custom cars of today...

[Jantrix]

First gen Chrysler LHS, mild drop if not a set of air bags, shave most of the badging and door handles, swap in the chromed New Yorker grill, then find a complimentary wheels of a reasonable size (maybe even stock sized!) That simple cleaning up of the car could make it a nice cruiser.

Same with the Buick Lucerne, not a whole lot of work, basically the same as outlined for the LHS and would likely result in the same, clean cruiser look.

Our definition of "custom" must be very different. What you described is what I would do to a vehicle before I started to customize it.

hey Rob, no, I am not trying to compare, although it being hard not to. really like your second statement, why don't people look at it and chop it?

seems today, a lot of stuff is "over the-counter" instead of being hammered out in a garage.

I think cost is a big part of that. These days a paint job starts at about $3k. Assuming you have the skills to chop your 2014 Ford Fusion, what would the cost be for modified glass? All the plastic pillar moldings in the interior would have to be altered or replaced by something hand fabricated. There's a lot involved inside and out.

Edited June 5, 2015 by Jantrix

[Snake45]

Automobile styling (as we're speaking of it here) is, of course, 100% subjective. Many of the so-called "iconic" customs of the '50s and early '60s almost make me want to puke. Making something different doesn't necessarily make it better.

[tubbs]

Right... because a 2015 Taurus looks EXACTLY LIKE a 2015 Cadillac ATS. No difference between a Camaro and a Civic. Yep, they all look the same.

Weird question- when's the last time you saw an optometrist?

OK.... since MOST cars look alike.....never should have said "ALL" i should have known that would bite me. i am in big trouble if a need to identify a car today. you can see a difference in some American cars, but a lot of foreign cars are all cookie cutter to me. no flair, no identity, unless you drop 6 figures on one.

i also find it interesting that American car companies have gone the "retro" way and brought back a lot of the older cars. they look very close to the old style. maybe cause most cars look alike today? same with rehashing movies. are we running out of ideas?

[Ognib]

I've long been a fan of Chip Foose's dad, Sam.

One of his most tasteful builds to my eye.

[tubbs]

I think cost is a big part of that. These days a paint job starts at about $3k. Assuming you have the skills to chop your 2014 Ford Fusion, what would the cost be for modified glass? All the plastic pillar moldings in the interior would have to be altered or replaced by something hand fabricated. There's a lot involved inside and out.

[Jantrix]

are we running out of ideas?

No. I think we are limited by our engineering. Crash safety is paramount, as is gas mileage. Getting artistic with a modern car isn't as easy as it used to be. Parts that were once metal and chrome are plastic and painted. Adding trim adds weight. You can't even find a factory two tone paint job anymore, because of the steps involved to make it happen aren't easy to do on an assembly line anymore due to automation. Mileage, cost and comfort are now more important than aesthetics to the average consumer. If the K car proved anything, it proved that.

[Joe Handley]

I think cost is a big part of that. These days a paint job starts at about $3k. Assuming you have the skills to chop your 2014 Ford Fusion, what would the cost be for modified glass? All the plastic pillar moldings in the interior would have to be altered or replaced by something hand fabricated. There's a lot involved inside and out.

boy, aint that the truth. i think you hit the nail on the head right there.

[Joe Handley]

No. I think we are limited by our engineering. Crash safety is paramount, as is gas mileage. Getting artistic with a modern car isn't as easy as it used to be. Parts that were once metal and chrome are plastic and painted. Adding trim adds weight. You can't even find a factory two tone paint job anymore, because of the steps involved to make it happen aren't easy to do on an assembly line anymore due to automation. Mileage, cost and comfort are now more important than aesthetics to the average consumer. If the K car proved anything, it proved that.

It's not more difficult, it's lack of imagination and wanting to try it, or in my case, lack of funds to try it with. I see cars with stick on plastic chrome all the time, as with stupid looking, oversized wheels that do little to make the car safer. Plastic can still be altered, as can metal, so long as the mandated safety devices are still there, and you live in a state where you can get away with modding your car, you can still customize a car, You just don't need to do as much to make them look better. Cars no longer have 500-1000lbs of excess chrome on them that distract from the lines of the car that need to be removed, no longer have ungainly high rooflines that need to be cut down, same for body thickness. Taking existing styling cues and pushing them to the limits or beyond can have the same lunch returning reaction now that they had then too. If you want a 2 tone, it's still possible to get one done on your own, but it's likely not worth it for companies to put the effort into it if you only sell 5,000 2 tones a year vs 150,000 cars of a single color that would have the same retail costs as that 2 tone would.

[Draggon]

I can laugh at this Prius because, in a way, it sort of deserves it. I pity the poor GTO though. Looks like Ol' George has a thing for noses.

Edited June 5, 2015 by Draggon

[Joe Handley]

Don't know why, but that poor Prius reminds me of this poor thing.

