'57 Thunderbird Mild Custom - Completed 08/19 with a TEASER

[Bernard Kron]

There are several iconic 50's American cars that I consider real high water marks and that I've wanted to customize from the perspective of "purifying" the design, focusing on the underlying vision and cleaning up and simplifying the elaborations that are necessary when adapting the design to production requirements and street-running realities.

Here's the first of them, the '57 Thunderbird. It's obviously heavily influenced by the Pininfarina Ferraris:

(click on picture for larger image)

And of course the uniquely American style of the first T-Birds went on to influence the Italians in turn, especially the '57 'Bird. So I thought I'd do this one from that perspective.

The question is just how much I emphasize the sportscar thing. I'm removing all the bumpers, fake vents, door handles and trim, and integrating the grill into the front end. In addition I'm adding a more aggressive and functional looking hood scoop. And finally the car has been lowered to create a more idealized presentation of its graceful lines. Tacking closer to a sportscar theme would involve leaving the rear wheels exposed rather than skirted, but the skirts show off the American "dream car" aspect of the design. On the "sportscar" side I'd go with blackwall tires and wires or mags, whereas with a more custom car aspect I'd go with some sort of whitewalls, maybe pinwalls, and perhaps chromed hubcaps. During the "golden age" of customizing both themes were popular among customizers when doing T-Birds or 'Vettes.

What say you?

Thanx for lookin' and any thoughts,

B.

Edited August 19, 2010 by gbk1

[Outspoken]

on the skirt / no skirt issue you could always do what I do when faced with that very same decision and cant convince myself of a direction --- go with 1/2skirts. You know take the stock skirts and section them to around 1/2 their original size. Best of both worlds american style and itallian sport.

[sjordan2]

A couple of shots of interest..

1. A 1954 T-Bird concept by John Samsen

2. A 1956 Ferrari 250 GT by Boano, mostly notable for the weird tailfins. I think yours is going to look better, but there are some interesting details here.

Edited July 22, 2010 by sjordan2

[whale392]

Personal opinion here, but as long as you are at the 'smoothing', why not extend and blend the tailfin line all the way up into the front fender instead of where it terminates in front of the door-handle now? Maybe even slightly reduce the height of the tailfin to create some smoothness? Fenderskirts in, but smoothed to look like part of the body; headlight and taillight housings sharing the same slant angle (albiet reversed) and a hare more of a rake to the windshield and shallower side-glass profile.

Edited July 22, 2010 by whale392

[sjordan2]

Whale392 has some excellent suggestions, some of which seem to echo what's going on with the Ferrari Boano. But I think the question is, what particular look are you going for? The way it could have been done in 1957, or a modern custom?

[Raul_Perez]

Since you asked...here's the two thing's I'd consider:

1) Remove about 25 to 30% of the bottom edge of the windshield;

2) Add a small set of dual humps/headrests behind the seats that extend back and fade into the trunk.

But only because you asked!

Keep up the GREAT work!!

Later,

[Bernard Kron]

Thanx for all the input, guys. Just what I was looking for.

A couple of shots of interest..

1. A 1954 T-Bird concept by John Samsen

2. A 1956 Ferrari 250 GT by Boano, ...

... I think the question is, what particular look are you going for? The way it could have been done in 1957, or a modern custom

Skip, the pics are great. I'd never researched the real story behind the T-Bird and so didn't know about John Samsen. Looks like my theory about T-Birds and Ferraris is less a case of emulation and more a case of contemporary thinking at the time since it appears that the first sketches and concepts for the 'Bird were done in '52, but certainly the '57 facelift has got to have been influenced by the Italians. The Boano car is so typical of Boano's work, lots of neat details but always a bit off in terms of proportion and stance. I think that picture has me leading towards keeping the skirts!

