivered not to one of the most well remembered builders, but to Achille Van Vooren. The design executed by the Van Vooren coach builders, was based on that of Figoni and Falaschi, and originally meant for a Delahaye chassis. This car, today can be seen in the Peterson Museum, after narrowly escaping being scrapped in the aftermath of the collapse of the Shah’s regime. It has been considered among the very best examples extant of the coach built motor cars of the Continent.

Who were those guys, the carrossieres, or in Italy the carrozzerias? Coachbuild.com offers The Chachbuilders Encyclopedia, a biographical list of 104 coach builders. Ettore and son Jean Bugatti were designers in their own right. Others came up through the trade guilds that were rooted in the carriage and coach building industry of hay burning horsepower. Horsepower, and motor car racing, came to be a huge attraction and, with wins at Le Mans or the Mille Miglia, unequalled marketing power for the competing auto manufacturers. It was common practice, though, for construction of the car bodies to be contracted out to those in the coach building guilds.



George Barris made this photo at one of the several coachbuilt shops he visited on his european trip in 1951. The photo shows a wooden buck that was used to shape the new bodies



The basic body shapes were formed of hardwood, such as ash. Metal skins were hand formed. From the aircraft industry came pneumatic planishing tools, and the “English wheel”. Metal for fenders and various compound curves shapes also were hand formed over wooden bucks, to assure the three-dimensional results held true to the designer’s vision. Today, such masters as Marcel Delay and sons Luc and Marc carry on coach building, with time-honored practices and tooling that has stood the tests of time. Ron Covell not only offers enlightening magazine articles, but he and several other craftsmen put on workshops where those skills can be learned and developed.



Figoni and Falaschi  1938 Delahaye.

Figoni and Falaschi  1939 Delahaye.



One of the most influential…and perhaps my own favorite…of those early master craftsmen, is Guiseppi Figoni, the designing force behind the Figoni and Falaschi coachwork. Figoni’s fascination with aircraft design following WWI led to aerodynamic elliptical shapes and “enclosed tear drop shaped fenders, which he called ‘enveloppantes.’” Those pontoon fenders, or in today’s street rodder speak, “fat fenders”, directly derive from the “wheel pants” of the streamline moderne airplanes. Out of the Figoni and Falaschi stable came Bugattis, Delages, Delahayes; “chassis-coachwork ensembles” in nitrocellulose lacquers a mile deep. These were long, low, swoopy cars with raked back windshields, flush frenched headlights, skirted fenders and “fluid grace and inherent motion”. Their “windswept designs” could blow your hair back, just standing still.



1932 Duesenberg by Letourneur and Marchand.

1932 Kellner bodied Bugatti



My own inspiration followed the “I want to see it all” view. Earlier models from the end of the Roaring Twenties and into the Thirties also caught my eye. A Duesenberg by Letourneur and Marchand in the greater Paris area especially stood out. This was before fenders were skirted, or car trunks were integrated into the car body. But it was long and low, and just oozed of power. A Kellner bodied Bugatti of that early period also got my heart racing, as did the model 46 offered by Bugatti from 1929-1933.



Kellner bodied Bugatti model 46 from 1929 – 1933.

1932 Bucciali with body by Saoutchik.



The one to stop the heart of any “chop and channel” enthusiast of the hot rod fraternity has to be the 1932 Bucciali with body by Saoutchik.
Out of Molsheim in the German Alsace a 1932 Maybach Zeppelin bodied by Hermann Spohn runs a close second in my album of dream cars of that era. No flammable dirigible there, and no lead Zeppelin, either.



1932 Maybach Zeppelin bodied by Hermann Spohn



Then came the street rod to end all street rods. The Mercedes 540. A streamline dream.

Designs that flowed out in body lines and curved contours.

The Mercedes 540



More recently, in 1952 Touring created a body sheath for a wine red Alpha Romero 6C roadster. Those Alpha Romeo roadsters put any hot rod into their rear view.



Alpha Romero 6C roadster

1934 Duesenberg Model J re-bodied around 1937 by Graber with an wonderful convertible body. These photos show the car with its new black and dark blue colors.



But to close this Streamline Moderne page in my memory book, I have to share images of a Duesenberg bodied by Herman Graber in Switzerland. This American icon, coach-built by Graber, and painted THE color combination, wine and red orange, would inspire my drawing of Neferteri, my own streamline moderne dream.



Originally the Graber Duesenberg J was painted wine and orange-red. My Diamond T Neferteri was based on the cars design, and colors.



Next time, from Duesenbergs on the Continent to Duesenbergs back on home ground, and automotive design inspirations this side of the Pond. We’ll pack our bags with Howard “Dutch” Darrin and Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, and see what lay in store for me to closer to home (and my beer budget).

Go back to Part 1

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PARKING LOT PHOTO POSTER

The famous Colorized 1954 Thrifty Drug Store Parking Lot Show photo is now available as high quality large Photo-Poster.

Originally created as part of and Rodder’s Journal Article (issue # 33) in 2006 by CCC-Editor Rik Hoving. The original, already amazing black and white photo was taken in 1954 at an Car show organized at an Los Angeles Thrifty Drug Store parking lot. Rik Hoving spend over a month meticulously adding color to every little detail of this photo, to make a brilliant color photo. Showing all the amazing top class Custom Cars in full color like you have never seen before. The prints from the Rodder’s Journal are nice, but wait until you see this image done as the Photo Enlargement Poster now offered by the Custom Car Chronicle. The glossy photo paper and used techniques create very deep colors, and replicate details from the original image you have not seen before. This poster (24 x 20 inch USA, or 75 x 50 cm Europe /World) is a huge color photo, far superior than the regular RJ poster in colors, sharpness and appearance. Plus this poster comes with the full image as how it was developed in 1954, with no text or logo’s added, ready for you to frame and hang on the wall. Check out THIS CCC-Article for all the info on this amazing photo.

Support the Custom Car Chronicle
Want to support the CCC, and have an amazing photo poster on the wall of your favorite room, then order this high quality Photo Poster today. Your support will allow us to continue documenting the history of the Custom Car, create in depth and inspiring articles, and informative threads on the CCC-main site and Forum. All profits from the sales of the Parking Lot Show Colorized Photo Poster flow directly into the Custom Car Chronicle.



Photo Poster 24 x 20 inch USA Order

Photo Poster 75 x 50 centimeter Europe / World Order

If you have any questions, or want to order more than one poster, please Email Rik at the Custom Car Chronicle, and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
Thank you.







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VJ PARADE 41 CUSTOM

August 14, 1945 VJ Parade on 4th Street in Los Angeles shows two mildly restyled 41 FOMOCO Convertible Customs.



while browsing the internet searching for something I came across two very interesting photos from the Los Angeles Times Collection. Photos taken on August 14, 1945, the day Japan surrendered in World War II (which was actually on August 15 in Japan, but due to the time difference it was still the 14th in the US). When the news of the surrender was announced on the radio spontaneous parade were formed. These two pictures were taken of the VJ Parade held on 4th Street and Broadway in downtown Los Angeles. The photos are taken by LA Times staff photographer Frank Q. Brown.

The down town traffic was paralyzed for hours, confetti, scraps of every sort swirled down on celebrants. What is interesting to us about two of the photos taken from this parade is that two mildly customized convertible took part if it. The first car is a typical WWII restyled 1941 Ford convertible. Lowered suspension, which is lowered a little more due to the 6 guys sitting in it of course, long fender skirts, nosed, side trims removed and ripple disk single bar flipper hubcaps, fog lights and the holes for A-pillar mounted spotlights. It could very well be that the white wall tires on the car are actually brushed on. The fronts appear to be done that way. Or eprhaps the white walls were very dirty when the photo was taken, hard to tell. But we do know that it was impossible to find new white wall tires during the later years of WWII.



The full photo shows a lot of celebrating people in the parade and from viewers on the side walk and parked cars. Really fantastic to see all these happy faces in the car.

Close up of the car, show the nosed hood, the removal of the belt line trim, fender trim and long, most likely aftermarket fedner skirts. The hubcaps appear to be a smaller diameter fingle bar flipper hubcap. Notice the holes at the base of the A-Pillar, most likely there was a spotlight mounted, perhaps removed after the cops complaint about the?

The second photo shows a group of guys dragging what appears to be old muffles over the street to create some extra sound effects. But what is more interesting (to us) is the mildly restyled ’41 Mercury convertible at the right side of the photo. 

A close up reveals the use of ripple disk hubcaps, spotlights (look to be a smaller type of spotlight) and again fog lights. The Fog lights were a very populr accessory in the early/mid 1940’s. The hood is popped open, perhaps the engine had some cooling problems while driving slowly in the parade.

I wonder what happened to both these mildly restyled cars after the parade in 1945. The owners might have picked up a more normal way of living after the war was ended, and perhaps these cars were convertible to more full customs, with chopped windshield and padded tops… who knows…

COACHCRAFT 1940 FORD

In 1940 Coachcraft LTD created what must be one of the first full custom 1940 Fords for Clarence Salomon. The beautiful Convertible would later be owned by well known cinematographer James Wong Howe.



In the spring of 1940 four partners, Rudy Stoessel, Paul Erdos, Charlie Ratzenberger and Burton K. Chalmers formed Coachcraft Ltd. Together with a number of Darrin skilled craftsmen they opened a shop on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood. One of their first cars they created was a 1940 Ford convertible “Coupe”. Clarence Salomon commissioned a custom convertible based on a 39-40 FoMoCo product from Coachcraft. Coachcraft designed a car based on a 1939 Mercury that would incorporate original fenders, and a newly shaped main body with, elegantly shaped V-windshield and a teardrop shaped padded top.



The original design sketch for the Solomon “Coupe” seamed to have been based on an 1939 Mercury judging the shape of the fenders. The inset photos show the Coachcraft promotional photo of the finished Coupe, and the team of craftsman at the Shop during the time the car was built.



The actual car was built based on a 1940 Ford, it is not known why they choose a Ford over the Mercury from the original design sketch. But to be able to maintain some of the dimensions of the original sketch, it was needed to stretch the 1940 Ford front fenders. The rear fenders of the 1940 Ford were used as they were, an are shaped differently from the original design. The main body was hand shaped over a wooden buck, and placed lower than stock over the frame, the Ford running boards were eliminated. The hand shaped main body reassembles the original Ford body, only being much cleaner with no belt line, or belt line trim added.

The rear of the body was also changed from the original design, and now flows nicely with the more teardrop shaped Ford rear fenders. When the new main body was designed the cowl was extend over stock specs. This allowed the cockpit to be further to the rear, and the hood to look longer for a much more powerful appearance. The Ford side grilles (louvered panels) were removed and replaced with shaped sheet metal. A new hand made grille was created from round rod, with far less bars than the original Ford unit. The finished grille was smothed and send out for chrome plating.



The Solomon convertible during the final stages of the built at the Coachcraft shop in 1940.

At this stage the car was painted (possibly silver?), had black wall tires with ripple disk hubcaps, the side grilles were filled in, but the center grille is still the stock 1940 Ford grille unit.



The original hood from the Ford was used, but to be able to make it work with the new lower main body it needed to be sectioned, and the belt line needed to be removed from it. Ruddy Stoessel and crew designed a new V-shaped windshield, they created patterns from the design and had it cast in bronze. The bronze windshield frame was cleaned up and send out to be chrome plated. The crew next created a hand shaped metal top to flow nicely front the angled back V-windshield. The new top was designed to be shorter than a stock 1940 Ford coupe top, have a much larger than stock rear window (which helped improve the rear view while driving) and no rear side windows. The finished top was padded and covered in a off-white canvas.



We assume that these photos were taken during the final assembly of the car.

It appears that the car is sitting on some large wooden blocks to be able to work on the suspension.



The top of the new doors where made ready to house a roll down side window glass with surround. The surround was shaped from U-channel to fit the windshield and teardrop shape of the side window opening. The car was made to be functional so it was also made completely weather proof. Most photo do not show the beautifully shaped window frame, but fortunately the owner of the car from 1955 to 58 took some pictures with the frames up. (check them out in Part 2)

The stock Ford taillights were removed, the holes filled in and a set of 1939-40 Packard taillights adapted to fit the Ford fenders. At the front the stock headlights were used. A set of teardrop shape bubble fender skirts was installed and a set of stainless steel rock shields mounted on the extended down (where the running boards used to adapt to) front of the rear fenders. A set of 1940 Lincoln bumpers was installed. The center section of the front bumper fits the custom grille really beautiful. The stock 1940 Ford door handles were installed on the home made doors, and with all the body work done the body was painted. It is said the car was painted a silver gray when it was first finished.

Even though the car was designed with the removable padded top, it also looked stunning with the top removed. The raised and stretched (14 inch) front fenders, sectioned hood and removal of the running boars made the car a lot sleeker.

The first version for Clarence Salomon was finished in a light metallic color, most likely silver. The car had wide white wall tires, ripple disk single bar flipper hubcaps on dark colored wheels (no beauty rings) and tear drop skirts.

This and the front shot below are only known photos of the cars first version taking part of every day traffic. It must have been quite a sight to see such a well designed car on the streets of Los Angeles in the early 1940’s.



A set of wide white wall tires was installed on dark colored wheel and a set of ripple disk single bar flipper hubcaps was used for dress up. The interior uses a stock 1940 Dash, column and steering wheel. There is an additional roll on top of the dash to optically extend the cowl inside the car. The car was upholstered in alligator and regular leather with tuck & roll panels on the doors.

The 1940 Coachcraft built Ford is an really interesting car in the history of the Custom Car. Coachcraft employees all had an history as coachbuilders, but especially the early creations from this shop, including this ’40 Ford had a more what we consider Custom feel to them. Especially the “lower end” based car and the general custom restyling elements make these early Coachcraft cars more Custom, than Coachbuilt.





Second version

We know that Clarence Salomon, who commissioned Coachcraft to built the car, later sold it to James Wong Howe, a well known Hollywood cinematographer. But we do not know what year James bough the car. We do know that James really loved the car’s looks and how it handled, and he used it as his daily transportation for several years. We assume the car was bought by James Wong Howe in the mid 1940’s. James Wong Howe’s name has since then been conected to the car, and the Ford is best known as the Wong Howe Coachraft Ford. The first photos after the original light colored and fender skirted version of the car from the early 1950’s are from 1951. The Revs Institute recently added a series of very nice photos of this 1951 version of the car to their online-collection. And these photo really give us a good look how beautiful this car really was.



The car was now repainted in a darker color, possibly dark, or medium green and the fender skirts were removed. These changes gave the car a more sportive look.



By now the car had changed a little. Not to much though, but the skirts are now gone, and the car has been painted a darker color. We also do not know for sure what the color was, but when the car was bought by J.W. Tidmore from Texas in 1955 the car was painted a dark green. So perhaps the car was this same dark green when the photos of it were taken in 1951 by Robert E. Canaan. These photos, or some of them were also used in the September 1951 issue of Hop Up Magazine. The magazine shows four photos of the car, plus one on the cover, but does not list the owner name, nor color of the car. It is reported that the car had 100.000 miles on it when James sold the car in 1952 to David Crane from Texas.



This rear quarter view shows the new smaller than stock trunk opening with no handle. The small slight teardrop shaped 39-40 Packard taillights are the perfect choice for the car. This view also gives us a good look at the large rear window opening on the removable top.

Side view shows the beautiful well balanced proportions of the car. Particularry nice is the the round shaped top and how the side window flow from the angled back windshield. The hight of the top is perhaps more Coachbuilt than Custom. The main body has some Cord design influences with its plain sides and large radius on the belt-line. Notice the gas door in the rear fender.

Close up of the beautiful designed and crafted grille and solid grille side panels. These side panels were hand made, but would later become available to the public from several aftermarket companies.

A closer look at the rear shows the elegant Packard taillights, the Lincoln bumper, the flowing lines of the trunk and the curb feeler for protection.

A lower angle look into the interior highlights the beauty of the windshield frame, the crocodile leather details and the roll above the dash that flows into the top portion of the doors, similar some roadster body styling. 

A view at the passenger side of the interior, notice the Coachcraft script on the rocker panel towards the cowl. 

