Ace-Garageguy

I looked at the car on the sale site and read the copy. It's NOT a straight, correct restoration, and has Lincoln seats and a much later 302 engine, etc. No reason to think it's a factory color either.

Of course, nobody expected the tire melt issue to become a problem on down the road. Just like nobody expected acetate promos to either warp and shrink, or turn to dust. Just like nobody knows how long 3D resin-printed parts will last. Many MANY plastics have a relatively short life span before they begin to break down irreversibly. So there's that.

Could very well be a non-factory color, or you might find it here: https://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?year=1953&manuf=Ford Fernmist Green ? https://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?type=paint&paint=4149&ditzler=41267&syear=1953&smanuf=Ford&smodel=&sname=Fernmist Green&rows=50 Cascade Green ? https://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?type=paint&paint=4157&ditzler=41350&syear=1953&smanuf=Ford&smodel=&sname=Cascade Green&rows=50

Several manufacturers make metal scribing templates with hard edges and various radius curves. CAREFULLY lay out the lines you want to scribe using a template and a sharp #2 pencil. You'll need to move the template around to lay out corners adjacent to straight areas. It's just like we old fossils used to have to do when inking drawings for blueprints...and neatness counts more than anything. MEASURE and get your straight lines SQUARE and PARALLEL and SYMMETRICAL. Then firmly affix the template to your work, and start scribing with very light pressure. You might scribe the straights first, then reposition the template and scribe one corner at a time...assuming you have round corners. Once you have established a shallow groove, you can cut a little more aggressively without the template...but not too much. Work slow, with many light passes, and DON'T get in a hurry. It takes time and patience to master, but it is possible to produce work that looks like it was machine made. I prefer this design scribing tool from Tamiya. The tips are hooked, come in several widths, and will follow curves well...not automatically, but after you master the skill they're the best I've used so far. They cut on the back-stroke, as you pull the tool towards you, and make a nice curl of material if they're working right. And the carbide tips, though expensive, are very sharp and stay sharp a long time. EDIT: It's probably a good idea to get the feel of whatever tool you're using by practicing first by deepening existing panel lines on bodies.

And sometimes just make stuff up to fit the circumstances, and push our self-serving narrative as the gospel.

Medicine today in a nutshell...and whatever it is, here's two dozen prescriptions with side effects worse than whatever it is you've got.

Concept cars rarely make it to market, as the buying public generally prefers refrigerator-bland to anything really interesting, but there have been notable exceptions like Chrysler's Prowler, Viper, and watered-down but very popular PT Cruiser.

Reward: the thing every kid gets today for just showing up, whether their accomplishment is in fact praiseworthy, or took no more effort than vomiting on a plate; it is intended (by a certain class of "enlightened" educator) to bolster students' self esteem while removing the "toxic" influence of "testosterone-fueled competition", but in reality only blunts any desire to excel...and produces a multitude of "equally special" snowflakes who tend to melt when confronted by harsh reality.

Looks good. We rarely see this kit built, but as you've proven, it has a lot of potential.

Be brutally honest with yourself if you really want to accomplish anything of merit.

Who we are tomorrow is not always who we were yesterday.

This design is what would have been OEM on the 250, crossply CR65 Dunlop Racing, and inflated on a rim, would look like your photos and also the radial shown above. https://www.borrani.com/550m15-cr65-dunlop-racing.html So use what looks like period shots, and call 'em what you want.

If those are all period photos, most likely. The Dunlop Racing tire in the top photo (Testa Rossa?) has a non-radial size marking, and looks like a crossply. The two shots on the 250 GTO I couldn't say for certain by looking...which gets back to me stating earlier I can't always tell (and have to read the tire data to be certain), especially with vintage racing tires, as some of the sidewalls look very much like radials...as I also mentioned. Honestly, the tires on the GTO look much like the sidewall shape and proportions of a radial 245/70-R15, with a fat round sidewall, and square shouldered blocky tread. Imagine the tire below without the white lettering...very similar in appearance to the tires in your GTO shots.

Timmy's mom in Lassie, well, I always kinda had a thing for her when I was a kid.

Interesting. My impression was always the opposite...that bias ply tires generally had flatter, more "vertical" and square-shouldered sidewalls...which would be consistent with their construction, below. The typical radial tire always looks to me as though it's the one with the "full body, rounder" sidewall, as below. The crossply Dunlop CR65 racing tire that would have been OEM on a 250 GTO looks more like a radial sidewall, but with a blocky square-shouldered tread.

I can't always tell by looking, and sometimes have to read the sidewall to be sure. Add that to the fact that several manufacturers now make vintage-looking tires on radial carcasses, you kinda have to be careful in the real-car biz.

"Accomplish something" is a phrase I often have to repeat to myself as I'm getting tired towards the end of the workday...or first thing in the morning...or when I just lose focus momentarily...squirrel.

Pretty much the same thing I think of most American beer.

As wirelessly transmitted selfie images propagate out into space...