Projects Ditched my Continental kit

been a few years now, I have been working on changing the look or getting rid of this dummy Conti kit without breaking the budget, I love the extended 1/4's & tried to live w/ the kit using the excuse that everybody is doing there 53-54's short now I could keep it & be old school different but everytime I went to get in the trunk I wanted to take a hammer to the thing & maybe would have if not for the pinstriping. (wall hanger)
Right away I tore the dumb ass skull of which reminded me of Horney Mike BS, I covered the lower 1/2 w 1/4" black pvc, tag & a piece of trim for summer #1.
So next I spent some $$ & had a buddy fix the trunk that had a recess for the kit to set in.
now I needed to cover the hole in the back pan & I will wait to see if anybody recognizes the louvered pannel (been in my garage for years) and it's intended use. I can live with what I have for now I am not sure I will ever paint the car.
Try not to beat me up to bad ! this is a driver, I am sick of cleaning polishing cars. I can hear my elbows & shoulders poping & cracking during bug & tar cleaner then wax on & wax off. Thanks, Dave

 

Looks good from here!

 

Completely agree with what you've done; I hate continental kits except on Continentals. If I had your car (and an unlimited expense account) I'd ditch the pan and make a new bumper that followed the contours of the body.
regards,
Phil

 

VW firewall…aka cheese grater for your hands

 

I'm torn on this.

You really didn't have a continental kit to begin with as much as extended quarters and a continental spare. The biggest issue you had, IMHO, was less styling and more execution. Simply swapping what was there for a polished stainless trim ring and a flat faceplate with maybe some tasteful pinstriping would have been a significant improvement. Of course provided you use the correct trim ring with the proper constant radius, and not the conversion van kind that is flat across the top. And, for better or worse, the car before at least looked finished and cohesive. Now, you have a big primered spot prominent on the deck lid and and extended valence that hangs like a park bench. To me, if you're going to just blow primer on the back of the car without concern for finishing the paint, then reconfigure the lower part of the quarters and tuck the bumper in to get rid of the extended pan. If you're in for a penny you're in for a pound, and the fact is now the car needs paint whereas before it didn't. And while I personally wouldn't build the car with that styling, I'm definitely not offended by it and think it looked pretty cool. People dump on continental kits all the time, but I think on the right cars they look fantastic.

Here's a molded spare on my buddy Chris Rusbach's killer 56 Crown Victoria with Packard tail lights and Merc trim ring, which I think looks awesome.

 

I turned mine into a locking toolbox

 

I’d run a spare tire in it….ya never know when ya need one. Lol

 

Dave Ya done good. You had an itch, it needed to be scratched. As far as saying it didn't need paint, skull monster didn't make it. Sixty somthin' years ago that was the fab-fad. Now enjoy your freedom. To quote Forest G's mom: Custom is as Custom does.

 

Is that panel a louvered VW bug firewall?

 

I will keep it zipped on this thread.

 

I'm glad @stanlow69 posted the Larry Ernst Chevy. It seems there is a lot of revisionist history when it comes to continental kits about how they're ugly, "old man-ish" or worse yet, untraditional. None of those are the case. I wouldn't even go so far to say it's a regional thing, because though the East coast cars certainly had more accessories than the West coast cars, West Coast builders like Barris were using continental spares, too, in their restyling efforts.

The Larry Ernst Chevy is a great example.


So is the Sam Barris 55 Chevy convertible that he built for his wife. This one in particular, with the Ford side trim, moulded lake pipes.... is one of my all time favorites.


I'll even throw my sled in there, which has a kit that looks to have been installed from the dealer.


From a styling perspective, I think the function of the continental kit is lost on a lot of folks. The purpose of the custom is to be "long and low". The continental kit or continental spare adds length to the spot where you want. Visually, customs seem to look best with a longer rear than hood area, especially when the car has an even or rearward rake. The extended quarters accomplish those ends, and the continental spare in the middle fills the space in the middle which would other wise be weird empty space like a bench. The continental kit, like on my 56, does sort of the same thing but without the modification to the quarters. With the extra length, it brings short trunk cars like the 56 Crown Vic pictured above into better proportion and giving it some more visual weight in the rear. For cars that are already long AF like my 98 series Olds or a mid-'50s Lincoln, IMHO, it sort of makes a bold statement that commands attention. Which to me is exactly the statement a young guy in 1956 or 1957 would want to make if he was out cruising in a hot car.

