It may (not) come as a surprise to some of you, but customized cars aren’t exactly my thing. They do crop up on occasion, though, so I have a few in my files. The overwhelming majority of what can be found on the streets here are of the JDM boy-racer kind, as might be expected. Foreign cars do occasionally get the treatment too, though – I’ve covered some before, including Chevrolet.
It so happens that Chevy is the number one custom victim (though VW might give them a run for their money) in the Japanese classic car scene, at least according to my completely limited, empirical and subjective experience. So I’ve complied a little post here to give you an impression of the lay of this strange and often colourful land. My commentary will be minimal, as I don’t have much to positively contribute other than the photos, so they’ll be doing most of the talking.
We’ll kick off with something very, very mild in the form of this 1987-90 Caprice Classic. Only the (deflated) lowrider wheels qualify it as any kind of “kustom.”
Clearly, this car is in distress and sleeps outside – not a great sign. The tin worm is already at work…
I’ve not been able to narrow down the model year, as these seem not to have changed much between their last facelift in 1987 and the end of production in 1990. But perhaps CC will know.
Moving swiftly to the year 1972 and this hi-riser Caprice coupe.
Messed up the interior shot, I’m afraid. Some angles where you don’t see the donk rims are actually very presentable…
But the profile is just painful. Sorry, sorry, I’ll shut up.
An Oklahoma car, eh? Interesting, but not quite as interesting as the shape of that backlight.
This is the first of two ’64 Impalas – and the only rat rod of the bunch.
Artfully done, I must admit. I can recognize a well-made cup of tea, even if it isn’t mine.
Ditto the interior, which looks 95% original to my (utterly untrained) eye. The tailpipe location is a tad unusual. Why would you want to put that there?
I really went to town on this thing. Well, it was kind of a novelty for me. And located on a rather quiet street. Enjoy the tranquillity while it lasts…
Yeah, this is also a ’64 Impala of sorts… Driving one of these in 21st Century Tokyo in stock form would be just too normal for some.
This is a synthesis, a distillation, a compendium of all the tropes one can associate with customized cars. With added gold plating for good measure.
Funny how, in contrast to the ’72 Caprice, this one’s profile is probably its best angle.
We continue our voyage through Eastern Impalaland with a 1962 rear-bumper-scraper coupe.
Full disclosure: I really like the colour on this one. And the styling is better than the ‘64s too, especially the front.
Is it me, or does that rear end styling have a wee bit of the Batwing left in it? Speaking of which…
Yaaaaay, the scary Chevy came to the party! I’ve seen a few of these here by now. Nobody can resist the lure of the ‘59.
Kind of like the first Chevy in this post, the only thing that makes this a custom are the toy car wheels. The rest is irreproachable. Well, apart from those half-moon chrome headlight covers. Ugh.
Easily fixed, though. I’d also get rid of the continental kit – totally ruins the Batwing effect.
Saving the best (maybe?) for last with a true old-school klassik kustom with a 1953 “Bel-Camino.”
An impressive amount of work, time and money went into this thing, clearly.
Kinda makes one wish that Chevy had made the El Camino in the early ‘50s, doesn’t it?
There we have it, seven Chevy customs tied in a neat little bow. Hope I didn’t yuck anyone’s yum in the process. I’d love to see the ’62 with a set of stock wheels, but that 1953 pickup was the one that I admired as was.
I’m still not a convert by any means, but the craft involved on that one is amazing.
Related posts:
Curbside Classic: 1990 Chevrolet Caprice Classic Brougham LS – Embarrassing FWD Cadillacs Since 1987, by Tom Klockau
Curbside Classic: 1972 Chevrolet Caprice – Cadillac Carbon Copy?, by Tom Klockau
Curbside Classic: 1964 Impala Sport Coupe – Six Cylinder Three-On-The-Tree Oxymoron, by PN
Museum Classic: 1959 Chevrolet Impala Sport Coupe – The Chevy Horror Picture Show, by T87
Curbside Classic: 1953 Chevrolet Bel Air – A Message From 1953, Part 1, by Jon Stephenson
I know many here are not fans of the big ’71 thru ’76 Chevys, but the ’72 (IMO) was the best looking of the lot, especially in Impala Custom Coupe form with that concave backlight. I do prefer the ’73 Impala/Caprice taillights however. Good looking car without the donks, AND a Caprice no less. As an 11-12 year old kid when these were new, not many Caprices were seen. Most were Impalas.