There was also a full seat in the rear that was upholstered similar to the front seat. Notice the weathering strip around the top window opening. The rolled down side window glass was fitting flush against it in the up position. 



When J.W. Tidmore bought the car in 1955, it was equipped with a flat head Cadillac engine. Probably from a 1948 model with a Cadillac standard shift transmission.He was told that that engine was actually the third engine that was installed in the car since new. We have no idea if the engine in the car was original when it as first built, or what was in the car when the 1951 photos were taken.

Fortunately the Coachcraft 40 Ford is still around today, and even though it has been Hot Rodded to a certain extend, it is really great the car is still around, and in good shape. Read more about about what happened with the car after it was sold in 1955 in part TWO, or find out how the car looks after it was bought and redone by Tex Myers, to a version how it still looks in 2016 in part THREE





(This article is made possible by)





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NEFERTERI part Three

Larry Pointer, our Forrest Gump of the Conquistadors Car Club, marvels at Europe’s Golden Age of the coach built automobile, and influences that would ripple across the Atlantic Pond. From carrossieres to customizers, the distance is not so very far.



Larry Pointer found himself a survivor of Y2K, retired, a widower, and a more or less empty nester.  He needed a project.  In this series, he shares his passion for all things “Streamline Moderne”, and how it all turned into a 13-year labor of love, to create “Neferteri“, his custom Diamond T truck.



By Larry Pointer with Rik Hoving

Neferteri, Part Three

Growing up in Sheridan, Wyoming, I didn’t have a sense of the Streamline Moderne world of the previous decade, especially the realm of the European coach builders. I did have a toy Jaguar XK 120 in grey plastic. And much later a love/hate relationship with an apple green XJ6 sedan.






Stearman spray plane dusting the fields.



Streamline Moderne style was all around, however. Mostly in hand-me-downs. Streamline tricycles. Streamline Schwinn bicycles with the swoopy headlight and a teardrop tank between the nut-buster bars. Indian and Harley motorcycles roaring past in unforgettable cacophony. Stearman spray planes buzzing the neighborhood, just cuz they could.



Early exposure to streamline Moderne.

Streamline Schwinn bicycles and later the Indian and Harley motorcycles.



But the beauty of it all is that essential difference between art possession and art appreciation: no remorse. No maintenance and upkeep headaches. No fears of calamity, burglary, or the thief in the night. I could appreciate the art of Progress all about me, without limit or consequence.
Satchell Paige used to advise: “Don’t look back; somethin’ might be gainin’ on you.” And I wanted to see it all; do it all. Well, still do, for that matter.

To my growing awareness of the motor car world, European coach building came across the Pond in some measure with two individual stylists: Howard “Dutch” Darrin and Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky.



Dutch Darrin Clark Gable Packard.



The operative word here is “individual”. I don’t think you could get more “individual” than the irrepressible Dutch Darrin. Darrin’s creativity was distinctive in the very least. Early on in Paris, he and Tom Hibbard combined as coach builders, and after Hibbard returned to the US to form the Lebaron enterprise with Ray Dietrich, Darrin joined with an Argentine furniture entrepreneur in Paris to build custom automobiles for high society and celebres, on top end chassis they acquired abroad and from the US. As the clouds of War gathered, Darrin pulled out of Paris and popped up amonst the movie guild in Hollywood. Of the cars Darrin designed and built, the model that most gets my Adrenalin going is the special Packard Darrin, with the “Darrin Dip” in the doors, appropriated from the race cars and sportsters of the Jazz Age.



Alexis de Sakhnoffsky little blue coupe designed on a Cord chassis.

One outstanding car designed by the émigré Alexis de Sakhnoffsky was a coupe that could put the “Little Deuce Coupe” of the Beach Boys album cover to shame. Working in the Hayes studios, de Salkhnoffsky laid out his low-slung design over a Cord chassis. This little blue coupe became the first American made motor car to win the coveted Grand Prix trophy at the 1929 Monaco Concours. More of de Sakhnoffsky in the next episode of my learning adventures.

But to this impressionable kid out of Wyoming, it was the Duesenberg, the Auburn, the Cord, and the designers of those absolutely gorgeous coach built bodies that burn like a fever in my brain. Of the brothers, Augie would put the Duesenberg out front on the race tracks. Speed demanded Streamline. The Duesenberg Special, piloted by Ab Jenkins and dubbed the “Mormon Meteor” WAS streamline. On Utah’s famed Bonneville Salt Flats, Jenkins streaked to records that would hold up to challenges for long into the future.



Ab Jenkins “Mormon Meteor” Duesenberg.



A more sedate Duesenberg commanded attention in its debut at the 1933 Chicago “Century of Progress” World’s Fair. The “Twenty Grand” was designed in-house by Gordon Buehrig, and built in Pasadena by Murphy coach builders, This smartly appointed silver torpedo sedan with its dual sidemounts caused quite a stir in the industry. Of Buehrig’s design, to my eye, most attractive was the divided windshield, laid back to fold smartly into the roof line. From all angles, however, the coach craft spoke of elegance.



The Twenty Grand Duesenberg designed by Gordon Buehrig, and built by Murphy coach builders.



Then, in thumbing through Rob Wagner’s book, Classic Cars, I spied a long, low Walker LaGrande Duesenberg SJ convertible. Pictured perfect in a California wine country setting , it had a chopped windshield, and was painted in the very livery of wine and red-orange that had gotten me all fired up with the Graber Duesenberg on the Continent. Those were going to be MY colors!



Walker LaGrande’s georgeous Duesenberg SJ painted in the colors I would later choose for my project.



Still, wanting to see and absorb it all, I moved on through to Duesenberg’s stable mates, the Auburn and the Cord. More of Buehrig was to come, but when I came across the drawings and Auburn cars that came to life off the drafting table of Alan Leamy, Babe, I couldn’t get much higher.



Alan Leamy Auburn designs.

Most memorable in my bucket list has to be a trip I was able make in 2013 to include the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum, and a visit with archivist Jon Bill. There, I was mesmerized with the drafting studio; the clay models and the tools that shaped them; the exquisite laminated wooden fender bucks.

On the second floor, there also stood a re-created Leamy-designed cabin sportster. Now there was a no-nonsense laid-back windshield, set into a shortened torpedo body that looked like it would barely ripple a wind tunnel.



Auburn clay model, tools and laminated wooden fender bucks in the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum.

Re-created Leamy-designed cabin sportster in the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum.

Leamy’s L29 Cord, especially in the phaeton body, was an unbelievable work of art, as well. Sadly, as he was just coming into the best of his career, it would seem, this gifted designer’s life was cut short by blood poisoning, in 1935 at age 33.

Rolling sculpture is the only term to address the body of work created by Gordon Buehrig. The 1935 Auburn, with its hurried, low budget facelift in the form of what to me was the most beautiful grille and surround EVER.



Gordon Buehrig 35 Auburn… The best grille and surround ever designed and created.

On its heels came Buehrig’s 1937 coffin-nose Cord with front wheel drive. This car has to stand as one of the crowning achievements of American automotive design. I run out of words.

Or not. I have one axe to grind. Back in 1970, a Hemmings ad for a 1929 Buick close-coupled sedan caught my eye. The price was right. It was in Concord, NE. Why, that was nearly next door! I borrowed my dad’s 63 Chevy with the load-leveler hitch, hooked onto my rickety trailer, talked Rocky Moore into riding shotgun, and set out to retrieve this gem of wood-frame coachwork.

Once back home, I began gathering parts and literature, and discovered this year model Buick, with a distinctive bulge below the beltline, had been dubbed “The Pregnant Buick”. By whom? I indignantly demanded to know. By Howard “Dutch” Darrin, no less. Buick was suffering severely enough with the Great Depression. Darrin’s tag stuck, and it nearly jettisoned Buick sales. The 1930 models were quickly re-tooled to eliminate the full figured form.

When later I learned it was a young Gordon Buehrig who had designed the instrument panel in the 1929 Buick, Darrin’s hurtful remark turned to outright sacrilege. I’ve never thought much of that dippy Darrin since. Harumph!



1929 Buick dubbed “The Pregnant Buick” by Howard “Dutch” Darrin.

Gordon Buehrig designed the beautiful dash panel in the 1929 Buick.



I’ve had a life-long love affair with Buick styling that came out of Harley Earl’s Art & Color studio. In one way or another, every year model from 1929 through 1954 has touched my “Forrest Gump” life. If I had to pick a most favorite, it would be the phaeton. And from the years 1936-1941. Yes! A 1941 Buick Century four-door phaeton, the “hot rod” of the industry. What could have been, we can only imagine, had not WWII flipped the Art & Color train off the tracks. Sigh.



Harley Earl’s 1941 Buick Century four-door phaeton.



“Ask the man who owns one,” reads the advertisements Packard offered in the magazines of the day. Two of my friends, Gary “Slim” Richards and Blaine Murphy, have had life-long love affairs with Packard motor cars of the Thirties. And at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, it was not the Twenty Grand Duesenberg that gained the title, “The Car of the Dome”. It was an elegant bronze Packard close-coupled sedan by Ray Dietrich. I have to admit that Packard sport sedan was the cat’s meow.



Ray Dietrich designed Packard Sport Sedan.



My own favorites of the Packard line came shortly later. The long, low profile phaetons of the 1935-39 model years spoke Elegance. They had a raised crease over the tops of the front fenders, to split the light. Subtle, but similar to the boat bow, creating a visual “bow wave”. All four pontoon fenders had a round bead rolled into the fully circular wheel opening. Solid. Proudly drawing attention to chromed spokes, and the red Packard hexagonal hubcaps. The distinctive “arrow” tips to the side moldings, that streamed back along the long, long hood, not unlike the arrow at the front of a Mercedes 540’s artful belt molding. That unforgettable Packard grille and crisply formed shell. Which drew your eye to the sculpted form of that long divided hood, a graceful pair of wave forms, vee-ing outward from the artfully profiled nose, back and further back, to become one with the cowl. You always recognized a regal Packard gliding by. With, or without, FDR waving from the sumptuous leather seat in the rear.



Philip Wright’s aerodynamic Silver Arrow from 1933.

From the Pierce Arrow and Studebaker studios, came Philip Wright’s aerodynamic Silver Arrow, and one more favorite for me, the 1936-37 Studebaker coupe with the bat-wing rear window. Now, THERE were cars in which I could imagine Batman and Robin to be running down crime in the streets.

1936 Studebaker Coupe.



One of my most treasured “Forrest Gump” memories of Sheridan, Wyoming is a car Mike Grotz created. It started out a late Thirties Packard convertible. Grotz grafted onto this fair weather car a 1937 Studebaker coupe’s turret roof, complete with those distinctive batwing rear windows. It became a “hardtop convertible”, long before GM would trot out its new 1949 models from its Art & Color stables. If only I could find photos of that classy War-time custom, born of Wyoming winter necessities.



This is what Mike Grotz did to his 1939 Packard Convertible, turning it into a “hardtop convertible”… it was stunning.



Aerodynamic. The Chrysler and DeSoto for 1934. Those Airflows personified aerodynamic, from their waterfall grilles right on through their slippery uni-bodies. It would have been a risky venture in the best of times, but the Depression years were the worst of times. The best, perhaps, that could be said? They definitely were ahead of their times. As would be Preston Tucker a decade later.



1936 DeSoto Airflow.



I admit I never really appreciated those Airflows, until my old work mate, Casper, Wyoming’s Neil Jaquot spent retirement years lovingly restoring a 1936 DeSoto Airflow sedan back to life. You can spend hours studying and appreciating all the Art Deco details entailed in those unique motor cars.
Edsel Ford’s creativity can’t be ignored, either. Channeled through the pen of E. T. “Bob” Gregorie, the Zephyr and the first series Continental were a Statement: This was not your father’s Ford! To me, the pre-War Continental was, right off the showroom floor, all a traditional custom car could be. The long hood came to a crisp point, to define a pair of grilles flowing out below in gently curved thin bars, perfectly proportioned. The front bumpers accentuated each fender with its fully integrated headlight, yet remained separate. A pair of chrome bars was all that bridged the separation, allowing the speedboat prow to slice through the air.

There were no running boards, the body channeled fully over the chassis framework. Those Continentals were skirted, the soft curve of the rear fender uninterrupted, and fully complementary with the rounded body. Then came the surprise of that trademark Continental spare tire mount integrated into the rear deck.

The flat Continental windshield looked chopped, and the wonderful cloth top had crisp angled openings over the doors. But, no quarter window openings. Brilliant! Here, from the factory, was a custom Carson convertible top. The body and roof fully repeated each other’s fully rounded forms. Try calling the Lincoln Continental “pregnant”, I dare you.



E. T. “Bob” Gregorie’s clay model, the first Continental prototype from 1939 on the left and the ultimate 1941 Lincoln Continental on the right.



OK, I was stuck in the Thirties. I admired ALL of the streamline moderne elements that vaulted off the drafting tables and over the bucks of the coach builders through those golden years of the carrossiere, in Europe and closer to home in the US of A. But if I had to pick just one? Wellll, OK. It would have to be Gordon Buehrig’s masterpiece, the 1935-36 Auburn boat-tailed speedster.



The ultimate Auburn Speedster.



But the beauty of it all is that the “looky-loo” aficionado doesn’t have to choose. Maybe that’s why my choice is Gordon Buehrig and that Auburn speedster. To me, that automobile embodies all the design elements that had inspired me from the Art Deco, Jazz Age, Streamline Moderne era of industrial design. It all comes together in one rolling sculpture.

Aircraft? Just look at the front of that Auburn. Forrest Gump, that car runs like the wind, like a Lockheed Vega. Check out the no nonsense instrument cluster tucked beneath the aircraft cowling.



1936 Auburn dash.



Speedboats? The “bow wave” bumpers. That jaunty, raked-back split windshield frame would inspire generations of George DuVall hot rodders. The tapered boat-tail rear, picked up from Alan Leamy and fully integrated. Here, too, your speedboat stance, in “The World’s Fastest Stock Car”.



George DuVall’s design for the Hollywood Wheel Disc Shop from the early 1940’s.



The European Carrossieres? Here were Figoni’s enveloppantes; the rear wheels enclosed in full teardrop forms of pure sculpture. Those gleaming rippled exhaust pipes barked Mercedes 540 decibels to me. “Exclusive” “Distinctive” “Individual” read the ads of the day. “Arguably”, wrote Auburn archivist and author Jon Bill, “the most dazzling Auburn ever built”. Ahhhhhhh.

But wait, there’s more! as the infomercials are want to chirp. There is one additional area of industrial design from the period that we haven’t touched upon. Most powerfully, those forms of function in the work vehicles of industry speak in throaty tones that resonate through and through to this “Forrest Gump” of the Conquistadors Car Club of Sheridan, Wyoming. Fire engines. Delivery vans. Beverage trucks. In our next, and last, installment of the inspiration series, let’s follow the lead of designer Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky in exploring this last best segment of Streamline Moderne.




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LEROY CARSON 36 FORD SURVIVOR

Jeff Neppl visited the October 2016 Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield California. One car stood out to him, this 1936 Ford Cabriolet mild custom Survivor.

On October 21-23 the annual Hot Rod Reunion was held at the Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield California. The races are quite a spectacle, and then there is the parking lot area. And there some very interesting cars appear every years. This year Jeff Neppl visited the event, and came across this mildly restyled 1936 Ford Cabriolet that was restyled in 1946. The ’36 Ford was presented as a wedding present to Leroy Carson in 1946. Some of the old photos shown further on in the article where taken on Leroy and Margaret Carson’s honeymoon in San Francisco.



The car is still wearing the original black paint. Despite Leroy’s last name, the top on the car is an original folding top.

The 1938 Buick Bumpers were added some time after Leroy got the car.



Back in 1946 the Ford was mildly updated with a set of ripple disc single bar flipper hubcaps, fender skirts a new interior and a mild lowering of the suspension. Over the years a few more things were modified, but the car always remained a mild custom resembling the feeling as how it was first created. The car’s engine was updated with Eddie Meyer heads and a two carb intake manifold. The stock bumpers were replaced with some bolder 1938 Buick units. The fender skirts were updated with Buick trim, a set of spotlights was installed and the steering wheel was replaced with the popular Mercury Monterey accessory steering wheel.



