I know this is kind of a biased forum, but I thought I'd ask. Are there any cars that you feel are perfect right from the factory ?? For me it's a '58 Plymouth Belvedere. If I were able to own one it would be the only car I restore back to stock spec. So, how bout you ?? Any cars you feel the factory "nailed it" and wouldn'd mod ?? Post a pic of it if ya got one ! Todd Ah.....the one that started it all for me, Christine !
I speek for none, only me. I feel there is not one single car on the planet that should be left alone. Everything should at least be on the ground. I wouldnt cut up a Tucker, but I would lower it when nobody was lookin.
any 64-71 mopar with original hemi I would leave untouched,sure,some period mag wheels or something,but the rest would be all original.
Certain rare or numbers matching cars I think should be left alone. Fuel Injected 57 Chevs, Max wedge or Hemi cars, maybe even Shelby Mustangs...it all depends. I just don't see the point in chopping up a rare car when you can just go find another one to cut up.
I might lower a stock 49-56 cadillac but thats it. also any car that was so mint and original, and had stayed that way for XX years, I would probably just leave it stock. Maybe some minor bolt on mods to the engine exhaust etc.
57 & 58 Cadillac Brougham. To me stock anything sucks, but it would be a shame to do anything to this car but leave it original. on second maybe air ride, but thats it, really. Wait a minute, it has stock air ride already, so scratch that. stock suicide doors, even.
The irony of this thread is Christine wasn't stock to begin with. Not greatly modified, but not as built by Mopar either. The "Fury" anodized inserts in the side trim were movie car add-ons - in 1977 you couldn't find many originals (I believe the silver tone was optional on the Belvedere with Sport Tone trim, so it wasn't common to begin with) and couldn't find the same material, so they made it out of something similar. And of course the window tint in the pictured car, to make it easier to make the car look like it was driving itself. There's some other minor odds and ends, but the guys over to the Forward Look page could tell you more. They made just about an entire car body out of rubber for some of the scenes in that movie, and one stunt car had the rearend chained down so it was just about mounted solid too. Oh yeah, I don't think the demon soul inhabiting the car is necessarily a stock feature either. But I'd sure like to hire her to do body work. I wonder if she can handle rust repairs? The book version, the car could stitch up new body panels out of thin air.... of course, the book version was a 4-door Fury, which never existed. When it comes to cars I'd leave stock, some of the mid-30's classics have nothing that bothers me - like a '36 Cord convertible or an Auburn speedster about the same year; or a Deusenberg around 29-30-31. Then again I don't think of just a basic shave and lowering, or different wheels/tires, as great changes either, and there's a lot of cars that are fine with just that done.
Zora's personal '63 road race spec Sting Ray, any historically significant car (racer or otherwise) or the last orriginal of any model, other than that, chop away.
I have always thought about that, if I hit the lottery kind of thing. Sure would piss a lot of people off... an added bonus
any chrys 300 built before 74. Yes that includes the fuselage style if the late 60's early 70's. Those cares are sweet!!
There's Many, a lot of my young "hotrodding" history was actually in 100% OG classics with at most 20k miles. So i kinda grew a love of them.
1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser. Those things are bitchin' 1966 Galaxie 7-Litre 61 Impala Bubbletop 61 Pontiac 421SD. The rest is fair game.
I'm not really one for body modifications, so there are a lot of cars I would probably leave alone cosmetically. Same goes for a good-condition stock interior. Engines and transmissions, however, are always fair game for me. -Dave
I could leave a 63-65 Riviera stock. Lowered would be nice, but not a must. To me they are pretty much a "factory custom" in stock form. Bill
As dvanecek said the chrysler 300s. I have a 66 and it has no modifictions but except a set of 15 inch rims and wheel covers from a 69 and an fm converter. I think they had them right when they built them.
For me, pretty much any really nice complete original car I would leave alone or restore. I would rather start with a shell and a frame and add what I want, rather than tear one down to start.
i have done plenty of stock restores and they all sucked. every car has some hick ups that could be cleaned up, better brakes, more motor and so on.
I really don't think any car "nailed" it like the Hudson stepdown actually did. Chopped, factory Channeled, factory They still handle the road as well as any modern car will today, with a nice ride quality. They were taking early muscle cars to task on the dragstrips in stock trim as late as '65. There isn't much about them you really have to change, unless you just want to. Hud
To me, I've never seen a modified 40 Ford Deluxe coupe or 56 Nomad that looked better modified than stock. The highly modified 56 Nomads that have been featured in all the magazines look pretty ugly to me, like a worked-over Nash or something. For the Tucker fans, they reproduce the bodies now, so you can get one and cut it up to your heart's content!
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