West Coast Kustoms

Pics from the 2004 West Coast Kustoms car show in Paso Robles. This featured almost exclusively American Hot Rods. I had a great time with Sharon’s entire family and thanks to Mary Jane and Robert for letting me stay at their place.

Aw, what a cute little boy in a red baseball cap, said a passerby. No, not a boy... that's cute little Emmalee!Emmalee points at something and we all look.We cross the street in downtown Paso Robles to the largest custom car show in the U.S. Here is a Mercury convertible with flames.A very nice woodie wagon.Felix Wong next to a fire-engine-red truck that had Felix Wong the Cat painted on it.Many of the customs had their rear wheels covered. I'm not sure if I like that look but there sure were a lot of category winners with them...Cool Chevy pickup.Cruisin' red coupe.And Emmalee again!Front ends of early era hot rods like this were the inspiration for the modern day Chrysler PT Cruiser.Downtown Paso Robles has lots of character, with many antique shops, restaurants... even a French cafe and a bistro. Here in front of The Tribune is a blue Mercury.This two-tone coupe sported side exhausts, seen on quite a few customs here. I'm not sure if these were functioning (on some cars they were just for looks...)Most customs seemed to be made from American cars of the 1950s, but there were a few custom imports. This is a Mercedes, I think.Art work was not limited to the exteriors, as evidenced by this nudie under the hood.Art work was not limited to the exteriors, as evidenced by this nudie under the hood.Back at Robert and Mary Jane's wonderful home in Templeton, Robert showed us how to lift a V8 motor without an engine hoist. Just use... a bulldozer!Later on Allen let me take his parents' new mini out for a drive through the classic winding roads from Templeton to Creston. We passed by this estate reputedly owned by Jeorpardy host, Alex Trebec.The red Mini Cooper itself with white racing stripes. Thanks to Sharon's family for the great weekend!
Photos by Felix Wong are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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