Eddie Meyer heads with a two carb intake and a Thuckstun air-cleaner.

The custom upholstery in bright red and white is the original Leroy had installed, and so is the rare Mercury Monterey accessory steering wheel. 



The Ford was Leroy’s daily driver untill 1962, when Leroy’s son Tommy broke a piston while drag racing a 1958 Chevy Impala. After that the car was put in storage where it remained until the entire Carson Collection was purchased in 2010. two years later Leroy passed away. The current owners of the car who took it to the 2016 Hot Rod Reunion are Bobby Gaines & Dave McMillen.



The two photos of the left show the car in its first version when Leroy and Margaret had just received the car. Those photos were taken on their honeymoon. The photo on the right shows the car with he Buick bumper and the added spotlights.

A few more photos from the Honeymoon trip to San Francisco in the ’36 Ford.

The photos on the right show the car with added white wall tires, the top photo has Leroy’s son Tommy posing with the car. The photo on the bottom left shows the ’36 Ford next to Leroy’s 1955 Chevy which he bought brand new.

It is truly amazing that a car like this has survived, and has never been touched after it was stored in 1962. It is also amazing that in all those years Leroy owned the car, and used it as his driver, the car was not updated more than it has. Most other cars were updated when the scene changed, but not Leroy’s ’36 Ford Cabriolet. A true time machine.

Special thanks to Jeff Neppl for taking the photos.

(This article is made possible by)





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GARDENA CA MYSTERY MERC

This great looking 1939 Mercury Convertible with 1939 Buick Grille and Chopped padded top was built in 1947. Who owned it, and where is it now?



Don Schumacher from Long Beach California send me a few photos of an very interesting ’39 Mercury in November 2016. He mentioned that the photos were some scans he made of snapshots from the family album. And that this car was photographed at his father Body Shop In Gardena California. One of the photos had some more info written on the back; Chopped ’39 Mercury, ’39 Buick grill 1947. He had posted the images on his Instagram before he shared them with me, and there somebody had suggested that it might possibly be an early version of the Jimmy Summers Mercury. He was wondering if I could help him figuring out any of the cars history and if it was indeed the Jimmy Summers Mercury before Jimmy channeled the car.

Even though the photo was taken at the shop Don’s father owned, Don did not know anything about it. Don was into all kinds of things, but not in this type of old cars, and never asked his father about the time he had his Body Shop in Gardena. He never asked him about the car he built, or this ’39 Mercury in particular… Don mentioned “Its not until people are gone that you wish you had asked more questions about their life.” So this ’39 Mercury in the family scrapbook is another great looking Mystery Custom.



The front 3/4 view shows how nice the ’39 Buick grille was fitted to the smoothed ’39 Mercury front end. A lot of work went into this, reshaping the spotlight metal.

This photo taken a little further away gives us a good look at how well proportioned and restyled this car was. Created most likely by Don Shumacher’s father in his Body shop in Gardena California. The car appears to be freshly done, and about ready for paint.

When Don asked me if this could perhaps be the Jimmy Summers Mercury, as he was told it might be, I was able to give him a firm NO very quick. The car in these photos is an ’39 Mercury with no vent window’s, while the Jimmy Summers Mercury is an ’40 Mercury. Also the chop in the windshield appears to be more on the Gardena Mercury, than on Jimmy’s Mercury. Plus the rear fenders are molded in on the Gardena Mercury, while those on Jimmy Summer’s Mercury are still separate units after the body was channeled over the frame and the fenders raised up into the body. And then there was the note on the back of one of the photos stating the photo was taken in 1947. Jimmy’s Mercury was finished in it first maroon color, all channeled and with the home made grille in 1946. So these photos are not of an early version of the the Jimmy Summers Mercury.

But what is the story about this really nicely done ’39 Mercury? Who owned it? was it Don’s father’s personal car, or did he built it for a customer? And what ever happened to the car. I do not think I have ever seen another photo of this Mercury before, or at least not from the front. I have never seen an 40’s built ’39-40 Mercury that had a ’39 Buick grille installed this way.

The fact that there is a photo taken of the ’39 Buick grille in the ’39 Merc indicates that the builder was very proud of his work. And judging the photos we can say he can be very proud about it. The grille installment looks really well done and suits the car really good.

The Mercury appears to have been very nicely restyled by a professional body shop. Especially the addition of the Buick grille and the way it was used was done by a skilled body man who also had a great eye. The two half of the Buick grille are separated by mild v-shaped center piece on a stock ’39 Buick, but they are butted together on this Mercury. And the surrounding metal of the hood and front fenders have been expertly modified to make the Buick grille look right at home. The hood has been shaved and the belt line trim has been removed completely, but the door handles are still in place. ’40 Mercury or Ford headlights replace the plain ’39 model headlights.

The windshield frame has been chopped, quite heavy. The low padded top looks to have a very nice flowing back portion. The rear fenders have been molded to the body, and possibly the fronts as well, but that we cannot see in the photos. A set of ’37 DeSoto ribbed bumpers replace the stock units and a set of teardrop skirts are used on the rear fenders. The car rolls on black wall tires wit single bar flipper hubcaps and beauty rings.

Has anybody ever seen or heard about this Gardena California based ’39 Mercury? Perhaps knows who owned in back in 1947, or knows what ever happened to it. If so, please let us know. We would love to solve the mysteries around this great looking mid early Custom Merc.



(this article is sponsored by)

NEFERTERI part Four

Larry Pointer, our Forrest Gump of the Conquistador Car Club, carries us along in his journey through the era of streamline moderne styling.  These were the influences in the build of Neferteri, his hand-built custom 1936 Diamond T truck. The full figured styling of commercial vehicles was to give us some of the most unique icons of those exciting times and designs.



Larry Pointer found himself a survivor of Y2K, retired, a widower, and a more or less empty nester.  He needed a project.  In this series, he shares his passion for all things “Streamline Moderne”, and how it all turned into a 13-year labor of love, to create “Neferteri“, his custom Diamond T truck.



By Larry Pointer with Rik Hoving

Neferteri, Part Four

Streamline Moderne. Pretty heady stuff. Duesenbergs, Auburns, Packards, Cadillacs and Cords. The Exotic Bugatti’s and cars whose names I couldn’t pronounce. An expensive private world of the rich. I could only marvel and wonder, hardly able “to afford to pay attention”.

But in those War bond years of sacrifice most of us made do with that which was left over from Depression’s hard times. A bare-foot boy could find the odd summer job, and squeeze that nickel till the Buffalo groaned. His imagination, though, could stream an Art Deco world of possibilities through his head.

An old man lived up the hill from me, out on the edge of town. An old man and his German Shepherd dog. Inseparable. I never knew much more than his name. Angelo. That, and he worked as a forester through the summer months, up on the Bighorn Mountains. Each spring, he would load up his bedroll and supply of food items in the back of his truck, carefully tucking it all securely under a tarp. He’d readjust his ever-present pipe between his teeth, cluck at the dog, and the pair of them would climb onto the seat, fire up the old truck and head for the mountain. Leaving an envious boy staring down the dusty road. Oh, the wonders and adventures I imagined, up on that mountain.

As the days would grow shorter, I would anticipate the day when Angelo and his German Shepherd would come down off the mountain. I can still see them coming home, lumbering up our high school hill, that Depression survivor truck growling slowly along in “low-down-low”. Angelo never seemed to hurry. Perhaps, somehow, he sensed he would have 92 years to do what he had to do.



1937 International truck, similar to the one Angelo drove when I was a kid, only his was not so nice and shiny anymore.



If you would ask me what Art Deco looked like to me, the answer would be simple. Angelo Tomasi and his dog, side by side in that faded and battered old 1937 International truck. Those three…the old man, his dog, and his truck… just went together, merging in my childhood memories to forge an image that imprinted on my very soul.

That 1937 International pickup was different, even distinctive in its bulbous Art Deco styling. It had pontoon fenders with a bit of a peak up through their centers. The grille work was wide with a center prow and a series of thin, horizontal slots on either side of center, punctuated by a tastefully few stainless strips. The headlights were born on stands, convex rounded glass lenses set into short egg-shaped pods. The hood had long slits down the sides, continuing the theme of the grille. The windshield was divided, to repeat the shape of the grillework nose.

It would be almost a lifetime before I would find more of Angelo Tomassi. He was born in Austria before the turn of the Century, had migrated to America to seek the American Dream, and to send money back home to his parents and many siblings. He became a naturalized citizen in Camp Davis, “renouncing absolutely all allegiance and fidelity to Charles, Emperor of Austria and Apostolic King of Hungary,” before shipping out with the US Army to fight for America in WWI. Later he would find his own American Dream among the mountains and streams of Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains. Angelo, his German Shepherd dog, and a tired…but elegant to me…’Cornbinder” truck.



1940 Nash designed by Count Alexis de Sakhoffsky.

Art Deco design had many carry-overs, most in taken-for-granted forms that went about their functions daily all about us. Art Deco’s streamline style was not at all exclusive. All about us were motor vehicles of the workaday world that just had that streamline “thing”.

Count Alexis de Sakhoffsky’s styling for the torpedo front 1937 White trucks.

Alexis de Sakhoffsky desing for the COE White Truck.



Streamline design for the working truck owed much to the creative mind of the émigré Count Alexis de Sakhoffsky. His styling for the White company especially captured the imagination. Perhaps the most distinctive grille in the industry was that of the White trucks and the buses for our National Parks, from the drawing board of de Sakhnoffsky. That design rivalled the noble Packard nose, in my humble opinion, and without a flapping cormorant. De Sakhnoffsky instead added a simple tapered ornament in a nod to the streamliner trains. What also made that tall, vertical sculpture in stainless stand out, were the crisply incised and exaggerated pontoon fenders to either side. The very low location of the headlight pods allowed the grille full attention, and did draw the attention of countless hot rodders who would mount the headlights on their gow jobs as low as was legally allowed back in the day.



Sakhnoffsky designed perhaps the most distinctive grille in the industry for the White buses for our National Parks.

Perhaps de Sakhnoffsky’s crowning achievement in utility design is the swoopy streamline for the matching tractor and trailer rig of Canada’s LaBatt’s Brewery. This rolling art has become an icon of industrial design.



From de Sakhnoffsky’s drawing board came a raft of futuristic forms to fit any number of cars, trucks, and busses. He even provided the practicality of oil and gas delivery a proper challenge, with long rounded fender pod extensions from the cab to the sloped tail, which concealed the piping and valves for fuel delivery.
In 1933-1934, Texaco upped the ante for fuel trucks with their tubular “Doodle Bug”, contracted from the independent Diamond T Company out of Chicago.

Not to be trumped in the marketplace, Chrysler answered with their air-streamed Dodge tanker with the distinctive Airflow waterfall grillework.

Air-streamed design for the oil and gas delivery truck. Chrysler’s Dodge tanker with Airflow waterfall grille on the color photo, and the “Doodle Bug on the top right”.

The Gilmore Oil White truck with gold, red and blue neon lights.



“Roar With Gilmore!” This was the famous slogan for the Gilmore Oil Company of California. The company engaged in a variety of publicity stunts, including circus performers and lions on the payroll; sponsorships of racing ventures from the midget tracks to Indy; and a Yosemite Economy Run, between 1936 and 1940, between Los Angeles and Yosemite Valley. To promote the event, Gilmore secured the design services of Wellington Everett Miller, a former Packard stylist. The promotional truck was built by Advance Auto Body Works on a White Chassis. Gold, red, and blue neon tubing was formed around the truck by 20th Century Fox special effects man, W. C. James.






A second W. Everett Miller streamlined truck for Gilmore was bodied by Standard Auto Body, over a Mack chassis. This later design was even more streamlined than the first.

Fire engines

What kid of the day didn’t thrill at the sight of a long, low ladder truck pulling out of the firehouse. A bright ship-shape Ahrens or perhaps an American LaFrance in fire engine red with goldleaf lettering, shiny brightwork, black hoses and sturdy ladders. Firemen in hats and gear, standing at their stations, hands upon the brass rails.



1938 Aherns-Fox fire engine with beautiful chrome grille.

1941 American LaFrance fire engine.

Seagraves fire trucks.



The mighty Seagrave most imprinted on my impressionable young mind. Just standing on the station floor, those massive machines moved me. They had an all business look about them. The huge, waterfall grillework. The long, long hood, beneath which beat the heart of a 12 cylinder Pierce Arrow powerplant. When that fire engine went through the gears on the way to its service, the rumble and the roar were unforgettable. To me, those mammoth but graceful Seagraves looked like Alpha Romeos or Auburns on steroids. Size does matter; in the design of fire engines, it is their perfectly proportioned length and mass that leaves indelible impressions.



W. Everett Miller designed delivery van.



There were delivery vans with enclosed bodies, some integrated into the cab itself. Their sides served as rolling billboards for the wares they carried. One design by W. Everett Miller featured open door entries and a covered spare tire mounted on the body side.

Diamond T with beautiful ice cream body advertising.

1938 Reo Film Service cargo body matching the cab body.

1938 International fender skirted Coca Cola beverage truck magazine ad.

Coca Cola fountain truck.



Beverage trucks brought innovation to the scene, as well as carbonated soft drinks. Or something stronger for the adult customer. Streamlining helped promote instant recognition. It seemed there was no end to the creative use of streamlining in customizing the utility vehicle. Grilles, skirted fenders, curvaceous bodies, step decks, ladders and hand rails of brightwork that spoke of speedboats and streamliners. Most of all, those workhorses of industry proved that full figured models could be just as voluptuous as the boat-tailed speedster.






1941 Dodge COE Miller Beer truck with a Custom streamlined body.



I needed a project. We’d survived the panic of Y2K. I was a retired civil servant, a widower, and more or less an empty nester. I had gutted a 1970s tract house, moved walls to create an open living space, and tiled floors and countertops, learning as I went. And wherever things turned out a bit rustic, I just called it “Santa Fe Charm” in Montana. Now, I wanted to design and build my own streamline modern custom. “Unique is what we seek,” my friend Barry Wright would say, “bizarre is what we are.”



International-tuel-truck with streamline body.

1937 International Harvester pickup.



My mind kept going back to that old I-H truck of Angelo Tomasi. I began to look about. My biggest mistake was to share this emerging vision with my old Conquistador friends. No one was very encouraging. In fact, some were downright disparaging. “Why a Cornbinder, Larry?” Gary “Slim” Richards would caution. “They couldn’t keep up with traffic back in the day; they were hard to steer, and they rode like a lumber wagon.” It was true, like Roger Dangerfield, they couldn’t get no respect.

“Why don’t you start with something that has value? If you’re going to spend all that time and effort, not to mention money, why not a Diamond T, the ‘Cadillac of trucks’? There’s still a few of them around. Then you would really have something when you were done.”
Gary was right, he most always was, and I knew it.

In counterpoint, I would turn to humor, just to stall the inevitable. Wicked humor is most righteous at times. “But that D Model of International is just cute,” I’d protest. “Reminds me of a cartoon. Elmer Fudd could have driven a 1937 Cornbinder. Why, he could even keep his cork gun in the gun rack behind the seat.”



1938 Diamond T Oil truck and pick up.

The sketch I made before I started the work on my Diamond T project. The inset photo is from an Diamond T fire truck, another inspiration soars for the final shape of my project.

Well, fantasies and scenarios are one thing, Forrest Gump, hard work and limited money were quite another. Gary won. If I wanted something Streamline Moderne, I best be serious. I went looking for an old Diamond T truck to adopt.

Next time, The Diamond T, Cadillac of Trucks.













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MERRY CHRISTMAS 2016

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Custom Car Chronicle. We hope you have enjoyed  the 2016 CCC year as much as we have.

I would like to thank all our readers, contributors, and members for your support. Your amazing contributions and the wonderful donations we have received from you in the past year made a huge difference to the Custom Car Chronicle. I wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas and happy Holidays.



Buster Litton driving home in his Panoramic Ford with a freshly cut Christmas tree and plenty of presents for a wonderful Christmas.












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SAOUTCHIK PLASTIC STEERING WHEEL

In the late 1940s Custom builders experimented with the use of plastics in Custom Cars. One of their inspiration sources was the lucite steering wheel in the Saoutchik Delahay 175-S from 1949.

