espo Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 This has been a five or six year, on and off build and even a change in direction. Now this is built to represent a low dollar, home built, semi-custom/hot rod from the early to mid 1950's. The Body: AMT '50 Ford Convertible body with a resin upper body to make a two-door sedan. The body has been channeled slightly over the chassis. The emblems and door handles have been shaved. The headlights have been frenched, and a license plate light and trunk handle created. The rear bumper is made up of parts from the '50 Ford kit and painted using a Gundam Marker for the chrome finish. The front bumper and grill are a plated resin part. The Chassis: Used the frame from the '49 kit with new lower spindles and modified floorboards. The exhaust is a combination of different sized plastic tubing including the glass packs. From the mufflers back I used solder bent to fit and lead to the exhaust out lets in the rear bumper. Engine: Had two Cadillac engines in the spare parts box and the one with the Hydro trans. wouldn't clear the floor and fire wall so I used the one with a manual trans. and I think it may have come from the '49 kit anyway. The carbs and air cleaners are from the parts box. Added a prewired distributer and fuel lines as well as radiator hoses. Paint: Tamiya TS-66 Lin Gray for a primered look with very low gloss. Interior: Wanted the look of the old "Sears" cheap seat covers. Added fine plastic half rounds to represent the seat and door trim. The seat pattern is scrap book tape cut to fit. Red and White as well as Black Tamiya paint and Red Fuzzy-Fur for the carpet. Scratch built a small shift boot and chrome trim ring for the floor shifter. Wheels & Tires: These are a long-ago swap meet purchase that I knew I would use someday. The Red rims and Wide Whites for the era look. Except for the resin parts everything else was rolling around in the spare parts bin. Fun and challenging at times. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobraman Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 Great looking old school looking hot rod David . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zippi Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 Oh man....what a good looking Shoebox Ford. Great color and the interior is pretty kewl. Nice job David. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted March 25, 2023 Author Share Posted March 25, 2023 1 hour ago, cobraman said: Great looking old school looking hot rod David . Thanks Ray. This sort of a flash back for me. 1 hour ago, Zippi said: Oh man....what a good looking Shoebox Ford. Great color and the interior is pretty kewl. Nice job David. Glad you liked it Bob. This reminds me of when I couldn't even afford having Earl paint my cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mopar2 Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 Totally amazing build.You put alot into it.And it shows.Great build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatz4u Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 nice ol' shoebox Ford, well done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zippi Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 4 hours ago, espo said: Thanks Ray. This sort of a flash back for me. Glad you liked it Bob. This reminds me of when I couldn't even afford having Earl paint my cars. Haha...I had Earl Scheib paint a Ford truck for me back in the day. They didn't have many colors to choose from but it was cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phildaupho Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 Great model. I love shoebox Fords. Great conversion to a two-door sedan. I especially like the grill and front bumper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kah puts Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 I like it 🚀 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenmojr Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 You nicely created the look and feel of a slightly customized Ford from that era. Splendid work and a joy to behold. Inspirational to me as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted March 26, 2023 Author Share Posted March 26, 2023 13 hours ago, Zippi said: Haha...I had Earl Scheib paint a Ford truck for me back in the day. They didn't have many colors to choose from but it was cheap. They painted one of the '51 Fords I bought in the late 1960's. You could smell the paint from 50 ft. away for over a month and the paint finish had more sages in it than I have in the bags under my old eyes. This was the only time I had them touch anything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted March 26, 2023 Author Share Posted March 26, 2023 17 hours ago, Mopar2 said: Totally amazing build.You put alot into it.And it shows.Great build. Glad you like this. I had a fun as well as challenging time finding what I needed in my spare parts boxes. 