HOT RODS & CUSTOMS: ART OF THE BUILD!

The AACA Museum celebrates handcrafted cars, and their builders who dare to be different. It’s a brand new day at the AACA!
Normally, the AACA (Antique Automobile Club of America) prides itself on promoting the preservation and restoration of showroom stock cars and other vehicles to the exact way they left the factory according to historical documentation. The automotive hobby has been going through major changes, and so has the AACA Museum. Today, many new car dealerships offer in-house customizing so that purchasers can have their new vehicle personalized to their tastes. More and more brand new cars are leaving dealerships in modified form. Photos, above, The 69er, ’32 Ford, Chip Hoynitski; Rob Ida’s Tucker 48, twin-turbo Caddy Northstar power.

The AACA Museum’s ‘Art of the Build’ exhibit focuses on these individuals (owners and builders), and the rolling art they have created. Photos, above, ’67 Pro Street Chevelle, John & Kelly Mazzochetti; Kracklin Rose ’33 Willys, Al Nosse. By treating each custom vehicle as a piece of sculpture, the Museum has created this display as an art installation. They are celebrating each vehicle for what it has become, not lamenting what it once was. Each of these vehicles has been carefully planned, and painstakingly transformed by hand to its current configuration by world-class metal fabricators, leather stitchers, painters and engine-building craftsmen.

Some of these vehicles started life production-stock, above, The Handyman ’56 Chevy, Viet Automotive Foundation Museum; others completely built from scratch, Pacific (Bugatti tribute), Terry Cook. The AACA invites guests to examine the minute details, ponder the thought and build processes, and marvel at the end result of each vehicle on display. And to consider them rolling sculptures and works of art! Photos, below, Olive, ’39 Ford pickup-rod, Glen Snavley; SwishAir, ’57 Chevy custom, Daniel “Swish” Swisher.

For more information about the Art Of The Build exhibition, January 24 to April 27, 2014, please visit http://www.aacamuseum.org/exhibits/upcoming/the-art-of-the-build-rods-and-kustoms/?utm_source=Art+of+the+Build%3A++Rods+%26+Kustoms&utm_campaign=Art+of+The+Build&utm_medium=email

Low Profile, above, ’67 Camaro, Ken Faust. A complete list of vehicles being showcased can be found at, http://carguychronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ArtoftheBuildVehicleList12-11-13.pdf