Features Billy Gibbons' 1950 Ford "Kopperhed"

I understand why they left it off, but, I really dig the little V8 emblem on the sail panel in the drawing.

 

That V8 emblem was on the front fender of all V8-powered '51 Fords. I think Steve recycled it on the 3W rendering just for fun. I liked it too.

 

Oh yeah, I totally recognized it! Getting the idea of relocating the ones on my own "51. But I'll have to remember which box I put them in...

 

I like to see relocating stock emblems. Seeing the small details makes you scratch your head, is that supposed to be there? I agree, we all understand why but it would have been hard for me to leave them off.

 

This photo was taken in front of Pete Chapouris' shop in Crestline Ca. This is where the build was started . About mid build Pete opened the shop in Pomona . Those in the photo are , Pete Chapouris , Rick Lefever , Mike Cardenas , me , Peter Chapouris & Billy Gibbons .
Rick assisted Jake ,with the top chop .
Mike did all the wiring and some assembly work .

 

In total agreement with this fellow HAMBer Texan.

 

I just bet Edsel would have given his approval to this "phantom". Too bad he couldn't have traded places with his stubborn old man when the dying started. He was the true design genius at Ford. If Henry had lived another 10 years, the T-Bird would have had transverse suspension and flathead power.

 

Super job, P-Wood ! Maybe I can talk Billly into trading the Copperhead for my '40 2-dr. Oh, how I wish !

 

So glad to meet another HAMBer who actually drives his rides. My drivers are a red Deuce highboy with 5 trips to El Mirage under its hood so far and a ''40 Deluxe 2-dr. Hope you can make the Lonestar Roundup held in April in Austin sometime. This year it has been moved to Sept. 4-5 because of the Wuhan virus.

 

Steve Stanford recently posted this on his Facebook timeline:

Billy Gibbons' 1950 Ford "Kopperhed" coupe is shown in rare photos of the construction of it being converted from a stocker to a 3-window coupe. Ford never offered this body style in this year, but I did a drawing for a Rod & Custom mag Sketchpad feature which inspired Gibbons to make it a reality (the color sketch I did for him, the b&w sketch was from the article). Pete Chapouris and the PC3g craftsmen in his Crestline, CA shop did the honors, and I went up to check on the progress to make sure the work was being done to my specs. Of course these pros would do things right, I needn't have worried. Great shot of Chapouris sizing up the project as it was taking shape. This was around 1992. "Kopperhed" went on to a splashy debut at the Petersen Automotive Museum later to rave reviews. One of my all-time favorite projects.

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^This.

In the pre-internet era I used to subscribe to various mags to be posted to UK, and I well remember seeing this and it striking a chord in that, blast from the past way. The interior especially struck a chord with me then, for the next 25 years has been filed away in the memory bank to be used as the 'inspiration' photo to be handed to the trimmer when it comes time for me to have the interior on my '32 3w done.....which should have been this year, but the Covid world has put paid to that happening.

 

Really digging on the Billy Gibbons coupe. Definitely hate the roofline on this one. My high school track coach had a old Volvo that looked like this.

 

When I saw this car I realized how cool ZZ-top actually was.
And I really like that it has a Y-block and not a small-block.

It's not what I would do with a shoebox, but you gotta love the "alternative thinking" during the time period it was made in (What?! It's not tubbed-out with slicks and billet? Is it even a street rod?!?)

 

All 3 are nice! But Cadzilla does it for me

 

I think its gorgeous. I saw it at the Roundup and wanted to measure the tulip panel so I held my hands over it and spread my fingers. It was a quick and easy way to measure that I havent forgotten and I did not touch the car. The guy who guards the car came over because he was curious about what I was doing so I got to talk to him about the car.

 

What perfect timing, we are gearing up to chop the top on our '50! Kopperhed has been a bit of an influence. We just finished lowering it last night, and just realize how much they sit alike, very cool!

Another little thing I think is really cool, is Pete is wearing a Blair's t-shirt!

 

Out of Billy Gibbon's 'famous' cars, this is the best looking IMO. The Eliminator is everything that was wrong in the '80s and Cadzilla is too cartoonish looking for my taste.

But even this one misses the mark by a bit, and I think I can explain why. As several people have remarked, the 'C' pillar looks awkward and that's because they missed Sanford's rendering, if only slightly. It appears the doors were extended by using front halves from opposite side doors, but these don't quite duplicate the drawing. The back of the window opening is too straight, and the curve into the door top is too sharp. Add in the drip rail, also too straight and with the little 'jog' forward at the bottom, and it breaks the 'flow' of the design.

Just goes to show that the devil really is in the details...

 

On a somewhat related note, I got to see a ZZ Top concert last summer in Tampa. My wife and I were absolutely blown away by how good those guys still sound. They haven’t lost anything over the past fifty years.