....as long as you are at the 'smoothing', why not extend and blend the tailfin line all the way up into the front fender instead of where it terminates in front of the door-handle now? Maybe even slightly reduce the height of the tailfin to create some smoothness? Fenderskirts in, but smoothed to look like part of the body; headlight and taillight housings sharing the same slant angle (albeit reversed) and a hare more of a rake to the windshield and shallower side-glass profile.

Bradley, I am looking at smoothing things out a bit but I like the detail of the fin terminating in that little scooped panel that contains the door handle. While I've removed the door handle I'm going to keep the scoop. As I said above, I'm as much motivated by trying to clean up and "perfect" this classic design as by a desire to create a radical custom, so in this sense I may actually be leaning more contemporary. ...

...But there are aspects of a full custom that intrigue me. Raul, I think I will be looking at cutting down the windshield since, after lowering the car and removing the visual weight from the ends by deleting the bumpers, the windshield looks a little bit goofy and too tall. This will probably include increasing the rake of the windshield a little bit. The headrests occurred to me. Obviously, this starts to take me down the custom car/dream car end of things. We'll see...

Anyway, this is just the sort of input I was looking for. It's really helping me get focused on my intentions for the final result.

Thanx again!

B.

Edited July 23, 2010 by gbk1

[sjordan2]

Here is a very sleek, updated '57 T-Bird, with a very well-written description about the approach...

http://customrodder.automotive.com/12703/0603cr-1957-ford-t-bird/index.html

[Bernard Kron]

Here is a very sleek, updated '57 T-Bird, with a very well-written description about the approach...

Thanx Skip. Yeah, I saw this one while I was scouring the web for customized '57s. Surprisingly few of them... This one really nails the modern resto-customized look and is a very sensitive updating of the original. It gave me the assurance that shaving the "louvers" and straightening the character line would work out. The back end with the body color pan and stock shaped bumper is especially successful.

Edited July 23, 2010 by gbk1

[Harry P.]

Here is a very sleek, updated '57 T-Bird, with a very well-written description about the approach...

http://customrodder....bird/index.html

That's a real beauty! However, I would have gone with modern, back-slanted A pillars and not the typical '50ish "wraparound" winsdhield and reverse-slant pillars.

[Raul_Perez]

...Raul, I think I will be looking at cutting down the windshield since, after lowering the car and removing the visual weight from the ends by deleting the bumpers, the windshield looks a little bit goofy and too tall. This will probably include increasing the rake of the windshield a little bit. The headrests occurred to me. Obviously, this starts to take me down the custom car/dream car end of things. We'll see...

Bernard,

If you cut down the windshield, you could go with a small set of headrests without being too obnoxiously large or custom...

Later,

[Bernard Kron]

Thanx for all the input, guys. I may not have agreed with every detail, but it really helped me in deciding what I wanted to do with this build. Looks like I'm settled on a path now.

I finished the bodywork on this thing and shot the base coat of gold for what will be a candy orange mist paint job. There are still some scratches and blemishes on the base coat to work through but, weather permitting, I should start on the color coats in the next day or two. Even though there’s quite a bit of cutting and chopping and molding on this build, the approach I’ve taken is actually quite conservative. As a result I’ve decided to go with more of a competition/custom look, almost as if this was the prototype Ford would have shown in ’56 before releasing the ’57 facelift. For the racing car keynote I’m using a set of Halibrand 4-hole kidney bean mags of the type seen on the ’57 Reventlow Scarab. I got them a couple of years ago from Replicas and Miniature of Maryland. They’ll be finished in Aluminum Plate Testors Metalizer and buffed out bright. But for a custom flavor I’ve decided to run a set of pinners. The question is red or white. The white shows up better but the red has a more sober competition vibe. I’m thinking white but I could be talked into the reds…

Here are some pics of the car in gold basecoat with the molding work in the nose and tail finished up, showing the overall lines of the car the way it will look with the final color coat. I will be running a cut down windscreen and some sort of variation on the stock interior. The motor will be the stock motor with a mild hop up.

Thanx for lookin’

B.