In the summer of 2016 we did an series of article on the use of Plastics by Custom Car builders and the history of it. One article concentrated on the external use of plastics, like hand made bumper guard taillights and parking lights, while the other article focused on the use of plastics in the interior of Custom Cars. One focal point was the steering wheel in the Barris Kustoms restyled Don Vaughn 1948 Buick. And how this technique possibly was inspired by the use of plastic steering wheels in some coachbuild cars from the lat 1940’s. We included a sample of the clear lucite steering wheel in the Saoutchik designed and created 1949 Delahaye 175-S. This breathtaking beautiful car has been completely restored by Fran Roxas and the steering wheel used in the restored car was completely redone, since the original steering wheel showed its age, the lucite was cracked etc.

In an recently ebay offering this apparently original Delahaye Saoutchik was offered for sale. The auction showed some nice detailed photos of this historic piece, and since we have already mentioned it in the Plastics article I figured it would be nice to show it up close here on the Custom Car Chronicle.

The Restored Saoutchik Delahaye 175-S

The car is built upon the first new Delahaye chassis designed after the war. New features for this model included a much larger 4.5 liter engine, a De-Dion rear suspension, Dubbonet front suspension, Lockhead brakes, and novelties such as a radio and heater came standard.

The first owner of this car, chassis 815025, was Sir John Gaul of England who brought the car to several European concours, catching the attention of the press and public wherever it went. In 1949, it won top honors at the Grand Castle du Bois de Boulogne in Paris, the Monte Carlo Concours and Coup de l’Automobile in San Remo almost always accompanied by an attractive lady.

By the seventies the roadster had made its way to Colorado where maintenance on the race-spec engine and Dubonnet suspension became a nuisance. The owner then chopped out the entire front section of the chassis to fit a GM Toronado system which was front wheel drive.

For nearly forty years the original engine and car were separated much to the blissful ignorance of everyone who could still appreciate its distinct design. Eventually correct 175 parts were sourced and the owner had Fran Roxas refurbish the massive Delahaye. It made a welcome debut restoration at the 2006 Pebble Beach Concours where it graced the shoreline beside the best examples of the marque. Later, the original engine was sourced and it was offered at Sports & Classics of Monterey by RM Auctions.

Info from newatlas.com









Special thanks to Wolf.









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AMBR 2017

Americas Most Beautiful Roadster award for 2017 goes to 1936 Packard named The Mulholland Speedster owned by Bruce Wanta. Designed by Eric Black and wonderfully hand-built by Troy Ladd and his crew at Hollywood Hot Rods in Burbank California.



The oldest ongoing Hot Rod and Custom Car show, the Grand National Roadster show has been awarding a huge trophy, but more than that a very prestigious America’s Most Beautiful Roadster award sine 1950. From the very beginning this award has been an award high on the bucket list of many Car builders. In general this award goes to the most beautiful Hot Rod or Street Rod roadster, but since the last decade or so we have seen more and more Custom orientated cars being entered to compete for the AMBR. 2017 is a new milestone in the history of the GNRS AMBR event when Bruce Wanta’s 1936 Packard Roadster wins the top award, the famous 10-foot trophy.

The Mulholland Roadster with the AMBR award on Sunday evening.

When the 2017 68th Annual Grand National Roadster Show opened its doors for the contenders of the event, and the competitors of for the AMBR award on Wednesday January 25th the talk of the day was about the Mulholland Speedster. And especially about if it could win the prestigious award as a full Custom. For the past couple of years we have seen a major shift in the winners of the AMBR. The winners were looking like real traditional Hot Rods again. For many years many of the top award winners were high dollar street roddish cars that had no ties to the original Hot Rod scene other than perhaps the pure base of the cars. The entries for this year were all mostly traditional style cars inspired by several era’s of the Hot Rodding history. And one of them was one inspired by the Coachbuilt cars from the mid 1930’s. Lets hope this will set a new trend and more Custom oriented entries will be created for the future AMBR competition.

The Mulholland Speedster

The Mulholland Speedster is based on an 1936 Packard Roadsters, but is largely couch built by Troy Ladd and his crew at Hollywood Hot Rods in Brubank California from a design by Eric Black . The car is owned by Bruce Wanta of Bellevue, Washington. The car was built over a period of several years. Starting with a series of design studies created by Eric Black collaborating with Troy Ladd. One the basic design was approved on a full size rendering created by Eric Black was printed and the work for the real car was planned.



Early concept designs by Eric Black.

The Mulholland Speedster compared to the 1936 Packard Roadster.



Most of the car is hand built at the Hollywood Hot Rods shop with the body created out of 1-gauge steel, all metal finished. In 2015 the Mulholland Speedster was displayed at the GNRS mostly done but still in bare polished metal. The car had everybody talking at the show and for a very long period after that. After the show the car went back to the Hollywood Hot Rods shop to be taken apart completely for more detail work. The car is designed as a mid 30’s Coachbuilt Custom, inspired by the famous Coachbuilt cars from that era. But underneath the car was built with all the modern touches and techniques one can think of.



The humble beginnings, 1936 Packard.

Early construction work with one side of the car mostly there. On the wall is the life size Eric Black Illustration.

Packard grille and more body construction going on at the shop. The windshield is a heavily modified 1936 Ford Duvall brass windshield.



Getting one side all mocked up, then repeating it on the other side.



All body panels were made at Hollywood Hot Rods.

The Mulholland Speedster at the 2015 GNRS in polished bare metal.

No elements on the Mulholland Speedster were left untouched. Even the hinges were custom designed and hand grafted, and so were the Art-deco head and taillight moldings.



All put back together to check for fit and Finnish, then off to the bare metal photo shoot. 



One of the key features of this car was the plan was to create a metal lift off top that would disappear into the trunk (Retractable hardtop), very much like one done back in 1938 by Peugot. This require a lot of engineering, careful construction and some compromised had to be made to make it all work and the top to disappear into the trunk. To lift the bar even further the idea was to make it all operate using electric motors, and to operate it using your smartphone with a custom designed app. This app controls all the electronics on the Mulholland Speedster, including opening and closing the Packard winter grille, hood sides and suspension.

The car was mostly built at the Hollywood Hot Rods Shop in Burbank California, and the wonderful paint work, in a custom mixed Mulholland Merlot, was performed by Mick Jenkins at M.G.J. Enterprises. The interior was created by Mark Lopez at Elegance Auto Interiors.






Retractable hardtop roof. 



After everything was test fitted and after the final fine tuning and photo-shoot the car was all taken apart for paint, chrome and upholstery.



The complete handmade frame and all the suspension components specially designed for the Speedster are a work of art.

A Lincoln V-12 292 cubic inch with Hogan aluminum heads, three-pot Winfield (Double-D carbs used) intake with Latham-Hogan supercharger. Tires are Firestone 6.50×16 wide whites.

The Mulholland Speedster was displayed mostly with the top down, but from time to time the top was put up for a complete transformation.

Notice the umbrella sticking out of the door jam. Specially designed storage unit, and of course the umbrella was customized as well.  

Not only the car itself is spectacular. The way the car was displayed and the display itself was in something very special. Car owner Bruce Wanta wanted to display the car in such a way that car could be enjoyed for the coachbuilt custom, with the perfect stance, but at the same time he also wanted to show the amazing work done on the drivetrain of the car. He came up with the idea of a split level display. One side of the car could be experienced as a car sitting on the floor all closed up, while the other side could be inspected with all the details underneath and inside. Eric Black helped out with the design aspects of this great display concept.

The interior was created by Mark Lopez at Elegance Auto Interiors.

The instrumentation is original Packard fully refurbished. 

Car owner Bruce Wanta on the left, Builder Troy Ladd (Hollywood Hot Rods) in the middle and designer Eric Black on the right shortly after the award ceremony.



Troy and Eric.. did this really happen?…. YES

Special thanks to Hot Rod magazine, Rob Radcliffe, Howard Gribble, Eric Black and Hollywood Hot Rods for the photo material. 








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NEFERTERI Part Eight

Herein, our Forrest Gump embarks on a quixotic crusade in search of elements from the Golden Age of the Classics.



Larry Pointer found himself a survivor of Y2K, retired, a widower, and a more or less empty nester.  He needed a project.  In this series, he shares his passion for all things “Streamline Moderne”, and how it all turned into a 13-year labor of love, to create “Neferteri“, his custom Diamond T truck.



By Larry Pointer with Rik Hoving

Neferteri, Part Eight

Forlorn is about the best could be said of my 1936 Diamond T grille shell. No Art Deco waterfall grille in shiny stamped sheet metal graced its open maw. But that’s not a bad thing. Frankly, I wasn’t a fan of that historic hiccup, before the Cadillac of trucks morphed its face for the Forties into a 1938 Buick on steroids. The 1936-37 grillework definitely was Art Deco, but more like the face of a drive-in speaker than any rolling sculpture.



From left to right; 1937 Diamond T, 1938 Buick grille, 1948 Diamond T grille 

Drive-in Speakers, common items for those who crew up with the drive-in theater’s. (many younger viewers never have seen a drive-in movie.  Sad)



Instead, I had borrowed Gordon Buerhrig’s 1935 facelift for the struggling Auburn flagship to grace my own Art Deco dream. What better streamline concept truck than a marriage between Auburn and Diamond T? For help in scale and proportion, I threw myself on the tender mercies of the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum. There, archivist Jon Bill came to my aid. With stretched dimensions in hand, I was off and running. I had the WHAT of what I needed; the HOW still continued to elude me.



Original 1936 Diamond T grille shell I started with.

1935-36 Auburn grille…

Example of grille surround created from large diameter tubing by Barris Kustoms on the left and using some smaller diameter tubing by the Valley Custom Shop used on Jack Stewart’s Oldsmobile “Polynesian”.

If George and Sam Barris and the Valley Custom boys could create their grille surrounds in exhaust tubing, it was the way forward for me. First though, I needed an inexpensive mock-up. Quite by accident I discovered the cardboard tubing inside Christmas wrapping rolls was exactly the same diameter! And a lot cheaper to whack into the required lengths, angles, and curves I envisioned. Once it was laid out and adjusted to the Diamond T height and width, I was ready for Darryn Waldo to pass over the real steel for cutting and ticky-tacking.



Christmas wrap tube on the left turned out ideal to mock up my new grille surround before I bought the actual metal tubing and had it bend in shape. On the right you can see the roughed in exhaust tubing clamped to front of my Diamond T shell.



The handsome expanded stainless screen of bygone days was no more. Scott Clark showed me an alternative, though. And it stood literally in my face on a daily basis as I went in and out of his shop. The behemoth Peterbilt tractor-trailer rigs sported a frontal grillework that was almost a dead ringer for that sported by the Auburn boat-tail speedster. After a few visits to repair shops and salvage yards, I was able to score one that hadn’t played block and tackle against a four-legged foe, or worse.



Peterbilt truck with the stainless screen I used in building my “Auburn” grille. The Kenworth truck on the right shows the style of bars and “teeth” I carved down for my grille.



The center bar and teeth I was able to clone from yet another 18-wheeler. This time the vertical aluminum grille bars of a Kenworth. It didn’t take long for me to gain a deep appreciation for the values of an open faced file, in the task of whittling down the pieces for the three cross bars of the Auburn’s trademark dental work.



Buzz Franke studying the bare shell and how to incorporate the new panels and exhaust tubing surround. On the right photo we can see Buzz Franke forming a template for bottom of the shell.

The finished tubing grille surround now tacked to the 37 Diamond T shell.



Yet, that all turned out to be the easy part. The Auburn’s vertical face was straight, and raked back to a jaunty angle. Jaunty hardly described the bulbous bustle nose of the Diamond T shell. Buzz Franke stepped in to direct the match-up of this odd couple. His studied eye in fabrication was a clinic in customizing, a privilege I never will forget, rest his soul. Finally, to achieve the crowning touch, Ron Tesinsky drug out his English wheel to create the cap of the structure. It came out much like a big brother to the iconic 32 Ford grille shell, as well as that of Buehrig’s classic Auburn.



Close up of the lower grille section, piecing together the shell with the tubing. On the right Buzz with partner Jerry Lafountain checking alignments.

Lower piecework, adapting tubing to original grille shell on the left and on the right the Grille is now ready for fabrication of top of shell.

Shaped rod clamped in place to determine form of top of shell, followed by Paper templates in place for shaping top of grille shell.

Ron Tesinsky with completed grille shell, bare metal. Ron shaped all the sheet metal on the grille surround with English wheel. On the right, grille back home on stand.



I was so proud of what we had done, I built a stand for our bare metal “sculpture”, and stood it in my bedroom.

Until…., well… Two years later Dotti and I were married. It was no contest. Neferteri moved out to the shop. A girl thing, I think.





Fast forward to 2013. That bucket list we all carry. Wishful thinking. Without Dotti, much of my bucket list only would have remained a “woulda, coulda, shoulda” wish list. Dotti was on family history quest, and we planned out a trip, retracing back her family’s migration West to Montana. Well, along the route through Indiana…umm, almost on the way…was Auburn, and the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum. After a short detour, I found myself standing in front of that very Mecca of Classic Car celebrants. Soon, I was shaking hands with Museum archivist Jon Bill, the very man who, a decade before, had helped me scope out the dimensions I needed in creating Neferteri’s “Auburn” grille. That day stands out as one of those “most memorable” moments of Life’s special treasures. And to have Jon request images of Neferteri for the Museum archive was…beyond words!



Me in front of ACD Museum, 2013. and on the right Me, on the left, with Jon Bill, on the right, archivist at ACD Museum who ten years before, in 2003, had helped me come up with conversions to adapt the 1935-36 Auburn grille dimensions to the larger Diamond T grille shell.



As I looked back over the progression of the project, visions of perk charts danced in my head. Jack Whittington had started the wiring, and in tidy Air Force style, he ran wires through lengths of brake line tubing to hide them. The idea to hide the fuse box inside a kitchen toaster masquerading as an Art Deco heater under the dash was, well, my idea. John Stroble took on the brakes. And Darryn Waldo came to the rescue in configuring the air conditioning components to avoid defacing my firewall mural space.

Air conditioning? You ask. Didn’t the Diamond T have individual roll out windshields? And cowl vents down on the sides, in front of the doors? Yes… but. Dotti surprised me with the gift of a complete Aftermarket system. In another compromise, the new hidden hinges Darryn had scored meant the cowl vents had to go.

The solution that we worked out was to run hoses under the firewall and floor to a mounting position behind the seats, on the extended floor board. Venting then later could face forward, beneath a raised platform behind the seats and through a console between the seats, as well as up and over the door frames to that above-windshield glove box panel, via pvc piping.



AC unit on bare floor of Neferteri.



But that would be later. Actually, years later. Thirteen years and counting; I still don’t have the system charged, nor the defroster vents louvered in above the windshield. My bad. But is a custom ever done? Really DONE done? Those roll out windshields are working really swell, though.



Jack Whittington, who wired Neferteri on the left, and John Waldo and father Darryn Waldo crimping AC hoses on the right.



How to build an extended cab? I still had the poster board pattern I had used to saw out my 10 gauge floor. Scott Clark had salvaged some heavy duty bakery racks, and I glommed onto one. I surgically removed its base on wheels, to then began assembling parts and pieces of the four C. A. Tilt truck cabs I had purloined. To align the parts and hold everything in position, I built a cage of braces in bracketed ½” tubing. It looked like a Rube Goldberg cartoon, but it did the job.



Top left shows the Bakery rack frame I used parts from for cab gurney The other two photos show the stock cab on bakery rack gurney.






Buzz guided me on extending the cab length. One set of quarter panels were sliced vertically behind the stamped door frame. Another set was cut parallel to these, but 4” back. For backing, we tacked a narrow strip behind the cutline to hold the pieces in line, then I slowly welded up the long seam.



Buzz Franke studying cab extension. Extended and reinforced to hold its shape cab on gurney.



Quarter windows. With tried-and-true poster board, I cut out several variations of shapes for the quarter windows I wanted. Standing back, I studied each, with a door clamped into position for proportioning. Then, to create window openings consistent with those of the doors, I actually used doors as donors. Each quarter window surround is made up from the rear portion of a pair of door window frame elements, left and right, set facing each other and welded in the middle.



