East Coast: The Road Agents.  Luke Karosi sent me a rake of great pics from the Road Agents, a very active and enthusiastic club based in New England. This is the first instalment, check back for part 2 next month!

 

Hefty chop on this 36 5Window. Red steels, widened on the rear, brown suede paint, makes for a tough combo. Nice lineup of 32's, in the waning afternoon sun. Do you need me to tell you this is a blue 40 tudor? Looks like Garfield's on a spot of trouble. 41 either running without a hood on purpose, or waiting for it to finish the ensemble. 'Nuther 41, this time not as slick, but just as kool. Nice post war job sporting a bit of fancy striping aroung the schnoz. 'Nuther kool kustom, note scoops in hood sides. Going for the widemouthed look, this 54 Ford also has a healthy chop, no mean feat with that curved glass. 55 Chev also going for the chopped custom look. Nice 56 Ford, de-bumpered, rolled pans etc. Was this the one where the rolled front pan was painstakingly shaped to recreate the shape of the hood, and then an old timer said "we just used to use a spare hood, upside down". Doh! Variations on the flame theme. Note the through the cowl steering on this trad 'n' bad a-bone. Unusually this appears to be using coils on the back. Nice car. Unless I'm mistaken, this looks like a ragtop with a removeable hardtop.  Blue 32 has flatty power. Channelled 31 a-bone roadster has healthy overhead, and is a "streetrod" according to the badge. Don't just skim past this beauty, take a minute or two to check it's flawless detail. Must have had those louvres punched while there was a special on at the shop. Had a note from John Linville about this one, here's Johns note: That great purple and silver (House of Color candy) Mercury is owned by my racing partner, Dick Edwards.  He lives about three miles from my house.  The pic doesn't do the car justice.  Merc frame is subframed in front with Pontiac Lemans and in the back with 80's corvette (yeah an independent rear, I wanted him to put a plexiglass panel in trunk floor so you could see it but he wouldn't.  Engine is a full dresser 401 nailhead buick mated to a Camaro five speed.  Dick chopped the car himself and every weld is a butt weld, no overlapping here.  Even the stainless window trim was chopped and reinstalled, the mark of a great chop. Thanks for the extra info, John. Cant get much more traditional than this 32. Cool Kid. Apparently this 57 aint a 57. It's a 56 with a 57 front bumper. (Or so I'm told.. Jeez I'd' a said 57) Not many tri-5's get the full Kustom treatment. This one dont look too shabby though. On the other hand plenty of these babies get the full treatment. There are probably more modified Mercs around than stockers. This is the clubs drag coupe, featuring that chrysler industrial hemi. Now, answer me, just how cool is that? El Matador. well known show car from way back. Wait! are those (gasp) Radials? Ok, thats it for this month, there's loads more from Luke on file so you can expect another bumper crop next month. Thanks for the pics, Luke...Mart.

 

All contents property of Martin Holden, Solihull, England.