Edited August 9, 2010 by gbk1

[crazyjim]

I like the look without the bumpers.

[Jim Gibbons]

I vote for the redline tires, for the only reason that I still have an original redline Hot Wheels '57 TBird I had as a kid. It sounds like your orange mist paint job will be close to my version. I have to dig it out and take a pic.

[Modellpularn]

Looks pretty good so far, but it looks like you need to do some more filling and sanding in order to get that perfect base. Candy is unforgiving if the base coat isn't perfect....

[Bernard Kron]

Thanx everyone!

Looks pretty good so far, but it looks like you need to do some more filling and sanding in order to get that perfect base. Candy is unforgiving if the base coat isn't perfect....

Thanx Hans. I am spending some time getting the last of the imperfections out of the gold base. Gold is very unforgiving. It shows absolutely everything. It's almost as if you get the base coat right you are very far along towards getting the rest of the paint right. I'm also shooting some test color shots which I'll post later.

[Raul_Perez]

I like to look of it without the bumpers, too!

I'd go with the redlines...they'll look good with the paint scheme you're planning.

Without the windshield, it almost looks like its ready for the salt flats!!

Later,

[Bernard Kron]

I like to look of it without the bumpers, too!

I'd go with the redlines...they'll look good with the paint scheme you're planning.

Without the windshield, it almost looks like its ready for the salt flats!!

Later,

Thanx Raul. This is turning out to be a pretty mild custom, just a reduction to the basic lines. I agree, it's mighty tempting to cobble up some sort of tonneau cover and a low screen and call it good!

Just a minor update. First a test shot. The Duplicolor Orange Mist Metallic is on the left and is the color I'll be using. The one on the the right was my other choice, Duplicolor Cayenne Red but I've already got too many red cars. Both are shot over Duplicolor Gold and have two coats of Krylon Crystal Clear acrylic.

And some progress shots with the gold base finessed and polished. As is obvious there are still some spots that are being worked. Gold paint shows up absolutely everything! I also painted the wheels in Testors Buffable Plate Aluminum and mocked up the stock windshield with the chrome surround. It actually looks pretty good to my eyes, but I'm still considering a cut down windscreen. I would like to find a way to preserve the chrome frame, however.

Thanx for lookin',

B.

Edited August 10, 2010 by gbk1

[Raul_Perez]

I like both colors!! They really pop!!

Keep working the basecoat. Once you've got it in order, the final coat should lay down really nicely.

It's amazing how much the windshield changes the look of the car!!

Later,

[W-409]

Great job on the modifications, car is looking very very nice just right now, when you paint the final colour on it, this car would look still better! Good job, I vote for redline tires, whitewall tires are so often used that redlines would be a good change... Keep on the good work!

[Bernard Kron]

Thanx guys!

Got the color down and work done on the interior. Here's an outdoor picture of the body with a true representation of the color:

I think I'm sticking with the stock windshield, it goes with the conservative modifications I've made. Unfortunately the interior needs to be fully assembled and glued together in order to sit properly in the body and I don't want to do that yet because I have to foil the dashboard section. As result the windshield, which rests on the dash, sits a bit cockeyed in my mockups. Here are a coupla indoor pics, front and rear:

And for some reason I'm still considering the red pinners even though my eye tells me they just won't show like the white ones. So here is another, by now ritualistic, comparison. Opinions welcome...

Thanx for lookin',

B.

[Railfreak78]

This is shaping up nicely and has a neat look to it. Nice work so far.

[curt raitz]

I guess our "eyes" see it the same...I'm leaning to the white stripes as well

lookin' gud mr. bernard

[Dennis Lacy]

The final color is really nice and a great compliment to the T-Bird body. Stance and wheels look really good too. I'm having a lot of trouble deciding between the white and red tires. Since you and Curt are leaning towards white, I'm going to say red!

Can't wait to see it with lights and a grill!

[Kenny]

Great color!

I like the whitewalls.

I have the same kit on my bench.