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Projects Walking the Line Between Early '60s Show Car and Mid '50s Drag Car

Discussion in 'Traditional Hot Rods' started by Tommy R, Sep 7, 2014.

  1. Tommy R
    Joined: May 18, 2004
    Posts: 717

    Tommy R
    Member

    Hey y'all,

    I've got a question that I haven't seen asked yet. I'm beginning to give more thought to the color/style of my Model A build. Here's the thing. I've always been planning on a mid '50s street/strip style build: Black wall Firestones on solid steelies, rubber rake, some chrome (but not a ton of it), non-metallic paint, etc. But I've lately been growing a fondness for the early '60s show car style: metallic paints, whitewall pie-crust slicks, Radirs, white padded inserts (roof, etc.).

    I'm not sure if it's really feasible, but here's what I'd like to achieve. Everyone knows how the right wheel/tire package can completely change the style of a car, right? I'd like to be able to run the black wall tires to give the car the mid '50s look, but with a simple wheel/tire change, it can pull off the early '60s show car thing.

    FYI, my car is an A coupe that will be chopped and placed on Deuce rails. :)

    I realize there are concessions to be made here, but what I'd love to see are examples of cars that pull off the style of the '50s, but easily "transform" to the flashy, show car '60s style with minimal changes. Anyone done this? If so, please share some pics!

    Thanks!
    Tommy
     
  2. Post up a photo of the coupe. HRP
     
  3. Tommy R
    Joined: May 18, 2004
    Posts: 717

    Tommy R
    Member

    Well, it's a pile of parts at the moment. So what would likely be more helpful are a couple pics showing a rough idea what the finished product *should* look like. FYI, power will be a boring SBC, but at least it'll be backed by a 4 speed. :)

    These mostly follow the '50s style.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Here's some '60s style cars I like.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    This may be the closest car I've seen that would pull off what I'm wanting with just a wheel/tire change.
    [​IMG]
     
  4. F-6Garagerat
    Joined: Apr 12, 2008
    Posts: 2,652

    F-6Garagerat
    Member

    I would start looking at mag's from 58-65 for starters. Not sure you would be able to pull off the transformation with a simple wheel tire change though. You would be missing a lot of the things that would get you into the 60's era. The difference is too drastic, I think, to make each version pull off their respective look without looking like too much for the 50's and not enough for the 60's. I hope that makes sense.

    The Black coupe in the second pic is a very good example of a late 50's style car, small block, rams horns etc. Putting whitewall pie crusts and radirs on it is not going to get you to 60's show car. In my opinion, it would just kill the look of a nicely done 50's style car. But like I said, that's just my opinion.
     
    loudbang likes this.

  5. Tommy R
    Joined: May 18, 2004
    Posts: 717

    Tommy R
    Member

    Oh, I tend to agree with you, actually. I don't know that it really *can* happen and achieve the look(s) I'm after. But before I decide to set my mind on one style versus the other, I had to ask! That being said, I wouldn't expect the '50s car to pull of a true '60s style with just a wheel/tire change. It would be a mild '60s car at most.

    But eventually I'll have a set of Firestones for the street and a set of pie-crust slicks/skinnies for the street/strip. So I'll need two sets of wheels/tires anyway. :)
     
  6. F-6Garagerat
    Joined: Apr 12, 2008
    Posts: 2,652

    F-6Garagerat
    Member

    50's street/strip would be cool. My favorite time peroid anyway. Never cared for 60's style cars myself.
     
  7. Tommy R
    Joined: May 18, 2004
    Posts: 717

    Tommy R
    Member

    Chances are, that's what I'll end up shooting for ('50s street/strip) and I definitely gravitate to the '50s, but I do have a really soft spot for '60s styles cars like the two I pictured above. :)
     
  8. F-6Garagerat
    Joined: Apr 12, 2008
    Posts: 2,652

    F-6Garagerat
    Member

    The last coupe you posted a pic of is pretty close to what I've seen as early 60's cars. The others, well, I'm not so sure they accurately depict 60's cars but are more other peoples "take" on it. They look like well built cars and maybe they might be HAMBers. I don't mean to insult them that's for sure. Those might just be cars that the owners built just how "they" wanted them to look and not specifically to a particular time frame. It's just really hard to build a "period" car and stay strict to the time frame you have picked for yourself.
     
  9. Time to fire up the Time machine -

    Step back into the late 50s and be the owner of your drag car- as you grow weary of your hot rod and the 60s come you decide you want to show it and not race it. So you change the tires and hit the show circuit. Ahhhhh not so sure that alone is gonna cut it.
     
