A Great Time Was Had By All.
At both general custom car and truck shows across the country, there is an increasing turn out of early model custom trucks from the '30s-'70s. It is really cool to see this mix of old and new, it lets one appreciate the custom-truck history over its time span. The addition of the early-model trucks at some of the late-model events adds diversity.
It seems the early-model enthusiasts are more hands-on and inclined to self-building their own projects, from chassis, engine and trans, to body mods. Then, these guys job it out for interior and paint. During that time period, there wasn't an audio-sound industry. It was all about AM radio, before Earl "Madman" Muntz introduced the 4-track tape cassette in 1962. There was nothing like a Muntz "Blue Light," 4-8 track tape decks wired up to an echoing reverb. That was the rockin' sound of the '60s and '70s. Also, during this time period, there weren't many specialized custom shops where a guy could just write a check and pick up his transformed custom ride. Of course, there were customizing legends like George and Sam Barris, Gene Winfield, Larry Watson, Darryll Starbird, Kenny "Von Dutch" Howard, Ed Roth, Dean Jefferies, John Buttera, Pete Chapouris, Larry Watson, Titus Brothers, Chuck Buttera, and Roy and Andy Brizio, just to name a few of the pioneers of custom car and truck building.
It is encouraging to see the early-models mixing it up with the late-models. We had some early American iron show up at the Truckin' Havasu Havoc show. They attracted a curious crowd all weekend, with many questions asked and answered. Ron Segal showed up with his cool '36 Ford roadster pickup, Wes Jiles rolled in with his '56 Ford F-100, Floyd Oldewurtel cruised in his low-fined '59 El Camino, and Dan Dowdy dusted off his insane, blown 1,800hp Arias-powered '37 Hudson Terraplane. Adding some early model flavor to the already-spicy late-model show made everyone's taste buds burn with envy.