Well, just to close the book on this-I saw this car at the Mooneyes show in Yokohama last weekend. No one would recognize it as Sellers car anymore-sadly. I just happen to have been following this car here, so I know where it started. I guess in some way, this thread will serve as a way to trace it's history. Someday, maybe someone will wonder what ever happened to Seller shoebox and this will help link things up. I'll let you all make the call on the end result. The irony of this is that the car next to it, looked a lot more like Sellers car than his did. See attached last pic.
Pretty retarded to mess up Sellers car. I do not understand some peoples thought processes. If they want to copy our culture why not keep some of the original cars as seen when built by the first builder. To take and make Seller's car another pretty much plane Jane flat black showbox is beyond me.-Weeks
The real irony is, no one probably looked at the flat black car. LOL I agree with most people here. Stupid to take a perfectly good car and change it unnecessarily. If you don't want your car to be known as someone else's car, then don't buy it in the first place. Oh well... maybe he'll paint it bronze with lime green flames.
Oh Jeez Mark, they freakin' ruined that car! Why? A million times, why? They really could've started from the ground up with some other car since they had no plans of retaining much of the same vibe of Sellars Shoebox.
For all of those bitching about someone changing this car, never lose track of it, buy it back in 50 years, and start a "Seller's Shoebox Found - Official Restoration Thread". Life Lesson #1162 - if you're gonna get all butt hurt about someone changing your car, never sell it. Life Lesson #1163 - if you're gonna get all butt hurt about someone buying a car you like and changing, always carry more cash than the other guy.
I liked Sellers version. I like the new version. Does it suck that we lost one to get the other? Yes... but that's life
Okay, fair enough. I get the, "new owner can do as they damned please" concept. I guess I was feeling a little nostalgic last night! It's just that in the Steve Sellars incarnation, that Shoebox was packed full of personality, now it's looking a little genero.
I agree, Jason! It might be a better car from a technical standpoint but it looks just like 1000 other shoeboxes. But then who says that it won't get painted in the future, although it will be hard to match the original paint for coolness. Pat did a good job on the paint and Notch laid out some killer flames!
you guys are all nuts. when Sellers had it it was all about stance and cool flames. as I recall it had a bunch of carbs on a smallblock. far from finished. obviously not his best work. the new build has a 426 Hemi in it. a much better frame and suspension, new floors and trunk. it's 10 times the car it was when he sold it.
Please help with my foggy memory.... Is this the car that completely filled with smoke, doing a burnout. Because it had no trunkfloor/rear inner wheelwells?
Whatever. In my opinion, the new owner took a bitchen shoebox with a growing history to it--and pretty much screwed that up. (And unless I miss my guess, those new wheels are not HAMB-friendly.) But hey--you pay the money and you can build a car however you like. That's how it works. I have that same body-style in my backyard right now (I have a '49 Club Coupe) and assuming it ever gets on the road (2.5 years in, right now), I'll be thinking of Sellers' shoebox--and Weesner's shoebox, and Lee Pratt's shoebox, and the Jay Johnson shoebox, and the Ed Fahlsing shoebox--every time I turn the key and push the start button. That's where I'm coming from. Hell, I love the old shit so much that I almost bought an extra set of heater controls with the round chrome knobs--just to have more instruments looking at me when I finally get behind the wheel.
I know this car touches a nerve for a lot of people. I really had no intention of stirring up drama. I was actually excited when I first found the car, but that was well before I knew what the plans for it were. The shop doing the work for the customer, is well known and I've seen a lot of their work before. They do quality work. I don't know anything about the owner. I just posted the last pics to close the story I started. I'm not sure if they plan for shiny paint in the future or not, but cars like this in Japan usually don't roll with flat/primer paint for long. I'll keep my eye on it and if anything changes, I'll post here.
I used to love that car... not so much anymore... I second the opinion about buying a stocker.. hell you could buy a junker and just start at the beginning..
Johnny gets it! Okay, maybe more thoroughly engineered at this point, but I'm talking "The Soul"! That's what's missing. Hey Mark, consider the drama stirred!
You missed your guess,because the rear wheels are E/T's,and it's rolling on bias ply tires to boot. I liked the Sellers version,but,this version,other than the paint,is seriously badass too. Hemi:check,completely finished bodywork,floor work,etc:Check,performance built chassis and steering to handle the Hemi:check. New owners did what they want with the car. I want more info on the Sellers clone next to it though. Here's all the pics of what they did to it: http://www.lavish-ac.com/50work.html
i grew up in campbell and remember seeing that car around...i thought it was the coolest car i had seen. i liked it better when it belonged to steve sellers!
Na see - it's a star checkin' out while on top. Cool is all about timing.. Tell me it didn't have that kind of a personality. Officially immortality. Let's face it, it was the fashionable thing to do: Buddy Holly, James Dean, I dig it. Art is all about affecting emotion and the mind - the custom culture, its all a state of mind. It's a lot more than just cars goin' on here. You have to clap a performance art smash when you see one. Poignancy is loss; you can't have an epic without the death man. The way I see it, this car nailed its act start to finish. For the attitude it was projecting I can't imagine it going any other way. Like knockin' off Milner in the American Grafitti credits. Nothing but respect from me, it's nostalgia in motion.
I see the clone is street legal and the OG sellers car is not, all that work and it is not driven on the street!! They did a good job, but should have keep the soul of the build, plenty of stockers out there for what they did...Roach.
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