Chopped 58 Edsel Custom

[Ferbz]

48 minutes ago, espo said:

Like the new headlight design. I might have suggested mounting the headlights to match the upright grill design but can see the Lincoln connection.  

Yes, that's something that would certainly work! Altho one of the things that bug me about the factory front end is how everything is placed at right angles. Angling the headlights shakes all that up a bit I think.

[customline]

3 hours ago, Ferbz said:

Thanks🙂 Ha! I think you're right I could back out, but I've made my bed and now I have to lie in it lol Besides, if I chicken out now, I feel like I won't really know what I'm capable of achieving. I gotta take a chance and see what happens. 'Once more into the breach.......!'🤪

Ferbs, I gotta tell ya, this is brave. The technique being used on the Nash is a possibility. As I look at the full frontal, I think of the '61-ish Chrysler

[Ferbz]

4 hours ago, customline said:

Ferbs, I gotta tell ya, this is brave. The technique being used on the Nash is a possibility. As I look at the full frontal, I think of the '61-ish Chrysler

Isn't there a saying that there is a fine line between bravery and stupidity tho?🤪 lol Yes, the quads on that Chrysler are super cool 👍

[Spex84]

Didn't want to hijack but was inspired to fiddle around with some Maximalist styling inspired by the '60 Edsel, late 50s Mopar, and Junichi Shimodaira's crazy customs  

[Kanada Kustoms]

5 hours ago, Spex84 said:

 

This rendering looks fantastic!

[customline]

7 hours ago, Spex84 said:

Didn't want to hijack but was inspired to fiddle around with some Maximalist styling inspired by the '60 Edsel, late 50s Mopar, and Junichi Shimodaira's crazy customs  

I really like this. It's a lot of work but reshaping the fenders is most of it. I think the technique that Jon is currently using on his builds to sculpt added styrene into shape may work, at least in part, for this.  I think the above is a huge improvement but still retains the Edsel identity. AWESOME !

[Ferbz]

On 11/18/2025 at 10:41 PM, Spex84 said:

Didn't want to hijack but was inspired to fiddle around with some Maximalist styling inspired by the '60 Edsel, late 50s Mopar, and Junichi Shimodaira's crazy customs  

I like that! That's a very radical and still very traditional solution. Even the light 'panels' are era appropriate. I once made similar light panels for my 59 El Camino:

[Spex84]

I remember that El Camino! Very, very cool and managing to be simultaneously restrained and radical.

I think I was thinking of Gene Howard's "Truly Rare" and the Barris "Modern Grecian" when I was doodling; both cars are not exactly models of restraint haha!

//Edit: Custom Car Chronicle has a whole article on plastic details incorporated into customs of the era: https://www.customcarchronicle.com/custom-history/custom-plastic-details-part-2/

[Ferbz]

1 hour ago, Spex84 said:

I remember that El Camino! Very, very cool and managing to be simultaneously restrained and radical.

I think I was thinking of Gene Howard's "Truly Rare" and the Barris "Modern Grecian" when I was doodling; both cars are not exactly models of restraint haha!

//Edit: Custom Car Chronicle has a whole article on plastic details incorporated into customs of the era: https://www.customcarchronicle.com/custom-history/custom-plastic-details-part-2/

Thanks! I had to look up the Gene Howard car, but yeah, I'm familiar with Barris' Grecian. They are both a bit too far out for my style sensibilities, but I do love many details on both those cars 😎👍 Great article on plastics on Custom Car Chronicle! Let's see more 'plastic' and lucite details on scale customs! Speaking of, I also made a 'light bar' from clear sprue on my 62 Belair custom. I have no idea if would actually work in 1:1 world, but I think it looks cool🤪:

Edited Friday at 02:36 AM by Ferbz

[Kutnplastik]

2 hours ago, Spex84 said:

Edit: Custom Car Chronicle has a whole article on plastic details incorporated into customs of the era: https://www.customcarchronicle.com/custom-history/custom-plastic-details-part-2/

Thanks for the article post. Great stuff here!

[Spex84]

That '62 is so clean!! And functionality can definitely take a backseat when the artistic vision is strong IMHO. I suppose the ends of the grille could be turned into doors for hidden headlights if it were a 1:1 build. Maybe the bullets could even rotate with the headlight door, nobody would ever suspect it!

[Ferbz]

Update! Plan A of thinning out the front fender tops by cutting away the inner halves of the fenders, trimming the tops down and moving them outward is working out for the most part (whew!) The hood was widened using sheet styrene. Everything is just roughed in at this point. Smoothing the headlight buckets into the fender fronts and other fine tuning will be next. Oddly enough, this is not looking very 'radical custom' to me, but is feeling very stock-ish lol Will all this crazy work stand out in the end? Stay tuned...

[customline]

Yeah, man!  BRILLIANT!  😃  if you just keep the stock grille and bumpers and keep the rear mostly the same, you will have "corrected" the '58 Edsel. With the headlight mod and that nice mild chop, you will have styled it the way it should have been. Not a "kustom". A prototype. 🥴 right?

[Kanada Kustoms]

Fender mods look great!

[Spex84]

Heck yeah, that looks good!

[FoMoCo66]

Nice clean work there, that looks much better then the original Edsle.

[Ferbz]

15 hours ago, customline said:

Yeah, man!  BRILLIANT!  😃  if you just keep the stock grille and bumpers and keep the rear mostly the same, you will have "corrected" the '58 Edsel. With the headlight mod and that nice mild chop, you will have styled it the way it should have been. Not a "kustom". A prototype. 🥴 right?

Thanks! Yes, its feeling very much like a prototype. Kind of like one of those period concept cars😉 Altho I dont like the big, blocky factory bumpers so I'll chuck those in favor of something else I like....😁

Edited Monday at 06:14 PM by Ferbz

[Ferbz]

14 hours ago, Kanada Kustoms said:

Fender mods look great!

Thanks! I wasn't sure if it was going to work like how I processed it in my head. Sometimes reality slaps me in the face when I try to do something that seemed totally doable in my imagination lol

[Ferbz]

14 hours ago, Spex84 said:

Heck yeah, that looks good!

Thanks man! Onward and upward!😁

[Ferbz]

14 hours ago, FoMoCo66 said:

Nice clean work there, that looks much better then the original Edsle.

Thanks! I try to make my mods as clean as possible. I find that it saves me the extra effort of fixing a cut that was not executed or measured well or cleaning up a hastily done change. There are still unforeseen or unplanned things that happen, and that constant struggle of getting the left and right sides to be exactly alike lol

[customline]

Ferbz, I have an Edsel I want to do like this. It looks like it's definitely working. Can you show the pieces you removed from the fenders?

Also, I'm thinking there may be a chance that the fenders can get the extensions instead of the hood. That would put the inner fenders in their original locations. Of course, it's more work but it would look factory under the hood, meaningless in the case of a custom, but I'm just thinking about it now. 🤔

Edit: oh....you need to have room for the front wheels, too.

Edited yesterday at 03:00 AM by customline

[FoMoCo66]

1 hour ago, customline said:

Also, I'm thinking there may be a chance that the fenders can get the extensions instead of the hood.

Or you could do this and just pancake the thing.

[Zippi]

I'm liking it Jim.