5 questions with Wilson Murphy / Misled Youth
Myself and Wilson have known of each other for what id say is a few years now via BMX, photos, making clothing and then cars. I have always admired the quality photos Wilson is able to produce via the film format. Seeing him slowly transition into the hot rodding/kustom culture has always been so sick to see. It’s something I never thought I would have any interest in and thought it was always somewhat for the older crowd but seeing other young people keeping it alive via the new generation is very inspiring and has me sitting here dreaming of building some sort of old school gasser haha. After thinking about the whole culture I can see so much crossover between the ideology of creating period correct cars regardless of era weather they be Japanese or American and Australian.
I hope you enjoy reading this interview as much as I did. So without further ado here is 5 questions with Wilson Murphy / Misled youth.
First things first, what was your initial introduction to cars?
Hot wheels. That’s gotta be what started it, always obsessed with finding the coolest cars and pretending to go cruising. Then as a teenager riding bmx I was always taking photos of that and anything else I found interesting. Always wanted to shoot photos of cool cars, was always going to drift things at Calder park and any car shows I could and started to meet people who were more into cars. Slowly drifted away from Japanese cars and into older American stuff, which is where Misled Youth all share the common passion of pre ‘65 hot rods and kustoms.
That being said, what are you driving or working on currently?
Currently working on my ‘65 XM Falcon. Given lots of things a refresh and nearly completed a paint job on it after it had been sitting in a shed for 10 years. It was used as a Variety Bash rally car before I got it so it was lifted on big mud tyres and had all sorts of lights and sirens and shit hanging off it. Pretty much turning it into the opposite car, lowered, plenty of chrome bits and white walls. Also just picked up a ‘62 Chevy C10 which I’m hoping to use as a daily to beat on and have some fun cruising in. Between the Misled Youth we are working on and cruising XP & XY falcons, ‘34 Ford coupe, model a Ford roadsters, ‘58 Edsels, ‘32 Ford roadsters, t model roadster and more. Plus cars that some good friends let us drive around!
So what to you is Misled Youth and what is the motivation behind it?
Misled Youth is a group of friends who are all into pre ‘65 hot rod and kustoms. We take inspiration from the old hot rod and kustom clubs in the 50s and 60s who customised cars together often on low budgets, all for the fun of it. There’s not many young people who are into cars from 90 years ago, especially in Australia. We want to continue to put out traditionally styled custom cars and show other people young and old how cool it is.
What can we expect to see from Misled Youth in the near or far future?
Hopefully some more old cars on the road haha. We’re putting lots of work into some cars between us so hopefully in the near future we’ve got more cars to cruise! We’re just here to have fun with it, cruise some old cars and take some neat photos while doing it! And hopefully encourage more young people to get into it, if you find old cars cool it’s not too hard or too expensive if you’re willing to give stuff a go. There’s plenty of helpful people in the scene who want to keep this old culture alive.
Finally, any last words or shoutouts?
A huge thank you to anyone that supports us, whether it’s helping source parts for 60+ year old cars, teaching us the ways of putting together old shit or even just being stoked seeing young people into cars. We see it and we appreciate it. Big thanks to anyone who’s let us steal their hot rod or old car to cruise in. Big love to MISLED YOUTH.
- All photos via Wilson Murphy
-Shinzo Garage 🤍