Passenger vehicle that has been substantially altered in its appearance
Arguably the most famous custom car in the classic style, the Hirohata Merc[1]
A custom car is a passenger vehicle that has been either substantially altered to improve its performance, often by altering or replacing the engine and transmission; made into a personal "styling" statement, using paint work and aftermarket accessories to make the car look unlike any car as delivered from the factory; or some combination of both. A desire among some automotive enthusiasts in the United States is to push "styling and performance a step beyond the showroom floor - to truly craft an automobile of one's own."[2] A custom car in British according to Collins English Dictionary is built to the buyer's own specifications.[3]
Although the two are related, custom cars are distinct from hot rods. The extent of this difference has been the subject of debate among customizers and rodders for decades. Additionally, a street rod can be considered a custom.[citation needed]
Custom cars are not to be confused with coachbuilt automobiles, historically rolling chassis fitted with luxury bodywork by specialty body builders.
History
The iconic "T-bucket" custom, with characteristic exposed engine, flat windshield, headers, and open pipes. Soft top (shown) is optional. Also features chrome five-spoke wheels, dropped tube axle, transverse front leaf spring, front disc brakes, open-face aircleaner, Weiand valve covers, and single 4-barrel (probably a QJ).
A development of hot rodding, the change in name corresponded to the change in the design of the cars being modified. The first hot rods were pre-World War II cars, with running boards and simple fenders over the wheels. Early model cars (1929 to 1934) were modified by removing the running boards and either removing the fenders entirely or replacing them with light cycle fenders. Later models usually had fender skirts installed. The "gow job" morphed into the hot rod in the early to middle 1950s.[4] Typical of builds from before World War II were 1935 Ford wire wheels.[5]
Many cars were "hopped up" with engine modifications such as adding additional carburetors, high compression heads, and dual exhausts. Engine swaps were often done, with the objective of placing the most powerful engine in the lightest possible frame and body combination.[6] The suspension was usually altered, initially by lowering the rear end as much as possible using lowering blocks on the rear springs. Later cars were given a rake job by either adding a dropped front axle or heating front coil springs to make the front end of the car much lower than the rear. Immediately postwar, most rods would change from mechanical to hydraulic ("juice") brakes and from bulb to sealed-beam headlights.[7]
The mid-1950s and early 1960s custom Deuce was typically fenderless and steeply chopped, and almost all Ford (or Mercury, with the 239 cu in (3,920 cc) flatty, introduced in 1939[8]); a Halibrand quick-change rearend was also typical, and an Edelbrockintake manifold or Harman and Collins ignition magneto would not be uncommon.[9] Reproduction spindles, brake drums, and backing based on the 1937s remain available today.[8] Aftermarket flatty heads were available from Barney Navarro,[10]Vic Edelbrock, and Offenhauser. The first intake manifold Edelbrock sold was a "slingshot" design for the flatty.[10] Front suspension hairpins were adapted from sprint cars, such as the Kurtis Krafts.[11] The first Jimmy supercharger on a V8 may have been by Navarro in 1950.[12]
Much later, rods and customs swapped the old solid rear axle for an independent rear, often from Jaguar. Sometimes the grille of one make of car replaced another; the 1937 Buick grille was often used on a Ford. In the 1950s and 1960s, the grille swap of choice was the 1953 DeSoto. The original hot rods were plainly painted like the Model A Fords from which they had been built up, and only slowly begun to take on colors, and eventually, fancy orange-yellow flamed hoods or "candy-like" deep acrylic finishes in the various colors.[6]
With the change in automobile design to encase the wheels in fenders and to extend the hood to the full width of the car, the former practices were no longer possible. In addition, tremendous automotive advertising raised public interest in the new models in the 1950s. Thus, custom cars came into existence, swapping headlamp rings, grilles, bumpers, chrome side strips, and taillights as well as frenching and tunneling head- and taillights. The bodies of the cars were changed by cutting through the sheet metal, removing bits to make the car lower, welding it back together, and adding lead to make the resulting form smooth (hence the term lead sled; Bondo has since largely replaced lead.) Chopping made the roof lower[13] while sectioning[14] made the body thinner from top to bottom. Channeling[15] was cutting notches in the floorpan where the body touches the frame to lower the whole body. Fins were often added from other cars or made up from sheet steel. In the custom car culture, someone who merely changed the appearance without also substantially improving the performance was looked down upon. Juxtapoz Magazine, founded by the artist Robert Williams, has covered Kustom Kulture art.
Customization style
Custom cars are distinct from cars in stock condition. Builders may adopt the visual and performance characteristics of some relevant modification styles, and combine these as desired. There are several different custom themes, including:
Rat rod: imitates (or exaggerates) the "unfinished" and amateur-built appearance of hot rods of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s
Restomod – restored and modernized. Safety and convenience upgrades, such as disc brakes, AC, etc., but can include fuel injection and overdrive upgrades, etc. Externally might resemble a stock car with period correct mods rather than customs.
