Born in Pittsburg, California, and now residing in Discovery Bay, California, John D’Agostino got into building and customizing model cars when he was a child. John was lucky because his hometown of Pittsburg and nearby Antioch were hot spots for custom cars when he grew up. Cars built by Barris, Bailon, Winfield and others showed up at the local Hazel’s and Panther drive-ins through the 1950s and 1960s.
Inspired by the works of Barris, Winfield, Hines, Starbird, and Watson, 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). (continued)
MIKE, JOHN: I’ve got our crew holding Mar. 4 for cover shoot, pending confirmation from you guys. The phone number listed on this site is disconnected, and Tracy directory assistance has nothing under Celebrity. Help! -DW
I’ve sent a note to John, hopefully he gets back to me soon 🙂
Hey John, it’s Randy Kerdoon from KNX 1070 and the Talking About Cars podcast! Interviewed you at Barrett-Jackson with Elvis 3 this past January….wanted to let you know your interview is going up on our podcast on iTunes and Soundcloud Friday morning (6/17/2016) around 7a-9a PT. with our interview of Mike Joy from Barrett-Jackson & Fox Sports! Anything your “people” could do to help promote it on social media, word of mouth…or anything you could do! thanks and enjoy!
I’m trying to find out of John built a 1961 Oldsmobile. A guy is trying to sell one that supposedly has John’s signature on the dash dated 2007. It’s a gold with white leather interior. Please let me know ASAP if this is John’s car. It has a Barrett Jackson tag on the back.
JOHN: Please contact chuck dybdal. Tommy Nunnelly sent some information about you for a bio to be placed on the Pittsburg Entertainment & Arts Hall of Fame website, and I need you to approve it before we put it up…contact me at ced30@aol.com or (925) 642-7321. Think Tommy was inspired because Frank DeRosa has been voted into our Hall of Fame this year…you can check out his and over 100 other bios of Pittsburg artists at http://www.pittsburgentertainmentandarts.org…thanks