D'Agostino's first custom was a '56 Chevy hardtop that was lowered, molded, and painted in a two-tone royal triton purple and white by Frank DeRosa in Pittsburg. John was driving his kustom to high school and showing it at local shows. When he attended college in Phoenix, Arizona, he drove a mildly customized pearl white and gold '63 Pontiac Grand Prix, cruising the streets with cool tunes spun on his 45-rpm record player, which was installed in the car.

Just before leaving college, however, John ordered a brand new '70 Pontiac Grand Prix and took it straight to Art Himsl in Concord, California, to be customized. It was first shown at the '70 Oakland Roadster Show, where it won "OUTSTANDING CUSTOM." The car was lowered, molded, and painted different shades of candy gold and tangerine. Even in those early days, this car had D'Agostino's trademark, chromed wire wheels. He showed the Pontiac at all the ISCA shows on the West Coast during 1970 and 1971 (about 14 shows in all).

After owning two older-style customs, a black '49 Olds Coupe and a '60 Buick in midnight blue pearl Invicta, John got another new car, a '72 Buick Riviera "Boattail" that he took to Himsl for some wild customizing. "This time, I had a top designer sketch an artist's rendering of the car for me, before we got started," says John. Among the modifications were the grille, headlights, taillights, and the wheel wells, which were radiused and flared. Art Himsl and Mike Hass also painted the Buick in candy red metalflake, toned to different shades of tangerine with silver scallops. It was awarded "INTERNATIONAL CLASS CHAMPION" in the full custom category in the 1972-73 season. "I can remember taking pictures alongside baseball great Reggie Jackson in front of the Buick at the San Mateo show that year" says John. "Customs were scarce in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I showed my customized Lincoln '72 Mark IV that was built at Himsl's Custom Paint Studio in Concord, California. The Lincoln was sold right out of the Oakland show to a Lincoln dealer in San Francisco."

In the summer of 1973, John spent some time with car customizer Bill Hines and his son Mike in Los Angeles. One night they took John to see the movie American Graffiti. "I immediately wanted a custom '51 Mercury," he says. He found one nearly restored in nearby Concord, but the car was so nice that he simply finished the restoration and showed it for the first time at the 1973 Santa Rosa Autorama. He decided to buy another Mercury to customize; this one was owned by a fireman in Castro Valley, CA, and would later become the "Midnight Sensation." D'Agostino took that Merc to Rod Powell's shop in Salinas, California, for a top chop--the first such surgery on a Merc that was done at Powell's. Next John took the Merc to Bill Hines' shop in Bellflower, California, for a lowering job. At the shop he decided to have some additional customizing work done, including the installation of a '54 Pontiac grille, '52 Lincoln taillights, and '53 Buick teardrop headlights. "With all the work done and the car in white primer," John recalls, "I remember cruising down to the parking lot at the 1975 Oakland Roadster Show, then finding the car surrounded by people." Chopped Mercs were very rare to see at the time. The car was garaged and later sold to Harry Craycroft.

After the '82 Oakland show, John owned and showed the custom Winfield-built '58 Chrysler "Golden Sunrise." "It just happened that I traded the Chrysler to Harry later for my old Merc," he says. The "Midnight Sensation" was taken back to Powell's again to be completed and painted. With a candy ultraviolet and lavender pearl paint job and a new Kenny Foster sculptured interior, it finally made its debut at the November 1983 San Francisco Rod & Custom show. Later, at the '84 Oakland show, the "Midnight Sensation" won several top awards, including the Sam Barris Memorial Award, presented at the Sacramento Autorama.

D'Agostino's next custom, which was also a hit on the show circuit, was a Bill Reasoner-built '53 Merc named "The Royal Tahitian." It was a mild custom with a candy apple red paint job, and it won "Best of Show" at the popular West Coast Customs Paso Robles show in 1986. John showed it at the '87 Sacramento Autorama before trading it for the Gene Winfield-built '56 Merc, "Jade Idol." "We traded right after the awards ceremony at the show," says John, "and it was a childhood dream to drive the Idol home that foggy Sunday night. I could not wait to call Winfield Monday morning about it." The plan was to have Winfield redo the car exactly like it was when he built it in the late '50s.

John never got around to doing that because he was building his next big winner at the time, a '40 Merc Coupe called "Stardust" that was customized and painted by Bill Reasoner. The "Jade Idol" was later sold to a guy back East, where it remains today. "Stardust" made its debut at the 1988 Oakland show and went on to win many awards, including "Best of Show" at the Paso Robles Show and the "Sam Barris Memorial Award" at the Sacramento Autorama. It eventually ended up at Harrah's Museum in Reno, Nevada, where it was displayed for a few years before it was sold. It was last seen at the "Men and Machines" exhibition at the Oakland Museum in 1996.

