Projects '59 Thunderbird Radical Custom build.

Black tends to close things up (think interior) and shorten things (overall look of the car), bright (and light) colors say "look at me" and will open up an interior so it looks more spacious. Is it any wonder why white was used in all those kustoms for years...???

A two-tone paint job says you thot long and hard about the color combinations AND where to divide them - on natural lines or to enhance certain body mods.

A Larry Watson style paint job says you liked the body near stock and didn't want to mess it up with mods (and you're waa-aay past that...!!!).

And after all, it's nothing but personal preference - who are you building the car for -HAMB members or yourself...remember, you can please some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time but there ain't no way in Hell you're going to please all of the people all of the time...!!!
R-

 

Very well said. I'm trying to satisfy myself, have the car look timeless, not trendy, identifiable as what it is, but unique, and to hopefully appeal to someone else when I'm ready to move on. Tall order.


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Brian - looking killer man. One day when I am home visiting my parents, I gotta stop by!

 

A nickel's worth of opinion...

I think black will hide all the ingenious and subtle bodywork you've done. And a lot of the modern colors are too bold for my taste. I think a desaturated metallic pearl color would be amazing on this car. Light champagne gold, mint green, lavender, a soft brown, or even silver. Really almost any hue would work with that soft early '60s show car glow.

Here are some color examples courtesy of Rikster and Larry Watson. I don't think your car needs a lot of stripes to set off those lines if the color is right. Can't wait to see what you decide.

 

My turn to chime in on the color.

I think silver metalic is going to make those mods wash out, especially if dont use chrome on the bumpers. I would stick to a neutral base color and use a silver pearl in the clear. I think a light yellow with silver pearl would scream look at me and look closely. I too think any Watson style paint is too much for this car, but 2 tone might work if the colors are similar like the drawing above. I would go with a lighter color on the top and a darker below to give the car length and make it look lower.

My whole point is this. Next time your driving down the road just look at the number of silver metalic cars on the road. Look how plain they look (my daily is silver metalic). Be bold but not crazy bold.

 

Yeah, bright colors like on these ugly old things.

DSC_9390 by GirchyGirchy, on Flickr

 

Ok, so here's a rendering I had done a couple years ago. Ignore the Charger headlights, and pretend the charcoal is only within the door sweep as in the green Eric Black illustration...


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Couple of versions. I think a metallic would be a good idea as it shows off the shapes of the body much better.

 

My rationale for bright silver is the jet-plane styling of the car, although I like the gold. I'm sort of stuck on the tu-tone idea yet...

 

I love the direction your headed.

How about something along these lines for the color? I think it would really help show off the curves. It's an OEM factory color.

 

Been flicking between the gold, silver and brown

Liking silver best


Singlefingerspeedshop.com. Detroit

 

silver gets my vote.

Damn those photoshop images really give you a great idea of the final look. The gold does look good too, but it would need some wide whites and wild wheel covers.

 

What about something off the wall, like metallic taupe? Or a not quite off-white that leans towards a Mauve?
I need to find some paint chips because there's a good chance nobody has any idea what the heck I am trying to describe, ha ha ha.

 

IMO, you nailed it in the rendering above. Don't get buried in overthink.

You can do a lot worse than silver. I did this '59 in 1961. It was my daily for 9 years. I had to throw in a touch of my hot rod heritage with an Ak Miller 390.

 

???

 

Ding Ding Ding! Winner! Those last two are the colors. the smokey charcoal on the convert is beautiful.


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Since James D handled the truly difficult part of the rendering - great work as always James! - I thought I would continue the thought process..

Dark cove with a fade-away blend through the 'skirts:


S'gonna be nice Brian!!
Dave

 

Another version:


Dave

 

This is gonna be cool! E. Black is amazing! Can you say how much it costs to have him draw up something like that?

 

That's it Dave, I Dig it! (And, the bumper looks good body color...;-)


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The dark paint around the lights looks mean. I like it.

 

I like what you did with the hood scoop, and the tube grill fits!

 

LOL, no I can't, because I shamelessly swiped the concept, and the rendering from Rod&Custom mag!

 

ONE more vote for silver HO HO HO
TwoChops

 

I slung a little mud at the T'Bird today, and have to say I'm glad I shortened the tonneau cover to match the new roofline. The cut off section of the tonneau I welded to the short tulip panel between the old backlight and deck lit, after making a new lip at the forward edge for the tonneau cover (which also got a new lip) to rest on. I also stood back and took a good hard look at the way the rear bumper fits, and I have to say I'm not happy with that. The bumper drops about half an inch from the rear to the edge where it meets the quarter panel, like it's twisted a bit. I guess I'll have to fix that too...

 

Better to see (and fix) it now than to notice after it's painted!

 

I lean toward the gold myself, I like silver cars but the gold is just rich. The 2 tone idea is the way I would go as well, it ads shape to an otherwise boxy looking car.

Maybe Aztec gold metallic with cream/pearl for your two tone.

 

Got lots done today on the 'bird. Finished up the body work on the tulip panel, and on the tonneau where the incision was made to shorten it. Then I test fit the tonneau, and for good measure, sat the roof on to double check the new body line between the top and tonneau cover. As with the hood fitting on the Riviera, turns out using a tape measure is a GOOD thing, as it fit
1Again, it looks great and makes me glad I took the time to correct this. I wish I were clever enough to have figured out a retractable mechanism for the top, it'd fit in the trunk now that it's chopped. Oh well, I'll just need to recruit a couple of guys to help lift it on or off if we want to switch things up.

 

That looks great
I like the "Bird"


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After recovering enough from the flu to spend some time out in the shop, I've got the dash almost ready for primer. The amount of work to end up with it looking (almost) stock is staggering, I really like it now with the original gauge cluster and glove box door. The "eyebrows" are squirt foam done into cardboard mold on the original dash pad metal mount plates, sanded and then a coat of filler. The result is similar to the original look, but the pods are extended and exaggerated versions of the originals It'll be cool, I think.