by Seth
2. April 2009 17:55
Labelling cars can be a controversial subject. It is all too easy to get hung up about whether a particular car suits a certain moniker or not and then go off on a tangent on to whether its important anyway.. But a label also provides a reference point so that when describing a car to another person they can understand instantly what you are raving about.
I will freely admit that I have a favourite bugbear, and a particular word that to me should be kept special and “above” the uses it sometimes acquires. That word is “Kustom”. Supposedly first coined by George Barris in the early ‘50’s it applied specifically to the type of cars that Barris Kustoms and other master bodywork shops were churning out at that time. That is to say cars that were chopped, channelled, sectioned, had frenched lights, shaved/and or altered trim, modified grills, fender skirts and any other suitable bodywork from the customisers dictionary.
Photo from this flickr gallery
This style of modification started back in the ‘30’s with relatively new but cheaper brand cars in order to make them individualistic and be a bit more like the very expensive coach built European cars. By the late fifties the radical bodywork alterations were becoming less popular, perhaps because the cars factory styling was already fairly extreme Larry Watson became the coolest cat on the block with his new paint designs (and very low ride heights) on otherwise standard cars. Thus the end of the Kustom era had come.
In the last couple of decades there has been an explosion of so-called “Kustom Kulture” that seems to encompass a whole gamut of retro scenes, be it music, art, cars and bikes. Other groups have sometimes taken styling cues from this "kulture" and hence the term kustom has since been applied to all kinds of vehicles that, to my mind, are nothing of the sort.
A kustom has been, is now and always will be a 30’s to ‘50’s car with heavy stylistic content and a range of tasteful (and frequently major) bodywork alterations.
(Photo from here)
To check out some great photos of customs and kustoms check out this fantastic flickr gallery by Kid Deuce from which the other photos have been borrowed.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80643375@N00/sets/72157594250735430/
And if you want to go buy a book on the subject I can highly recommend Pat Ganahl's "The American Custom Car".
Subscribe