I completely agree with you on the color of that ’62. Very nice.
And to your question: “Is it me, or does that rear end styling have a wee bit of the Batwing left in it?” – Now I can’t unsee that.
At that camera angle, the back of the ’62 almost resembles a Batman logo, but why so serious? 😉
Yes…my Grandfather’s last car was a ’72 Biscayne (though his was a 4 door) in about that same light blue color. After he passed in 1986, I got to drive it sometime (maybe 1988) when we were visiting my Grandmother (we live 1700 miles away and never lived closer than about a 4 hour drive from them). My Dad was in the front seat and my Mother and Grandmother in the back…my Grandmother never learned to drive, we were on a trip to her brother’s house (who turned out not to be home) and stopped at the now defunct Effort Diner on the way home. It was a really nice spring day and a nice memory of my Grandmother who died the next year (about a week after we had visited her, fortunately got to see her one last time beyond the 1988 trip).
What I recall about the Biscayne is that it was the first car to have “international symbols” on the controls, like a note symbol on the radio and headlight on that switch. Before that the function was just written in english, and it seems that eventually they stopped doing that in favor of just the symbol. I think his had the 350 2v V8.
I’m not a fan of custom cars either, to me the original seems preferable (even if it is questionable looking car). I guess that’s partly due to having worked in production myself, knowing how much work goes into the stock design that many aren’t aware of, I usually have a big bias towards keeping things stock partly because I’m not aware of the subtleties in the design, mostly functional ones, which I’d not want to mess up with any liberty I might take that would impede such function.
The 53 Bel Camino is a work of art, though I would have picked a color other than White. I wonder what the drivetrain is.
I like this one too. All the rest…..not at all.
Wow! I would have thought that Japan had more strict “roadworthiness” regulations and inspections that might prohibit some of the features of these cars, such as undersized tires, blinding chrome, pedestrian-unfriendly exterior additions, even the perforated rust on the rat rod ‘64. The Bel Camino is very well done though, with an Australian ute style.
A vision of hell, redeemed at the last. Really not even my cup, tea or otherwise, but the sheer effort in the Chev ute is to admire. And it has to be said, the blokes who do serious custom work on cars often turn out to be fairly interesting types if you can engage them. (Your purist car-club one-make type? Usually fairly avoidable, I’m afraid, being either beyond boring or just snobby).
Btw, Chev did make El Caminos in the early ’50’s – well, Holden did, and forgot to badge it in Spanish, but Chev it is, nonetheless.
My thought precisely on the ’53. You could probably fit the ’53 front clip to that ’52 if you really wanted, but then the ’49 style rear fenders would really look out of place. Best kept as is, IMHO.
Love the creativity behind this work! Thank you for tracking these down, and sharing so much of the automotive culture in Japan.
Guessing, many of the owners would be IT professionals, professionals in general, government, and/or offspring of the wealthy.
I can’t imagine how that rusted out ’64 passed the rigorous safety inspections that gave Tom so much grief .
Continental kits are a thing I understand but those are deliberately made to look as FUGLY as possible .
Truly, in matters of taste everyone else is wrong .
I too like the ’53 Bel-Camino, the subtle things like the ’56 Ford headlight rings molded to the fenders etc. make it very nice indeed .
Interesting how the ’64 Rag Tops Foxcraft spats, have spats .
-Nate
That gold plated “Oldsmobile” script on the ’64 Chevy’s grille is a nice touch…
Why do people do these things? 🙁
Whoops… my bad, when blown up bigger it does say “Chevrolet”, in the same kind of script Olds used at times… whew, I feel so relieved now. 😉
Why do people ever gold plate trim. I can’t think of a situation where it would be either appropriate or an improvement. There is a first generation black Toyota Venza in my town that has gold nameplates and trim. Why???
I guess it comes back to the old “Mine’s better than yours.” – though I have to agree gold doesn’t look good on a car. I had thought the fad for gold nameplates died about ten years ago; maybe it’s different for lowriders.
