Look out, George! We got a wild one.

 

Apparently this fellow never actually RESTORED a car or truck of any age. "Just buy parts & bolts them on." What a hoot!!!

I tend toward the other view - "Anyone can customize a car or truck - there's no way to tell if they did it correctly."

Now don't send me any letters or complaints. I didn't start this discussion.


I've been ACTIVELY looking for the correct water pump for my MD 272 for almost six months and I've contacted at least two dozen vendors, etc. Multiply that investment in time by about 200 and you get some idea of what it takes to do a reasonably good restoration.

By the way, anybody have a rebuilt water pump for the MD 272 they want to get rid of? Or even a rebuild kit? This is the engine with the fan bolted directly on the water pump shaft, not the other (far more popular) style with the fan mounted higher on the block on a separate shaft.

 

Computer belch ... ignore it.

 

Hey guys don't get all bent out of shape! My remarks about restoring is just buy & bolt was a tongue in cheek remark. I am well aware of all the hard work & $s it takes to restore any vehicle.
In fact it is probably much harder to get a car or truck back to pristine condition than to put your own spin on one.
I merly enjoyed the sign I saw & it amused me so I posted it here guess some of you fellas are lacking a sense of humor.

 

What? No sense of humor!
Ya better watch your step around here Pilgram.

 

Sorry 'boot that. Sometimes I forget that the young 'uns on the board don't know about some of us crazies and the lapses we have between medication - right Fergie? No sense of humor he says - and I'm doing a stock restoration.

Anyhoo, only thing bent out of shape around here is my sheet metal. I surely appreciate a nicely done custom truck - even if my wife says I have no taste. While I, on the other hand, will have 10,000,000 hours invested along with an unmentionable amount of money in a truck you could buy brand new in 1956 for less than $2000. DOAH!

 

Ok, How's this
If your gonna cut, slice and splice, make it original, there are more than enough "Cookie Cutters" out there.
I saw a F1 with a 46 car front clip on it, looked real nice and I have a 46 front clip including NOS fenders, but it had already been done. I considered using the fenders along with the F1 grill, hood etc., but I just could not bring myself to cut those new fenders. I also briefly considered giving it the "Bob Jones" partial restoration treatment, on his Home Page he has a picture of his panel with the entire roof, from the beltline up removed. that would be a real different treatment.
Whatever ya do, if ya do, make it yours!

 

Without taking this to the extent of a long and tedious survey... one might conclude that we have a fairly conservative consensus here. Otto snagged a dozen trophies with his dresser drawer hardware and bold sheetmetal statements some 41 years ago. Times and style DO change!
Ahh... but the differences... getting away from 4t's "cookie cutters" .... Senor Niolon rightly deduced my method here but its purpose is clear.... Himmelberg doesn't want to be driving ANOTHER red '54. I've convinced myself that the dramatic change in my truck will be in the paint. And every time I see one of those ugly honda suv's I want to scream "DARYL! THIS is the world's UGLIEST truck".
Best. Himmelberg

 

Sorry Peter, but even the Honda Box SUV can't compare to the ugliness of the Pontiac Aztek. Don't want to hurt anybody's feelings, but the Aztecs would be embarrassed just by the similarity in spelling to their great culture's name. I also hear Chief Pontiac is no longer with us - I guess he couldn't bear the shame of it all.

Bwaa haa haa haa!! With this post I'm llmost to my goal of 1 GB of wasted disk space on the FTE server.

 

This reminds me of a time when Butch Miller and I hooked up with some pretty ugly girls back in our single days. We argued for weeks after that extraordinarily low point in our honky tonkin as to which of us had the uglier partner. There is no winner in that type of arguement... but we've been laughing about it for over 20 years. Best. Himmelberg

 

This reminds me of a time when Butch Miller and I hooked up with some pretty ugly girls back in our single days. We argued for weeks after that extraordinarily low point in our honky tonkin as to which of us had the uglier partner. There is no winner in that type of argument... but we've been laughing about it for over 20 years. Best. Himmelberg

 

Whow Flashback, I even subscribed to the principle of "Go ugly early" in an attempt to save money.
Thats low, very low

 

It depends! For me that truck you pictured looks like an attack shark on steriods and it doesn't do it for me. Some of the other examples that were posted look pretty sharp. The beautiful thing about this hobby is that you get to keep some wonderful iron on the road and do something that makes you happy. I guess I'd err on the side of not messing up the original sheet metal to the point that it couldn't be "fixed" but if there's a mod that has become a burning desire by all means let it out - after all it's your truck. My attack shark may well be your trophy mount! Go for it!





Flatheads forever - keep em running!

 

Jeez I step out for a couple months of "It's summertime, and the livin' it easy", check in and what tha...We're pickin' on one of the all time classic designs???
OK. I can't let this slip by without stickin' my nose in. This is just my humble opinion based on too many decades of restos and not enough Kustoms. Even though my truck will remain resto, lately I've been really diggin' the Kustoms (all that residual Kozmoski House Of Kolors is kickin' back in again.) But they gotta be done right. Any bozo with an itchy sawzall finger can create a franken-effie. When hackin', ask yourself, is it right? Originally the tall greenhouse balances the nose. Too much off the top and now we've got Jimmy Durant. Remove the bug eyes and now you've got a hoover. With a chop top I know why they pinched the bottom of the grill, and I guess that's better than movin' the front axle ahead 4" to minimize the nose. It's all about balance, and that's why the best lookin' ones are also sectioned.
Anyway, I vote you go for it. It's too bad you live so far away. Around Austin/San Antonio Kustom's have been makin' a big comeback in the last 5 years. Cruising 15 years ago in my '59 Lesabre Convert people either loved it or violently hated it. Now it's all thumbs up. For the non-believers check out the pictures and videos from the Lone Star Round Ups:
http://www.lonestarroundup.com/
"Fish are jumpin'...and the cotton is high...."
Brett

 

....so here I was, cruising thru the boards and seeing what was happening before I joined. I found this post of Sin or Salvation and have to add my $.02....

Kustomizing is just another medium for expression. I'll admit that alot of full kustoms weren't very pretty, but were very popular nonetheless. I have met Barris, Winfield, Bailon, the Alexander Bros., etc, and appreciate what they did.

Himmel - What's your email, and I'll shoot you some concept pics of my own Effie! Daryl.....I don't know if you could handle it, so I won't post them here!

The reason I like old ars/trucks is for the art involved in creating a metal sculpture and then making it go fast! But I don't think Detroit always had the final say in what looked the best. That's why we do all this frenching, shaving, etc. What's the difference between this truck and a purist freaking out over the addition of a '72 Chevy tilt column in our Ford? No matter how you view it, it's a change, a customized touch by the owner mainly for koolness.

With few exceptions, stockers, kustoms, hot rods and in some cases street rods are all okay with me!

And Mr4speed - Barris did the Wildcat that did in fact get burned up in a shop fire in December '57. He also did the Rod & Custom Dream Truck, along with several other famous builders of the time. That truck was built with input from all the readers on the custom touches they wanted to see done, then shown how in R & C. It was destroyed in a rollover in '58, but is being restored! WOO HOO!

- Six