The Dick Falk Photo Collection

A photo of Joe Bailon's shop taken late in 1952 or early in 1953. When Dick started working with Bailon, Bailon was doing work out of a small garage at Alice Street in Hayward; “It had cement on the floors, but there was a lot of dirt also. It was an old garage. A one-car garage.” One day as Dick was coming over, Joe was rubbing out a black 1940 Chevrolet two-door sedan. “It wasn’t customized much as I can remember. He was buffing it all out and went over with cornstarch. When he got done he said ‘OK. Let’s sweep up a little bit. Clean up, and let’s get the Chevy out so you can bring that convertible in, and let’s start sectioning it!’” This photo shows Dick’s 47 in front of Bailon’s new extended shop. “The shop was kind of new when this photo was taken. I can’t remember who the channeled roadster belonged to, but the 32 coupe belonged to Hank Vincent. It was there getting the back fenders bobbed.” Miss Elegance can be spotted inside Bailon’s spray booth. Photo courtesy of Dick Falk.