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Well I see you got moved to the truck section. I like your visors and I don't recall seeing that done before. Consider your idea "stolen" on my next build. You mentioned wanting to see the exhaust system on my Suburban build. Since you're now in the truck section just drop down to the Under Glass section and look for Family Suburban and I have posted a shot of the chassis and the engine is wired but lots of luck finding the plug wires. Someone else questioned if anyone replacing the plug wires on a 1:1 in the same as OEM, I have the scar tissue on my hands to prove that it was how it was done way back when.

Nice high visibility color. I like the bumpers and steps you added.

Your mention of building a 4 door as that was the most common in your area. I think that was true for most. My father bought a new '56 210 4 door with the 6 cylinder and a 3 speed. No radio and black wall tires. My father was beyond frugal and thought of an automobile with less interest than any other home appliance. The 150 model in the 2 door or 4 door models were fairly common in the '50's for economic reasons at the time. There was always the Bel Airs around, but the 210 and 150 were more common. I would like to see you maybe get a Resin 4 door and make it like the more common edition of the time.

Great looking build. I also would like to see more views. You mentioned the performance level of these cars and you are correct. In the late '60's and early '70's I would attend races at the Orange County Raceway in Southern California before they turned into a shopping mall. There were several Stage 2 cars and they would almost always take their class wins. One guy raced a convertible that put him in another class but he was also almost unbeatable. I used to work with a guy that had a Stage 1 and it was nothing to mess with.

I like the stance and the color and interior combination. With the lighter colors the monochromatic look works. I have owned and driven several El Caminos in the past and one of them was a '66 but with a bench seat and standard drive train. I sure miss these little trucks as they were the best of both worlds. I think your build looks great.

This looks like one of the early AMT '32's. I kike the big "Meats" all the way around, like a road racer.

The foil job looks good and makes the model POP. Dark colored models never seem to show as well in photos as they do in person. What color did you use ?? I think mid to dark blues look almost as good as a black on a model.

Great looking engine and chassis.

I like the flak roof treatment also. That would put the model in a '60's era if you want to go that way. The early '60's is when I remember seeing this done. That treatment has evolved thru the years and different segments of the car hobby have used off and on ever since. The only cars I have seen in the last several years have been in the Low Ridder segment, it is usually used as part of the elaborate paint schemes. The Rock A Billy movement usually has a flake roof and either flat black or some other flat body color. To my eye at this point it reminds me of more of a mid to late '50's daily driver that might have a Metallic or Candy painted roof. In the mid '60's it was popular to paint the body a Pearl color and the roof in a Candy going into Metal Flake depending on the wealth of the owner. You might want to do some Google searches to find the look you like. The overall look of your build at this point brings back fond memories, but I don't want to tell you how to build your '53.

Thank you for sharing your photos. Looks like a great show and swap meet. I always enjoy seeing what others are building.

Kind of a wild paint combination for such a stately looking car, but then it is a Kustom after all. I like the stance and the very clean overall look of your build.

Good paint job on the engine, but you might want to rethink the routing of the plug wires. In the OEM application the plug wires would go from the distributer to a bracket on the back side of the heads and then run forward under and behind the exhaust manifolds. The sad part of wiring a Chevy V8 as your first try is that the plug wires are almost invisible unless viewed from underneath. In the real world it was a pain in the rear to put plug wires on such an engine and many would do it the way you are showing. To prevent the plug wires from getting burnt on the exhaust manifold they would use some universal brackets that would keep the plug wires somewhat off of the manifolds. This may be your best bet at this point since it look like everything is glued at this point. You could use the bottom edge of the valve covers as a mounting point for the brackets just as they did. A plan B would be if you have exhaust manifolds from say one of the Revell Nova small block kits. These have the manifolds that Chevy used in later years on passenger cars where the ports of the exhaust manifolds turned down and then exited to the rear and the plug wires were then routed just as you have already done. This is a great kit but one area you will want to pay attention to is the exhaust and the manifolds. The exhaust pipes are a little fiddly. But the biggest issue is if you retaining the kits manifolds as cast in the kit since the manifold almost sits on the frame and tying any type of custom exhaust to those manifolds you must keep that little kink that you see coming off the manifold to the exhaust pipes. If you should replace the exhaust manifolds from another kit and they exit toward the rear you will need to shorten and reshape the kits exhaust to meet the different manifolds. Please don't let anything I have said discourage you from your build. I just finished the Suburban that shares the chassis and suspension with this kit and I had to make my own complete exhaust system to get what I wanted.

You have the stance. You have an unusual but hot Flat head. Great looking wide whites. Maybe a nice shinny '50's type sleeper. Ford offered some pretty two tone paint jobs with the contrasting color on the roof and interiors to match. If you want to age it you could add some gray primer spots where the hood and trunk are filled and maybe a dent or two repaired.

You really had to slice the top and the cowl areas. I have not built this kit myself but it sounds as if it may be a change.

I noticed that you have created a hardtop from the pillared sedan body. I would suggest you redo the area around the top edge of the sedan door opening. The line in the body for the upper portion of the sedan door really stands out. With a little work you could match the window moldings along the bottom edge and connect the moldings between the front door and the rear window both top and bottom. Not sure what your intent is with the large areas of the body being foiled. I would be interested in seeing your tail light modifications and what you have done in the grill area.

Another fabulous looking Ford. You didn't mention the modifications to the hood, but I noticed that you made it to resemble a stock two part hood with the added center ridge. The hoods that were welded together as a smooth one part hood just never looked right to me.

I'm not into four doors and have never build a model as a police car. But after watching the effort you have put into this and the way you have strived for accuracy I'm thinking I will be build my first one when this body comes available.

This interior is just to nice to be in a coupe. You should consider making this a convertible because of the interior alone. By the way the picture of the body and paint look as good as the interior.

I like the dash and the paint finish looks very good even without any polishing being done.

What Snake said.

The bumper and tail lights look to be an early Ford from the late '20s to the '30s. Those and the Motor Minder Radiator cap and one spinner is about all you have here.

Looks great. To bad so many of these trucks were treated just like this in 1:1. Very realistic looking ageing here.

I don't recall seeing a Brass Era model for a long time. This is very well done and I like how you used the folded top from the AMT T.

I followed your build and all your hard work really shows in the finished model. I like the "soft" color you chose for the finish and the interior looks perfect. I see what you mean about the grill to hood fit. I'm sure you'll figure out something good for that.

Great paint and interior finish. The engine has all of the proper Street Racer goodies also. The right stance, the right wheels and tires, plus side pipes, those were the days.