Quarter window template.

The center back panels of the cabs I had gathered all were worse for wear. I sliced out the best beltline, then added new sheet metal panels above and below, attached to a 1/2” square tubing frame on the inside. At this juncture, everything was pretty much held together with C-clamps. Perhaps the best advice I received along the way was, “You can never have enough C-clamps.”

Diamond T’s had a small, square rear window. In my humble opinion, they looked more like they belonged on an orchard tractor than the Cadillac of trucks. In stark contrast, all of the classic cars of the era sported long and narrow rear windows. They just spoke “elegance” to me. So, I cut up what rear window frame stampings I had, and built my own long, narrow, elegant rear view. Then I centered and welded them into that new flat sheet metal I’d grafted into the rear of the cab.



From left to right on the top; Original Diamond T back panel,  1/2″ tubing inner framework for new cab back panel, back panel with template for new rear window. The picture on the bottom shows the back panel installed with new much wider rear window opening.



Welding. The roof was next. I sorted through the roof panels and selected a pair least ravaged by the collateral damage that came with time in service. You know, hay bales, logs, amateur hip-hop dancers. One panel was sliced off, just above the new quarter windows in my cab. The second panel was laid up from the rear alignment. I picked a line of consistent loft in the sandwiched panels and cut a horizontal slice down through them together, from one side of the top to the other, to create an extended top. As with the vertical quarter panel extensions, I cut out a narrow strip from the leftovers, for support beneath the seam. Thanks to the genius who invented Cleco pins! Welding the seam across that roof expanse was made much easier.

By now, the cab gurney had given way to actual construction onto the floor base plate now securely bolted to the chassis. Running boards were next. That lattice framework beneath the floor included outriggers that, as well as for catching shins daily, now served for attaching the running boards. Again, each running board was extended lengthwise, thanks to the sacrifice of a second set of boards for the added length.



The extended cab is now back on the frame with the fender installed we could extend the running boards to fit the longer cab. (This photo was taken prior to 3/8″ rod drip rail replacement)



Thanks to Charles Tilt’s cab of assembled parts, I was able to adjust individual panels at will. To finally attach the extended roof, I trimmed and clamped it down for final welding. At this point, a little “chopping” was in order. The stock Diamond T cab rose up rearward into an annoying peak at the rear. From a side view, this uphill slope really disrupted any “streamline” flow in styling, front to back. It had to go away. I pulled the roof down in back, and trimmed it off at the dripline. Tilt also had made the drip channel a separate piece, tacked into a wooden header strip inside. Following this alignment, the Diamond T stampings were now fully replaced with a molding I bent to form with 3/8” rod.



Roof extended, rear 3/4 view with the new drip rail in place. On the bottom an aerial view, extended cab, with seams filled.



More welding. Lots and lots more welding ahead. I was becoming a frequent flyer to the local welding gas supplier.

Up front, the original Diamond T roof panel had been bolted to the top of the cowl, through the A posts and below the windshields. A length of welting was sandwiched between the metal panels to eliminate squeaks. Here was my opportunity to suck the roof down a bit more, and wipe out the ugly gasket distraction interfering with that coveted “B-17” flow of the windshield lines I so admired. While I was at it, I formed a Duvall Vee piece for emphasis, bottom center between the windshields. I continued the Vee theme in striking a sharp line down each A pillar to taper into the belt molding at the cowl. Duesenbergs, Packards, Marmons, and best of all: the Stutz Monte Carlo. The classic cars of the period all had that wind slicing aircraft/speedboat look I wanted Neferteri to share.



1930 Stutz Monte Carlo.  This is the A pillar bottom shape I wanted, as it flows downward and forward into the beltline extending out into the hood panel.

Close up, original cab A pillar.

Close up, Duvall-like center pillar piece.

My reshaped A pillar (A little ahead in sequence, I only had a good image of it already in paint!)



Stylin’! That 2003 drawing was beginning to emerge in 3D. I was on a roll! And I was only six years into the build. The words of my uncle Willis whispered in my ear, “You don’t holler Whoa in the middle of a horse race.”








Next, we will clean up those front fenders, attach the doors, and streamline the scene behind the cab…. Stay tuned.





(This article is made possible by)





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VICTORIA CUSTOM STORIES

The stories that go along with the old pictures of early custom cars are sometimes just as interesting as the cars themselves.

By
Tom Nielsen

I have tried to put together a collection of ’49-‘51 Ford hardtop convertibles, with chopped Victoria tops, and the stories that go with the pictures. I hope the readers will agree that the Ford Victoria’s unique looks gave rise to some “cool” customs and interesting stories.

By 1951 Ford’s shoebox body style was entering its third year of production. While Ford updated their grilles, taillights and dashboards for 1951, they couldn’t help but notice the popularity of the GM hardtop convertibles in all the GM brands. The Ford Crestliner was an earlier attempt to attract the young at heart seeking a sportier two door. By mid-1951 Ford had decided to come out with a new hardtop convertible. The 1951 Ford convertible was to be the basis for the classy, new Victoria. A steel roof with a curved three-piece rear glass would be welded to the convertible body.





Ford’s new hardtop convertible was a big hit with the public and over 110,000 were sold in just half of a year! Since this new model was so popular, it was only natural that the young at heart would personalize this sporty hardtop to suit their tastes.








Mystery 1951 Victoria

One night in 1959 when young Dan Holms was working at the “Premium Pump” gas station in Renton, Washington a custom car pulled into the station. A one-time viewing left a lasting impression on him. (Us car guys know how strong those early car memories of a special car can be.) It was a persimmon colored 1951 Ford chopped hardtop with some very tasteful modifications. Someone had added ’54 Ford side trim, frenched the headlights, and nicely dechromed the hood and deck. The low Victoria hardtop featured a ’51 Mercury back window that had been slanted to match the new contour of the chopped top. In looking at the side profile the chopped top using the ’51 Merc glass fits very nicely. The bodywork must have been done by a seasoned shop as it has such a great look and everything fits so well.

Dan remembers that when the owner, Corky Carrol, opened the hood there was a Ford six cylinder engine in the engine bay. Today that engine adds to the mystique of this cool car even though back then a hot V8 might have been cooler. (Remember the Valley Custom, Ron Dunn sectioned shoebox has a six cylinder engine also.) He checked out the car carefully and remembers that the paint still smelled fresh and the interior was unfinished. Dan was hoping to see it again and find out more about its origin. It only made one appearance and then it was gone, no one knew where it came from and who owned it previously. It was like seeing a “shooting star” and then it was gone!

In fact, that was the only time he or anyone he knew ever saw that memorable “persimmon” Victoria! It was wrecked the very next day and never seen again.

Years later, a friend of Dan’s named Tom Reano gave Dan a picture of the chopped hardtop. Tom’s brotherr, Bob Reano, is in the picture taken at their house in the Kent valley. Bob very briefly owned the car for several days.

Dan was greatful to at least have a picture of the car that he remembered so strongly. In 2005-6 Mr. Holms decided to run an ad with a picture in Hemmings Motor News, asking if anyone knew anything about the car? The ad ran for over four months and no information on the “Mystery Vicky” turned up!

About fifty years after that gas station sighting of the ’51 chopped Victoria in 1959, a very starange thing happened! Dan was at a car show in Renton and bumped into an old car friend named Frank Donafrio. They got to talking and Dan asked Frank if he remembered the chopped ’51 hardtop? Then he showed him the picture that he had received from Tom Reano.

There was a short pause and Frank finally replied, “Yes, I remember that car well, I was also working that same night at the Premium Pump in Renton! In fact, I took that picture at the Reano house.



Corky Carrol and Bob Reano standing by the custom Victoria.  Bob bought it from Corky and they both owned it very briefly. 



Then Frank said, “ If you walk out to my car with me I have something to show you”. When they reached his car Frank pulled a picture out of his glovebox. When Dan looked at the picture it showed the same car but from from the rear ¾ angleshowing the ’51 Merc rear window.
“Why were you carrying this picture around? “ , Dan aked Frank. “ I came here today hoping to find someone who remembered this car”, Frank replied. Then he went on to tell Dan that he had thought about that car long after last seeing it at the Premium Pump station.
Dan was very surprised to find out that he wasn’t the only guy captivated by this unique custom car.



The side view shows the unique integration of the ’51 Mercury rear window.



After running the ads in Hemmings Dan decided that maybe he would build a copy of the 
“mysterious” , chopped Victoria. He easily found several ’51 Victorias for sale in the Seattle suburbs around 2006. After a brief search a very clean, rust free, original maroon ’51 hardtop with a bad engine was purchased in Burien.

Once Dan had the newly purchased car in his shop, he and Randy Ricci began working on getting it to run. The 8BA V8 turned out to only have a stuck valve and needed some degreasing before it ran like a clock. I drove his Victoria several times and it was a nice driving car with Ford’s, new for 1951, automatic transmission.



Here I am behind the wheel of the car that was to be transformed into a “clone” of the “Mystery ’51 chopped Victoria.



Unfortunately the “cloning” of the mystery custom was slow getting started because Mr. Holms was busy with the re-crafting of another more famous custom car. He was working on the ’56 Chev, ” Car Craft ten best custom”, known as Madame Fi Fi.

One day about eleven years ago a man and his wife from Poulsbo, WA were driving around in Seattle. By chance they happened to see the Victoria through an open door in Dan’s shop. The couple explained that they had been looking for a car just like it and wanted it in the worst way. They offered to buy it on the spot.Since it was really a nice original car and there were other projects he was busy with at the time, Dan reluctantly sold it to them.
The desire to know more about this cool “persimmon” ’51 Victoria with the ’51 Merc rear window is still there! So if anyone knows anything about it please let us know.





Using ’51 tops on the ’49-50 Ford convertibles.

I had never paid much attention to earlier shoebox Fords with a hardtop convertible top grafted on the body. In looking through old magazines and archives I discovered that there were a number of custom ’49 and ’50 Fords that got ’51 Victoria tops welded on them. In some cases just like the factory had done in 1951.

If you were building a full custom after chopping the windshield and wing windows you could get a top off of a wrecked ’51 hardtop. When it was chopped you could fit it to the convertible body. Of course the three-piece tempered rear window always presented a challenge. Customizers came up with various ways to put a rear window in the hardtop. One way was to build a plexiglass rear window or to use a rear window from another car. The results proved to be worth the effort and created a desirable custom hardtop.

One of the first customs built in this manner belonged to Elton Kantor and was built by Joe Bailon in 1952. Bailon was able to do a complete makeover of this convertible and even hand made the taillights and grille. The rear window was built from plexiglass in three pieces. With its dark metallic blue paint Elton’s car won the Elegance Award at the Oakland Roadster Show in 1953. The smooth sides and sleek profile make this shoebox’s low lines look awesome. The Hop Up Magazine photo with the attractive models and a lake in the background is a “classic picture”.



Elton Kantor’s Ford started out as a convertible. Joe Bailon chopped the windshield and added a new roof with plexiglass rear window in the typical Ford Victoria style.

The first version of the car was painted dark blue with no side trim for an ultra smooth look.

Later Elton had Joe Bailon add modified ’54 Chev side trim and ’54 Chev taillights to give his car an updated appearance. The car was featured in several car magazines in the 1950’s.



Another spectacular looking hardtop custom from around 1954 was owned and built by Jay Johnston. It also has a nice low profile and the top flows nicely into the trunk area. A great looking Gaylord interior and a chromed ’51 dash set this hardtop apart and made this car one of the great shoeboxes of that era. Photos in the Rik Hoving Custom Car Archives show that it has a coupe body and the chopped Victoria top was grafted on to it. A rear window from a closed car was fit to the hardtop when it was chopped. Jay’s car also looked outstanding in two tone as it appears in the cover photo for Car Craft in January 1955 .



Jay wrecked his custom ’49 Ford Coupe, and bought the remains back from the insurance company. He then collected parts from other cars, including a new roof from a Sedan to create his home made chopped Victoria body.

Jay goofing around on his in progress project. This photo shows the coupe doors with cut off window frames, laid back windshield, and hard-topped roof created from a sedan top.

The big picture shows the first version in purple and lavender how Jay Johnston finished his home made Ford Victoria. The inset photo shows the last version of the car with new Mercury taillights and new paint.

Jay Johnston’s 1949 Ford in its most famous salmon and cream color combo how it appeared on the cover of the January 1955 issue of Car Craft magazine.

1949 convertible, “survivor”

Unfortunately, not much is known about this abandoned “survivor” ’49 convert with a Victoria top. For a moment I thought that it had been built by Tom Sewell in Yakima and later owned by Frank Maes in Oregon. However, in looking at Franks car the rear window treatment and lack of ’49 trunk hinges show that it is not the same car. Frank’s Ford had been painted and scalloped while at Wescott’s for an update in 1959. The purple and white ‘50 Ford received a respectable third place in “full custom” amid some tough competition at the 1959 Portland Roadster Show.



Using a ’51 top on the earlier Ford convertible created this Northwest, “full custom” hardtop.

Frank Maes purple ’50 from the back with Frank by his car.

The “survivor” ’49 Convertible has been saved from any further deterioration. The body has been straightened and it is currently (May, 2017) in primer. We would like to know more about the history of this Olds powered chopped ’49 Ford. If anyone has any information about this custom I would appreciate hearing about it.

Here is an interesting story of how a custom hardtop was built from a ’49 convertible using parts from both the ’51 Ford Victoria and trim pieces from a 50’s Buick. Rod and Custom told the story pretty well in their November 1954 issue and there is not much that I can add to it.



Cotton Woodworth’s ’49 Ford with Vicky top had a full 4 pages in the November 1954 issue of Rod & Custom Magazine.



I think this example of a ’49 convertible with a Victoria top looked more like something Buick or Ford could have offered from the factory. It is a very successful blending of different parts to come up with a good looking hardtop convertible. If Ford had offered a car like this in 1951 it would have been real winner in sales!



Cotton Woodworth did all the work on his ’49 convertible with a ’51 top in his body shop in Oklahoma City. The end result is a very stylish ample of how great these Victoria’ can look as full custom.

Pictured below are several photos from the great Jim Roten collection in the Custom Archives that Rik Hoving maintains. I don’t know anything about the car, but the car appears to be a ’50 Ford that someone grafted a ’51 Victoria hardtop on when it was chopped. I like the “early look” of the car’s front end view. It shows how guys used to drive around with their car while still undergoing customizing. The rear view shot has a wonderful 1950’s background and the car looks finished from this angle. These pictures taken in Northern California almost tell a story just by looking at them.






Chopped ’50 hardtop from the Jim Roten Collection.

A few more samples of Customized Ford Victoria’s

Ina Mae Overman took a photo of this very nicely done mild Custom ’51 Ford Victoria at an mid 1950’s High School car show. It shows these Victoria’s did not need much to become a really cool car.

Shoebox Fords always looked great with a sectioned body, and when Sam Climo added a chopped Victoria top to his sectioned convertible body the result was stunning.

Sam Climo’s Ford survived and was recently (2015) uncovered. This photo shows that Sam used a single piece of plexiglass, bended to fit the chopped rear window opening replacing the stock three piece unit. More on Sam’s car can be read in the CCC-Article.

Mark Skipper filled in the rear window and used a smaller unit on his chopped Vicky, the Royal Victoria.

George Hernandez from Sacramento is the owner of this stunning 51 Ford Vicky with chopped top.

The rear window on George his Victoria was done exceptionally well, flowing beautiful into the chopped top.

Epilog:
In summary, the addition of the hardtop convertible Victoria to the line of 1951 Fords was a good move on the part of the Ford Motor Company. It updated their three year old body design. The new model also gave lots of new possibilities for the guys who customized their shoeboxes.





(This article is made possible by)





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MELFORD ROBBINS 39 TUB

Oilers Club Member Melford Robbins owned this beautiful dark maroon Carson Topped 1939 Ford Sedan Convertible in the late 1940s. The Custom is still around today.

