An event hosted by the Lions Automobilia Foundation & Museum and presented by Mercifuls So Cal and Cambra Speed Shop.
“What Is A Custom?”
The term Custom Cars conjure up so many descriptions. Is a Lowrider a Custom? Is a Hot Rod a Custom? Is a Race Car a Custom? After joining the Mercifuls So Cal car club, I have learned so much about the subtle differences in custom genre. Wide white walls wrapped around painted steel wheels are considered 50’s era custom, where as 1″ white walls wrapped around Astro Supremes is a ’60’s era style. Custom paint with lace, infinity lines, metalflake and panels is always considered custom.
About a year after buying my car, I took it to a small car show at a bar down the street. There were probably a dozen or so cars there. Being somewhat new in the neighborhood, someone asked what is under the hood. So I popped it open and a few guys were checking it out. Then the promoter of the show came over and told me to close the hood. “It’s not that kind of show.” He said rather sternly.
Hmmm. I wonder what he meant. It wasn’t until a few years later I learned that at a traditional “Custom Car Show” you don’t raise the hood. It’s more about the lines of the car, the aesthetics than the performance. I can dig that, but then does that mean that hot rods, race cars, performance upgrades are NOT customs?
Are late model cars considered custom? Modern Custom?
My car is a “Mild Custom”. Egads! Now what does that mean? Typically, a mild custom would have minor body adjustments such as nosed and/or decked, trim, badges and door handles removed, and in my case the wind-wings were replaced with one-piece glass. A custom paint job would make a car a mild custom.
On that, my buddy Ron Cambra told me that back in the day, they would buy a fairly new car, and color sand it down a bit to put a fresh coat of clear with a pearl or metallic or metalflake in it over the stock color. That’s a pretty neat and somewhat inexpensive way to upgrade the paint.
A Full Custom would be a car that was chopped, channelled or sectioned. A process of changing the proportions and structure of the car. Some say a chop isn’t complete until you have all the glass back in it. I can dig that.
About this event. There were some really nice customs, mostly mild in the lot at the Lions Automobilia Foundation and Museum. Not nearly as many as I would have liked to see but it is always nice to go to the Lions Museum and check out the exhibits as the space always grows and changes up. The Ideas Rock and Roll trio rocked the lot and the Diner was open for a hot dog lunch! Big thank you to Megan Myschief @meganmyschief for posing with my car and Ron’s van. All in all a good time to hang out with my fellow custom enthusiasts.
