Jim Vasquez
Southern California hot rod and custom car builder with roots in the traditional kustom kulture scene.
Jim Vasquez grew up around hot rods in the Los Angeles area, spending his formative years learning the trade from older builders — chopping tops, channeling frames, laying paint, sourcing period hardware. He eventually settled in Long Beach, where he has spent the last two decades building traditional customs and hot rods and staying close to the West Coast show circuit.
His work sits firmly in the traditional kustom kulture camp: chopped 1949-1951 Mercurys, channeled 1932 Ford coupes, and flathead-powered street rods built from late-1920s and early-1930s American iron. He writes about these cars from a builder's perspective — what makes a correct period build, where the compromises are, and how to tell a well-executed traditional custom from one that just looks the part.
Jim's daily driver is a chopped, channeled 1933 Ford three-window coupe with a built Mercury flathead — exactly the kind of car he's been building and driving his whole adult life.
Magazine Articles by Jim Vasquez
Famous Full-Convertible K5 Blazers
How Chevrolet Sold the Open-Air K5 Blazer
Le Mans Stripes, C-Stripes and Larry Shinoda's Boss Graphics
The K5 Top Against the Early Bronco Roof
Why Chevrolet Dropped the Full Convertible Top
The Golden Years of the Open-Air K5 1969 to 1975
The Shaker Hood: How Ford's Ram Air Scoop Worked
The 1999 New Edge Restyle and the 35th Anniversary
The Convertible Top on the Early GMC Jimmy
The Removable Top: The K5 Blazer Signature
The 1978 Camaro Z28: Urethane Nose, T-Tops and a New Face
The 1969 Mustang Restyle: Longer, Wider, Four Headlights
Inside the Design of the Blazer Chalet Camper
Hatchback, T-Top and the Mustang II's Fastback Roof
How Restoration Shops Pass Work to Each Other
The Squarebody GMC Jimmy Alongside the Blazer
How the Squarebody K5 Interior Evolved
The Twin-Cowl Dash and the Rally-Pac
The Late Squarebody K5 of the Late 1980s
The 1978 Bronco Goes Big, a Bold Redesign
The CST Package Through the Squarebody Run
The Cheyenne Trim Across the Squarebody Years
The Squarebody K5 Blazer Era 1973 to 1991
