Yea but he was a drunk. LOL I got an idea that perfect is a personal thing when it comes to flames. My personal preference in flames are the style that Danny ( @HOTRODPRIMER ) posted. They say hot rod to me for some reason.
Hello, When we were little, we tried our hardest to draw the perfect flames and scallops from our recollection of those cool photos in the magazines. The paint pattern/design on the early Corvette was the basic version of color mixing to start our painting adventures. The red base fading into the orange and then the bright yellow flames. The blue pinstriping was sometimes added for the final true to life, blue flame tip. Other painters and custom guys painted in the blue color in the tips and fades them into the next color, yellow. Then usually, a red or orange pinstriping was drawn to give it some highlights. Jnaki This color palette design was popular for a while. It continued until the artists started the wild crab claw and streamlined crab claw versions. The respective flame colors opposing the body paint choices to make them stand out on the hot rod or cruiser. But, as we all know, the 59 Corvette had the perfect place for a flame insert…
I totally agree with you about Gene Sonnen's '40 coupe. A local legend in San Antonio has a very similar paint job on his '40 coupe. His coupe is timeless even though it was painted decades back. He is Jay Lieck. His Son is Justin, and they both are going strong !
Hello, I have always liked all kinds of flames on anything. Our granddaughter was impressed that I could draw colorful flames on a table top when we went to a restaurant that allowed crayon drawings on the white paper table cover. Of course, the fancy design that the waitress always did was the lead in to waiting for our meal and our grand daughter always drew some thing fun. The people sitting at the next table thought her grandparents were strange allowing her to see these large flames scribbled across the white paper on my side of the table. Obviously, they were not hot rod folks or had any inclination as to why those flames were so cool. Our granddaughter thought so, and that was what mattered to me. In the era of hot rods from the beginning had a blank pallete of places for creative design. Flames evolved from simple scallops and now are creative as one can get with the fancy swirls, etc. Sometimes, the flames on a custom car or hot rod are a little overboard and the car gets lost in the vision. The original sighting of a black car with bright yellow/red flames was it. The Bob McCoy 40 Ford Sedan had all of the idea of flames going for it in the early days. Jnaki It may be sacrilege, but the flames were a little overpowering the nice black 40 Ford sedan. If the idea of flames is to draw attention, well, it certainly did. It is the direct contrast of bright colors on a black hot rod that is supposed to give it some “pizazz.” Those styles of flames certainly do that. I like 40 Ford sedans and of course sedan deliveries. But, in our book, a different way to draw flames would be added to our old 40 Ford Sedan Delivery versions if we had our way. Here is a sample… In the recent times, when I see an old hot rod with flames, I am impressed. But, this 40s Chevy sedan was a nice fawn beige and the flames were on the hood, as well as the fenders. They were there and one had to get up close and personal to actually see the fancy swirls and contrasting pinstripe flames. That was a great way to accent such a cool sedan. One last custom item was a 3 dimensional addition to the rear electric antenna position that fell into the flame family. Very nicely done… As Goldilocks said in her calm time of the day, “…not too hot and not too cold, it was just right…” Did our 327 powered 40 Ford Sedan Delivery ever get a nice set of flames on the hood and fenders? Well the closest to any kind of flames was a sunny morning spent putting 1/16 inch tape in a mild flame pattern on the louvered hood to see what it would be like. It was ok, but not the best look. On the fenders, it just did not look right… YRMV
Flames are a in your face statement that only a true hot rodder can appreciate. I've had many people admire the flames on my 55 t-bird. I have never seen a flame job I didn't like
Flames will never go out of vogue if done right. Similar to a female anatomy the size and shape are a personal preference. This example was done in the early ‘70’s to a friend of mine’s deuce roadster by Butch Brinza who is still laying down cool stuff today. This style and color (too bad the article is in B&W) have always been at the top of my list.
I have been flaming cars for nearly 40 years. A good flame job will make the car, and a bad one will ruin it. Heres a few of mine.
I always loved the flames my grandfather had on his 55 Chevy pickup show truck. They were laid down before the clear and then put enough coats of clear on over the truck that when you cut and buffed it, you never felt the flames and then they never needed to be outlined. Plus the colors just looked cool together.
I once considered painting my own casket and adding flames but on second thought I decided that was going the wrong direction. I hate flames, apologies to all of you that prefer them. I did see a picture of a pinto that had the flames coming from the rear, that one was clever...still hated it. California Kid, okay, it is what it is. PT Cruiser with flames is just wrong. I suppose if I screwed up a paint job, I would consider covering the error it with a flame or scallop job. I will try not to err.
I’m pretty picky on flames since that was my main custom paint jobs back when I was doing Harley’s and custom pickups. And, I lean toward the style on this Tudor on the cover of the Rodders Journal.
Flames are a real commitment. There are so many other places to go with the dollars a flame job takes out of the budget. Kudos to those that take the plunge.
I was never truly a fan of flames. That is. Until I bought my roadster several months ago. My first Model A roadster and I am now a fanatic for flames.
The white coupe on the first couple posts just doesn't do it for me. I wouldn't call them flames by any means, maybe ink blotting. The 40 that's posted has what I would call a nice flame job and several others above. To me flames should flow not be short dabs of color. .
There was a 33-34, 3 window in black primer out here in the midwest that had the coolest flames. The car had a radical, blown flathead with no cooling system. The owner would fire it up and drive it around for 5 or 5 minutes and shut it off to cool. Anyway, the car had flames down the sides and up over the rear wheel arch. I always thought it was so cool! When I decided I[ATTAC/ATTACH] wanted flames on my old 41 Pontiac, I had a buddy paint the flames on it the way I wanted....down the sides and over the rear wheel arch. I striped it with bright blue 1-shot.
The Jalopy Journal