The next D'Agostino winner at Oakland was a a '56 Lincoln built by Winfield and Reasoner called "The Royal Empress." This won the Al Slonaker Award at the 1991 Oakland show and was chosen for the Harry Bradley Design Achievement Award at the Leadsled Spectacular the same year. Bill Abate of New Jersey now owns the Lincoln. In 1993, John debuted the '57 Cadillac Eldorado "Starfire" at the Oakland show. John first took it to Farcello's Kustom Creations in Reno, Nevada, to have it chopped and then Bill Hines finished it in lead before he painted it in the fabulous candy apple red, with crushed diamonds for Mrs. D'Agostino. The interior was done in a pearl white tuck and roll by interior specialist Eddie Martinez of Bellflower, California. The "Starfire" won Best of Show at the 1993 Paso Robles show and chosen by Mattel for the 40th Anniversary Legends signature series of Hot Wheels.

In 1995, John had two new customs built for the show circuit. John Aiello and Darryl Hollenbeck of Sahagon's in Concord built the '57 Lincoln "Royal Emperor," painted in shades of mint green pearl and candy organic green by Hall of Famer Gene Winfield. The car won the "Sam Barris Award" that year and "Best of Show" at the Paso Robles show. The "Royal Emperor" was sent on a Northern European tour the following year garnishing every major custom award. The second custom was a '61 Olds, "Golden Starfire," which was a mildly customized vehicle in the '60s style and painted in a candy pagan gold color by Hollenbeck. The car is now on display at Klassix Auto Museum in Daytona Beach, Florida. 

1997 was a repeat of 1995, with two more customs built. This time a radical "concept style" '57 Chrysler Imperial called the "Imperial Royale" with Acme Customs in Antioch and Gene Winfield teaming up to build a new winner. It won the "Harry Bradley Design Achievement Award" at the Sacramento Autorama in 1997, as well as the "Goodguys Custom d'Elegance of the Year Award." Shown along with the Imperial at the Sacramento Autorama was a chopped '61 Thunderbird named "Firestar" painted candy apple red with gold scallops by Marcos Garcia of the Lucky 7 Custom Shop in Antioch, California. The T-bird was shipped to Europe and Sweden, where it went on an extensive show tour and was then shipped back to America in 2002 to be on display at the memorable "Kustom With a K" display at the world famous Petersen Museum in Los Angeles.

1998 brought two more Cadillac customs. "Marilyn" was a '53 Eldorado Biarritz with a chopped Carson top built by John Aiello. It was painted by Darryl Hollenbeck in a light yellow pearl with golden highlights. The interior was done in a shell white Swedish Elmo leather and gold brocade inserts. This Caddy won many awards including "World's Most Beautiful Custom" at the 1998 Sacramento show, as well as First in Class at Oakland, Sacramento, and Portland, and Best Paint and Interior at many of the shows. "Marilyn" was sold to an Australian at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance Auction (Christies) in 1999 for $150,000. The second Cadillac that year was a '57 Biarritz that was named "Cool 57." The car was first customized by Gene Winfield for a Hollywood movie producer but was never finished, so John and A&A bought it and took it to the Acme Boys in Antioch. Darryl Hollenbeck painted the Caddy in a House of Kolor candy magenta and Greg Philbrick and Ken Whisler in Pittsburg finished it off with a pearl white interior in Swedish Elmo leather. This Caddy also won its share of awards.

For the 1999 show season, John was back to a Lincoln again with a full-size '58 Continental Mark III named "Cool Cadinental" which was customized at Acme Custom Cars in Antioch. Darryl Hollenbeck painted it in shades of a kustom mixed DuPont Ice Blue Pearl. Bob Divine stitched the handcrafted interior. During the last few years, Air-Ride Technologies suspensions have been a major part of creative customizing, and John was one of the first to install it on his customs. This new Lincoln made its debut at the 50th Grand National Roadster Show in San Francisco and won plenty of awards. This kustom was toured extensively throughout Europe in 2000.

For the 2000 Grand National Roadster Show, John introduced two more Cadillacs, with a '54 Coupe DeVille called "CAD STAR" as his own new car. Again it was built by Aiello and the two legends, Gene Winfield and Frank DeRosa. Winfield painted the Caddy in a color-shifting House of Kolor lime gold candy color with another Divine kustom interior. It won the prestigious "Joe Bailon Elegance Award." The second Caddy was a project called "The Cadster" and was built by A&A, Slawinski, DeRosa, and D'Agostino and painted by Art Himsl. It started out as a '59 Caddy Coupe DeVille but restyled to look like a Motorama Concept Kustom of the '50s. It is now a wild two-seated roadster with a shorter wheelbase and chopped top and sectioned body. It was a major award-winner throughout the 2000 season capturing the "World's Most Beautiful Custom" title. Both the "CAD STAR" and "Cadster" are now touring the Eastern United States and were previously on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Christies of Beverly Hills has been commissioned to auction the "Cadster" at Pebble Beach in August 2003.

