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Very convincing looking model of some home brewed off roaders I have seen. The details are what really make it interesting to study. The realistic look of all the different surfaces are what catch my eye and I have a thing for hand painted wood beds like the way you did yours. Fun to just study each photo and see how you blended the two basic vehicles just like a 1:1 would be done.

Beautiful looking Merc. Those Mercury Cruiser Skirts were a real popular accessory back then. Great looking stock paint and trim . The original kit looks like builder used every option that was in the box at the time.

Interesting design elements. Looks as if you were trying a couple of different hood designs. I notice the headlights that the kit suggests mounting with the hooded portion on top but this is a Kustom so you could mount them sideways if it works for you. What sort of ideas are you thinking for the rear fenders ?

Glad to hear that you're getting back on your model bench again. I hope the employment issues work out for you as well. I like this design with the wide body look. I've wanted to do something along these lines for a long time but just haven't found the right subject yet so I'll be following your build on this for ideas.

That feature may account for the design of the rear portion of the body. Most of Ford's sedan bodies design at the time was very flat and even tucked under somewhat. The most notable difference with the Victoria body was the way the lower portion below the rear window seemed to flow toward the rear of the body. While it was a style element, making that space into storage space on the interior would be a good idea.

Great looking Chrysler. Nice job converting it to a convertible.

Great looking Comet very clean looking trim and I like the color.

Beautiful looking build. I enjoyed your video that shows your attention to details.

After 30 years getting back into building models is just like riding a bike after 30 years I guess. Beautiful color and I agree you might want to try a couple coats of clear on your next build. Try it and you'll see why. I like how you detailed the engine and my Corvette build doesn't have a bottom hose either. A little chrome trim, something the '58 was known for, would really make this pop. You should be very proud of this build, I think it looks great.

Great looking body work on the fenders.

Great work and I like the style of your build. The basic body and interior shell look like they were very well detailed when new. Don't ever remember seeing a kit of the '59 Ranchero before.

Lot of great looking rigs. So someone restored a Bus ?

This may hurt the resale on this.

Very good point, and where the name of that part of an auto body came from. Case in point. Most of my family on both sides arrived in America in the late 1700's and early 1800's. My mother was born in China. My grandfather was working for Shell Oil and was stationed at one of their refineries as an engineer. He met the daughter of some Irish Missionaries and they married. Both my mother and her older brother were born there before they returned to the United States. The reason for mentioning all the family history is that I have two of the trunks that they used to ship their belongings home in. One is a very ornate hand carved trunk with nothing but tong and grove joints. The other is a normal large sized plane wooden affair and you can still make out the writing on the top and sides. The writing is almost like you were addressing an envelope to mail a letter. This was the type of trunk many used at that time and being called trunks and then put on the back of a car sort of explains how that part of the body became known as a trunk. Now what's the thing about a boot ?

You have no idea how lucky you are. Something this size is usually either used as a wheel chock or a football on break time.

An additional thing to try when removing chrome parts from the tree is to score both sides of the attachment point with a sharp #11 blade before actually clipping the part off. This will help weaken the attachment point and also cut the chrome so it doesn't get damaged somehow when you're removing it. As mentioned it is better to free the part even if it leaves some of the material from the attachment on the desired part. What is left can be removed carefully to protect the chrome finish.

The little I know about the '32 Victoria and maybe the following year models as well, was that they didn't have a trunk. Trunks were not all that common in the early years and often there was little more than a rack on the rear of the body that would sometimes fold down to provide an area to tie down luggage or objects one would want to carry. The higher end cars were more likely to have an enclosed trunk as we think of it today. In the later models in the thirties from Ford and I'm sure other as well, started offering body styles that included an enclosed trunk.

If they are that afraid of hiway traffic they shouldn't be on the freeway. They usually become a mobile road block and everyone has to change lanes to get around them and that disrupts the traffic flow in all the other lanes increasing the chances of an accident with everyone trying to avoid them.

Still beautiful looking after 20 years. As others have mentioned it's very cleanly detailed and I like the painted bumpers.

After he buggered up your tank and what it would cost to correct I would have left him with the tank and just order a new one already done correctly. Often cheaper in the long run.

I feel your pain with some of these drivers. Even in the midweek traffic these people are out to create an accident. Getting on the freeway on ramp I was third in line and we had a green light for the right turn that would have put use in a dedicated lane with no traffic from the other direction as they had two lanes that merged into one but was still not combined with our lane. The first car starts to go and suddenly stops. The guy in front of me just missed her by going onto the left shoulder and I dodged to the right shoulder and the person behind me my have hit her I'm not sure. The guy on her left and I were stopped and looked at each other, the stopped driver was still thinking she had to wait for the cars from the other direction that had a red light even though we had the green. I motioned to the other driver to go and then I went as did a few cars behind use both. I looked in the review and this dimwit was still sitting at the green light.

Those ladies did a great job restoring this '55. I like your idea of showing the before and after. Both builds look great.

I think your pictures look great. I like how created the paint effect on the body. The super charger idea is a great idea along with the other engine upgrades. Wheels almost look to good for the rest of the car but that's just me. Your build tells the history of this model.

Great looking build. I like how you constructed the trunk area with the space saver spare. Nice looking air cleaner. These extra details really make your build a stand out.

Great looking Kustom designs and paint colors.