Kustomland: The Custom Car Photography of James Potter, 1955-1959

In the late 1950s, as designers from the Big Three became more daring, their do-it-yourself counterparts in the custom-car world found that the new designs from Detroit worked exceptionally well with custom treatments like shaving, lowering, “lakes pipes,” and the ever-wilder custom painting of the day—aesthetics that would come to dominate this peak custom car era. Professional freelance photographer James Potter captured the epicenter of this landmark scene in what was then suburban Los Angeles.

In this photographic history of that time and place, Thom Taylor presents the best of Potter’s collection depicting the cars of “Kustomland.” Two- and four-page features on two-dozen renowned customs from mild to radical feature not only Potter’s exemplary work, but brief capsule histories of the cars and their owners and captions detailing the cars’ features. Taylor also includes features on legendary custom painter Larry Watson and the Renegades car club, as well as a biography of Potter and a historic overview of Kustomland and the areas it encompassed.

See Motorbooks author Thom Taylor interviewed by Jay Leno on JayLenosGarage.com: http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/kustomland/882803/

In the late 1950s, as designers from the Big Three became more daring, their do-it-yourself counterparts in the custom-car world found that the new designs from Detroit worked exceptionally well with custom treatments like shaving, lowering, “lakes pipes,” and the ever-wilder custom painting of the day—aesthetics that would come to dominate this peak custom car era. Professional freelance photographer James Potter captured the epicenter of this landmark scene in what was then suburban Los Angeles.

In this photographic history of that time and place, Thom Taylor presents the best of Potter’s collection depicting the cars of “Kustomland.” Two- and four-page features on two-dozen renowned customs from mild to radical feature not only Potter’s exemplary work, but brief capsule histories of the cars and their owners and captions detailing the cars’ features. Taylor also includes features on legendary custom painter Larry Watson and the Renegades car club, as well as a biography of Potter and a historic overview of Kustomland and the areas it encompassed.

Renowned car designer Thom Taylor is an inductee into the Hot Rod Hall of Fame. He has designed cars for industry-leading builders like Boyd Coddington, Roy Brizio, and SO-CAL Speed Shop, and for individuals like Eric Clapton, Tim Allen, and Billy F Gibbons. He is the author of the MBI bestseller How to Draw Cars Like a Pro.