Top Flight

This Historic Custom Was Built in the ’50s and Hasn’t Changed Since

- By Tim Bernsau. Photography by Wes Allison

The incredible history of this 1955 Ford Thunderbird goes back 66 years, stretching from the West Coast to the East Coast, and includes a couple of legendary rod shops and a few famous hot rod builders.

Our first look at Dave Simard’s incredible custom came from the photos taken by Chuck Vranas for an East Coast Custom shop tour story from a 2012 issue of Street Rodder Premium magazine. Dave is the owner of the Leominster, Mas-T sachusetts shop, and he’s owned the Thunderbird since 2000, when he bought it from the original owner and builder, Bob Hoshiko.

In the ’50s, Burbank, California, was hallowed ground in the hot rodding hobby, the site of some of the most prominent rod and custom shops. Bob Hoshiko, a customizer working at Colgan’s Auto Upholstery, was in the thick of it all. Bob’s best-known car is probably his 1946 Merc, built at Valley Custom, Neil Emory and Clayton Jensen’s famous shop, also in Burbank. Bob took inspiration for his Thunderbird from the ’55 T-bird owned by his close friend, Doane Spencer. Spencer gained fame in the early ’50s for the 1932 Ford roadster that has since been recognized as one of the most popular hot rods of all time. The Thunderbird he built a few years later was well known to Los Angeles–area rodders and raced on the salt flats at Bonneville. Like Spencer, Hoshiko purchased his own ’55 Thunderbird new and started its custom modifications immediately.