Street machines: Typically American cars with large-displacement engines are modified for speed and often appearance.
Street rod – consist largely of period-specific vehicles and components, or emulate visual characteristics of cars through the 1940s vintage. There is a great deal of overlap here with hot rods.
Other builders attempt to modify vehicles to make them more upscale, such as with the Chevrolet El Morocco.
Paint was an important concern. Once bodywork was done, the cars were painted unusual colors. Transparent but wildly colored candy-apple paint, applied atop a metallic undercoat, and metalflake paint, with aluminum glitter within candy-apple paint, appeared in the 1960s. These took many coats to produce a brilliant effect – which in hot climates had a tendency to flake off. This process and style of paint job were invented by Joe Bailon, a customizer from Northern California.
Customizers also continued the habit of adding decorative paint after the main coat was finished, of flames extending rearward from the front wheels, scallops, and hand-painted pinstripes of a contrasting color. The base color, most often a single coat, would be expected to be of a simpler paint. Flame jobs later spread to the hood, encompassing the entire front end, and have progressed from traditional reds and yellows to blues and greens and body-color "ghost" flames. One particular style of flames, called "crab claw flames", which is still prevalent today, is attributed to Dean Jeffries.[16]
Painting has become such a part of the custom car scene that now in many custom car competitions, awards for custom paint are as highly sought after as awards for the cars themselves.
Engine swaps
Engine swaps have always been commonplace. Once, the Ford flathead V8 engine was the preference, supplanted by the early hemi in the 1950s and 1960s. By the 1970s, the small-block Chevy was the most common option, and since the 1980s, the 350 cu in (5.7 l) Chevy has been almost ubiquitous.[17] The 325 cu in (5.3 l) Chevrolet LS has begun replacing the 350.[citation needed] Flatheads and early hemis have not entirely disappeared, but ready availability, ease of maintenance, and low cost of parts make the Chevrolet V8, in particular the first and third generation small block, the most frequent engine of choice.[citation needed]
Once customizing post-war cars caught on, some of the practices were extended to pre-war cars, which would have been called fendered rods, with more body work done on them. An alternate rule for disambiguation developed: hot rods had the engine behind the front suspension, while customs had the engine over the front suspension. The clearest example of this is Fords prior to 1949 had Henry Ford's old transverse front suspension, while 1949 models had a more modern suspension with the engine moved forward. However, an American museum has what could be the first true custom, built by Cletus Clobes in 1932, among its exhibits.[18] With the coming of the muscle car, and further to the high-performance luxury car, customization declined. One place where it persisted was the U.S. Southwest, where lowriders were built similar in concept to the earlier customs, but of post-1950s cars.
As the supply of usable antique steel bodies has decreased, companies such Westcott's,[19] Harwood, Gibbon Fiberglass[20] and Speedway Motors[20] have begun to fabricate new fiberglass copies,[21] while Classic Manufacturing and Supply, for one example, has been making a variety of new steel bodies since the 1970s.[22] California's "junker" (or "crusher") law, which pays a nominal sum to take "gross polluters" off the road, has been criticized by enthusiasts (and by SEMA) for accelerating this trend.[23] Starting in the 1950s, it became popular among customizers to display their vehicles at drive-in restaurants, such as Johnie's Broiler in Downey, California. The practice continues in Southern California.
Others, such as Von Dutch, are best known as custom painters. Several customizers have become famous beyond the automobile community, including Barris, Jeffries, and Coddington, thanks to their proximity to Hollywood; Barris designed TV's Batmobile, while Chapouris built the flamed '34 three-window coupé in the eponymous telefilm "The California Kid". Another Barris creation, Ala Kart (a '29 Ford Model A roadster pickup), made numerous appearances in film (usually in the background of diner scenes and such), after taking two AMBR wins in a row. Some customizers have become well-enough known to be referred to by a given name alone. These include Boyd (Coddington), Pete (Chapouris), and Jake (Jim Jacobs).
Awards
The highest award for customizers is the AMBR (America's Most Beautiful Roadster) trophy, presented annually at the Grand National Roadster Show since 1948 (also known within the customizer community as the Oakland Roadster Show until it was moved to Southern California in 2003). This competition has produced famous, and radical, customs.
Another is the Ridler Award, presented at the Detroit Autorama since 1964 in honor of show promoter Don Ridler. With one of the most unusual car show entry requirements, winners of the prestigious Ridler Award are selected as the most outstanding among cars being shown for the first time. This prompts builders of many high-end roadsters to first enter the Autorama first and then the Grand National show in order to have the chance to win top honors at both shows. Few cars and owners can claim this achievement.
