The cloning of a '53 Plymouth old custom......

[BobT-47P15]

.......over on the HAMB. A fellow is attempting to re-create a car done

first by Barris. The original car, so far, is nowhere to be found. But the

fellow has met the man who had the car built and is in contact with him.

Has received some old pictures of the car. Going to keep it a flathead

six with other original touches. Currently, they just did a chop on the

copy car.

In case anyone is interested......here's a link to the thread on the HAMB.....

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=515739

The car shown here is the original one.

Edited August 27, 2012 by BobT-47P15

[Plymouthy Adams]

wow..to me that is an ugly car..clone or not..only one original..second is just lack of creative imigination...I guess you can pay tribute to another builder but if going that far off the wall with a custom..do one of your own and add a bit of challenge to the 'so-called' legend..

[dezeldoc]

I remember that drive in, used to go there when i was a kid.

[T120]

Tastes change.Looking back in some of the the custom car magazines I have from the 50's, (although they may have been considered cool in the day),some of the customs are kinda ugly.In a lot of cases,less would have been more...Before there was a Pontiac Aztec,there was a Plymouth Aztec.

http://www.kustomrama.com/index.php?title=File:Herb-gary-1949-plymouth-6.jpg

[RobertKB]

Never was a fan of Barris. A lot of his cars just had stuff tacked on and not that well. He is a bit like the Ford Flathead 8 - a cult as Tim Adams would say. That car is ugly compared to a nice '53 Plymouth hardtop.

[Plymouthy Adams]

now may or may not be a good time to bring this up but, say one of us, you the reader of this thread this minute, created a custom car that was pretty much considered a work of art and a statement in the world of custom cars...next week you see there are a couple folks creating a copy of your work and getting a good following of his progress..take it from there....your one off is now spotted in various states and towns across the country to the point that 'there goes another clone owner' though you are the artist and have the original..

[BobT-47P15]

Good point, Tim.

Of course, anyone can copy anything.

And, you couldn't blame the originator for being a bit P O'd by

having clones running around.

In the case of this 53 Plymouth, the original so far has not been

found. I thought that using 54 Chevy rear fender trim, reversed

and spread apart, was perhaps a clever idea. Even if not everyone

likes the result.

There are numerous customs styled after the "Matranga Merc", the

"Hirohata Merc" and

other old famous vehicles. Some customs were so far out they

were just plain weird and/or ugly. Not all were winners.

[Plymouthy Adams]

personally I don't care about the looks of the car or its significance in the custom world but of course there are those that do..and for that reason the cars survive and continue to grow in value depsite their ugly duckling status..the original may surface one day..walled in and only retrievable through a hole in the wall and a forklift..a few have appeal but they are far and few between..I see these guys with the chopped roof cruise by at the swap meet..everyone in the car with thier butts on the floor in virtually non padded seats, leaning slight forward curving their spine, tucking their neck into their chest and then canting their heads slight up so to see out of the car...guess cool comes at a price..put a decent seat in it and sell it to a little person..about the only folk beside maybe a dog that could ride confortably in one

[rtlsnakedaddy]

I actually like many of the customs out there. Its good to see people having fun and being creative. The one above has some items that work and some that don't to my eyes, but its cool that the original owner and builder went for it. While I'd rather see someone do something maybe inspired by but different, but if the owner really wants a clone, then thats cool.

The main thing that I see with custom cars is the same I saw all the time with bikes. Everyone was building the same Triton with the same Akront rims, same alloy tank, bump stop seat, and just about everything else matching. Gets boring pretty fast. The worst though was when a newer magazine slapped some clip-on bars and rear sets on a modern Triumph, then added 'Triton' lettering to the tank. Kind of missed the point completely.

Have fun and build something different, it makes seeing these projects more interesting.

Erich

[BobT-47P15]

Saw this DeSoto at the Springfield, MO NSRA nats this summer. Looks like it received a bit of a "haircut".

They all want to "lower the lid", even on convertibles...........

[realgonekatt]

Wow! Its a desoto with a desoto grill! Crazy man! I personally think it looks alot better than the Barris clone. Of course my opinions have never got me very far.

[scotty t]

is that Bob K's car?

They all want to "lower the lid", even on convertibles...........

[RobertKB]

is that Bob K's car?

They all want to "lower the lid", even on convertibles...........

[/quote

What fell on that car and made it look like a squashed bug??

[55 Fargo]

Nothing wrong with the look of that vert.

Some customs are easy on the eyes, and some ain't.

But I know one thing for certain, I would hate to see all Stock OEM old cars and trucks, at all cars shows or just plain cruisin down the road.

I like Hot Rods, Street Rods, Customs, Rat Rods, Unrestored original cars and trucks, and totaly original types too. Councourse are not my "Drug of Choice", as I cannot relate to them................LOL

Edited August 30, 2012 by Rockwood

[BobT-47P15]

is that Bob K's car?

They all want to "lower the lid", even on convertibles...........

No........this is Bob K's 52 Chevy. It does have 52 Dodge tail light

lenses set into the rear fenders. His top appears to be chopped a

little. Super nice car with a straight six......he drives it everywhere.

Did about 5,000 miles on a recent trip that included Bonneville,

the HAMB drags here in Joplin and other places.

[BobT-47P15]

The Plymouth that's the subject of this thread is, I think, a notch or

two better looking than this old kustom wagon..........

Here's a link to a page with photos of a bunch of 50s customs of all

brands........fun to look at even if you don't necessarily agree with

how it turned out. Many had major modifications....testimony to the

ability or lack thereof of the body men of that day.

http://kustomcarpictures.com/index2.html