Words: Chadly Johnson
We’ve all heard the expression that a cat has nine lives. I feel the same way about stories of old customs that have been extensively modified time and time again over the years, reemerging each time as altered versions of their former selves. I often wonder how much of the original car still exists underneath all the welds, lead and body filler. Some of these old customs have quite a story to tell, and when I spotted the Miss Taboo ‘56 Chevy and saw its history laid out in vintage photos, I knew I had to learn its tale.
All customs have to start out stock at some point, and Miss Taboo began life as a mint green 150 base model police car. The ‘56 was the personal car of the head sheriff of Washington County in Oregon. The car was bone stock in appearance; not your typical black and white, but it did still have a light on its roof for official police duty. Since the sheriff received a new car every year, the ‘56 was traded in on the next year’s model at Hamby Chevrolet in Beaverton, OR, where it was purchased by a young Ron Lutz for $1502.00.
Ron drove the ‘56 to high school and quickly began some minor customizing with Lancer hubcaps, lake pipes and a lowering attitude adjustment. One night while Ron was working on the Chevy, his father came out steaming mad and told Ron it was taboo to be cutting up a virtually new car. The name stuck… Miss Taboo was born. In late 1959, Ron took the Chevy to Burns Auto Body shop, where it received heavier custom treatments popular in the era, including having the 150 trim removed and replaced with ‘56 Bel Air trim, having the door handles shaved, being nosed and decked, getting a tube grille and then finally being painted Dodge Lancer blue. Sounds pretty sweet, huh? Image being a high school kid and rolling this beauty into the parking lot! Well, that is exactly what I’m sure Ron was itching to do, but he only made it two blocks away from the body shop when an old lady pulled out in front of him and he t-boned her with the Chevy, completely taking the nose off the car.
The freshly completed and now smashed ‘56 was dragged back to the body shop. Since the front nose was in need of replacing, and there was no reason to go back to original on a car getting customized, another series of work was performed, including: 19 teeth from a ‘54 Chevy being added to the grille, ‘59 Chevy Impala bumpers front and rear and ‘59 lower roll pans that were shorted 3 inches. The ‘56 was back on the road looking sexier than ever, and Ron even hopped up the engine a bit to match the rest of the car with a tri-power, finned valve covers and some internal “go fast” parts. Miss Taboo was looking so good, in fact, that it was photographed and published on the cover of Rod & Custom magazine in May of 1960 along with a ‘58 Chevy convertible belonging to Ron’s buddy.
Shortly after the magazine shoot, Miss Taboo suffered another collision, this one taking out the passenger front end. Once again, since the work needed to be performed already, the opportunity was taken to make a few changes, this time in the form of ‘60 Chrysler headlights giving the Chevy a unique appearance. Did I mention something already about customs having nine lives?
Ron was very active in the show scene in the Pacific Northwest, collecting many trophies at major shows and bragging rights as points champion. The custom was also shown in the competition custom class as Ron began to actively drag race Miss Taboo. In 1964 Ron began a family, which resulted in the sale of his prized 56 Chevy… a reoccurring theme with many young car builders. Through the balance of the 1960s and into the ‘70s, Miss Taboo was owned by several parties around the local Beaverton area. At some point the custom was painted black with a red interior and received a 4-speed.
In the late ‘70s, local car fanatic CJ Carlile, who was a longtime fan, of Miss Taboo got word that a woman in downtown Portland was using the ‘56 as a daily commuter car for her job as a bartender. CJ went down to find the Chevy, and when he did his heart sank – it had been in a wreck yet again and the lead and bondo work were showing heavily through the black paint. Regardless of its dismal appearance, CJ knew he was capable of saving the once proud show car – so much so that he sold his 1965 corvette to raise the money to purchase Miss Taboo.
CJ was true to his word and brought the Chevy back to a nice driver level show car. CJ built a fresh engine topped with a 6 deuce running Stomberg 97s, and laid down fresh coats of black paint. Miss Taboo returned to the show scene and once again collected many show wins over the next decade. In the late 1980s, Ron Lutz spotted Miss Taboo and wanted the car back, especially due to the fact that Ron’s brother was ill and he hoped to see the car returned to his family. CJ agreed to sell Miss Taboo back to Ron with the agreement that he would have first chance to buy it if was to be sold again.
Ron left the Chevy alone for around a year, but then got the itch to modify it further. Miss Taboo was taken down to bare metal, the doors and hood were given suicide treatments and the trunk was pancaked. Side pipes were molded into the rocker panels, scoops molded into the roof and the stock dash heavily modified. The front bench seat was replaced with buckets and a custom console constructed with side opening cabinets. The Chevy was then shot in coats of blue paint with purple scallops. In retrospect, Miss Taboo’s new makeover was very 1990s!
After a number of years, Ron’s brother passed away and Ron’s own health began to decline, resulting in Miss Taboo being parked in a barn. Ron reached out to CJ, holding up his end of the deal to offer him Miss Taboo if the time came to sell. CJ asked what it was going to cost to get the custom back, and Ron stated the same price for which he’d sold it, which CJ gladly accepted.
Miss Taboo came home once again to CJ’s shop and sat for around a month as CJ and his grandson Dalton laid out a game plan. The pair gutted the mouse infested interior and replaced it with front and rear seats from a 1960 T-bird. The console was removed and the dash reworked to remove some of the ‘90s ugly, but it retained a heavily customized appearance with era Stewart Warner gauges. The molded side pipes were removed and stock rocker panels welded into place. The scoops were removed from the roof and the roof repaired, as it was severely warped from its earlier modifications. A ‘59 Impala rear scoop was added; the pair wanted a ‘58 scoop, but no one will let you cut up a ‘58 anymore to only steal the scoop. The hood hinges were reworked and the radiator core support reconstructed to allow the hood to open in its factory configuration, but also to remain pancaked. The reworked body was then painted in the beautiful blue you see before you by CJ, and accented by freshly plated bright work.
The engine in Miss Taboo was still the one CJ dropped in it years ago, and had very few miles on it. The mill was bored .030 over and given full race cams and gear drive. Topping off the mildly rebuilt engine is once again a 6 deuce, but this time CJ adapted it to run 2C Rochester carbs. The engine was then backed by a Muncie M20 4-speed. The Chevy’s suspension was left basically stock- with cut coils and lowering blocks along with drum brakes all around. Nearly all the work performed on Miss Taboo was carried out by CJ and Dalton in CJ’s home garage.
Initially I thought Ron had taken Miss Taboo back to a certain year and style that he liked the most, but the actual plan was to create a new version of how the car may have looked if it continued to be modified slowly over time, with a line being drawn around 1963 or ‘64. Miss Taboo’s current and gorgeous appearance was finished in 2014. CJ and Dalton cherish the time they spent together bringing this amazing old custom back to life, and one thing is for certain: Miss Taboo has found a family for life. Dalton will inherit Miss Taboo and pass his love and knowledge of cars down to his children just as his grandfather did for him, and that is an amazing thing. As I mentioned, old customs can be like cats, and Miss Taboo has used up several of her nine lives, but she has a whole lot of life left in her.
