Tom Geiger Posted September 6, 2013 Posted September 6, 2013 This 1957 Ford was built custom from the very first issue of this kit, probably when the kit first came out. The builder did a pretty good job for the era. This one came to me via Dave Burket who donated it to the collection. He knew I'd like it and bring 'er back! It was delivered to me with the delicate suspension parts all gone, and in pretty poor shape. Here you see it with the suspension back in place from a newer issue parts kit. And since it had no wheels on it, and the original builder used all kit parts, I used the tires and wheel covers from the later issue. The one part that was missing was the original hood. I restored the rest of the car, but couldn't find a model paint close to the original to match it. So it sat just like this on my shelf for some time. Then upon picking up a can of Tamiya blue, I got the brainstorm to two tone it. Follow along... And here's our car as she appears this afternoon! Dramatic change. I did hesitate to do the two tone since I thought the color might be over powering so I primed and painted the new hood. It looked good so I proceeded. I also try to 'restore' the old customs back to what they were, not to 'improve' them. But I think I'm justified at making it just a bit better than she was when new. The car is not glued together, only press fitted, and I left it that way so I could take it apart if it ever needed repairs again. So I popped it apart and the rear glass was loose so that came out too. I carefully taped off the body with Tamiya tape along the chrome lines, crossed my fingers and gave it a spray. The results are very cool! Side view shows the tail dragger look the original builder incorporated by sinking the rear way down low! While it was apart, I noticed that the doors had no vent window glass, so I added some from my parts box. I thought about painting the rear skirts the bright blue, but decided to leave well enough alone since I had no technical reason to do so. I did have to update the chrome Testors Silver (it was dry!) along the two tone lines, so I gave it a new coat with a Sharpie silver marker. Important to note that the original builder shaved the door handles and all the emblems. Here's the rear view with the very rare Edsel wagon tail light treatment that customizers used on the Fords back in the day. The bezels aren't in the later issues of the kit so I certainly wanted to retain them on the car. I took them off for the resto, and cleaned them up a bit. Since the chrome is pretty much silver paint, I duplicated that. The lenses were foggy with tube glue so I broke them off and replaced them with new red lenses that you'll still find in the kit later issues. Also note that the fiddly doors in this kit do work fairly well, although pretty tight in their frames. The rear view gives you the full impact of those Edsel light units. Pretty cool. The Tamiya tape did an excellent job of masking around the license plate surround. As with any of the Old Kustoms with a place for a plate, I added a Colorado 1961 plate from my last working sheet of AutoWorld license plates. The interior was all done by the original builder and survived intact. He went for the full custom treatment with the four buckets and full length console. I like that he dabbed all the buttons. Other than gluing the dash back in place, I did no work here, all original using the custom wheel with the red center and the piston custom shifter. Cool, cool. Under the hood is purely kit chrome dress up parts. I didn't touch anything under here at all. So now we have a very cool custom '57 Ford that is ready for another 50 years on the shelf! An old survivor like this deserved a make over to bring 'er back, but retain the work and imagination of the original builder, where ever he may be today!
mrknowetall Posted September 6, 2013 Posted September 6, 2013 Great Survivor/Resto save! Another one lives!
Nitro Neil Posted September 6, 2013 Posted September 6, 2013 Very cool Tom. This was nice build to begin with and you have done a great job sprucing it up.
lillakev Posted September 6, 2013 Posted September 6, 2013 Great job, you took an already nice car and made it just the right amount of nicer. My neighbor, a true Ford fanatic, has a factory order sheet for a quad headlight kit to install on the '57. I'm guessing they weren't considered "legal", but an owner could install them himself?
Ace-Garageguy Posted September 6, 2013 Posted September 6, 2013 Great Survivor/Resto save! Another one lives! Yup, X2.
bisc63 Posted September 6, 2013 Posted September 6, 2013 ...I'm guessing they weren't considered "legal", but an owner could install them himself? The "new" size headlamps just didn't get approval in time for the 57 assembly lines to tool up, thus the 58s got 'em.
Ramfins59 Posted September 6, 2013 Posted September 6, 2013 You did a great job on this Tom. I totally understand why you wanted to "preserve" this piece of modeling history, but I personally would have redone the trim with BMF and added some more chrome doodads like spots, mirrors, antenna's and lake pipes. If I could find those custom Edsel taillight bezels I'd probably try doing something similar as I've got 2 of the '57 Fairlane kits and 1 of the new Revell '57 Ford kits.
Eshaver Posted September 6, 2013 Posted September 6, 2013 Tom, I'll rate it three hubcaps .............................. with spinners of course !
realgone58 Posted September 6, 2013 Posted September 6, 2013 That thing is as cool as can be! Great work cleaning her up. I love the choice of color for the two tone, and the Edsel wagon tail lights rock!
Tom Geiger Posted September 6, 2013 Author Posted September 6, 2013 You did a great job on this Tom. I totally understand why you wanted to "preserve" this piece of modeling history, but I personally would have redone the trim with BMF and added some more chrome doodads like spots, mirrors, antenna's and lake pipes. If I could find those custom Edsel taillight bezels I'd probably try doing something similar as I've got 2 of the '57 Fairlane kits and 1 of the new Revell '57 Ford kits. Rich, if I was starting out with a junker or a fresh kit I'd do just what you suggest. The rules of the Olde Kustom Kollection are to restore the model to be what the original builder created and not to improve it. Even some of the total rebuilds I've done have stayed as true to the theme as possible, such as the purple '61 Ranchero that I got in several pieces. I used modern paint on it, but it still has painted silver trim since that was on it when I got it.
DrKerry Posted September 7, 2013 Posted September 7, 2013 Looks good Tom, just saw this on Hobby Heaven.
Grumpa Posted September 7, 2013 Posted September 7, 2013 Nice restoration Tom. The two tone paint really looks good!
PappyD340 Posted September 7, 2013 Posted September 7, 2013 NICE job Tom, looks great, but you have to be very careful in a crosswind with those boomerang taillights , which BTW look very fitting back there, the whole project turned out great, I like the colors too!!
om617 Posted September 7, 2013 Posted September 7, 2013 Very cool. The two tone paint and taillights makes it stand out,in a good way
Tom Geiger Posted September 7, 2013 Author Posted September 7, 2013 Thank you everyone for the response! I really enjoy saving these old classics. I believe they are the folk art of our youth. For me there's nothing like finding a sad broken custom in the bottom of a junk box at a show, and bringing it back to what the original builder had envisioned. They've survived 50 years so they deserve to be brought back to life. And they look so proud on my shelf!
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