Edited June 6, 2015 by Joe Handley

[Ace-Garageguy]

Getting artistic with a modern car isn't as easy as it used to be. Parts that were once metal and chrome are plastic and painted.

It was never particularly "easy" cutting, reshaping and welding steel, filling and sculpting mods with lead, and doing all the peripheral mechanical and electrical modifications that go along with visual customization. It takes a lot of talent, knowledge, and the commitment to turn talent into skills. Swapping bumpers, grilles, lights, chrome trim, etc. from old car to old car may seem easy to the uninitiated, but it takes a lot more effort than just unbolting something from one car and bolting it on another one. Nothing fits AT ALL...except sometimes within same make / similar year body styles...say '55-'56 Fords. It's considerably more complicated than it might look, and it's one reason that even in the '50s, there was a VERY small number of people doing good custom work.

A few things ARE easier now than back then, too. TIG welding, for someone with the desire to learn it, is easier, cleaner and safer than the old oxy-acetylene welding the Barris-era guys (and I) used, and toxic lead has been replaced with much easier AND safer catalyzed plastic fillers.

Materials like Bondo and fiberglass have put customization within the reach of many who can't or won't be bothered to learn metalwork, and plastic materials on vehicles can be easily modified and refinished...but again, it takes the level of interest and commitment to find out how you do the stuff...right... rather than lamenting "it's too hard".

It's not more difficult, it's lack of imagination and wanting to try it, or in my case, lack of funds to try it with.

Correct. It's still entirely possible to build a radical and beautiful custom in the garage, based on a plain-Jane grocery-getter. But there has to be an overwhelming DESIRE to make it happen. And the WILL to follow through to completion. The customs of the glory days weren't made from bolt-on bits bought out of catalogs (though some awful examples had tons of add-on JC Whitney carp). They were built by guys who weren't afraid to get dirty...really filthy...and to learn and master new and sometimes dangerous techniques. They spent their extra money on things like welding rigs, hand tools, body hammers and dollies, etc. Read the old Hot Rod mags, and the stories of how guys built cars in the shed out back, working for months in the cold and oppressive heat, and dealt with the problems inherent with taking the family car off the road for a couple of years.

Today, most of the wuss men I know think they're too good (or they hide their practical incompetence under the white collar) to even mow their own lawns, change their own oil or do their own plumbing...much less restyle, re-engineer and re-build an entire car in...OMG...uncomfortable, dangerous surroundings.

And I'm not some past-it old fossil lamenting how he used to walk to school up-hill both ways in the snow all year long, and that kids are too soft today. I'm in my mid '60s and STILL build cars (world class cars; the shop I work with has impressive credentials) in a relatively primitive, old-school environment with neither heat nor AC. I sweat like a pig in summer, and stink at the end of the day. I have to wear layers of clothing in the winter, and need to keep moving just to stay warm. I get cut. I get burned. I get things in my eyes occasionally, and I'm physically whipped when I get home in the evenings. I have to learn new engines and gearboxes as they begin to trickle down into the hot-rod end of things. And I have to stay caught up on electronic vehicle systems, because many owners want all the stupid bells and whistles on their rods and customs now.

And you know what? I love the work. I get to make things that have never ever been made on this planet, ever before, every working day. I get to alter manufactured machines to reflect how I think they should look and function. And ANYONE with some mechanical aptitude who WANTS TO DO IT, whether professionally or in his own garage just for fun, CAN do it. On new cars, or old ones.

But it ain't easy, and it never was.

Edited June 6, 2015 by Ace-Garageguy

[exesivefire]

Not sure it's on topic or not, but Bill I did not expect those to be the cars you posted.. That's refreshing to me for some reason?

Carry on

[Joe Handley]

Thank you!

[LaughingIndian]

I got my license in the mid 70s just when gas prices went stupid, "emissions" became a household word, and a mysterious desire for safety became popular. Only collectors and returning 'Nam vets caught in a time warp still owned v8s. Disco took over from Joplin, Hendrix and Morrison, but that's another rant.

It was the end of the contemporary hot rod. They've all been retro since, as in the examples above.

But what us car "persons" did find was that rather than drive a straight line from start to finish as the epitome of driving, was that those crappy little light cars could really be fun down a windy road. We learned how to heel and toe with our learners permits. They moved the parking brake to the middle of the front seats since bench seats were gone and we found you could have some fun leaving rubber without the ability to make a doughnut. I found I could run around new corvettes in a rotary with a freakin Corolla.

We made do. And that was that and how it's been since.

But there is something that's been here for awhile but hasn't taken hold, and it's electric. It just hasn't caught on ... yet. How instant torque hasn't caught on with the kids yet is a mystery to me. But I guess like rock and roll, we'd all miss the sound.

I think if the designers of the 50s 60s were around today, they'd be building flying cars ...

