The Car Customizers

The Car Customizers. Historic Graffiti Cruise Route. Modesto was the home of some of the most legendary street rod builders and car customizers. Car customizing evolved out of necessity. Kids could not afford new cars and they had to fix and rebuild the ones they had. These cars were built to race, to show, and to showcase the talents of the builder, and for many, a cool car was a surefire way to get a date., Beginning in a chicken coop converted to a garage on Modesto’s west side at 1309 Figaro Street, the legendary Gene Winfield honed his skills in designing amazing car creations and pioneered world-changing paint finishes like Candy Apple Red and Pearl. Gene had served in the Navy and then started modifying cars. Due to a less than a year stint, he was drafted into the Army in 1950 and during his service in Japan, learned to hammer-weld; his car-modifying career would never be the same. He later moved his shop to a location across from MJC at 451 Tully Road, near where Kruse-Lucas Imports stands today. Gene designed some of the most famous car creations for TV and movies and even developed custom space ships for Star Trek., Gene was assisted by many local Cruise Legends, in particular Marvin “Bart” Bartoni and Pete Hischier. Gene and Bart presented many of the Century Topper Car shows in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Bart had a ringside seat to the cruise and saw many of their creations drag 10th as he had the Bartoni Jewelry store near this spot at 919 Bartoni Lane – 10th Street. His “Go See Bart, the Jeweler with a Heart” radio jingle is fondly remembered. Bart is still an active part of Graffiti today and has his 1939 Mercury on display at many of the Modesto car shows and is still good friends with Gene Winfield. Pete Hischier was a regular in Gene’s shop and was an early Century Topper and assisted at many car shows. He had a rare, modified ’50 Mercury that he would later sell to Gene Winfield, who further customized it. Gene remains one of the all-time custom car greats and many in Modesto still have cars modified by the legendary builder., Chuck Billington (brother of Faros’ founder Dennis), while still working at Borge’s Blacksmith and Welding at 531 7th Street, along with racer Allen Grant and their welding mentor, Ernie Oliviera, made the roll bar that was installed at Foreign Car Service on George Lucas’ modified Fiat Bianchina. This roll bar saved his life in a horrific accident at the corner of the Lucas’ driveway, Sylvan Avenue and Rexford Drive. Chuck would later open his own metal shop. Thus began a whole new generation of car modifiers and his shop was a home for local racers and speed demons, both on the road and in the air. Chuck, along with fellow racer and customizer Don Monaco, would later design cars that would set land speed records and push the envelope of engineering., The cars of the classic cruise were polished to be on display every weekend night. To the classic car customizer, it was all about the cars, the lowering, the wheelshrouds, the polish, the Appleton spotlights, the chrome, and the “flicker” wheels. When driving up and down 10th and 11th Streets, the shine would reflect in the windows of the department stores of downtown Modesto. The dedicated car guys would be out at the beginning of the cruise each night and would stay late until it was all over, hanging out and talking about tinkering with their cars., Modesto is still home to classic car customizer shops and newer shops like Neville Brothers, Burnside Body Shop, and Graffiti Classic Customs in Turlock. Gene Winfield visits regularly and in 2012 was advising on classic cars being modified by Bart Bartoni. Customizing cars is in the blood and never fades and Gene Winfield is still active and cutting up cars and pushing his creations to the edge., Were You There? Tell us your story at: [email protected] , Researched by: Chris Murphy . www.ModestoCruiseRoute.com