Amazing! Never in a million years did I think I'd see home movies shot in the day,that capture the "Graffiti" film. It's all there! Wide whites, lowered cars, girls cruisin with their man, custom paint, custom cars, customs as " works in progress". MELS DRIVE IN. Couple of surprises: men who shaved rear door handles from 4 door cars, and headlight bezels from 55-56 chevrolets on ford cars. The clothes too!
Interesting to note, in contrast to the taildragger stance popularized by many "retro" or "old school" rods and customs of today, a lot of these cars were running with a nose-down California rake. Great bit of history right here. Thanks.
You are looking at a sort of "transitional" era as you watch this film. In the Forties and early fifties, when lots of the cars being customized were pre-war and immediate postwar cars, which tended to taper at the back, the tail down stance actually made sense with the body shape. So did very radical top chops, things like that. By the mid fifties, the "Mild Custom" became the popular look, which really was driven by Larry Watson down in L.A. It was the newer, sometimes right off the dealer floor models, already radically lower and longer than the previous crop of cars, simply were shaved of emblems, shot with wild accent paint schemes, often over brand new base paint, and a custom was born. This also coincided with a couple of things coming over from the hot rod side, the nose down stance, and chrome reverse wheels. Friends that were there in the era, tell me if you showed up with the rear dropped and skirts after about '57, you would probably get pointed at, with a bit of giggling! That said, there is a beautiful black '58 Impala in this film, running tail down.
Surprised by the number of four doors with the rear doors shaved. Love the rake on so many of them. It appears that addressing that was the first order of business. Plus duals and glass packs.
I LOVE authentic, old footage! It's really pretty rare to see, and it's GREAT for anyone who's building a "period kustom" to watch. I'm gonna guess these here films are no later than 1961, MAYBE 1962? THANK YOU for this great posting.
Chip Foose is currently "refreshing" a car similar to one of the cars in the video ! My favorite though is the bobbed ranchero. Man that is so kewl !!!!!!!!!!
I have a soft spot for Buicks. So to see a few was nice. And to see the modifications on the kustom, work in progress. The paint jobs and the way it was done back in the day is priceless. Cheers and best wishes.
What timing!! I just picked up an old mild custom 49 ford tudor. Chopped top, frenched tail lights, & recessed license plate housing welded into the trunk ( i think that was added later) been sitting dormant for fifty years. Now, i have some more ideas on how to put it back together
I enjoyed the trip thru Salinas and Flagstaff looked interesting.... I really wanted one of 59 T-Birds ....Just can't fit it in . Thx for posting this cool video !
Crazy man, CRAZY! Every 3rd car is a total sled it seems. Surprised not too many hot rods though. Real boss choice of music as well. Thank you for this!!!
I remember reading that at one point it had sequential tail lights/turn signals that would work like those on a Mustang (almost 10 years before the 1st Shelby’s had them!) and when they first got it working and took it out it caused such a ruckus that the cops almost arrested them!
Cruisin with your girl snugged up to you on the bench seat & burning through a tank of gas going nowhere in particular! Stop the world, I want to go back & just leave me there.
So, that was Rich Tiago's outer space Ranchero. Andy did the paint work on that car. It started out as a full custom 57 Ford Ranchero and went thru a few phases by the time reached it's radical stage. The guy in the pretty 57 Oldsmobile with the panel painting that was none other than famous customizer Bill Cushenberry
We’ll have more photos of the stages too coming up soon, I wish I could had thousands of these slides / reels digitized already . But keep watching the revenue is helping us digitize the archives faster .
Amazing! Never in a million years did I think I'd see home movies shot in the day,that capture the "Graffiti" film. It's all there! Wide whites, lowered cars, girls cruisin with their man, custom paint, custom cars, customs as " works in progress". MELS DRIVE IN. Couple of surprises: men who shaved rear door handles from 4 door cars, and headlight bezels from 55-56 chevrolets on ford cars. The clothes too!
Yes rear doors shaved. Radius rear wheel on another. Very interesting. It shows the whole scene didn’t it.
Right this is the real deal
Interesting to note, in contrast to the taildragger stance popularized by many "retro" or "old school" rods and customs of today, a lot of these cars were running with a nose-down California rake. Great bit of history right here. Thanks.
You are looking at a sort of "transitional" era as you watch this film.
In the Forties and early fifties, when lots of the cars being customized were pre-war and immediate postwar cars, which tended to taper at the back, the tail down stance actually made sense with the body shape. So did very radical top chops, things like that.
By the mid fifties, the "Mild Custom" became the popular look, which really was driven by Larry Watson down in L.A. It was the newer, sometimes right off the dealer floor models, already radically lower and longer than the previous crop of cars, simply were shaved of emblems, shot with wild accent paint schemes, often over brand new base paint, and a custom was born. This also coincided with a couple of things coming over from the hot rod side, the nose down stance, and chrome reverse wheels.
Friends that were there in the era, tell me if you showed up with the rear dropped and skirts after about '57, you would probably get pointed at, with a bit of giggling! That said, there is a beautiful black '58 Impala in this film, running tail down.
Surprised by the number of four doors with the rear doors shaved. Love the rake on so many of them. It appears that addressing that was the first order of business. Plus duals and glass packs.