For 2001, the 1967 Continental kustom, "Golden Sunset," is his latest. It features a chopped top and many Kustom bodywork modifications by Oz's Kustoms of Oroville, CA. DeRosa's Customs of Pittsburg performed all the body finishing. It features a House of Kolor blended candy copper to white pearl kustom paint by Winfield and a sculptured interior by Bob Divine of Martinez, CA. It won the Joe Bailon Elegance Award already plus many other major awards. It was chosen by Rod & Custom Magazine (Top 10) Automobiles for 2001.

You can see most of John D'Agostino's Kustoms on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles and Darryl Starbird's Hall of Fame Museum in Afton, Oklahoma. John is a lifetime member of the West Coast Kustoms, Kustoms of America, and the Kustom Kemps of America.

John has new kustom car plans going on at all times. All new for the 2002 show circuit is a 1956 Packard called the "Caribbean." It features kustom bodywork by Oz's Kustoms of Oroville, CA, that includes a 4 inch chop top, a 4 inch section and much more extensive body modifications. The beautiful House of Kolor paint was applied by Marcos Garcia of the Lucky 7 Custom Shop in Antioch, CA. It was sprayed in shades of pink pearl with magenta ice pearl scallops. The sculptured kustom interior is done in Italian leather with velvet from Switzerland accents by Divine's Custom Interiors of Martinez, CA.

The "Caribbean" has captured many prestigious awards, such as the Joe Bailon Miss Elegance Award and the Gene Winfield Custom d'Elegance Award, along with many color design and paint awards, just to name a few. You can see the "Caribbean" at many upcoming east coast shows in 2002-2003. Refer to www.worldofwheels.com. It is now on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, as of June 2003. The "Caribbean" went on a world tour in 2004 and then premiered at the grand opening of the trendy Von Dutch Originals fashion design clothing store in Hollywood, CA.

In March 2002, there was a special tribute from Mattel Hot Wheels, honoring a two car set of John's past kustom cars, that will be sold worldwide. Look for more honoring John's past and present Kustoms from Mattel!

New for the 2003 show circuit is a 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham with kustom bodywork at Oz's Kustoms, named "Emerald Mist."  Originally these rare automobiles were the highest priced luxury vehicles in the world. Only 702 were built in 1957 and 1958. This mildly kustomized "Brougham" was awarded the Joe Bailon D'Elegance and the Larry Watson Color and Design Award in 2003. 

Plans for 2004 include another celebrity star kar called "Gable" in memory of Hollywood movie actor Clark Gable. It's a 1941 Packard restyled like a Pebble Beach Hollywood Kustom. "Gable" was a major award winner throughout 2004 and was on display at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles.

Also in 2004, a radically kustomized 1967 Cadillac Eldorado named the "El Conquistador" will debut. John is being honored as "Trendsetter of the Year" at the San Francisco Rod & Custom Show in January 2004. Many of John's past and present Kustoms will be on display, including the debut of another joint venture with A&A (a chopped, channeled, and sectioned) 1955 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz convertible named "Elmerado."

New for 2005 is a 1966 Oldsmobile "Dynamic" 88 that will be mildly kustomized by Oz's Kustoms that was awarded the Joe Bailon Award of Elegance at this year's Sacramento Autorama.

NEWSFLASH!!! Three (3) new kustoms debuted in January 2005 at the San Francisco Rod & Custom Show: "Elmerado" wins BIG at the show; the "Venturian," a mildly kustomized lavender pearl 1966 Oldsmobile; and the "Venician," a semi-kustom yellow and peach pearl 1964 Oldsmobile. All three drew a lot of attention at this prestigious show.

A 1957 Oldsmobile Super 88 called "Golden Star" will be radically kustomized by Oz's Kustoms when it makes its debut in 2006.

Also in 2006 are plans for another celebrity star car, a tribute to "Elvis," the World's First $1,000,000 Kustom by D'Agostino, a 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Seville Cabriolet. This kustom is a tribute to Elvis Presley's love for Cadillacs and the American automobile. This is D'Agostino's 1st Signature Series with his gold inlaid diamond studded badges. For more information on this one-of-a-kind D'Agostino Kustom, click here.

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