Robert Genat’s book The Birth of Hot Rodding is filled with absolutely amazing color photos of the 1940’s and very early 1950’s. It shows us, in amazing color, how the Hot Rod scene was back then, a scene we mostly known from black and white photos. Most of the photos in the book are, as the title suggests, are about Hot Rods. But there are a few photos showing some Custom Cars in the background. One of the photos is showing some guys having fun in a Model T Hot Rod project car, and in the background we can see a small portion of the rear of a, as described in the book, 1940 chopped Ford. The car is painted a beautiful maroon and the chopped padded top looks a bit weathered, as if the car had been used a lot already.

That photo was the first time I saw this car, and it intrigued me. Because it was looking really great in this color photo with its beautiful deep maroon color, low stance, ripple De Soto bumpers and padded top, but perhaps even more since it only showed a mall portion of the car. I just needed to see the rest of the car. Around the time I bought Robert Genat’s book I started to communicate with with Custom Car enthusiast, builder and musician John Williamson. John shared a bunch of photos from his collection and told me about his passion for 39-40 Ford tubs. Including in the photos he send were some of a ’39 Ford four door convertible sedan he restored and owned back in the 70’s and 80’s. A really beautiful Custom, but I never made the link with any of the padded topped tubs I knew at the time.

In Nov 2013 HouseofHotRods shares the color photo from the book on the HAMB, somebody had shared it on Facebook, and he is asking for more info on the tub in the photo. In Jan 2014 Elrod responses to the HAMB thread with some more info on the guys in the photo, and also about the Custom in the background.

Information from Elrod
“Aprox. 1949 Oilers club members planning their next build. Allen Christopherson behind the drivers seat and front passenger is Bob Telford. In the back seat on the left is Melford Robbins, in the center is Red Lewis and on the right is Jim Nelson. Melford Robbins’ red 1939 Ford Kustom is seen in the background. It is a 1939 Convertible with a Carson top. Photo taken at the “bug barn”, a chicken shed behind Jim Nelson’s house.”

Now the “mystery” Ford Custom is identified as Melford Robbins 1939 Ford. Member of the Oilers Car Club from Carlsbad, California.

The is photo from the Robert Genat book with Melford’s 1939 Ford with padded top in the background. The one photo that started the search for more information about this Custom Sedan Convertible.

Cropped and zoomed in section of the photo shows the used look of the car, dirty Carson top, dirty bumpers, all adding to the character of the car. It was in indication that Melford drove his Custom very frequently.

The American Hot Rod Foundation shared a photo of the same guys from the Oilers Club taken from a different angle. It shows a little more from Melford’s Ford.

From the Oilers Collection comes this photo showing Melford’s Car from the front. This, and the color photo showing just the rear of the car are the only 40’s and 50’s photos we have been able to find of the car so far. To the left of Melford’s tub is Dago Cantarini’s car. Dago’s car is a narrowed 1927 T roadster body with 165 HP 1942 Mercury engine. It ran Offy heads, Offy manifold, Potvin ignition, Harman Super cam and a 3:27 rear end with 7:00×16 tires out back.

About the 1939 Ford Convertible Sedan

So far we have not been able to find out much about the car, we do not know who did the custom work on the car, or when it was done. The Padded top was crated by the Carson Top Shop using 1933 Ford frames over the rear doors. Perhaps Carson, or the shop next door to them chopped the windshield. The car was lowered, and as far as we know, although we have no photos to proof, the car had single bar flipper hubcaps same as how it looked in the 1980’s. The old black and white and color photo show that the car did have the side trim in place. The teardrop shaped stock ’39 Ford taillights were replaced with 1940 chevron units. The stock bumpers made place for the ever popular ’37 DeSoto bumpers (two front bumpers in this case). The trunk was shaved and the hood had the two half’s welded together and the center trim piece removed. The 1939 Ford headlight rings were replaced by 1940 Ford units, a set of Appleton Spotlights added. The finished car was painted a wonderful deep maroon.



Cropped section of the photo to have a better look at the tub. Notice that one of the headlight rings is missing. Chopped windshield, Appleton Spotlights, smoothed hood and ’37 DeSoto bumpers look so good in the ’39 Fords.

John Williamson new owner

In 2014 John Williamson mentioned that the car is the Robert Genat book, Milford Robbins ’39 Ford, was a car that he owned from 1975 to 1989. And that it was the car he had send me the photos of a year os so earlier. It all started together now.

John mentioned this about the car.
“I bought it from his estate thru the San Diego antique Ford store. I re did it with the help of the Guildner Brothers Custom Shop, Their Dad Frank helped me go get it in San Diego, drove it daily and really enjoyed it. At that time it had a stock 48 Merc flathead, 40 column shift with zephyr gears and a columbia rearend. It would go about 75 in seconds but took a long time to wind all the way out.

Milf was a finish carpenter and continued to use his ’39 Tub for a work truck so when I got it, it still had the back seat missing and the bracing removed so you could load wood from the trunk all the way to the back of the front seat. Between the backseat riser and front seat was a very well built series of 100 or more wooden shop drawers for all sizes of screws, nails, brackets and so on, after I removed the drawer system there was Milf’s “Black Book” of ladies phone numbers and addresses,

Melf must have been a ladies man, there was a long list of girls phone no.’s in the black book found under the seat. I always wanted to go down the list call the girls and take them for one more ride but never got around to it. I sold the car to Al Mc Kee of Bass Lake in 1989, he sold it to a truck stop owner who then sold it to Woody Pollard the current owner.”

Pat Ghanal’s used this photo of the car in his The American Custom Car book. John Williamson owned the car at this time and was in the progress of getting it finished with new paint. The car at the time had a black Padded Top and it was still in primer after the bodywork was done, The photo was taken at the 1st or 2nd Throttlers Picnic in Burbank. 



“My close friend Jimmie Collins re did the outside of the Carson and I had him put a plastic rear window so it wouldn’t pull the rear of the top down. Also you can see the 33/34 Ford Cabrolet door windows used in the rear doors to make a round rear corner another 40’s / 50’s trick. I didn’t change the headliner because it had a Milf Robbins Ducktail hairdoo grease spot on it above the drivers seat, I liked that so I kept it.

Milf had also used a series of house light switches and toggle switches to control everything so there was no need for using the ignition switch, you did House Switch for car power then electric fuel pump switch then Ignition Switch and you were off and running. I made some changes to the car but not many. The front fender wheel wells were radiused and re rolled very badly, so I rolled new radiuses using a 55 gal. drum for a tool and made new opening patch panels and installed them, the car wouldn’t steer with the 16’s and 700 tires, they would hit and tear the radiuses, I rolled them and installes round tubing behind the roll and welded them in for strength and rub restance, that worked good.

The car had a 40 column and side shift with zyphers and the Columbia rearend. The car had a home made dropped axle cut dropped and plated with no hammering and stretching, just cut off moved and welded back together, 1949 technology for kids in auto shop. The car was painted with Chrysler Maroon which was applied by Tab Guildner and myself. Tab was also responsible for most of the restoration body work ” 

After having enjoyed the car for many years John decided to sell the car in 1989. John sold the car to Al McKee.

“When I sold the car to Al McKee I gave him the book with girl phone numbers, I felt they belonged to the car.”

The great Drummer Joe Uele of John Mayall’s band is behind the wheel in Venice Ca when he was in John Williams Magic Blues Band “great car and musician”. The car looked good with or without the top.

Sadly Johns’s photo’s are rather dark, they were scanned from photocopies. In this photo we can see the reshaped front wheel openings.

John had the car at the perfect ride hight, slightly lower in the rear, which suited the car very well.

Profile photo shows, despite it being very dark, the beautiful shape of the Carson padded top.

One of the things John changed was the addition of small taillights mound on the DeSoto rear bumper next to the License plate. When he bought the car the ’40 Ford taillights were missing from the car. John also replaced the stock ’39 gas filler cap from the rear fender and replaced it with a newer gas filler door.

When John redid the car he added a few things, including Pickup truck running boards a front and rear gravel, these are visible in some of the color photos John supplied. These units were made in such a way that they could be removed easily. John always thought that the original owner Milf Robbins would have liked it like this. The current owner of the car has these pans and the fender skirts off the car.





Owned by Al McKee

When Al McKee owned the car they made more changes to the ’39 Ford. Al and & his son changed things like a manual rack & pinyon & a 57 TBIRD 9″, and they were going to run a 350 chev but decided to go with a blown flathead using the Merc in the car. They had Ted Frey build it. They wanted to run a B&M blower but their was no B&M blower manifold for a flathead. They went to Dave at B&M and ask if he would make a manifold them, so the manifold used on this car is a prototype. They also had an adapter made so they could use a ford c4 auto.





Owned by Leroy Sherman

Leroy purchased the car from Al at the Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield years ago.
This is what Leroy mentioned. “We both were racing there at the time, and I would always walk by the Car parked in the pits. The more I walked by, the more I liked it. I struck up a conversation with the owner Al and his wife, and ended up buying it right there. I brought it home to Eugene, OR where I live and owned Sherman Bros. Trucking.”

“While at Fosse’s Hotrod Shop in WA one day, I met a retired millwright out of Aberdeen WA. who had a buck setup, and built the stainless window frames all by hand. The Old original ones were in pretty terrible shape.

The rear taillights, when I got it, were truck turn signals mounted on the splash pan. I replaced them with the ’41 Studebaker lites. I also replaced the wire wheels, with the solid chrome & merchant caps. I sold the car to Woody Pollard.

It was a Great car! And it gave me many Great memories!”





Owned by Woody Pollard

Not much has changed to the car after Woody Pollard became the new owner. Over the years quite a few things have changed on the car, and the most obvious is the stance, now sitting rather high and with a slight forward rake while is used to sit very low, with a nice speed-boat stance. The replacement of the of the running boards with the pickup truck painted ones also made a huge difference in the overall look and feel. In 2017 Woody is looking to find a new caretaker for the car. Hopefully we can help find a new owner that will bring the car back to how it used to look in the later part of the 1940’s first finished for Melford Robbins.



I came across two photos of Melford’s Ford on the internet some time ago. (not sure who took them). It shows the car how it now looks owned by Woody Pollard. Modern white wall tires, ’50 Merc caps on chrome wheels, higher stance and removal of the fender skirts change the look of the car. But it is all still there, and sure can be brought back to late 1940’s specs with not too much work. Some small aftermarket spotlights replace the Appleton units that were on the car then Melford owned it.

Gas filler door in the rear fender, 1941 Studebaker taillights replace the rear bumper mounted teardrop shape taillights, which were added by John, favoring them over the ’40 Ford Chevron units added by Melford. The rear window was also enlarged to improve visibility.

This photo shows the new nose down stance added to the car by Al McKee. The splash pans John added are gone now.

The all leather upholstery and seats are new and added to the car later. When John Williamson owned the car, the front seats were Corvair bucket seats in front and 40 Ford in the back.

The interior has been updated over the years and it now sports a tilt column with leather wrapped small diameter banjo steering wheel and new gauge panel.

Motivation comes from a Mercury engine hopped up with polished Edelbrock heads, a B&M prototype intake manifold to adapt the B&M blower to the Mercury engine.

There are still some blank spots in the history of this ’39 Ford Sedan Convertible Custom that we hopefully one day can fill in. If you have any more information about the car when it was owned by Melford Robbins or any subsequent owners before John Williams bought it in 1975, are any old photos of this car. Then please email Rik Hoving here at the Custom Car Chronicle. Also if you are interested in owning this historic Custom car, please send us an email and we make sure it will get to Woody Pollard.

Special thanks to Elrod, John Williamson and Woody Pollard for the help on this article.

(This article is made possible by)





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NEFERTERI part Three

Larry Pointer, our Forrest Gump of the Conquistadors Car Club, marvels at Europe’s Golden Age of the coach built automobile, and influences that would ripple across the Atlantic Pond. From carrossieres to customizers, the distance is not so very far.



Larry Pointer found himself a survivor of Y2K, retired, a widower, and a more or less empty nester.  He needed a project.  In this series, he shares his passion for all things “Streamline Moderne”, and how it all turned into a 13-year labor of love, to create “Neferteri“, his custom Diamond T truck.



By Larry Pointer with Rik Hoving

Neferteri, Part Three

Growing up in Sheridan, Wyoming, I didn’t have a sense of the Streamline Moderne world of the previous decade, especially the realm of the European coach builders. I did have a toy Jaguar XK 120 in grey plastic. And much later a love/hate relationship with an apple green XJ6 sedan.






Stearman spray plane dusting the fields.



Streamline Moderne style was all around, however. Mostly in hand-me-downs. Streamline tricycles. Streamline Schwinn bicycles with the swoopy headlight and a teardrop tank between the nut-buster bars. Indian and Harley motorcycles roaring past in unforgettable cacophony. Stearman spray planes buzzing the neighborhood, just cuz they could.



Early exposure to streamline Moderne.

Streamline Schwinn bicycles and later the Indian and Harley motorcycles.



But the beauty of it all is that essential difference between art possession and art appreciation: no remorse. No maintenance and upkeep headaches. No fears of calamity, burglary, or the thief in the night. I could appreciate the art of Progress all about me, without limit or consequence.
Satchell Paige used to advise: “Don’t look back; somethin’ might be gainin’ on you.” And I wanted to see it all; do it all. Well, still do, for that matter.

To my growing awareness of the motor car world, European coach building came across the Pond in some measure with two individual stylists: Howard “Dutch” Darrin and Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky.



Dutch Darrin Clark Gable Packard.



The operative word here is “individual”. I don’t think you could get more “individual” than the irrepressible Dutch Darrin. Darrin’s creativity was distinctive in the very least. Early on in Paris, he and Tom Hibbard combined as coach builders, and after Hibbard returned to the US to form the Lebaron enterprise with Ray Dietrich, Darrin joined with an Argentine furniture entrepreneur in Paris to build custom automobiles for high society and celebres, on top end chassis they acquired abroad and from the US. As the clouds of War gathered, Darrin pulled out of Paris and popped up amonst the movie guild in Hollywood. Of the cars Darrin designed and built, the model that most gets my Adrenalin going is the special Packard Darrin, with the “Darrin Dip” in the doors, appropriated from the race cars and sportsters of the Jazz Age.



Alexis de Sakhnoffsky little blue coupe designed on a Cord chassis.

One outstanding car designed by the émigré Alexis de Sakhnoffsky was a coupe that could put the “Little Deuce Coupe” of the Beach Boys album cover to shame. Working in the Hayes studios, de Salkhnoffsky laid out his low-slung design over a Cord chassis. This little blue coupe became the first American made motor car to win the coveted Grand Prix trophy at the 1929 Monaco Concours. More of de Sakhnoffsky in the next episode of my learning adventures.

But to this impressionable kid out of Wyoming, it was the Duesenberg, the Auburn, the Cord, and the designers of those absolutely gorgeous coach built bodies that burn like a fever in my brain. Of the brothers, Augie would put the Duesenberg out front on the race tracks. Speed demanded Streamline. The Duesenberg Special, piloted by Ab Jenkins and dubbed the “Mormon Meteor” WAS streamline. On Utah’s famed Bonneville Salt Flats, Jenkins streaked to records that would hold up to challenges for long into the future.



Ab Jenkins “Mormon Meteor” Duesenberg.



A more sedate Duesenberg commanded attention in its debut at the 1933 Chicago “Century of Progress” World’s Fair. The “Twenty Grand” was designed in-house by Gordon Buehrig, and built in Pasadena by Murphy coach builders, This smartly appointed silver torpedo sedan with its dual sidemounts caused quite a stir in the industry. Of Buehrig’s design, to my eye, most attractive was the divided windshield, laid back to fold smartly into the roof line. From all angles, however, the coach craft spoke of elegance.



The Twenty Grand Duesenberg designed by Gordon Buehrig, and built by Murphy coach builders.



Then, in thumbing through Rob Wagner’s book, Classic Cars, I spied a long, low Walker LaGrande Duesenberg SJ convertible. Pictured perfect in a California wine country setting , it had a chopped windshield, and was painted in the very livery of wine and red-orange that had gotten me all fired up with the Graber Duesenberg on the Continent. Those were going to be MY colors!



Walker LaGrande’s georgeous Duesenberg SJ painted in the colors I would later choose for my project.