17 hours ago, thatz4u said: nice ol' shoebox Ford, well done Thank you. 12 hours ago, Phildaupho said: Great model. I love shoebox Fords. Great conversion to a two-door sedan. I especially like the grill and front bumper. I also like this body style and one of the reasons for this build. I have owned a few thru the years and enjoyed them all, even the one that kept blowing head gaskets. Turned out a prior owner must have really gotten it hot at one time and the block was warped. 12 hours ago, Kah puts said: I like it 🚀 12 hours ago, Kenmojr said: You nicely created the look and feel of a slightly customized Ford from that era. Splendid work and a joy to behold. Inspirational to me as well. Thank you very much Ken. As I mentioned above, I have owned a few as a young man. This started out to be a model of one of those cars. At the time this resin conversion was the only way to get the two-door sedan configuration I wanted. I still couldn't get the correct '51 dash until I found a complete resin '51 Ford two-door body and interior with even a stock grill. Maybe this year I'll build that to look more closely to one of my old cars. Thank you again for your kind words. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisR Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 Very nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted March 26, 2023 Author Share Posted March 26, 2023 2 hours ago, ChrisR said: Very nice! Thank you Chris. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewetwo Posted March 27, 2023 Share Posted March 27, 2023 This is fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeakDoc Posted March 27, 2023 Share Posted March 27, 2023 I love it, David! Such a cool, old school build. The grill, bumpers, stance and wheel/tire combo are all choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted March 27, 2023 Share Posted March 27, 2023 The subtlety of this build is amazing, David. Not normally a fan of grey paint but it really suits the shoebox. And I love the plaid upholstery! Cheers Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy grumpy Posted March 27, 2023 Share Posted March 27, 2023 Great build David. Great choice of color and detail elements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted March 27, 2023 Author Share Posted March 27, 2023 19 hours ago, ewetwo said: This is fantastic. Thank you, David. 18 hours ago, BeakDoc said: I love it, David! Such a cool, old school build. The grill, bumpers, stance and wheel/tire combo are all choice. Hi Chris. Old school low dollar was what I wanted. 12 hours ago, alan barton said: The subtlety of this build is amazing, David. Not normally a fan of grey paint but it really suits the shoebox. And I love the plaid upholstery! Cheers Alan Alan, I agree about the paint, but I wanted the unfinished premiered look. The upholstery was a first-time experiment based on another builder using the tape. Gave me the look I wanted and better than I could ever do painting alone. 2 hours ago, happy grumpy said: Great build David. Great choice of color and detail elements. Thank you Mario Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stingray wes Posted April 1, 2023 Share Posted April 1, 2023 Yep, this paint color is perfectly aligned with this build! Love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smitty Posted April 3, 2023 Share Posted April 3, 2023 Great job on our Shoebox! You’ve really captured the look of the period you were going for. I especially like the grill and bumper treatments you chose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATHU Posted April 8, 2023 Share Posted April 8, 2023 Looks great, well done!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calb56 Posted April 8, 2023 Share Posted April 8, 2023 This is perfect. A beautiful build. Subtle, yet quite involved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'70 Grande Posted April 8, 2023 Share Posted April 8, 2023 (edited) Great build! I'm stealing your awesome scrapbook tape interior trick! Edited April 8, 2023 by '70 Grande Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted April 8, 2023 Author Share Posted April 8, 2023 On 3/31/2023 at 8:31 PM, Stingray wes said: Yep, this paint color is perfectly aligned with this build! Love it! Thank you Wes. I used a Tamiya military color for it's finish and color. On 4/3/2023 at 12:38 PM, Smitty said: Great job on our Shoebox! You’ve really captured the look of the period you were going for. I especially like the grill and bumper treatments you chose. Thanks Eric. The grill and bumper combo was something I picked up at a swap meet a ferw years ago, 12 hours ago, ATHU said: Looks great, well done!! Thank you, glad you liked it. 6 hours ago, Calb56 said: This is perfect. A beautiful build. Subtle, yet quite involved. Thank you Charles. Wanted to build something along the order of what I drove early on. 6 hours ago, '70 Grande said: Great build! I'm stealing your awesome scrapbook tape interior trick! Hi Mark, feel free since I got the idea from another builder here on the Forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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