Every year the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance displays many custom-bodied Duesenbergs, Cadillacs, Packards, Mercedes, and other fine classic cars. This year, in addition to the usual display of classics, the Pebble Beach Concours presented a class for historic hot rod customs. Eight terrific customs restyled by hot rod customizers over 50 years ago were placed on the golf course in front of the beautiful Pebble Beach Lodge.
The Early Custom Cars 1935-1948 class at the '05 Pebble Beach Concours was for customized pre-'49 hot rods. In that World War II period, many hot rodders were building fenderless roadsters and coupes. However, also at that time, others were customizing their later-model cars. It was nice to have the comfort and room in a newer car, such as a '40 Ford or Mercury, for your daily transportation. Modifications to achieve a desired look could range from removing chrome strips (nosing and decking) to chopping the top, channeling, or sectioning the body. Skirts, spotlights, different bumpers, hubcaps, or taillights were often used in the restyling of the car. In addition, virtually all of the customs included a hopped-up engine. Naturally, the builders would get ideas from the other customs they would see, so many of the custom cars had a somewhat similar restyling modifications.
Unlike so many of the customs built in the 1950s, the hot rod customs of the 1940s were built to be driven. The main reason to have a hot rod custom was to enjoy driving it because, before the growth of the custom car shows in the '50s, there was very little publicity for the customs. In 1948, Hot Rod magazine was born and hot rod shows were introduced, but even then the magazine and the shows only gave limited coverage to customs. This meant the guys were building cars primary so they could enjoy cruising to drive-ins, schools, and around town. It also meant that the custom had to be practical for use on the streets.
Naturally, a nice-looking custom hot rod was a plus when it came to attracting girls. What could be more fun than cruising Balboa Beach during Easter week in a '40 Merc custom with loud pipes? Therefore the hot rod customs, as displayed at Pebble Beach, represent the work of guys who wanted a special car to drive. The show car customs would come later in the 1950s.
The eight-custom field at Pebble Beach included four Fords, three Mercurys, and one Buick. Five of them were in competition for the awards and three of the cars were for display only. The display cars were there to show some of the styling redesigns that were popular at that time. Although they had not been especially restored for the Concours, their presence helped to define the class.
The display customs were:1941 Buick Roadmaster convertible with a Carson top owned by Kurt McCormick. Tony Pisano originally owned this car. It's long, low, black, and impressive. Originally built with the big straight eight Buick engine (Tony and Joe Pisano were Buick enthusiasts), the car later received a Cadillac OHV engine with new owner Herb Ogden.
1939 Ford black convertible with a metal top owned by the National Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada. This is the famous Harry Westergard-built car with a Packard grille originally owned by Bruce Glenn.
1940 Mercury convertible, also built by Harry Westergard, is owned by Jack Walker today. The red convertible has a Carson-style top and front fenders that run all the way back to the rear fenders, similar to the '46-48 Buick design.
The cars in the competition for the awards were:1940 Ford coupe, purchased by Mark Drews from the original owner, Bob Creasman. The red coupe was chopped and channeled and had been customized in the mid-1940s. The Buick-style full-length fenders had been added to this custom also. Mark has used this hot rod custom for daily transportation and has just recently restored it for the Pebble Beach competition.
1940 Ford convertible coupe built by Valley Custom (Neil Emory and Clay Jensen) for Ralph Jilek (now owned by Tom Gloy). This black beauty was sectioned to reduce the body height. The Carson top is removable.
1940 Mercury convertible sedan worked on by both Harry Westergard and Dick Bertolucci for original owner Bud Ohanesian. In addition to the usual frenched headlights, spotlights, skirts, and custom grille, this red custom has a full metal hardtop. This was the only custom sedan in the show and is owned by Ed Hegarty.
1940 Mercury black convertible, owned by Beth and Ross Myers, was an Eastern-built car owned by Jerry Yatch. The Carson-style top has a unique wraparound rear window and the fenders are molded neatly into the body.
1936 Ford coupe built by Jack Calori. The low stance on this beautiful black hot rod was achieved by stepping up the rear frame and chopping the top 3 inches. Roy Brizio's Street Rods did the restoration for Jorge Zaragoza. This '36 was the oldest model custom in the competition and represented the transition from the pure hot rod style of the earlier '29-34 Fords to the later-model lines of the '39-40 body designs.
The cars in all classes at the Pebble Beach Concours are judged for originality or authenticity and condition. Awards are given to First, Second, and Third places. The judging guidelines specifically state that minor evidence of use is acceptable. All cars must start and run, and winners must drive across the awards ramp. Since most of the hot rod customs were continually modified or updated over the years, it is appropriate to restore the car to a specific time. In this case, that time was usually established by a Hot Rod, Rod & Custom, Hop-Up, or other magazine article that pictured the car. This allowed the judges to establish authenticity of all the details of that car. The Early Custom Cars 1935-1948 class judging was under the guidance of class chief judge Ken Gross, the well-known automotive journalist. The judging panel included: Larry Erickson-chief designer, Ford Motor Co.; David Grant-David Grant Ltd.; and Don Montgomery-Don Montgomery's Hot Rod Books.
In addition to the class awards, there was the Dean Batchelor trophy sponsored by the Ford Motor Co., which is presented to the most elegant car in the Hot Rod class. Dean Batchelor was an avid hot rodder who raced his roadster at the dry lakes in the 1940s and designed Bonneville streamliners. He went on to a successful career as an automotive journalist. He routinely featured customs along with hot rods. Dean was friends with Emory and Jensen of Valley Custom and took pictures of many of the Valley Custom creations. He appreciated the styling ideas the customizers were doing. Therefore it is appropriate that the Dean Batchelor trophy be presented to the most elegant hot rod custom.
The climax of the day was the awards ceremony. The winning cars are introduced and driven up onto the awards stand individually. Announced first was the Third Place winner, which was the '40 Mercury convertible owned by Beth and Ross Myers. Second Place was awarded to the Valley Custom-built '40 Ford convertible owned by Tom Gloy, and the big winner was the Calori '36 Ford coupe owned by Jorge Zaragoza. It not only took home First Place, but was also the recipient of the Dean Batchelor trophy. It is interesting to note that all three award-winning cars wore black paint.
Perhaps the most excited guy there was Jack Calori, the now retired Long Beach, California, motorcycle officer, who built and owned the '36 coupe 57 years ago. Jack later said that this was one of the best days in his life and he only regretted that metalman Herb Renaul, who did the original body modifications, could not be there. How few of us live to see a creation that we just built to drive and enjoy become acclaimed and admired by so many people over 50 years later.
In the end, all eight hot rod customs were winners. They exhibited the work of the craftsmen of over 50 years ago. Although most of those metalworkers who did the work did not make much money then, some of their work has lived on to be appreciated today. That period when the hot rod customs were on the streets and hanging out at the drive-ins was indeed a special time. The owners of all eight customs can now proudly say that their custom was shown and admired at the Pebble Beach Concours d' Elegance.
If you want to read more about hot rods of the '40s and '50s, check out some of Don's other work at.