I LOVE authentic, old footage!
It's really pretty rare to see, and it's GREAT for anyone who's building a "period kustom" to watch.
I'm gonna guess these here films are no later than 1961, MAYBE 1962?
THANK YOU for this great posting.
Aw MAN!! This is KILLER!!! Thank You for posting this S&K!! Oh and the music is just soooooo cool!
Awesome! I used to play around that wonderful Associated "Flying A" gas station when I was a kid and lived in the neighborhood behind it.
this type of comment, is why we do what we do. i hope to bring back good memories and preserve americana! appreciate the support - Trent
Damn, Tioga's TRENDARO, rolling in the flesh!!! Awesome!
Oh is that it? I’ll search it up! ✨
Newest car I saw was that 61 T-Bird.
Thank you for that.
Chip Foose is currently "refreshing" a car similar to one of the cars in the video ! My favorite though is the bobbed ranchero. Man that is so kewl !!!!!!!!!!
Really cool 😎 when was this filmed 🎥 love the music too thanks 😊
I have a soft spot for Buicks. So to see a few was nice. And to see the modifications on the kustom, work in progress. The paint jobs and the way it was done back in the day is priceless. Cheers and best wishes.
Cool video Daddy-O! Thanx for sharing.
What timing!! I just picked up an old mild custom 49 ford tudor. Chopped top, frenched tail lights, & recessed license plate housing welded into the trunk ( i think that was added later) been sitting dormant for fifty years. Now, i have some more ideas on how to put it back together
Andy was pretty good with those Cowboy pistols.. Great video!
I enjoyed the trip thru Salinas and Flagstaff looked interesting.... I really wanted one of 59 T-Birds ....Just can't fit it in . Thx for posting this cool video !
Neato ... another cool video ...
Thank you for sharing this!
great video let the good time roll nice kustom roads
Some very cool looking kustom car mate all models very cool I love it I should be born in this time of great car music bro
Great video. Regular kids with their cars. Thank you.
Great old movies, I remember going to Mels as a kid with my parents. Andy was way ahead of his time when it came to capturing the car culture.
Nice video! They had some cool cars!
We may not have a Time Machine. Thanks to Andy we at least have a real glimpse back to this time period.
Bitchin'. Truly the pinnacle of good times.
Awesome ☝🏽❤️🙏🏽
Hello from Carson city lived Salinas 1st 10 years of my life I remember the El Rey theater and Mel's and all the old memories thank you Salinas
That’s one of the main goals, bring back some good memories! Appreciate the support
Suped up and lowered down. Great period film!
Love customs, appreciate the hard work making them.
Crazy man, CRAZY! Every 3rd car is a total sled it seems.
Surprised not too many hot rods though.
Real boss choice of music as well. Thank you for this!!!
I wish they had more era correct music for option to purchase license, so I try to find the closest possible
I’m going to say 1959 since the marquee at 6:04 shows the film “Suddenly Last Summer”. That film was released in ‘59.
There is a 1961 Ford Thunderbird around 11:50. I think we also see a glimpse of a 1961 Chevrolet around 12:09. Based on that my guess is 1961.
Ooooh !! just like the old AMT 3 in 1 kits !!
Exactly what I thought of!
the 57 ranchero was rear ended and pushed into another car when it was pretty new and was built into the custom
That ‘57 Ford ‘chop-up’ was waaaayyyy ahead of its time… lots of work and very sharp
I remember reading that at one point it had sequential tail lights/turn signals that would work like those on a Mustang (almost 10 years before the 1st Shelby’s had them!) and when they first got it working and took it out it caused such a ruckus that the cops almost arrested them!
I was just there it is definitely different from this now, I recognize the old buildings that were not considered old at the time this video was made.
This is so damn good!!
Like the real American Graffiti
Some of these cars are almost brandy new
1:17 That rear end looks TOUGH!!
7:07 I thought that Cop was going to hassle him.
13:26 Barney Fife 😅
Amazing footage. I didn’t see anything newer than ‘59 model cars.
I saw a '60 Ford.
Jay Leno ought to see this. I would love to hear him narrate it to .
🙏 🎉
A real straight-shooter! ;)
Cole foster is there and great car and bike builder
Cruisin with your girl snugged up to you on the bench seat & burning through a tank of gas going nowhere in particular! Stop the world, I want to go back & just leave me there.
So, that was Rich Tiago's outer space Ranchero. Andy did the paint work on that car. It started out as a full custom 57 Ford Ranchero and went thru a few phases by the time reached it's radical stage. The guy in the pretty 57 Oldsmobile with the panel painting that was none other than famous customizer Bill Cushenberry
We’ll have more photos of the stages too coming up soon, I wish I could had thousands of these slides / reels digitized already . But keep watching the revenue is helping us digitize the archives faster .
I've seen the pictures of that Ranchero in old Hot Rod magazines, but it's pretty cool to see it in video.
👍👍
59 Edsel!
1959?
c est bien une SIMCA ARIANE a 1.44
Vue!
Shane come home!
What is the name of this song?
Which song
@@SpeedAndKulture Actually all of them. Especially the first one sounds like liza jane? Who sang liza jane?
Little Liza Jane by Nina Simone.
@@johanl1144 Thank you.