[Ace-Garageguy]

I think if the designers of the 50s 60s were around today, they'd be building flying cars ...

Just be really glad they're not. With all the texting-related accidents these days, you wouldn't even be relatively safe in your own house...waiting for the inevitable distracted moron to fall out of the sky into your living room.

[Joe Handley]

The electric think might take time with adults, look at your LHS that sells R/C and count the number of electric vehicles vs nitro. Most of what we sell now that brushless and electric are coming of age is electric. Take a vehicle like the Traxxas Revo with a 3.3cc (.203ci) 2 stroke and 2 speed auto and it might hit 50 on a good day, requires constant tweeking and tuning, a while requiring fuel that can cost as much as $30 a gallon. Then look at the E-Revo with the factory installed Castle Mamba Monster Maxx ESC/2200kV motor, throw in a couple 3 cell lipo batteries and you'll have a truck that will exceed 65mph.......so long as the tires don't explode first! One place the instant torque would come in handy is on trucks that will actually go off road, I would hope to see Land Rover or Jeep pull it off, and wouldn't be surprised if Rover could, although Jeep does have a problem with loyal but closed minded customers, to point that the guy currently in charge of Jeep has said that if they go too radical on the next Wrangler, he might need armed security! Comsidering the receptions the XJ, YJ, KJ/KK, and now the new Cherokee and Renegade have all recieved, there's no doubt in mind that he might be right!

[Tom Geiger]

But there is something that's been here for awhile but hasn't taken hold, and it's electric. It just hasn't caught on ... yet. How instant torque hasn't caught on with the kids yet is a mystery to me. But I guess like rock and roll, we'd all miss the sound.

I have driven Teslas... it's fricken amazing. What hasn't caught on yet is affordability . It's like when a PC was $5000 and nobody could afford one.

Teslas coming off 2 year leases are making their way back to showrooms. Funny thing is that the used units are selling for what they cost new. Give it time. Game over!

[Joe Handley]

Just be really glad they're not. With all the texting-related accidents these days, you wouldn't even be relatively safe in your own house...waiting for the inevitable distracted moron to fall out of the sky into your living room.

I'm still waiting for some road going idiot to do that as is!

[Ace-Garageguy]

I have driven Teslas... it's fricken amazing. What hasn't caught on yet is affordability . It's like when a PC was $5000 and nobody could afford one.

Teslas coming off 2 year leases are making their way back to showrooms. Funny thing is that the used units are selling for what they cost new. Give it time. Game over!

I agree for the most part. Range on a full charge is a factor too. Not much fun heading out to do some mountain-road carving, and have the thing peter out miles from an electrical outlet.

[LaughingIndian]

Just be really glad they're not. With all the texting-related accidents these days, you wouldn't even be relatively safe in your own house...waiting for the inevitable distracted moron to fall out of the sky into your living room.

Ya can't be TOO careful though ... remember when we were young and didn't need FIVE tape measures like the ones in your pic

?

[Joe Handley]

I agree for the most part. Range on a full charge is a factor too. Not much fun heading out to do some mountain-road carving, and have the thing peter out miles from an electrical outlet.

That's where cars like the Volt come in handy, as they carry their own back up generator and all. Although, even a set up like Toyota's and the truck system GM cooked up would work well to provide a boost of torque for getting up and over stuff.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Ya can't be TOO careful though ... remember when we were young and didn't need FIVE tape measures like the ones in your pic

?

Sometimes other guys need to measure something at exactly the same time as I do. Five tapes save much bloodshed.

[Ace-Garageguy]

That's where cars like the Volt come in handy, as they carry their own back up generator and all. Although, even a set up like Toyota's and the truck system GM cooked up would work well to provide a boost of torque for getting up and over stuff.

This Jag C-X75 hybrid runs two-multifuel turbines for backup...and peak power. Whoowee...

[Tom Geiger]

I agree for the most part. Range on a full charge is a factor too. Not much fun heading out to do some mountain-road carving, and have the thing peter out miles from an electrical outlet.

They pretty much have that worked out. Keep in mind we have two Teslas in the family. Neither has found charging to be an issue. Tesla has enough quick charging stations in major areas. My cousin has been as far south as Georgia and as far west as Detroit. He lives in Pennsylvania. He said in all his travels he has never been inconvenienced more than the time it took to eat dinner. The Tesla GPS plans your route by the quick charge stations, the list of locations is downloaded to the car every night. And it can only get better.

[chunkypeanutbutter]

Funny you mentioned catalysts plastic and Bondo. My father grew up fixing cars. One shop he ended up at was owned by one real old-school guy. He didn't allow any fresh Bondo on his property: everything was filled up with body solder. One of my dad's friends got fired for putting Bondo on his own car on his break. With the VW I'm working on, I'm holding myself to the same standard: no Bondo at all.