Some customs gained attention for winning the AMBR trophy, or for their outlandish styling. Notable among these is Silhouette and Ed Roth's Mysterion. Some of these more unusual projects turned into Hot Wheels cars, among them The Red Baron.
Other custom cars became notable for appearances in film (such as Ala Kart {1958},[35]The California Kid three-window {1973},[36] or the yellow deuce from "American Graffiti" {1973}) or television (such as The Monkeemobile, the "Munsters" hearse, or, more recently, Boyd's full-custom Tool Time '34, or Don Thelan's[37] '33 three-window, Eliminator, built for the ZZ Top video[38]). Specialist vehicles, such as the T/A, KITT, from Knight Rider, are not usually considered customs, but movie or TV cars, because they retain a mostly stock exterior.
Still, others exemplified a trend. One of these is the 1951 Merc built by the Barris brothers for Bob Hirohata in 1953, known forever after as the Hirohata Merc. Even without an appearance in the film ("Runnin' Wild"), it is iconic of 1950s customs, and of how to do a Merc right.[39] The same year, Neil Emory and Clayton Jensen of Valley Custom Shop built Polynesian for Jack Stewart, starting with a 1950 Holiday 88 sedan.[40]Polynesian made the cover of Hot Rod in August, and saw 54 pages of construction details in Motor Trend Custom Car Annual in 1954.[41]
A 331 or 354 is known to be an (early) hemi, but rarely referred to as such
A 270 "Jimmy" was a 270 cubic inch GMC straight-6 engine often used to replace a smaller displacement Chevrolet six-cylinder.
Units are routinely dropped, unless they are unclear, so a 426 cubic inch (in3) displacement engine is simply referred to as a 426, a 5-liter displacement engine is a 5.0 ("five point oh"), and a 600 cubic feet per minute (cfm) carburetor is a 600. Engine displacement can be described in cubic inches or liters (for example, a 5.7-liter engine is also known as a 350 {"three fifty"}); this frequently depends on which units the user is most comfortable or familiar with.[46]
The "cutoff year" as originally promoted by the National Street Rod Association (NSRA) is 1949. Many custom car shows will only accept 1948 and earlier models as entries, and many custom car organizations will not admit later model cars or trucks (also with some imports – this has been a gray area of what's acceptable e.g. an air-cooled VW Beetle, a Big Three product manufactured overseas e.g. a Ford Capri built in the UK or a General Motors – Holden's product, not to mention captives), and/or a vintage import automobile with an American driveline transplant but this practice is subject to change. Modern-day custom car shows which allow the inclusion of muscle cars have used the 1972 model year as the cutoff since it is considered the end of the muscle car era prior to the introduction of the catalytic converter. The NSRA has announced that starting in 2011 it will switch to a shifting year method where any owner with a car 30 years or older will be allowed membership. So in 2011, the owner of a 1981 model year vehicle will qualify, then in 2012 the owner of a 1982 model year vehicle will quality, and so on. Additionally, the Goodguys car show organization has moved the year limit for its "rod" shows from 1949 to 1954 in recent years.
Front suspension of a lowboy Deuce roadster, with color-matched springs on coilover shocks, tube axle, and vented disc brakes. Also features chrome five-spokes, dropped tube axle, transverse front leaf spring, front disc brakes, open-face aircleaner, Weiand valve covers, and single 4-barrel (probably a QJ).
Baby moons – chrome small smooth convex hubcaps covering the wheel lug area. Full moons covered the entire wheel.
Barn find – newly discovered vehicle typically found in storage, either long forgotten or abandoned, still in its original condition from when it was first stored[citation needed]
Barn fresh – barn find
Big'n'littles – large-diameter rear wheels (or tires), smaller–diameter front ones
Channeled or channeling – lowering a vehicle by cutting out the floor and mounting the body lower on the frame rails[59]
Chopped – removing a section, usually of the window posts, to lower the roofline of a vehicle.
Cobra killers – decorative wheel centers that stick out 3–5 in (7.6–12.7 cm) and have flipper qualities for more visual attraction.[citation needed]
Convertible – retractable top car with no integral door window frames like the cabriolet. Has roll-up glass in doors as opposed to roadsters that do not.
Cutouts – stub exhaust pipes installed behind the front wheels that allow uncapping for noise and power. In the 1950s were homemade from gas tank filler necks with gas caps and water pipes with screw-on caps.
Lead sled – a customized vehicle where lead has been melted and adhered to a metal body to smooth its surface, as filler. (Lead has since been replaced by Bondo.)
