No doors needed when it looks this good

Best custom brake lights I've seen on a Tbird (the factory ones weren't attractive)

a 16 year old girl in England posted this Merc smoking the hides. What did you do for hot rodding today?

foundn on http://ellamaee.tumblr.com/ via http://michiganswampmonkey.tumblr.com/

But I just got a comment from Id, who found this photoshop job dissected on the HAMB, in 3 parts, the serperate photos of the drive in, the merc, and this combination effect

Thanks Id!

Coolest tail lights I've seen in a while, and totally in style for a bug (they are sequential when indicating a turn)

Sorry I couldn't get better photos, but when you are waiting for autofocus, and driving, and trying to move through traffic, and the car you are hoping to get a shot of has no idea they should wait for you... nothing turned out very well. Just good enough to get the idea that the custom lights are great, innovative, and I'll keep looking for it to get better photos

BugBQ and BBQthing, the greatest VW trailers are matching

cool customs from oldfighters.com

Don't know what these are, but they look good. That blue car is the first I've seen of a seperate nose section that doesn't have body panels connecting it to the cab

http://oldfighters.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=6&st=80

1957 Chevrolet El Morocco, one of the rarest Chevs, it was customized with Dodge, Kaiser, and Willys parts

The primary reason for the low production numbers was the $800 conversion price which moved it too far out of reach for most consumers. It was too close to the base price for a Cadillac
It's the first time an outside contractor had designed and built a customized Chevrolet model which was later sold as a new car with a full factory warranty. The bodywork was restyled to resemble the 1955-1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz, Seville and Brougham by R. Allender & Company

The primary reason for the low production numbers was the $800 conversion price which moved it too far out of reach for most consumers. It was too close to the base price for a Cadillac, which was the target to beat.

Cadillac introduced their Eldorado Brougham, not in spite or in competition with the El Morocco, but Allender felt the need to create a new El Morocco to emulate the new Brougham.
Allender was a longtime Cadillac owner who envisioned a smaller, easier to maneuver Cadillac that his grandchildren could learn to drive with. He purchased a new Eldorado Biarritz convertible in 1955 and reckoned that with some additional bodywork, the new 1955 Chevrolet could be re-styled to resemble the Eldorado.

Problems with the fiberglass body production for the 1956 cars led to the use of steel for the 1957 models. This required comprehensive metalwork changes, including removing and filling the 1957′s rocket hood spears with steel, and welding on the steel rear tail-fin extensions. The car’s interiors and exterior hardware was set aside for reuse or sale to local collision shops.

The first cars were created in 1956 on Chevrolet platforms and designed to resemble the 1955 and 1956 Cadillac Eldorado. The name ‘El Morocco‘ was from a popular Manhattan night club and had similarities to the name ‘El Dorado’.

The 1956 El Moroco’s featured body panels made of fiberglass. A host of trim parts and designed were borrowed from Willys, Dodge and Kaiser-Frazer to complete the package
http://caretro.com/1957-chevrolet-el-morocco/

Cars were purchased from Detroit’s Don McCoullagh Chevrolet at $50 over cost, and Allender used off-the-shelf parts wherever possible. The 1956 El Morocco included a Kaiser-Frazer horn button for its hood medallion, ’55 Willys dash panels for the door top saddle moldings and '55-'56 Dodge Coronet taillights mounted side-by-side above faux exhaust ports that resembled those used on the real Biarritz. The front bumpers included fiberglass reinforced ‘Dagmars’ made from reversed ’37 Dodge headlight shells and the rear fins were edged with trim supposedly sourced from a 1955 Ford.

How did Allender get to customizing Chevies for resale? He was a resale artist. He started his business career and fortunes by pitching fabrics for sale, he would cut off samples of cloths, then take them around and pitch his sales prices. Getting the contract, he'd go back, purchase at wholesale, and sell retail and pocket some profit, and build his business to the point he bought army surplus parachutes, and sold them back to the army at a huge gouging profit. He got into a lot of trouble for that, had to testify before Congress that he wasn't a crook.
http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/a/allender/allender.htm
Three El Moroccos were at Dick Clarks "57 Heaven" in Branson Missouri
http://www.bransonworld.com/branson-attractions/detail/branson-57-heaven-at-dick-clark-s-american-bandstand-theater.html

Harry Bradley's 1951 Custom Chevy, the LaJolla

This is a famous car I was reading about a short time ago, the well crafted custom was Harry's first car, and he'd made a deal with his parents not to customize it. Ha!

As Harry put it in a 1985 ­article in Super Rod & Custom magazine, "They had gotten to me -- 'they' being Pinin Farina, Harley Earl, Joe Bailon, the Barris brothers. My parents didn't have a chance against the likes of them." Harry immediately began an extensive customizing process.

Harry Bradley, was one of the most respected custom car stylists in history. A well-known designer for General Motors and Mattel's Hot Wheels brand, Harry kept his hand in the custom car arena throughout his career. The La Jolla was acquired in 1954 when he was still in high school in La Jolla, California. Stricken with polio at a young age, Harry couldn't drive a conventional car, so he had friend Floyd Martin make hand controls for the throttle and brakes. Under the hood, Harry installed a new 283-cid Chevy V-8 engine. For paint, he chose a deep chocolate-ebony candy pearl color. The La Jolla is unique among custom cars in that Harry owned it for more than 45 years, driving it much of the time. It followed him through college, family, and his automotive design career. Harry eventually sold the car in 1999 to noted custom collector Jack Walker. Jack worked with Harry to restore the car, adding two Bradley-approved changes.

Jack has an extensive collection of customs and even replicated the Hirohata Merc, except for Von Dutch's pinstriping on the dash and bumper guards
images from http://onlycarsandcars.blogspot.com and http://designyoutrust.com/2009/07/20/icons-of-speed-and-style-auction/

info from http://auto.howstuffworks.com/la-jolla-custom-car.htm

Murray Pfaff and friends radically customized a 59 Imperial

The original was in extremely good condition, but it's not that good looking. There is an enormous improvement in the headlight and grill area


very odd proportions, but fun to look at
and it's amazing to see from the bottom most diagram of where the cuts were made, and how the jigsaw puzzle of pieces came together to keep the body lines, just move the bumpers closer together
images from http://www.rodauthority.com/news/pfaff-designs-unveils-the-59-imperial-speedster/ and http://murraypfaff.wordpress.com/