Good possibility it was built 10 or 20 years ago. Did the rounds for a few years in the US before going up for sale and the person who bought it and imported has left it as it was when purchased.
The “battered, still standing 64” mirrors how I feel about myself..lol (and I’m four years older)
The wheels on the “72” are just “straight up , in the wrong place”.
Is it just me, or has the ’61-64 Chevrolet become more popular amongst customizers than the ’55-’57?
Poor, poor cars.
Did this car come originally from Stamford, CT?
https://i0.wp.com/www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_20240124_101412_edited.jpg?ssl=1
Love these. Basically the guys seen to have either copied US trends or brought over already-customised cars. I was half expecting some itasha or bosozoku, but thank you for sparing us that.
There’s patina, there’s rat rod, and then there’s that ’64. Someone needs to get that poor thing to a body shop stat, and send the yakuza around to tell the owner that actual rust holes ain’t cool.
I quite like the rest of them, though I fully agree with yanking the connie kit from that ’59. But for maximum effect it needs to be fitted with Aussie-market rear indicators, which would surely fit with the Japanese sense of kawaii. Or something equally inscrutable. I’m sure the guys who administer the shaken would nod approvingly.
I love those “hanging bat” indicators on the Aussie ’59 Chevys! I’m still annoyed that we in the US still don’t have amber rear turn signals as a mandate.
That perfect patina is the result of a body shop, I like it and the ute, obliterating any ride comfort in an otherwise nice riding car with oversize donks isnt a trend I like, But its not my car.
It’s like the parking lot at VIP records in Long Beach with Snoop and Dre making a video circa 1993…!
None are particularly my taste or style (which is fine, I’m sure my own style is probably not to their owner’s liking either), but I can and certainly do appreciate the time, effort, and work that went into these to create them and be able to use and enjoy them.
The blurple ’64 Impala is probably my favorite of the lot just for its sheer exuberance. Or no other reason than I can most imagine it to have a minifridge in the trunk containing a sixer of ice cold Olde English 800 40-ouncers of malt liquor…
These 62- 64’s are examples of the “Wurlitzer” school of thought.
Filigrees and decór that just fill space.
Still it’s a shame that they survived so long only to be modded by one punk on his way to a boring adulthood.
Donk wheels tear up what’s left of a well designed but minimalist suspension. That 71 is beautiful with no mods.
The 59 is overdone and should be RTS’d (return to stock) immediately.
Chevy was a tick slow on the upscale trim compared to Ford. The Caprice wasn’t available as a convertible in 1972. My uncle had a new 1972 Caprice coupe with the panty cloth interior when he got out of the Army.
So that’s where Cheech’s car ended up.
I have read that Lowriders have quite a following in Japan. Most of these examples follow the typical penchant of excessive ornamentation. The blue ’62 strikes me as quite tasteful and reminds me of cars that I knew back in the late ’70’s. Air bags have replaced hydraulics on most street customs, though you can’t “dance” with the bags. I really don’t care for the cars that are raised and pull up a front wheel like a dog begging for a treat. The ’62 looks good enough that I’d actually drive it. But the “donkalicious” ’72 coupe speaks to me. I really like the wheels. If only there was a way to stuff the big wheels completely in the body, and then raise it with airbags when desired. Maybe not.
You sure show a collection of nice cars destroyed by idiots, especially the blue 72 “donk” and the white Caprice. There should be a law…………….
Weirdly there is a law in NZ, your wheel tyre choice has to be certified safe for the road or you need another set to pass inspection annually,
Used imports usually arrive on appallingly narrow wheel tyre sets its a Japanese thing for fuel economy so the aftermarket rim people are doing a thriving trade and will fit something within the legal limits to improve your fresh ride and make it steer resonably.
I just noticed how similar the concave rear window of the 1972 2-door Caprice is to the long-lived rear window of the 1967 Dodge Dart hardtop.
Is it possible this was one of those rare cases where GM copied a Chrysler styling feature?
Fortunately most of the “customizing” is done to Chevy’s and then other GM cars.
Not a huge fan of kustoms, but I’ll make an exception for the Bel-Camino. Nice proportions with a touch of Nash Rambler on the backside.
Agree that it would look better in some color other than white. Maybe Maalox Green or Pepto-Bismol Pink.