Lakes pipes – straight exhaust pipes that run along the lower edge of a rod, typically near the rocker panels, without mufflers. The name comes from their original use on cars used on dry lakes by land speed racers.[76]
Loboy (or low boy, lowboy) – fenderless and lowered[77]
Mag
magnesium wheel, or steel or aluminum copy resembling one such[74]
Moons (or Moon discs; incorrectly, moon discs) – plain flat chrome or aluminum hubcaps, originally adopted by land speed racers. Smaller examples are "baby moons". Named for Dean Moon.
Sectioning – removing an entire horizontal section of the body or top to bottom. Not to be confused with "chopping".
Shaved – Removing at least the door handle, possibly other side trim.
Shoebox – '49–'54 Ford or 1955–57 Chevrolet (for the slab-sided appearance)
Skirts – Covers installed on the openings on rear fenders
Slantback – sedan with forward–angled but straight rear window and sheetmetal. Also referred to as slick back, slicky, smoothback, smoothy. Distinct from straightback. Also see humpback.
Smoothies – chrome steel wheels with no brake vent holes. Usually with baby moons or spiders.
Tire Lettering – A tire modification that allows you to put letters and writing or colors like red, yellow, or blue in the place of the white strip on traditional Whitewall tires.
V-butted (or vee-butted) – with windshield center post deleted, original panes meeting in the middle[97] (distinct from fitting a one-piece windshield), or to make such a change ("the windshield was vee-butted", "he vee-butted the windshield")
Wide whites – wide-stripe whitewall tires,[99] typical of the 1950s, as opposed to modern ones.
Woodie – Typically a station wagon manufactured by most of the major manufacturers where much of the body behind the firewall was replaced with wood construction.
Some terms have an additional, different meaning among hot rodders than among customizers: NOS, for instance, is a reference to nitrous oxide, rather than new old stock.
Gallery
'51 shoebox Ford work in progress, with louvered hood and custom mirrors
A mild kustom'49 Merc in progress. Note the deep chop, dagmars, '55 Cad grille, wide whites, frenched headlights, Appletons, and vee-butted windshield.
'53–56 F100 with long-fork flame job, an idea dating to around 1978.[100]
Fork flame job, a style introduced after 1975, on a '53–56 Ford F100
'38 Chevy 5-window with custom tilt nose and side graphic
Deuce with chrome dropped I-beam axle and shocks. Note Model A chassis (extended frame horns), disc brakes, Lakester headers.
'31 A roadster with '32 grille shell (a common change), 3 deuces, Lake pipes, drilled I-beam, custom windshield, custom drum brakes with finned rear covers, & custom hairpins.
'49 Ford pickup with custom paint and suicided door
'40 Chev custom with painted grille, small front turnsignals, custom door mirror, and frenched radio aerial. Note non-stock one-piece windshield.
'49 Merc with metalflake paint job, custom tube grille, Carson top and tunneled headlights. Retains stock hood and trim spears.
Custom Merc with pinstriping, skirts, '81 Lincoln taillights, and Appletons
Custom Merc with sophisticated hood pinstriping
Henry J custom, with hood spike and door pulls painted contrasting color
Modern interpretation of the '34 3-window: deeply chopped, monochrome, spoke rims
'32 Bantam roadster with faux mags (not gennie Halibrands), colormatched plugwires and distributor cap, disk brakes, hairpins,[101] headers and sidemount pipes, chrome valve covers, and mirror firewall. Also has custom interior.
^Fetherston, David, "Track Terror", in Rod & Custom, 7/95, p. 35; Emmons, Don, "Long-term Hybrid", in Rod & Custom, 7/95, p. 52; & Baskerville, Gray, "Tom Brown's '60s Sweetheart", in Rod & Custom, 9/00, p. 162.
^Bianco, Johnny, "Leadfest" in Rod & Custom, 9/00, p. 86.
^Geisert, Eric. "The California Spyder", in Street Rodder, 8/99, p. 34; Mayall, Joe. "Driving Impression: Reproduction Deuce Hiboy", in Rod Action, 2/78, p. 26; letters, Rod & Custom, 7/95, p. 10.
![Arguably the most famous custom car in the classic style, the Hirohata Merc[1]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f2/NHRA_Museum.jpg/440px-NHRA_Museum.jpg)
!['53–56 F100 with long-fork flame job, an idea dating to around 1978.[100]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2c/Fork_flame_job.jpg/240px-Fork_flame_job.jpg)
!['32 Bantam roadster with faux mags (not gennie Halibrands), colormatched plugwires and distributor cap, disk brakes, hairpins,[101] headers and sidemount pipes, chrome valve covers, and mirror firewall. Also has custom interior.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1a/%2732_austin_bantam_roadster_britened.jpg/240px-%2732_austin_bantam_roadster_britened.jpg)
