jbwelda Posted February 9, 2009 Posted February 9, 2009 I just spent a weekend in the vicinity of Jerry's near-completed recreation of Bill Cushenberry's legendary El Matador http://www.hotrodsonline.com/halloffame/Matador/index.html And let me promise you: this recreation is going to set a completely new standard. Brass fabricated complete rolling chassis, unbelievable body work and replica recreation, just too sweet. I'm afraid your reporter didn't take any photos to post here but maybe Raul did and will post a couple. Words don't describe what one photo will! If you know the scratchbuilt sprint car he built and showed last year, he says thats elementary school while the El Matador is graduation! Congratulations Jerry, you got a real killer there! Raul will tell ya too!
Bernard Kron Posted February 9, 2009 Posted February 9, 2009 I've been hearing about this one for ages. I so want to see it. Maybe come NNL West time...
Raul_Perez Posted February 9, 2009 Posted February 9, 2009 (edited) I just spent a weekend in the vicinity of Jerry's near-completed recreation of Bill Cushenberry's legendary El Matador http://www.hotrodsonline.com/halloffame/Matador/index.html And let me promise you: this recreation is going to set a completely new standard. Brass fabricated complete rolling chassis, unbelievable body work and replica recreation, just too sweet. I'm afraid your reporter didn't take any photos to post here but maybe Raul did and will post a couple. Words don't describe what one photo will! If you know the scratchbuilt sprint car he built and showed last year, he says thats elementary school while the El Matador is graduation! Congratulations Jerry, you got a real killer there! Raul will tell ya too! Yes, Jerry nailed it on this one!! The chassis alone is a work of art, all made from brass with fully functional steering and suspension. The engine and transmission, also brass, completes the awesome chassis. Then there's the body and the interior!! I'll have to get Jerry to post some pics for you all to see. I've been hearing about this one for ages. I so want to see it. Maybe come NNL West time... Well Bernard, I only got one photo of it today, but I know that Jerry has a whole lot more to share. For now, here's the one I shot today. Enjoy and I'll work with Jerry to get some in process and final pics posted next week. Later, Edited February 9, 2009 by Raul_Perez
Bernard Kron Posted February 9, 2009 Posted February 9, 2009 Well Bernard, I only got one photo of it today... Holy cow!!! He absolutely nailed the color, and from what I can see it's a perfect respresentation of the bodywork. All us Old Skool Kustom fans are waiting with baited breath...
Eshaver Posted February 9, 2009 Posted February 9, 2009 Wheres Florida Boy................ Ken had a hand in bringing this car back to life in Florida. Ed Shaver
FloridaBoy Posted February 10, 2009 Posted February 10, 2009 Ed, Here I is, all of me, and this is one entertaining thread. Ed is right. I wrote the entire story from my perspective a few months ago, but it was the legendary TCSAS (Treasure Coast Scale Auto Society) who helped Murphy restore this beautiful car. I originally saw it in pieces and with my experience from seeing body work customs taking a couple of years, I estimated this one to take at least a year. Six months later, thanks to the model club members doing supervised "dog" work, sanding, fetching, cleaning, etc, the Matador was done in just a few months. One of my happiest moments was visiting Murphy after the build and my wife took many pictures of me posing next to the finished car. One of my best memories. This is my all time favorite car, hands down, bar none. I can remember in Miami keeping my parents watiing for hours while I just walked around the display of this car at the custom show they used to have. I must have built 50 sectioned 40 Fords, and the model featured on this thread seems to be right on. What a challenge, as when I started to duplicate it, I always went off to another tangent and created something a little different. To the best of my knowledge, only one other car came close to duplicating this car. It was built for the Pactra 63 (second contest) and was a regional winner and was featured in one picture in the results book by CarModel. It was built by a preacher in Oklahoma so I would guess he had divine intervention in paying attention to the details. Congratulations to such a great car builder, and enjoy it for years to come. My hats are off to you. Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
jbwelda Posted February 11, 2009 Author Posted February 11, 2009 thats very interesting, that was one of my all time favorite cars too. i saw it in st louis when i was probably 12 or so and fell in love with it right away. so where is the car now? i think the photo i posted above was the original taken back in the day. do you have any photos of the rebuild? wow, the el matador! whats even more amazing though is whats under the body, just wait, youll see what i mean!
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