Phildaupho

Fantastic to see your van finally under glass. Both exterior and interior look wonderful and ready for a road trip.

Very well done. I especially like the wheels

Gorgeous. Very well built.

Here is another which was built during the billet era a quarter century ago for the car modelling column in Street Rodder. It is based on the Speedwagon with the woodie panels and back side windows filled. It has a fully chromed Corvette C4 ZR-1 LT5 engine and Boyd wheels.

This one is based on the Wagon Rod. It has been sectioned, headlights are '39 Ford, the woodie panels were filled and it has an in-line Chevy 6 with Weber side drafts.

Gorgeous build.

Very well built. Excellent paint.

Very well done and extremely cool. Definitely room for golf clubs in the frunk !!

Fantastic build of in my opinion one of the best looking Formula One cars and liveries of all time. I still have the 1/43 diecast I bought as soon as it was available back in the day.

Absolutely fabulous. This is an inspiration for me to finally build my Perry's Resin 333 which is a nice kit but nothing like this,

I much appreciate your great comments. It was a project I had contemplated for many years and finally everything came together to allow me to get it done.

Every superlative in the dictionary will be used multiple times to describe your outstanding creation. I have a feeling there will be a significant announcement regarding your Lola on May 7 !!

Very impressive. Beautiful wheel and tire !!

Another amazing Deuce. Looking forward to the next project from your workbench.

Really impressed with all the work you did to make this an outstanding custom.

Thanks Tim Awesome coverage of an awesome show. Love both the new and the historic and of course the model cars. Great seeing the Alexander Brothers, Roth and Barris builds

Going to be nice Woodie. Great work on the frame and suspension.

Fantastically attractive pro-touring Mustang

Fantastic color combination. Looks awesome.

Great story. Very cool first real car and the model is pretty nice too !!

Thanks guys. I took one more photo which I may as well post. It includes a model of another car Jake Williams built - his '49 Ford Cadillac V-12 powered custom completed in the early 1950's.

The engine I am using in my ’53 Ford Pro-Touring is the excellent Y-Block from the Revell ’57 Ford. I had to finish it first to establish its placement within the engine compartment and the location of motor mounts, radiator, cooling hoses etc. It now has a 5-speed transmission from the AMT Phantom Vickie, a Latham supercharger from the AMT ’25 Model T [which is something I have been wanting to use on something since the ’25 was first came out 60 years] and the generator was replaced with an alternator.

I am really enjoying your van build. Almost makes me want to finally start work on a replica of my old VW van. I have often thought I would build it like I wanted it to be back then but I appreciate how you are striving to make your model van like it really was.

Thanks guys - This was not the first model I built inspired by seeing the legendary custom after a long time. Back in about 2005 I was surprised to see at an outdoor car show that the car still existed. I was able to get Lincoln headlights and Packard taillights from Replicas and Miniatures but I did not find a 2-door on which to base a replica. I ended up building a tribute model inspired by the original custom based on a Fleetline body which I chopped, sectioned under the window line and pancaked the hood. Building this model led to two very pleasant encounters with people having direct connections to the custom. At a model car show in 2006 I met a fellow car modeller who has owned and preserved the car for 50 years. About ten years later after seeing my model at another model car show the gentleman who originally commissioned the custom introduced himself and asked me where I got the Lincoln headlights because he wanted to build a model himself of his old custom. I had an extra set of the headlights which I gave him for the spectacularly accurate model he eventually built. In the words of Paul Harvey - "and now you know the rest of the story" !!