When World War II ended in 1945, American automakers lost no time resuming full production. Pent-up demand stemming from February 1942—when domestic car and truck production stopped—and completely reworked assembly lines that had spent the war years building trucks, tanks, guns and aircraft meant that most car producers built what were termed “warmed- over” 1942 models for 1946-48. It would have been impossible to design and tool up for entirely new cars. Ford Motor Company followed suit. At first glance, the 1946 Ford models closely resembled the earlier 1942s, but there were numerous small differences. The 1946 Ford’s new three-bar grille was horizontal, the side trim was a new, somewhat wider design, and the flathead V-8 now developed 100 HP. There were many other exterior trim details, and the interiors and the wheel covers were updated as well. Sales were brisk. When the all-new 1949 Fords bowed in late 1948, customizers began to improve the boxy lines of the earlier models, chopping tops and lowering chassis, adding fender skirts, shaving hood and decklid ornaments and door handles, and frenching (tunneling) headlights for a sleeker silhouette. Louvered hoods, twin Appleton spotlights and flipper-bar hubcaps were popular custom add-ons. The idea was to make an older car look longer, lower and more elegant. And in many cases, the customizers succeeded. On the West Coast, pioneering custom shops—like the Barris Brothers, Gene Winfield, Valley Custom and others—performed restyling work, publicized by many Hot Rod and custom-car magazines that soon developed a nationwide circulation. Customizing older cars was a popular pastime through the mid-1950s, after which the Detroit automakers began offering stylish, high-performance cars that left many earlier modified cars looking dowdy and old-fashioned. However, there was a cadre of enthusiasts who liked early custom cars well through the 1970s, and there are many who still do today. One of these was Pete Jerardi of Dayton, Ohio. He learned that there was an authentic chopped ’46 Ford convertible in a barn in Fort Wayne, Indiana. When he found the car, it was in very rough condition. The canvas, padded Carson top was shredded, the candy paint was cracked, and the frame and bodywork were in very poor shape. Carson tops by Glen Houser, and later his son Bob, were a popular but expensive modification to custom convertibles in the 1940s and ‘50s. A steel frame was constructed after the
