Glen Houser

Glen Houser in 1953

Glen Houser worked for Carson Top Shop in Los Angeles, California. Glen started to work for Carson in 1930. In 1935 Glen designed and created the first Carson Top, the top that made the Carson Top Shop famous. In 1942 Glen inherited the business after Amos Carson passed away. Glenn ran the Carson Top Shop until he passed away in 1969.

A Bottle of Whiskey

In the mid 1940s, circa 1944 - 1945, Glen Wall of Whittier, California bought a restyled 1939 Ford convertible from Art Ironfield. The car was beautifully chopped, it ran a padded top from Carson, and in 2016 Glen told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama that it was Art's Ford that got him started customizing cars “Everyone wanted to buy it from me. It was really popular, and I didn’t have it that long before I sold it off.” After that Glen started buying mainly 1939 Ford convertibles that he customized to sell and earn a profit on. “I liked the 1939 Fords, and they were very popular cars with the young guys. I cut the posts using a saw. I always took 2 inches out of the top. My chops were all the same. I welded the posts together with welding rods, laying a small bead as I could around the posts. Then I would take it down to a guy that would lead in the posts. He would also grind it down and put primer on. I always finished it off with a Carson Top. Sometimes we would take the cars to Carson Top Shop before we painted them. Other times after they were painted. Glen Houser usually made a top for me in a day. A day and a half at the most. A lot of the guys had to wait for a week, up to 10 days. I got them real quick. Glen put other cars aside to do mine. Glen was a young guy, and I knew that he liked to take a drink once in a while, so I often brought him a bottle of Whiskey. He was a real nice guy, and him and I got along real good,” Glen remembered.

Sources

Rod & Custom August 1991
Motor Trend April 1953