User:KOscarEricksonw

2011-08-19T04:34:23Z

86.121.139.194:

Dummy

Custom car

2006-09-14T18:39:39Z

86.121.139.194:

[[Image:plain painted '32 roadster.jpg|thumb|250px|Plain paint on early hot rods {{3d_glasses}}]]
[[Image:Purple Buick.jpg|thumb|250px|Modern custom of mid-fifities Buick {{3d_glasses}}]]
[[Image:modern steel body.jpg|thumb|250px|Modern steel "Retro style" $100,000+ custom body {{3d_glasses}}]]

A '''custom car''' is phrase that became prominent in American pop culture in the 1950s, and has enjoyed special interest popularity since that time. It relates to a passenger [[automobile|vehicle]] that has been modified to [[engine tuning|improve its performance]] by altering or replacing the [[engine]] and [[transmission (mechanics)|transmission]] and to make it look "unique", unlike any car that might have been factory finished,always a personal "styling" statement by the re-styler/re-builder..

===First came the post war "Hot Rods" made from "Junkers" ===
A development of [[hot rod]]ding, the change in name corresponded to the change in the [[design]] of the cars that were being modified. The first hot rods were made from pre-WWII cars that had [[running board]]s and simple fenders that bent over the wheels. These were modified by removing the running boards and either removing the fenders entirely or replacing them with very light "cycle fenders". The purpose was to put the most powerful engine in the lightest possible frame and body combination. The suspension was usually altered to make the car lower; the front was often made much lower than the rear. Much later some hot rods and custom cars swapped the old solid rear axle for an independent rear axle, often from [[Jaguar]]. Only rarely was the grille of one make of car replaced by another; one exception was that the [[1937]] [[Buick]] grille was often put on a [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]]. The original hot rods were plainly painted like the [[Model A Fords]]
from which they had been built up, and only slowly begun to take on colors, and eventually fancy orange-yellow flamed hoods or "candy-like" deep arcylic finishes in the various colors.

===New Post War, Slab-sided cars weren't good for "Hot Rod" treatment===
With the change in automobile design to encase the wheels in fenders and to extend the hood to the full width of the car, the former practices were no longer possible. In addition, there was tremendous automotive advertising and subsequent public interest in the new models in the [[1950s]]. Hence custom cars came into existence, swapping [[headlight]] rings, grilles, bumpers, [[chrome]] side strips, and tail lights. The bodies of the cars were changed by cutting through the sheet metal, removing bits to make the car lower, welding it back together, and adding a lot of [[lead]] to make the resulting form smooth. By this means, "chopping" made the roof lower; "sectioning" made the body thinner from top to bottom. "Channeling" was cutting knotches in the floorpan where the body touches the frame to lower the whole body. Fins were often added from other cars, or made up from sheet steel. But in the custom car culture, if you were someone who merely changed the appearance without improving the performance substantially, you were looked down on.
Paint was an important concern. Once bodywork was done, the cars were painted unusual colors. Transparent but wildly-colored [[candy- apple paint]], which was applied atop a metallic undercoat, and [[metalflake]] paint, which adds aluminum glitter within candy-apple paint, appeared in the 1960s. These took many coats to produce a brilliant effect -- which in hot climates had a tendency to flake off. Custom cars also continued the habit of adding decorative paint after the main coat was finished, of flames extending rearward from the front wheels, and of scallops and hand-painted pinstripes of a different color than the rest of the car. The latter, most often being of a single coat, would be expected to be of a simpler paint.

Once customizing post-war cars caught on, some of the practices were extended to pre-war cars, which would have been called hot rods that kept their fenders but had more body work done on them. An alternate rule for disambiguation developed that hot rods had the engine behind the front suspension, while custom cars had the engine over the front suspension. The clearest example of this is that [[Ford Motor Company|Fords]] prior to 1949 had [[Henry Ford]]'s old transverse front suspension, while the 1949 model had a more modern suspension with the engine moved forward.

With the coming of the [[muscle car]], and beyond that to the high-performance luxury car, customization declined. One place where it persisted was the US Southwest, where "[[low-rider]]s" were built similar in concept to the earlier customs, but of post-1950s cars.

===Recent trend to build new custom steel bodies based on pre-war designs===
Recently, as the supply of usable antique steel bodies has given out, a new trend to fabricate new steel bodies, closely based on the styling of the pre-war cars. Bodies of this type can cost over $100,000 before the "running gear" is added.

<gallery>
Image:Modern Hot Rod.jpg|Modern, but very Basic '32 roadster {{3d_glasses}}
Image:1951 Mercury.jpg|Recent custom job on a '51 Mercury {{3d_glasses}}
Image:1940 Ford.jpg|thumb|250px|Modern Custom {{3d_glasses}}
</gallery>

===See also===
{{commonscat|Custom cars}}
* [[my dream wheels]]
* [[Go-faster stripes]]
* [[Hot rod]]
* [[Kustom Kulture]]
* [[Lowrider]]
* [[Import scene]]
* [[Pimp My Ride]]
* [[PFS Imports]]

== External links ==

* [http://www.customcarsuk.com/ U.K. free site for custom cars]
* [http://www.mydreamwheels.com/ Custom Cars, hot rods, vintage cars]
* [http://www.roddingroundtable.com/ The Rodding Roundtable]
* [http://www.justcustomz.com/gallery/hotrod-pictures.php More Custom Car Pictures]
* [http://www.american-excess.com CAR SHOWS IN BELGIUM ]
* [http://www.zercustoms.com Custom Auto]

[[category:automotive technologies]]
[[Category:Vehicle modification]]
[[Category:DIY Culture]]
[[de:Custom car]]
[[sv:Custom]]

Wikicars - User contributions [en]

User:KOscarEricksonw

Custom car