In my occasionally-continuing effort to remind myself (and others) that I actually finish some of my projects, I present my "If I Designed It" PT Ute.
A Cruiser pick-em-up concept, if you will.
Completed some time ago, I whacked the majority of the roof off, scratched up a bed and rear bulkhead for the cab, then blended all together. I didn't intend for it to have a tailgate, and I achieved that goal (LOL), although it has body seams that 'suggest' a traditional tailgate. [Do you like my ad-agency style spin?] Sprayed-in bedliner simulated with satin black overcoated with thick flat black sprayed from a distance to introduce texture.
Used the Black Force kit wheels & tires, thinking they were the best blend of nostalgia and modern. Added tinted windows (exposed 35mm film) and sunroof and a scratch-built bed floor of real basswood and stain.
I had this crazy idea to see what red oxide primer would look like clear-coated. So, I applied a base of ROP and polished that. Then, in an early experiment with flames, I made a masking tape mask, and applied a fade from white-hot to gold to silver, with a yellow fog on the front bumper and valance below. The whole thing was cleared with Pearl Clear.
Two comments on the finish: (1) I've never been satisfied with the front bumper. It sucks. I tried stripping it and chroming it, and that just doesn't look right, either. I may just give in and paint it white or satin black. (2) The pearl-over-primer turned out kind of a custom brick color. Not very flashy and this model gets over-looked all the time. I won't do this kind of finish again. But, it was interesting.
Oh, yeah. Don't overlook the blue dots! Those were tiny craft store gems added to the stock taillights. I thought they turned out cool, but they're easily missed because they're sooo tiny. Made the license plate on the ole computater.
Check it out!