Link Paola – Pioneer Car Customizer in Montrose

A recent Facebook post led me to an article by Rik Hoving in Custom Car Chronicles. In it, he profiled the career of one of the premier car body customizers of the post-war car craze. Many of us remember Pete Paola who owned the Paola Oldsmobile dealership, now the location of the Antique Store next to the La Crescenta Library. But few remember his brother and business partner Link Paola, who made a big name for himself chopping, channeling, lowering and shaving car bodies in the ’40s and ’50s.

In the late ’30s, Link Paola was a body and paint man for Ed Priester Chevrolet on Ocean View in Montrose. He got involved in customizing cars on the side, working in the dealer’s shop after hours. Link was to make his initial mark in the world of custom cars in late 1939. The 1940 Fords were to be introduced to a great fanfare at the dealership, and Link got permission to “spruce up” a new ’40 convertible for the opening day extravaganza. He secretly went all out, working late at night and hiding the car during the day. By the time he finished, the new car was fully and beautifully customized. On the day of the unveiling, he parked the gorgeous maroon convertible across the street from the dealership.

Big crowds showed up for the 1940 model introduction, but instead of crowding the Ford showroom, they flocked to Link’s slick custom across the street, wanting a car just like that rather than the tamer versions in the dealership. The dealership’s owner was not amused at Link’s deception and fired him on the spot.

Link took this as a signal to strike out on his own and, with a little sense of irony, opened Link’s Custom Shop almost directly across Ocean View from the Ford dealership that had just fired him. Based on the splash he had made with his secretly customized Ford convertible, he got several orders for custom cars, enough to keep him busy in his tiny one-stall shop.

But in 1941 everything in America went on hold for the war. Link, now in the Air Force, continued to tinker with cars, apparently even producing a customized ’38 Ford for fellow car enthusiast Bill Faris (also in the Air Force), even though his only available tools were pliers and a ball-peen hammer.

After the war, Link was able to move into a larger shop for his Link’s Custom Cars business. This shop was located at 3451 N. Verdugo (today the home of Entirely Exotic Motorsports). Link was now incorporating standard body shop work into his shop’s schedule. He was still producing amazing custom car bodies, but was increasingly focused on paying the bills. He made a lot of money at the shop buying totaled cars from insurance companies, repairing them and then reselling them.

The article I’m referencing implies that the final opus to come out of Link’s Custom Cars was a beautiful 1949 Chevy sedan built in 1950 for Spence Murray, who later became a famous automotive writer. The car was heavily modified. It was chopped and channeled, lowered, nosed and decked. The headlights were frenched and peaked, and the taillights and door handles shaved. (I’ll explain these terms in next week’s column.) The exhaust pipe ran along the bottom of the doors, then wrapped up and around the rear fenderwells, creating an almost sculptural quality to the car. The car made the rounds of the hot rod shows, won trophies and was featured in magazines of the day.

In 1951, Link closed Link’s Custom Cars and hung up his body tools. He pooled his money with his brother Pete to buy the Williamson Oldsmobile dealership at Foothill and Glenwood, expanding it and renaming it Paola Oldsmobile. The dealership lasted into the mid-60s. I’m told by one old-timer that Link maintained a separate body shop across Foothill from Paola Oldsmobile but, as far as I know, Link Paola produced no more custom cars after 1951.

Next week I’ll write about some of Link’s custom creations, and the car customizing terms I’ve used so cryptically in this column.