  10. It's just really hard to build a "period" car and stay strict to the time frame you have picked for yourself.

    That is a colossal understatement. Its not impossible but it is right next to impossible on the scale of difficulty.
    it takes more perseverance and more dedication that most are willing to put towards a car.
     
  11. Anything that gets ya on the road Tommy! It's gonna be killer and changes can be made while you're driving it, work in progress.;)
     
  12. Plenty of cars were (and still are) updated on the run. What started out as a mid 50's street car could well have evolved into a 60's street/strip car and a wheel and tyre change would have been one of the first things to be updated. However I would imagine engine/induction etc. would have been fairly close behind. So the 60's style could be done but I think the "60's show car" would have had some fairly major updates to be competitive on the show circuit.

    IMO a lot of potentially very cool cars aren't quite all they could be when the builder doesn't quite know which direction they want to go. I think if you just pick a direction and go with it then your car will hit the mark a lot better and as other people have said, you can always update down the track.

    Oh and on a personal note, I HATE wide whitewalls on mags. They just don't look right to me.
     
  13. I agree,but if you will go back and look at the before & after photo's of Jeff Norwell's Deuce pickup he changed the overall look with a basic wheel change. HRP

    Before....[​IMG]

    another look...
    [​IMG]

    Now...

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Sep 8, 2014
  14. Where are they ?
     
  15. F-6Garagerat
    Joined: Apr 12, 2008
    Posts: 2,652

    F-6Garagerat
    Member

    Yeah it's rough. Like my truck for instance, late 50's very early 60's style, cutoff end of 1960. That's where I wanted to be. It was an old hot rod but when I got it there was a lot missing.

    1957 283, with a hurst front mount, Fenton 3x2, early Mallory, 39 trans with a Speed Gems adapter. No catalog parts.

    But then things happen. I needed a small diameter steering wheel due to space restrictions. Found a 14" Covico that was perfect. It bugs me that it's really out of the date range I set for myself. Seems like a lot of guys were already running 15" wheels in the late 50's. I've got 16" all the way around.

    There were probably cars running around like this that still had 16" tires and wheels. Just not updated to the current trends yet. The steering wheel still bugs me.

    In my mind I tried to duplicate a hot rod that had originally been built early/mid 50's with a flathead, then upgraded to the SBC when one was found. A rolling work in progress evolving with the trends, which I'm sure was common.
     
    Last edited: Sep 8, 2014
  16. F-6Garagerat
    Joined: Apr 12, 2008
    Posts: 2,652

    F-6Garagerat
    Member

    That's a great example HRP of one that makes the leap pretty easily. However, don't you think for the times it would have been a really high dollar street car? Perhaps someone that was shooting for a magazine/show car from the jump? Surely everything running around late 50's on the street wasn't as nice as Norwells truck. It's pretty badass.
     
  17. Tommy R
    Joined: May 18, 2004
    Posts: 717

    Tommy R
    Member

    Hold the phone! This is exactly what I'm talking about! And coincidentally enough, I was >this< close to posting a pic of Jeff's pickup that I grabbed at the Round Up some time back. Love it!

    The two pics below illustrate what I'd like to pull off, except in the lower pic I'd have pie-crust slicks. Are the wheels/tires the only significant changes? In the first pic the paint looks different, but maybe it was just overcast?

    Regardless, I think this may walk the line between the late '50's and early '60s better than any other example I've seen so far. Thanks, HRP!! :)

    Tommy

     
  18. I was still doing the leg work looking for them. HRP
     
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  19. Tommy R
    Joined: May 18, 2004
    Posts: 717

    Tommy R
    Member

    It's funny you say that! In describing to friends the "look" I'm trying to achieve, several times I've made similarities to it being a "high end car" for the time. And as you pointed out, that would make it a lot easier to make the transition from a "pretty" '50s drag/street car to a mild '60s street/show car.

    Style wise, I think Jeff's pickup is just what I'm after. I think a challenge for me will be to determine a color. I believe my A was originally blue. It's also the color of my mom's favorite car (a '55 Studebaker we had). Call me a sentimental fool, but for those two reasons I'm very inclined to go with some shade of blue for my coupe.
     
  20. Glad I could help,I love all three versions of Jeff's truck,he truly his been able to catch the look of different eras.

    The first photo was taken in his shop and probably under florescent lights,hence the color difference. HRP
     

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