 

Put a hinge on that louvered panel and a BBQ underneath.

 

I'm not a fan of Connie kits on most cars, but they do look good on some. Now you've taken yours off, it looks goofy with all that extended space in the quarters and at the bumper, like a park bench. Only way I see to fix that is shorten the quarters or extend the trunk lid back to fill some of that space.

But it's your car, and beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.

 

I like it, not personally a fan of continental kits.

Consider the stretched quarters, below the tail light extends rearward for the continental shelf.
If you started at the bottom of the tail light and brought it back to the body, the bumper would tuck in and allow the shelf to be removed or reduced. The stretched quarters would still be there.

Hey, you gotta do a paint blend anyway, change anything you want to now.

Let's see a side shot of the car - it's a good looking ride.

 

Extended rear quarters with the continental kit removed.

 

Ok….don’t take this the wrong way…it looks like a boat platform…and the VW firewall ain’t helping…if anything fill it in with some sheet metal..the VW thing looks like an afterthought..

Your and East Coast be proud of the Continental Kit..

or do that car justice and fix it properly

 

I'll take the good & the bad. I will improve pan & paint trunk eventually but what's there is good for now, the car needs some other touch ups, bubbles etc, I may replace the trunk but they are hard to come by.
I also am thinking of packing some things for roadtrips on the pan w/ tie downs, if you look I have some spears on louver pan built up so I can set stuff on top w/o bending louvers.
I hate to loose the rear bumper (mid 50's Desoto) I have another if I decide to loose the pan & make a new design out of same bumper, I really like the Desoto.
Had the idea choping off below taillights. Yes on VW firewall/cheese grader.
the conti lovers will also hate I pulled the skirts off but I am not pulling the back seat to get the skirts off to fix a flat, I have figured a way to put them back on w/o that stud if I decide to. also sold the wide whites I love them but I am not cleaning them, I will be doing something else w/ wheels maybe chrome but I will have to clean them too.

 

Dooooooon’t think I can hold off commenting I am trying &@$}#%*****

 

ROOOOAAAAR!!!!! I think every rendition from the first pic just got worse and worse. If you took the face and “bad to the bone” off, left the pinstripes and put “ Baby’s got back” would look good. If you had to add something else , maybe a Betty Boop character twitching her butt. The car with caps looks good. I am trying to let the pic of the skirts grow on me . I would like to see a side view with caps and no skirts.

 

Cannot wait to see a finished pic but right now I am skeeeeeeered for the car. Take it as some good ribbing but I am skeeeered.

 

I guess you could un-extend the fenders. They were only extended to accommodate the continental. Maybe you could use the shelf to carry around one of those "scooters" at car shows.

 

I think that other thread “ this guy gets it”about less is more maybe could apply to this car , but everyone is allowed their own taste. The car is slick .

 

thanks Tom I am having fun playing w/ the car no rush & limited skills but I have always wanted a
custom, I am 67 & like the old & new styles,so I'm mixing it up till I find what I like & thats all that really matters just running it past the HAMBERS , it's all good, hope to get more rises as I drive it. Thats customs I think!

 

Maybe bumper ends that follow/hug the quarters and a rolled pan at the trunk? No bumper in the center.
I like the fenders, like the removed faux spare, not loving the filler panel/cheese grater part.

 

you came up w/ the only best fix I thought of a while back.extend the trunk is the thing I would love to do which would make the car killer, a major undertaking & something I can't do myself. $$$ + down time. I know thats the answer
my 2nd best shot, the 53 qtrs are under the extended use them & mold the packard sections in and
make the bumper work.. kool but not a home run.

 

It is an improvement without the continental kit. I propose to set the licence plate recessed into the horizontal panel and weld this panel to the body. It needs to have large corner radii to get the traditional smooth look. I tried to sketch my idea.

 

I agree something needs to be done with license plate so it conforms to the spirit of the custom work already done. Not hanging around.