Still, wanting to see and absorb it all, I moved on through to Duesenberg’s stable mates, the Auburn and the Cord. More of Buehrig was to come, but when I came across the drawings and Auburn cars that came to life off the drafting table of Alan Leamy, Babe, I couldn’t get much higher.



Alan Leamy Auburn designs.

Most memorable in my bucket list has to be a trip I was able make in 2013 to include the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum, and a visit with archivist Jon Bill. There, I was mesmerized with the drafting studio; the clay models and the tools that shaped them; the exquisite laminated wooden fender bucks.

On the second floor, there also stood a re-created Leamy-designed cabin sportster. Now there was a no-nonsense laid-back windshield, set into a shortened torpedo body that looked like it would barely ripple a wind tunnel.



Auburn clay model, tools and laminated wooden fender bucks in the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum.

Re-created Leamy-designed cabin sportster in the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum.

Leamy’s L29 Cord, especially in the phaeton body, was an unbelievable work of art, as well. Sadly, as he was just coming into the best of his career, it would seem, this gifted designer’s life was cut short by blood poisoning, in 1935 at age 33.

Rolling sculpture is the only term to address the body of work created by Gordon Buehrig. The 1935 Auburn, with its hurried, low budget facelift in the form of what to me was the most beautiful grille and surround EVER.



Gordon Buehrig 35 Auburn… The best grille and surround ever designed and created.

On its heels came Buehrig’s 1937 coffin-nose Cord with front wheel drive. This car has to stand as one of the crowning achievements of American automotive design. I run out of words.

Or not. I have one axe to grind. Back in 1970, a Hemmings ad for a 1929 Buick close-coupled sedan caught my eye. The price was right. It was in Concord, NE. Why, that was nearly next door! I borrowed my dad’s 63 Chevy with the load-leveler hitch, hooked onto my rickety trailer, talked Rocky Moore into riding shotgun, and set out to retrieve this gem of wood-frame coachwork.

Once back home, I began gathering parts and literature, and discovered this year model Buick, with a distinctive bulge below the beltline, had been dubbed “The Pregnant Buick”. By whom? I indignantly demanded to know. By Howard “Dutch” Darrin, no less. Buick was suffering severely enough with the Great Depression. Darrin’s tag stuck, and it nearly jettisoned Buick sales. The 1930 models were quickly re-tooled to eliminate the full figured form.

When later I learned it was a young Gordon Buehrig who had designed the instrument panel in the 1929 Buick, Darrin’s hurtful remark turned to outright sacrilege. I’ve never thought much of that dippy Darrin since. Harumph!



1929 Buick dubbed “The Pregnant Buick” by Howard “Dutch” Darrin.

Gordon Buehrig designed the beautiful dash panel in the 1929 Buick.



I’ve had a life-long love affair with Buick styling that came out of Harley Earl’s Art & Color studio. In one way or another, every year model from 1929 through 1954 has touched my “Forrest Gump” life. If I had to pick a most favorite, it would be the phaeton. And from the years 1936-1941. Yes! A 1941 Buick Century four-door phaeton, the “hot rod” of the industry. What could have been, we can only imagine, had not WWII flipped the Art & Color train off the tracks. Sigh.



Harley Earl’s 1941 Buick Century four-door phaeton.



“Ask the man who owns one,” reads the advertisements Packard offered in the magazines of the day. Two of my friends, Gary “Slim” Richards and Blaine Murphy, have had life-long love affairs with Packard motor cars of the Thirties. And at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, it was not the Twenty Grand Duesenberg that gained the title, “The Car of the Dome”. It was an elegant bronze Packard close-coupled sedan by Ray Dietrich. I have to admit that Packard sport sedan was the cat’s meow.



Ray Dietrich designed Packard Sport Sedan.



My own favorites of the Packard line came shortly later. The long, low profile phaetons of the 1935-39 model years spoke Elegance. They had a raised crease over the tops of the front fenders, to split the light. Subtle, but similar to the boat bow, creating a visual “bow wave”. All four pontoon fenders had a round bead rolled into the fully circular wheel opening. Solid. Proudly drawing attention to chromed spokes, and the red Packard hexagonal hubcaps. The distinctive “arrow” tips to the side moldings, that streamed back along the long, long hood, not unlike the arrow at the front of a Mercedes 540’s artful belt molding. That unforgettable Packard grille and crisply formed shell. Which drew your eye to the sculpted form of that long divided hood, a graceful pair of wave forms, vee-ing outward from the artfully profiled nose, back and further back, to become one with the cowl. You always recognized a regal Packard gliding by. With, or without, FDR waving from the sumptuous leather seat in the rear.



Philip Wright’s aerodynamic Silver Arrow from 1933.

From the Pierce Arrow and Studebaker studios, came Philip Wright’s aerodynamic Silver Arrow, and one more favorite for me, the 1936-37 Studebaker coupe with the bat-wing rear window. Now, THERE were cars in which I could imagine Batman and Robin to be running down crime in the streets.

1936 Studebaker Coupe.



One of my most treasured “Forrest Gump” memories of Sheridan, Wyoming is a car Mike Grotz created. It started out a late Thirties Packard convertible. Grotz grafted onto this fair weather car a 1937 Studebaker coupe’s turret roof, complete with those distinctive batwing rear windows. It became a “hardtop convertible”, long before GM would trot out its new 1949 models from its Art & Color stables. If only I could find photos of that classy War-time custom, born of Wyoming winter necessities.



This is what Mike Grotz did to his 1939 Packard Convertible, turning it into a “hardtop convertible”… it was stunning.



Aerodynamic. The Chrysler and DeSoto for 1934. Those Airflows personified aerodynamic, from their waterfall grilles right on through their slippery uni-bodies. It would have been a risky venture in the best of times, but the Depression years were the worst of times. The best, perhaps, that could be said? They definitely were ahead of their times. As would be Preston Tucker a decade later.



1936 DeSoto Airflow.



I admit I never really appreciated those Airflows, until my old work mate, Casper, Wyoming’s Neil Jaquot spent retirement years lovingly restoring a 1936 DeSoto Airflow sedan back to life. You can spend hours studying and appreciating all the Art Deco details entailed in those unique motor cars.
Edsel Ford’s creativity can’t be ignored, either. Channeled through the pen of E. T. “Bob” Gregorie, the Zephyr and the first series Continental were a Statement: This was not your father’s Ford! To me, the pre-War Continental was, right off the showroom floor, all a traditional custom car could be. The long hood came to a crisp point, to define a pair of grilles flowing out below in gently curved thin bars, perfectly proportioned. The front bumpers accentuated each fender with its fully integrated headlight, yet remained separate. A pair of chrome bars was all that bridged the separation, allowing the speedboat prow to slice through the air.

There were no running boards, the body channeled fully over the chassis framework. Those Continentals were skirted, the soft curve of the rear fender uninterrupted, and fully complementary with the rounded body. Then came the surprise of that trademark Continental spare tire mount integrated into the rear deck.

The flat Continental windshield looked chopped, and the wonderful cloth top had crisp angled openings over the doors. But, no quarter window openings. Brilliant! Here, from the factory, was a custom Carson convertible top. The body and roof fully repeated each other’s fully rounded forms. Try calling the Lincoln Continental “pregnant”, I dare you.



E. T. “Bob” Gregorie’s clay model, the first Continental prototype from 1939 on the left and the ultimate 1941 Lincoln Continental on the right.



OK, I was stuck in the Thirties. I admired ALL of the streamline moderne elements that vaulted off the drafting tables and over the bucks of the coach builders through those golden years of the carrossiere, in Europe and closer to home in the US of A. But if I had to pick just one? Wellll, OK. It would have to be Gordon Buehrig’s masterpiece, the 1935-36 Auburn boat-tailed speedster.



The ultimate Auburn Speedster.



But the beauty of it all is that the “looky-loo” aficionado doesn’t have to choose. Maybe that’s why my choice is Gordon Buehrig and that Auburn speedster. To me, that automobile embodies all the design elements that had inspired me from the Art Deco, Jazz Age, Streamline Moderne era of industrial design. It all comes together in one rolling sculpture.

Aircraft? Just look at the front of that Auburn. Forrest Gump, that car runs like the wind, like a Lockheed Vega. Check out the no nonsense instrument cluster tucked beneath the aircraft cowling.



1936 Auburn dash.



Speedboats? The “bow wave” bumpers. That jaunty, raked-back split windshield frame would inspire generations of George DuVall hot rodders. The tapered boat-tail rear, picked up from Alan Leamy and fully integrated. Here, too, your speedboat stance, in “The World’s Fastest Stock Car”.



George DuVall’s design for the Hollywood Wheel Disc Shop from the early 1940’s.



The European Carrossieres? Here were Figoni’s enveloppantes; the rear wheels enclosed in full teardrop forms of pure sculpture. Those gleaming rippled exhaust pipes barked Mercedes 540 decibels to me. “Exclusive” “Distinctive” “Individual” read the ads of the day. “Arguably”, wrote Auburn archivist and author Jon Bill, “the most dazzling Auburn ever built”. Ahhhhhhh.

But wait, there’s more! as the infomercials are want to chirp. There is one additional area of industrial design from the period that we haven’t touched upon. Most powerfully, those forms of function in the work vehicles of industry speak in throaty tones that resonate through and through to this “Forrest Gump” of the Conquistadors Car Club of Sheridan, Wyoming. Fire engines. Delivery vans. Beverage trucks. In our next, and last, installment of the inspiration series, let’s follow the lead of designer Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky in exploring this last best segment of Streamline Moderne.







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LEROY CARSON 36 FORD SURVIVOR

Jeff Neppl visited the October 2016 Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield California. One car stood out to him, this 1936 Ford Cabriolet mild custom Survivor.

On October 21-23 the annual Hot Rod Reunion was held at the Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield California. The races are quite a spectacle, and then there is the parking lot area. And there some very interesting cars appear every years. This year Jeff Neppl visited the event, and came across this mildly restyled 1936 Ford Cabriolet that was restyled in 1946. The ’36 Ford was presented as a wedding present to Leroy Carson in 1946. Some of the old photos shown further on in the article where taken on Leroy and Margaret Carson’s honeymoon in San Francisco.



The car is still wearing the original black paint. Despite Leroy’s last name, the top on the car is an original folding top.

The 1938 Buick Bumpers were added some time after Leroy got the car.



Back in 1946 the Ford was mildly updated with a set of ripple disc single bar flipper hubcaps, fender skirts a new interior and a mild lowering of the suspension. Over the years a few more things were modified, but the car always remained a mild custom resembling the feeling as how it was first created. The car’s engine was updated with Eddie Meyer heads and a two carb intake manifold. The stock bumpers were replaced with some bolder 1938 Buick units. The fender skirts were updated with Buick trim, a set of spotlights was installed and the steering wheel was replaced with the popular Mercury Monterey accessory steering wheel.



Eddie Meyer heads with a two carb intake and a Thuckstun air-cleaner.

The custom upholstery in bright red and white is the original Leroy had installed, and so is the rare Mercury Monterey accessory steering wheel. 



The Ford was Leroy’s daily driver untill 1962, when Leroy’s son Tommy broke a piston while drag racing a 1958 Chevy Impala. After that the car was put in storage where it remained until the entire Carson Collection was purchased in 2010. two years later Leroy passed away. The current owners of the car who took it to the 2016 Hot Rod Reunion are Bobby Gaines & Dave McMillen.



The two photos of the left show the car in its first version when Leroy and Margaret had just received the car. Those photos were taken on their honeymoon. The photo on the right shows the car with he Buick bumper and the added spotlights.

A few more photos from the Honeymoon trip to San Francisco in the ’36 Ford.

The photos on the right show the car with added white wall tires, the top photo has Leroy’s son Tommy posing with the car. The photo on the bottom left shows the ’36 Ford next to Leroy’s 1955 Chevy which he bought brand new.

It is truly amazing that a car like this has survived, and has never been touched after it was stored in 1962. It is also amazing that in all those years Leroy owned the car, and used it as his driver, the car was not updated more than it has. Most other cars were updated when the scene changed, but not Leroy’s ’36 Ford Cabriolet. A true time machine.

Special thanks to Jeff Neppl for taking the photos.

(This article is made possible by)



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GARDENA CA MYSTERY MERC

This great looking 1939 Mercury Convertible with 1939 Buick Grille and Chopped padded top was built in 1947. Who owned it, and where is it now?



Don Schumacher from Long Beach California send me a few photos of an very interesting ’39 Mercury in November 2016. He mentioned that the photos were some scans he made of snapshots from the family album. And that this car was photographed at his father’s, Walt Schumacher’s Body Shop In Gardena California. One of the photos had some more info written on the back; Chopped ’39 Mercury, ’39 Buick grill 1947. He had posted the images on his Instagram before he shared them with me, and there somebody had suggested that it might possibly be an early version of the Jimmy Summers Mercury. He was wondering if I could help him figuring out any of the cars history and if it was indeed the Jimmy Summers Mercury before Jimmy channeled the car.

Even though the photo was taken at Walt Schumacher’s shop, Don did not know anything about it, and he was pretty sure the Mercury was a customs car, not his fathers personal Custom. Don was into all kinds of things, but not in this type of old cars, and never asked his father about the time he had his Body Shop in Gardena. He never asked him about the car he built, or this ’39 Mercury in particular… Don mentioned “Its not until people are gone that you wish you had asked more questions about their life.” So this ’39 Mercury in the family scrapbook is another great looking Mystery Custom.



The front 3/4 view shows how nice the ’39 Buick grille was fitted to the smoothed ’39 Mercury front end. A lot of work went into this, reshaping the spotlight metal.

This photo taken a little further away gives us a good look at how well proportioned and restyled this car was. Created most likely by Don Shumacher’s father in his Body shop in Gardena California. The car appears to be freshly done, and about ready for paint.

When Don asked me if this could perhaps be the Jimmy Summers Mercury, as he was told it might be, I was able to give him a firm NO very quick. The car in these photos is an ’39 Mercury with no vent window’s, while the Jimmy Summers Mercury is an ’40 Mercury. Also the chop in the windshield appears to be more on the Gardena Mercury, than on Jimmy’s Mercury. Plus the rear fenders are molded in on the Gardena Mercury, while those on Jimmy Summer’s Mercury are still separate units after the body was channeled over the frame and the fenders raised up into the body. And then there was the note on the back of one of the photos stating the photo was taken in 1947. Jimmy’s Mercury was finished in it first maroon color, all channeled and with the home made grille in 1946. So these photos are not of an early version of the the Jimmy Summers Mercury.

But what is the story about this really nicely done ’39 Mercury? Who owned it? was it Don’s father’s personal car, or did he built it for a customer? And what ever happened to the car. I do not think I have ever seen another photo of this Mercury before, or at least not from the front. I have never seen an 40’s built ’39-40 Mercury that had a ’39 Buick grille installed this way.

The fact that there is a photo taken of the ’39 Buick grille in the ’39 Merc indicates that the builder was very proud of his work. And judging the photos we can say he can be very proud about it. The grille installment looks really well done and suits the car really good.

The Mercury appears to have been very nicely restyled by a professional body shop. Especially the addition of the Buick grille and the way it was used was done by a skilled body man who also had a great eye. The two half of the Buick grille are separated by mild v-shaped center piece on a stock ’39 Buick, but they are butted together on this Mercury. And the surrounding metal of the hood and front fenders have been expertly modified to make the Buick grille look right at home. The hood has been shaved and the belt line trim has been removed completely, but the door handles are still in place. ’40 Mercury or Ford headlights replace the plain ’39 model headlights.

The windshield frame has been chopped, quite heavy. The low padded top looks to have a very nice flowing back portion. The rear fenders have been molded to the body, and possibly the fronts as well, but that we cannot see in the photos. A set of ’37 DeSoto ribbed bumpers replace the stock units and a set of teardrop skirts are used on the rear fenders. The car rolls on black wall tires wit single bar flipper hubcaps and beauty rings.

Has anybody ever seen or heard about this Gardena California based ’39 Mercury? Perhaps knows who owned in back in 1947, or knows what ever happened to it. If so, please let us know. We would love to solve the mysteries around this great looking mid early Custom Merc.





