Bill Hines was born in Erie, Pennsylvania on March 23, 1922. He spend his childhood in Jackson, tennessee and moved to Detroit in 1932. In 1941 he started to create custom cars out of his own gas station. His first Custom was his own personal 1941 Buick. In the early 1950’s Bill opened his first own customizing and body shop in Detroit and started to create award winning custom cars including the famous “Golden Nugget” 1934 Ford for owner Marty Ribits. Here he also created his personal car the “Li’l Bat“, a chopped 1950 Ford with distinctive bat-wing like rear fenders.
In 1958 Bill moved to California to see if he could find work as a body man. He stayed there for a little while, worked for Barris, but in 1959 he went back to Detroit and worked on Customs for the Alexander Brothers amongst others. Then in 1960 Bill put his Caravan behind his “Li’l Bat” Ford and took his family to moved to California permanently. He started to work for Barris at first and soon would open his own shop next door to famous upholsterer Eddie Martinez where he worked after his Barris hours.
Bill started to experiment with hydraulics around 1962 and installed them for the first time on Tats Gotanda‘s 1959 Chevy the “Buddah Buggy“. Many more would follow and Bill was named “the Godfather of Hydraulics“. Bill was later also know as “the Leadslinger“, because he was famous for using lead to do all his body work, and especially because of his signature double frenched antenna’s molded-in with a liberal amount of lead, nicely sculptured into the body. Another speciality of Bill was being able to make a workable chopped convertible top. Most often when a convertible was chopped a Carson type padded top was created, but Bill liked the top to fold just like the original did. People from all over the country took their convertible tops to Bill to be chopped.
In the early 1980’s Bill moved to a new shop in Bellflower and continued to work on Customs. He recreated his old 1950 Ford “Li’l Bat” and several other famous Custom Cars. The best recognizable photos of Bill always show him with a big cigar in his mouth, a stick of lead in his right hand and the flaming torch in his left hand. Bill worked every day up to in his 90’s, but was forced to slow down in 2015 when he suffered an heart attack.
Bill Hines passed away peacefully, around 2:10 am on May 20, 2016.
Written by Custom Car Chronicle
http://www.customcarchronicle.com/
In 1958 Bill moved to California to see if he could find work as a body man. He stayed there for a little while, worked for Barris, but in 1959 he went back to Detroit and worked on Customs for the Alexander Brothers amongst others. Then in 1960 Bill put his Caravan behind his “Li’l Bat” Ford and took his family to moved to California permanently. He started to work for Barris at first and soon would open his own shop next door to famous upholsterer Eddie Martinez where he worked after his Barris hours.
Bill started to experiment with hydraulics around 1962 and installed them for the first time on Tats Gotanda‘s 1959 Chevy the “Buddah Buggy“. Many more would follow and Bill was named “the Godfather of Hydraulics“. Bill was later also know as “the Leadslinger“, because he was famous for using lead to do all his body work, and especially because of his signature double frenched antenna’s molded-in with a liberal amount of lead, nicely sculptured into the body. Another speciality of Bill was being able to make a workable chopped convertible top. Most often when a convertible was chopped a Carson type padded top was created, but Bill liked the top to fold just like the original did. People from all over the country took their convertible tops to Bill to be chopped.
In the early 1980’s Bill moved to a new shop in Bellflower and continued to work on Customs. He recreated his old 1950 Ford “Li’l Bat” and several other famous Custom Cars. The best recognizable photos of Bill always show him with a big cigar in his mouth, a stick of lead in his right hand and the flaming torch in his left hand. Bill worked every day up to in his 90’s, but was forced to slow down in 2015 when he suffered an heart attack.
Bill Hines passed away peacefully, around 2:10 am on May 20, 2016.
Written by Custom Car Chronicle
http://www.customcarchronicle.com/
Bill Hines was born in Erie, Pennsylvania on March 23, 1922. He spend his childhood in Jackson, tennessee and moved to Detroit in 1932. In 1941 he started to create custom cars out of his own gas station. His first Custom was his own personal 1941 Buick. In the early 1950’s Bill opened his first own customizing and body shop in Detroit and started to create award winning custom cars including the famous “Golden Nugget” 1934 Ford for owner Marty Ribits. Here he also created his personal car the “Li’l Bat“, a chopped 1950 Ford with distinctive bat-wing like rear fenders.
In 1958 Bill moved to California to see if he could find work as a body man. He stayed there for a little while, worked for Barris, but in 1959 he went back to Detroit and worked on Customs for the Alexander Brothers amongst others. Then in 1960 Bill put his Caravan behind his “Li’l Bat” Ford and took his family to moved to California permanently. He started to work for Barris at first and soon would open his own shop next door to famous upholsterer Eddie Martinez where he worked after his Barris hours.
Bill started to experiment with hydraulics around 1962 and installed them for the first time on Tats Gotanda‘s 1959 Chevy the “Buddah Buggy“. Many more would follow and Bill was named “the Godfather of Hydraulics“. Bill was later also know as “the Leadslinger“, because he was famous for using lead to do all his body work, and especially because of his signature double frenched antenna’s molded-in with a liberal amount of lead, nicely sculptured into the body. Another speciality of Bill was being able to make a workable chopped convertible top. Most often when a convertible was chopped a Carson type padded top was created, but Bill liked the top to fold just like the original did. People from all over the country took their convertible tops to Bill to be chopped.
In the early 1980’s Bill moved to a new shop in Bellflower and continued to work on Customs. He recreated his old 1950 Ford “Li’l Bat” and several other famous Custom Cars. The best recognizable photos of Bill always show him with a big cigar in his mouth, a stick of lead in his right hand and the flaming torch in his left hand. Bill worked every day up to in his 90’s, but was forced to slow down in 2015 when he suffered an heart attack.
Bill Hines passed away peacefully, around 2:10 am on May 20, 2016.
Written by Custom Car Chronicle
http://www.customcarchronicle.com/
In 1958 Bill moved to California to see if he could find work as a body man. He stayed there for a little while, worked for Barris, but in 1959 he went back to Detroit and worked on Customs for the Alexander Brothers amongst others. Then in 1960 Bill put his Caravan behind his “Li’l Bat” Ford and took his family to moved to California permanently. He started to work for Barris at first and soon would open his own shop next door to famous upholsterer Eddie Martinez where he worked after his Barris hours.
Bill started to experiment with hydraulics around 1962 and installed them for the first time on Tats Gotanda‘s 1959 Chevy the “Buddah Buggy“. Many more would follow and Bill was named “the Godfather of Hydraulics“. Bill was later also know as “the Leadslinger“, because he was famous for using lead to do all his body work, and especially because of his signature double frenched antenna’s molded-in with a liberal amount of lead, nicely sculptured into the body. Another speciality of Bill was being able to make a workable chopped convertible top. Most often when a convertible was chopped a Carson type padded top was created, but Bill liked the top to fold just like the original did. People from all over the country took their convertible tops to Bill to be chopped.
In the early 1980’s Bill moved to a new shop in Bellflower and continued to work on Customs. He recreated his old 1950 Ford “Li’l Bat” and several other famous Custom Cars. The best recognizable photos of Bill always show him with a big cigar in his mouth, a stick of lead in his right hand and the flaming torch in his left hand. Bill worked every day up to in his 90’s, but was forced to slow down in 2015 when he suffered an heart attack.
Bill Hines passed away peacefully, around 2:10 am on May 20, 2016.
Written by Custom Car Chronicle
http://www.customcarchronicle.com/
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