America invented the hot rod in the 1940s for racing at the salt flats. America also invented the custom and while the two are now been linked in car culture, they were really very different things.

With the decline of coachbuilding in America in the 1930s most cars were simply mass produced and few coachbuilders still existed after the war. The desire for one-off machines did not go away, however. Creative and talented men took it upon themselves to make the automobile a medium for artistic expression and design.

Craftsman began reworking all sorts of production models. Certain cars like '48-50 Buicks and '49 Mercurys became favorites but were certainly not the only choices. Some truly exceptional machines were built in the 1950s though very few authentic examples survive. The great exam-ples are beautiful and can be considered the American equivalent of the flamboyant European coachbuilders.

The desire and creative impulse to manipulate an autom