Updated November 18, 2016

Picking up a 40 Ford

Don send me a photo of his father with a 1940 Ford Coupe he bought brand new in 1940 in Detroit. They drove to Detroit in his friends ’39 Ford to pickup his ’40 Ford. Don thinks that maybe his father saved transportation charges that way, he was told he got it much cheaper that way, than when he would have bought it in California. They must’ve been flying to average 60 mph on those roads and going through towns before there was an interstate.

The photo album also contained this newspaper clipping in which Don’s father was mentioned for his speedy traveling from California to Detroit. 

Walt Schumacher with his new 1940 Ford Coupe.

The wrecked 46 Ford

Don also send me a series of photos of a 1946 Ford four door Sedan that his father rebuilt. The black ’40 deluxe coupe Walt had bought new had become impractical with the family growing.  So in late 1947 he bought a totaled rollover ’46 Ford four door. The pictures below are of the day he brought it home and looks like he was accusing what he had bought. Don mentioned it looked pretty scary to him, when he saw those photos again! Don thinks by then, late 1947, his father may have given up his shop, since all these photos of him fixing this car where taken at their home garage. The car got a new rear door, but all the other damage was repaired including the roof. That is amazing to me.



Walt Schumacher with the ’46 Ford wrecked Sedan he had just bought. 

The car was a roll-over and the top was completely dented on both sides. And by the look of the doors the whole body was shifted as well.

During the roll over the rear passenger side door must have opened and bended in the wrong way.

Walt starting the process of restoring the wrecked sedan. Here he removed the badly damaged door. He decided that was the only part he could best replace with a new (second hand) door. All the rest of the damage was repaired by Walt.



The last two pictures were taken in Clovis California . Apparently they took a vacation to see Don’s mothers sister. The car is still in primer in these last two photos. When Walt had finished the car later, all the side moldings were removed, it was nosed and decked and the license was frenched in to the trunk lid and covered with glass. Walt painted the car shiny black and mounted a set of whitewall tires and full wheel covers. It was the family car into the late 1950’s when Don remembers his sister took it over and would cruise the Clock, and Jerry’ bbq in Compton Ca.

All the body work was done at this point and the car could be driven again. During the repair work on the main body the stainless trim was removed, and the holes filled. Later the hood trim would also be removed.

This is the last photo Don could find of the Ford. The family album sadly did not contain any photos of the finished sedan.

A friends Roadster

Don also came across two photos of an Hot Rod roadster from 1947. Don also has no idea who’s car this is. It looks to be a channeled model A with ’32 Ford grille and welded trunk. Interesting is the set in license plate, and V-windshield from a late 30’s, perhaps early 40’s coupe or sedan. Don thinks the car might have belonged to a friend of his father.



For some reason both Hot Rod photos are in bad condition… but at the same time that makes them perhaps even more interesting as well.

Cropped section of the photo gives us a bit better look at the Hot Rod. Anybody ever seen this elsewhere?

Chevy taillights mounted just above the exhaust tip. In the center is a recessed license plate behind glass. A real Custom Trick, but it was used on some Hot Rods as well.

Here is a photo of Don’s father Walt standing in the doorway of the shop probably same day as the Merc photos in 1947.

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NEFERTERI part Four

Larry Pointer, our Forrest Gump of the Conquistador Car Club, carries us along in his journey through the era of streamline moderne styling.  These were the influences in the build of Neferteri, his hand-built custom 1936 Diamond T truck. The full figured styling of commercial vehicles was to give us some of the most unique icons of those exciting times and designs.



Larry Pointer found himself a survivor of Y2K, retired, a widower, and a more or less empty nester.  He needed a project.  In this series, he shares his passion for all things “Streamline Moderne”, and how it all turned into a 13-year labor of love, to create “Neferteri“, his custom Diamond T truck.



By Larry Pointer with Rik Hoving

Neferteri, Part Four

Streamline Moderne. Pretty heady stuff. Duesenbergs, Auburns, Packards, Cadillacs and Cords. The Exotic Bugatti’s and cars whose names I couldn’t pronounce. An expensive private world of the rich. I could only marvel and wonder, hardly able “to afford to pay attention”.

But in those War bond years of sacrifice most of us made do with that which was left over from Depression’s hard times. A bare-foot boy could find the odd summer job, and squeeze that nickel till the Buffalo groaned. His imagination, though, could stream an Art Deco world of possibilities through his head.

An old man lived up the hill from me, out on the edge of town. An old man and his German Shepherd dog. Inseparable. I never knew much more than his name. Angelo. That, and he worked as a forester through the summer months, up on the Bighorn Mountains. Each spring, he would load up his bedroll and supply of food items in the back of his truck, carefully tucking it all securely under a tarp. He’d readjust his ever-present pipe between his teeth, cluck at the dog, and the pair of them would climb onto the seat, fire up the old truck and head for the mountain. Leaving an envious boy staring down the dusty road. Oh, the wonders and adventures I imagined, up on that mountain.

As the days would grow shorter, I would anticipate the day when Angelo and his German Shepherd would come down off the mountain. I can still see them coming home, lumbering up our high school hill, that Depression survivor truck growling slowly along in “low-down-low”. Angelo never seemed to hurry. Perhaps, somehow, he sensed he would have 92 years to do what he had to do.



1937 International truck, similar to the one Angelo drove when I was a kid, only his was not so nice and shiny anymore.



If you would ask me what Art Deco looked like to me, the answer would be simple. Angelo Tomasi and his dog, side by side in that faded and battered old 1937 International truck. Those three…the old man, his dog, and his truck… just went together, merging in my childhood memories to forge an image that imprinted on my very soul.

That 1937 International pickup was different, even distinctive in its bulbous Art Deco styling. It had pontoon fenders with a bit of a peak up through their centers. The grille work was wide with a center prow and a series of thin, horizontal slots on either side of center, punctuated by a tastefully few stainless strips. The headlights were born on stands, convex rounded glass lenses set into short egg-shaped pods. The hood had long slits down the sides, continuing the theme of the grille. The windshield was divided, to repeat the shape of the grillework nose.

It would be almost a lifetime before I would find more of Angelo Tomassi. He was born in Austria before the turn of the Century, had migrated to America to seek the American Dream, and to send money back home to his parents and many siblings. He became a naturalized citizen in Camp Davis, “renouncing absolutely all allegiance and fidelity to Charles, Emperor of Austria and Apostolic King of Hungary,” before shipping out with the US Army to fight for America in WWI. Later he would find his own American Dream among the mountains and streams of Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains. Angelo, his German Shepherd dog, and a tired…but elegant to me…’Cornbinder” truck.



1940 Nash designed by Count Alexis de Sakhoffsky.

Art Deco design had many carry-overs, most in taken-for-granted forms that went about their functions daily all about us. Art Deco’s streamline style was not at all exclusive. All about us were motor vehicles of the workaday world that just had that streamline “thing”.

Count Alexis de Sakhoffsky’s styling for the torpedo front 1937 White trucks.

Alexis de Sakhoffsky desing for the COE White Truck.



Streamline design for the working truck owed much to the creative mind of the émigré Count Alexis de Sakhoffsky. His styling for the White company especially captured the imagination. Perhaps the most distinctive grille in the industry was that of the White trucks and the buses for our National Parks, from the drawing board of de Sakhnoffsky. That design rivalled the noble Packard nose, in my humble opinion, and without a flapping cormorant. De Sakhnoffsky instead added a simple tapered ornament in a nod to the streamliner trains. What also made that tall, vertical sculpture in stainless stand out, were the crisply incised and exaggerated pontoon fenders to either side. The very low location of the headlight pods allowed the grille full attention, and did draw the attention of countless hot rodders who would mount the headlights on their gow jobs as low as was legally allowed back in the day.



Sakhnoffsky designed perhaps the most distinctive grille in the industry for the White buses for our National Parks.

Perhaps de Sakhnoffsky’s crowning achievement in utility design is the swoopy streamline for the matching tractor and trailer rig of Canada’s LaBatt’s Brewery. This rolling art has become an icon of industrial design. (Richard Spiegelman photos)



From de Sakhnoffsky’s drawing board came a raft of futuristic forms to fit any number of cars, trucks, and busses. He even provided the practicality of oil and gas delivery a proper challenge, with long rounded fender pod extensions from the cab to the sloped tail, which concealed the piping and valves for fuel delivery.
In 1933-1934, Texaco upped the ante for fuel trucks with their tubular “Doodle Bug”, contracted from the independent Diamond T Company out of Chicago.

Not to be trumped in the marketplace, Chrysler answered with their air-streamed Dodge tanker with the distinctive Airflow waterfall grillework.

Air-streamed design for the oil and gas delivery truck. Chrysler’s Dodge tanker with Airflow waterfall grille on the color photo, and the “Doodle Bug on the top right”.

The Gilmore Oil White truck with gold, red and blue neon lights.



“Roar With Gilmore!” This was the famous slogan for the Gilmore Oil Company of California. The company engaged in a variety of publicity stunts, including circus performers and lions on the payroll; sponsorships of racing ventures from the midget tracks to Indy; and a Yosemite Economy Run, between 1936 and 1940, between Los Angeles and Yosemite Valley. To promote the event, Gilmore secured the design services of Wellington Everett Miller, a former Packard stylist. The promotional truck was built by Advance Auto Body Works on a White Chassis. Gold, red, and blue neon tubing was formed around the truck by 20th Century Fox special effects man, W. C. James.






A second W. Everett Miller streamlined truck for Gilmore was bodied by Standard Auto Body, over a Mack chassis. This later design was even more streamlined than the first.

Fire engines

What kid of the day didn’t thrill at the sight of a long, low ladder truck pulling out of the firehouse. A bright ship-shape Ahrens or perhaps an American LaFrance in fire engine red with goldleaf lettering, shiny brightwork, black hoses and sturdy ladders. Firemen in hats and gear, standing at their stations, hands upon the brass rails.



1938 Aherns-Fox fire engine with beautiful chrome grille.

1941 American LaFrance fire engine.

Seagraves fire trucks.



The mighty Seagrave most imprinted on my impressionable young mind. Just standing on the station floor, those massive machines moved me. They had an all business look about them. The huge, waterfall grillework. The long, long hood, beneath which beat the heart of a 12 cylinder Pierce Arrow powerplant. When that fire engine went through the gears on the way to its service, the rumble and the roar were unforgettable. To me, those mammoth but graceful Seagraves looked like Alpha Romeos or Auburns on steroids. Size does matter; in the design of fire engines, it is their perfectly proportioned length and mass that leaves indelible impressions.



W. Everett Miller designed delivery van.



There were delivery vans with enclosed bodies, some integrated into the cab itself. Their sides served as rolling billboards for the wares they carried. One design by W. Everett Miller featured open door entries and a covered spare tire mounted on the body side.

Diamond T with beautiful ice cream body advertising.

1938 Reo Film Service cargo body matching the cab body.

1938 International fender skirted Coca Cola beverage truck magazine ad.

Coca Cola fountain truck.



Beverage trucks brought innovation to the scene, as well as carbonated soft drinks. Or something stronger for the adult customer. Streamlining helped promote instant recognition. It seemed there was no end to the creative use of streamlining in customizing the utility vehicle. Grilles, skirted fenders, curvaceous bodies, step decks, ladders and hand rails of brightwork that spoke of speedboats and streamliners. Most of all, those workhorses of industry proved that full figured models could be just as voluptuous as the boat-tailed speedster.






1941 Dodge COE Miller Beer truck with a Custom streamlined body.



I needed a project. We’d survived the panic of Y2K. I was a retired civil servant, a widower, and more or less an empty nester. I had gutted a 1970s tract house, moved walls to create an open living space, and tiled floors and countertops, learning as I went. And wherever things turned out a bit rustic, I just called it “Santa Fe Charm” in Montana. Now, I wanted to design and build my own streamline modern custom. “Unique is what we seek,” my friend Barry Wright would say, “bizarre is what we are.”



International-tuel-truck with streamline body.

1937 International Harvester pickup.



My mind kept going back to that old I-H truck of Angelo Tomasi. I began to look about. My biggest mistake was to share this emerging vision with my old Conquistador friends. No one was very encouraging. In fact, some were downright disparaging. “Why a Cornbinder, Larry?” Gary “Slim” Richards would caution. “They couldn’t keep up with traffic back in the day; they were hard to steer, and they rode like a lumber wagon.” It was true, like Roger Dangerfield, they couldn’t get no respect.

“Why don’t you start with something that has value? If you’re going to spend all that time and effort, not to mention money, why not a Diamond T, the ‘Cadillac of trucks’? There’s still a few of them around. Then you would really have something when you were done.”
Gary was right, he most always was, and I knew it.

In counterpoint, I would turn to humor, just to stall the inevitable. Wicked humor is most righteous at times. “But that D Model of International is just cute,” I’d protest. “Reminds me of a cartoon. Elmer Fudd could have driven a 1937 Cornbinder. Why, he could even keep his cork gun in the gun rack behind the seat.”



1938 Diamond T Oil truck and pick up.

The sketch I made before I started the work on my Diamond T project. The inset photo is from an Diamond T fire truck, another inspiration soars for the final shape of my project.

Well, fantasies and scenarios are one thing, Forrest Gump, hard work and limited money were quite another. Gary won. If I wanted something Streamline Moderne, I best be serious. I went looking for an old Diamond T truck to adopt.

Next time, The Diamond T, Cadillac of Trucks.










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MERRY CHRISTMAS 2016

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Custom Car Chronicle. We hope you have enjoyed  the 2016 CCC year as much as we have.

I would like to thank all our readers, contributors, and members for your support. Your amazing contributions and the wonderful donations we have received from you in the past year made a huge difference to the Custom Car Chronicle. I wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas and happy Holidays.



Buster Litton driving home in his Panoramic Ford with a freshly cut Christmas tree and plenty of presents for a wonderful Christmas.












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SAOUTCHIK PLASTIC STEERING WHEEL

In the late 1940s Custom builders experimented with the use of plastics in Custom Cars. One of their inspiration sources was the lucite steering wheel in the Saoutchik Delahay 175-S from 1949.

In the summer of 2016 we did an series of article on the use of Plastics by Custom Car builders and the history of it. One article concentrated on the external use of plastics, like hand made bumper guard taillights and parking lights, while the other article focused on the use of plastics in the interior of Custom Cars. One focal point was the steering wheel in the Barris Kustoms restyled Don Vaughn 1948 Buick. And how this technique possibly was inspired by the use of plastic steering wheels in some coachbuild cars from the lat 1940’s. We included a sample of the clear lucite steering wheel in the Saoutchik designed and created 1949 Delahaye 175-S. This breathtaking beautiful car has been completely restored by Fran Roxas and the steering wheel used in the restored car was completely redone, since the original steering wheel showed its age, the lucite was cracked etc.

In an recently ebay offering this apparently original Delahaye Saoutchik was offered for sale. The auction showed some nice detailed photos of this historic piece, and since we have already mentioned it in the Plastics article I figured it would be nice to show it up close here on the Custom Car Chronicle.

The Restored Saoutchik Delahaye 175-S

The car is built upon the first new Delahaye chassis designed after the war. New features for this model included a much larger 4.5 liter engine, a De-Dion rear suspension, Dubbonet front suspension, Lockhead brakes, and novelties such as a radio and heater came standard.

The first owner of this car, chassis 815025, was Sir John Gaul of England who brought the car to several European concours, catching the attention of the press and public wherever it went. In 1949, it won top honors at the Grand Castle du Bois de Boulogne in Paris, the Monte Carlo Concours and Coup de l’Automobile in San Remo almost always accompanied by an attractive lady.

By the seventies the roadster had made its way to Colorado where maintenance on the race-spec engine and Dubonnet suspension became a nuisance. The owner then chopped out the entire front section of the chassis to fit a GM Toronado system which was front wheel drive.

For nearly forty years the original engine and car were separated much to the blissful ignorance of everyone who could still appreciate its distinct design. Eventually correct 175 parts were sourced and the owner had Fran Roxas refurbish the massive Delahaye. It made a welcome debut restoration at the 2006 Pebble Beach Concours where it graced the shoreline beside the best examples of the marque. Later, the original engine was sourced and it was offered at Sports & Classics of Monterey by RM Auctions.

Info from newatlas.com









Special thanks to Wolf.









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