Sometime back my supervisor sent me to drop off a car at a local Nissan dealer, where I stumbled upon this fine machine sitting in the customer parking area.
I’m not the biggest expert on cars from this era, but according to the license plate, it’s a mildly customized 1956 Buick Special sporting Chevy headlight bezels, a Ford Fairlane grille ( maybe ?) , modified Cadillac front bumper, and Packard taillights along with the then de riguer Dodge Lancer hubcaps, lake pipes, shaved door handles, Lincoln Continental-style bumper mounted spare tire ( known in gearhead lingo as a “Continental Kit” ) , and white tuck-and-roll upholstery.
I caught a brief glimpse of the owner as my co-worker and I arrived. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find him, so I couldn’t get all the pertinent facts about this car, or its history. It sure is nice though.
Ix-nay on the continental kit. Ugh.
Agreed. I’m not necessarily a fan of those either. It does give it a period-correct vibe though.
Never really understood the appeal, myself. These cars have trunks the size of The State of Maine – do you really need the extra space saved by moving the spare outside?
Room to sneak more of your buddies into the drive-in 🙂 .
Looks to be ’57 Pontiac headlight rims.
Let’s see – I think it looks like s…
Wait. What? Yes Mom. Sorry Mom. I’ll be polite
Someone certainly put a lot of work gathering up the parts of various cars and sticking them together. Then they even painted it blue!
Even though the alterations may not be everyone’s cup of tea, the car certainly looks ten times better than those cobbled-together monstrosities known as “rat rods”. If I never see another half-assembled junker sporting a RustOleum paint job, pie tin air cleaner, and headllight buckets made from soup cans, that’ll suit me just fine.
+1
I have a similar view, but I look at it this way:
If the guy spent $5 because he was broke and worked on it weekends with buddies over beers, I like the rat rod.
If some hipster wannabe with slicked back hair and tattoos (only visible after his law office hours) drives one onto the lot at a car show, having never turned a wrench on it and after paying some chuckling shop owner $75K for it, then I hate the damned thing and everyone involved with it.
I like the Packard tails and don’t mind the Caddy bumper. Lancer hubcaps and lake pipes are period-correct and, again, don’t mind at all. The grille, headlight bezels, and conti kit–not for me, thanks.
Still kind of cool overall. Nice spot!
Love the color and body style. Like everything about this mild custom.
EXCEPT that continental kit. Ugh!
I remember reading my dad’s old 1950s-vintage Car Craft and Hot Rod magazines and noticed it wasn’t uncommon back to cobble together other cars’ parts, i.e., headlights, grill, bumper, taillights, hubcaps, etc. onto a car for that “customized” look. If done properly and with taste, it could look better than the original design.
That customized Buick is done in the spirit with 1950s period-correct customizing and the owner did a nice job. Agree with most posters the Continental kit looks out of place, but each to their own.
Hmm….anybody ever thought of “customizing” their 1959 cars to the wild-run-rampant pre-production concept designs that didn’t make it to the market?
Quite likely this is a vintage custom that’s been refreshed. At least that’s my guess.
Forgot about that possibility. I think you’re right. And it’s only logical.
Some clever work there utilising just the upper lens from the Clipper, frenching it into the quarter and making it waterproof.
Frenched indeed! Does anyone know the origin of that term as it relates to dethroned and debezeled lights? I certainly remember it from my childhood reading of Hot Rod and Car Model magazines, but it always sounded a bit risqué. As others have observed, this car is not necessarily to my taste but looks very period-correct for a “kustom” of the early sixties.
What a find! It’s super rare to see such a custom on the street. Years ago before pocket cameraphones I encountered a fabulous ’53 Stude coupe custom job, the one and only time I’ve seen a custom outside a show.
I especially like those taillights. Nice.
Well, guess I’m in the minority! I think for a custom of that era a Continental kit is just the cat’s meow. I’d prefer the style that just has the bumper bulge out around the kit, but the whole bumper extension is the next best thing. And it’s no more about adding trunk space than frenching is about having less chrome to polish!
3 things are needed for an old one like this – continental kit, sun visor and fender shirts. I’ve found all but the continental kit for my 53 Plymouth 2 door hardtop. I’m still looking.
But, then, I’m probably older than most here, I grew up with these cars. Sure like this more than the 70’s and 80’s stuff that shows up here!
I’m impressed you could tell all that from the license plate. We only get 7 alpha-numeric digits here.
It’s absolutely beautiful. I might no agree with all the touches, but I certainly love the Kustoms. I would paint a different color; stay with a 50s 2-tome scheme though. Not wild about the conti kit, but see how it fits with the idea. Maybe some period scallops and VonDutch-style pinstriping.
I can appreciate original cars, but Kustoms really are my favorite.
Maybe too harsh , but my first thought was “lipstick on a pig”