Thanks for the responses. I agree that aspects of that car are not to nice, but i do kinda like the body shape like that. With a little chop and a little widening gives it a nice flat look. That truck looks super nice imo, but i can see where a sedan could get out of wack real quick if one was not careful.
Some of you guys are unbelieveable.......Stab someone for thinking outside your box. What's up with that. Isn't that what this hobby is all about?????????
The execution of this project as a whole is a disgrace The owner should be forever banned from the garage. But the body alone and its proportions do not appear to be off, or displeasing. The body alone looks like it could be made into a nice ride with proper attention to more traditional styling.
Anyone have a pic of one from about 20 years ago, that was on every "street rod" magazine cover? It was a model A roadster (bright blue) with a SOHC Ford engine. I recall it was widened only to accommodate the width of that monster cammer powerplant.
Everything is do able if you keep the proportions right, Ive seen a model Tudor stretch limo and it was widened in a V starting from the front and it did not look too bad. The pic above is truely bad as it is totally out of proportion and theme. Mind you I dont thing coupes cut into roadsters look all that cleaver either. Ask Boyd Coddington RIP how he felt, he got bitch slapped in a bar so I am told for cutting that 35 coupe project he did into a roadster a few years back. Going by some threads I have started I am surprised this one has not been closed.
I wish I could go through the guy who built the fugly tudor's garbage and take all the nice stuff he threw away !!!
If you only widen it an inch or two, it looks pretty good. Anymore than that, and your asking for proportion trouble.
there are many unspoken rules in hot rods and customs. this does not mean that you have to follow them. just understand that most everything that can be done has probably been attempted already and there is a reason your not seeing it. now that said, it is your ride and no one has to like it but you... years ago I used to work at a tattoo studio and dudes would come in wanting big tribal arm bands or a taz waiving a confederate flag or something. we would give them shit about it because we felt like we were in the know and they were clueless. which very well may have been true, but the point is, if you dig something I can't hate too much on you for it. do I hate that you have a merc with a skull grill? yes. but that is prodominately because I don't have a merc. if i did I might would not give a shit. I guess what I am saying is, build what you want and tell any body that doesn't like it to get over it or to quit typing and go build their own shit. that said, do some heavy researching and make sure you are building something because that is what you feel in your heart not because it is the "cool" thing to do at the moment. remember a white T-shrt and blue jeans never go out of style but a XXl slipknot hoodie and bondage pants... well you know...
I hear what your saying, but my reasons for doing things are never to be cool!! I do them to make me happy.
Chad is so right. That thing has been widen 14 inches. The owner didn't build it. He traded another " billet" rod for it. I have heard that it is for sale and he only wants about $27,000 fo it. And he does think it is cool......must have been all the LSD from back in the 60's
Well said, but we still have to understand the whys behind the rules. Rules were made to be broken, but ultimately.....proportions that please the eye are math based. Understand the proportions and the rest is a blank slate. I vote for start with a bigger car. Might even find solid tin is priced lower than comparable fords. good luck
Half the people bitchin here would totally accept the idea if it was a famous builder making it. If you want to do it, then do it. PM me- I WOULD like to see some more pictures of your Merc!
Wow, that's the single best way I've ever heard that said!! Thinking outside the box to make your care better is the very definition of rodding. But there are very good reasons you don't see stuff so far out in left field very often. Before you try a widened Ford, why not look into buying a similar year Dodge? Those were big cars, and even nice ones aren't all that expensive. Plus the proportions would be right, and as we all know proportions are everything.
Not quite. Obviously the chassis sucks, but the widening is a big problem too. I don't think a few inches would hurt, but this is way over done. Look at the back wheels and imagine how wide this car would be if he could even find a rear axle that would put those tires back outside the body where they should be to look right. There's just no way to make this car look right at this width.
opinions are worthless without some more pictures to back it up !!! only two cars have been pic-ed. the truck looks good. The A (body only) looks good . Start with another car ??? wtf Fuck it start with some flat sheet !!
The thing with starting with another car......... Many consider the basic ford lines sacred. Lots have tried to improve, only some succeed. By starting with a bigger car, you're free of all that. Nobody expects a big ole whatever to have killer proportions and be a true hotrod. But done right, it'll wow em. It's kind of a sleeper angle applied to styling. It works no matter how old the car. My sig is really more of a garage philosophy.
sacred??? Then this is a bad bad thing to do? Some say this is the "golden ratio" What say you? Choose a rear profile and front profile that is pleasing, formulate a ratio for the width to height, and width to length, here are some interesting proportions and ratios to look at
the tudor looks like it might have been a Vickie, too... some purist is pissed off now... what bugs me about that car is that the modern engine doesn't jibe with the ancient body, widened or not. the builder seems to have been conflicted over having a Rod or having a 'Vette. my artistic eye finds the tudor's chop too heavy in relation to body width. a little taller roof wouldn't make the wider body stand out so much. the rear tires tucked under the quarters just looks ODD to me. don't know how the builder could have remedied that and still widened the body. Eh. the radiator shell (i'm not even going to call it a grille; no effort was put into it obviously) raked back like that just looks like shit IMHO. my 2 cents? widen your car, but be willing to take the crap some folks will fling. couldn't be worse than faking crew-cab A pickups.
A long time ago DIRT proposed a new class of race cars that would run early style fiberglass bodies, but otherwise be the same as either a street stock or a modified (I forget what chassis they had) - so the bodies had to be widened a bunch to work. They built a couple to run some hot laps with and show off to draw interest, one with a 34 Ford coupe body and one with I think a Model A or 32 Ford coupe body. I remember they looked like shit from any angle where you could see the added width. Fortunately, the class never went anywhere, those two were the only ones built. I think they added at least a foot to the width on those bodies. You might be able to get away with as much as six inches before it started to look goofy, the key would be to try to do it so you can't tell it's been done.
You might be able to get away with as much as six inches before it started to look goofy, the key would be to try to do it so you can't tell it's been done.[/quote] guys I think we hit on something here... it's called subtilty just sayin...
just for a "fer'instance" check out the difference in a 40 Ford and Merc body; the Merc is wider and looks a lot heftier than the Ford; but both ride essentially the same chassis. the trick is truly being SUBTLE with the work; make it look like nothing's been done until it hits you that there's something different here. A-bones are notoriously difficult cars to get the proportions "right" (matter of opinion here) on when chopping, sectioning, channeling, etc; too much of or too little of this or that and it goes to hell pretty quickly. my own rule of thumb? with fenders, the tires out to fill the fender but not stick out past them. a builder could widen an A some and still keep this rule in place. without fenders, the body should not cover the tires at all. super wide pro-street tires don't belong on an A anyway. no hood; old engine with multiple carbs, no EFI. hood: whatever you got. and flying fortress bomber cars? leave 'em in the imagination. i can't envision ANY fort crewman having enjoyed his 50 missions so much as to want his CAR to look like his plane.
Had been giving a little thought about this myself - actually to allow the fitment of a ANDRA passed cage in a chopped and channeled A coupe. 6 inches would be a lot but 4 may not be so noticeable, especially then constructing a chassis to suit which I have to do anyway. The best way though is as someone suggested above. Go on a diet. Your car will go faster and you will live longer. Pretty simple huh. I best start myself this week
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