Joe Bailon

From Kustomrama

Jump to: navigation, search

Joe Bailon's first car, a Model A Coupe. The car was restyled by adding a lot of goodies all over the car.

Joe Bailon's 1941 Chevrolet - Miss Elegance

Jim Doyle's 1952 Mercury Convertible

Joe Bailon is also known as "Candy Apple Joe". Joe was the creator of the "Candy Apple" paint and is a charter member of the National Rod & Custom Car Hall of Fame. Joe's 1941 Chevrolet Miss Elegance established Joe as a top-ranked customizer.^[1] He found the car in a junkyard. It had been hit by a train, then burned. It was almost cut in half, and Joe bought it for $50.00. When he bought the car he figured he could assemble it for far less than similar cars were then going for on the used car lots. Joe used the car while he built it, and he won his first show while the car was still in grey primer. Joe completed his car in time for the 1952 National Roadster Show where it was accepted for display. At the third annual National Roadster Show Joe won the National award for his Chevrolet that was then known as "The Dashboard". Joe had spent over six months on the dashboard alone, so that explains the name.^[2]

After "The Dashboard", Joe's next radical custom was Elton Kantor's 1950 Ford. The car was entered at the fourth annual National Roadster Show in Oakland in 1953 where it took the National award. Joe had his Chevy there too, but it was not eligible for judging since it had won the previous year. By now Joe was picking up jobs from all around the Bay Area, and he was busy doing hole filing, painting, lowering and more. He outgrew the garage at home, so he started building his own shop.^[2]

When Joe Bailon didn't have anything to show at the National Roadster Show, chances were that he was too busy displaying furniture at the San Fransisco Furniture Trade Show as he was also very active in the custom furniture trade. In order to keep up with the latest custom trends Joe followed all the customizers in magazines.^[2]

At young age, Joe was impressed with the golden maroon sunset over the San Fransisco Bay. He was so impressed in fact that red became his favorite color. When he later began mixing paints, he tried to achieve a color that was similar to that of a car's taillight reflected on a rainy street; real brilliant, almost with a glow from deep within itself. He experimented with various ideas for a long time. His work lead into what became known as Candy Apple Colors. Candy Apple Red was ofcourse the first. What he wound up with after a lot of experimenting was a red-toned clear lacquer sprayed over a bright red dye, not a paint, which, in turn, had been put over a gold underbase. After inventing the paint Joe marketed the paint in several shades for a while. Candy Apple wasn't any tangible product, but a method of application, so once a shop had ordered Joe's paint and read the instructions for applying it they could go right ahead and paint hundreds of cars without buying a drop of paint from Joe. Before the Candy Apple came along Joe had tried to duplicate the coloring on the sides of a set of Slingerland or Ludwig drums. That rich, flaky, transparent color that is actually a sheeting of molded plastic. The sparkle in the stuff was given off by light rays reflecting from the facets of minute silvery particles. He tried to match this by mixing salt into certain paints, and got a fair result. The he hit upon adding the silver flakes that people sprinkle on Christmas trees. He had to rework a spray gun to get it through the nozzle. The car he used it on turned out real well. It was after this that he came up with Candy Apple. Candy Apple became such a success that he forgot about the flake-like paint. Then before he knew it someone else came along and "discovered" Metalflake.^[2]