So I just became the new caretaker/custodian of Ron Sweeney/John Rudisill's 57 FORD SEABURST Originally Built By Von Hunter In 1962. 1963-1964: Featured In 3 Kar Kraft Magazine. Top Best Custom in Hotrod Magazine. Winner Of The Portland Roadster Show. 1963/1964 Winner pacific northwest motorama 1964 Redone In 1990 By Original Builder. Von Hunter More history on SeaBurst Seems Von Hunter used the car for family 1960-62 Before making it into a show car 1962-65 Lost from 1965-90 ..... Only a very few custom show cars from the halcyon Fifties-Sixties era have survived to the present and enjoyed such a long career as this 1957 Ford custom. This rolling sculpture first blew onto the scene in 1963 in the pages of Car Craft and Hot Rod magazines and quickly amassed an impressive array of trophies and awards, including consecutive Best of Show awards at the Portland Roadster Show and a nomination as one of Car Craft’s Top Ten customs of 1964. After a lengthy hiatus, the car was refurbished in 1991 to its original state and the drive train updated with a 302 CI Ford engine, C-4 automatic and 9-inch rear end. It has picked up right where it left off, appearing in Rod & Custom magazine and scoring major awards including Goodguys West Coast 2009 Best Custom, Best Old School Pick and First in Class at the 2010 Grand Nationals, establishing it as a perennial show-winner with lasting value as both a work of art and an historic cultural relic. -Car featured in Car Craft magazine in 1963 -voted 10 best customs in 1964, -featured again in Car Craft magazine in September 1964 - Hot Rod magazine in 1964 -Portland Roadster show, 1963 and 1964 "Best of Show" Tacoma roadster show “best in show” 1964 -Good Guy West Coast, 2009 "Best Custom" - Jan 2009 "Best Old School Pick" -Rod and Customs, February 2009 -Grand nationals 2010 "First in Class" -Several other magazines over the years..... -2009: Portland Roadster Best Of Show. -First In Class At Blackie Gejeian Show In Fresno, Ca. March 5-8, 1964 John's Ford was shown at the 8th annual Portland Roadster Show. This version featured rolled front and rear pans, hand-formed grilles front and rear, hand-shaped fins, rounded hood and door corners and a Candy Apple Turquoise paint job. The top was chopped 3 inches, and the interior was done in White and Turquoise rolls and pleats. Some more info from twofosho said: Although both Ron Sweeney and his buddy John had already graduated, because they each had girl friends going to my high school, the first time I ever got to see the Von Hunter built Ron Sweeney car up close was in my high school parking lot sometime in late 1963 or early 1964. Ron Sweeney had recently traded the car straight across for his buddy John's red '62 409 Impala (that was the latest news at the time on the high school motorhead rumor mill), and the owner whom I presumed to be John was sliding the rear quarter windows in. I asked why the windows slid in instead of roll up and he explained it was because it was originally built from a wrecked convertible and used a '58 top (notice the ribs in the roof panel) that was chopped about 2 inches. I wasn't brash enough, nor did I know enough at the time to ask why no one had built mechanisms for them to roll up and down. While I did think it was beautiful enough, I didn't realize I was looking at a magazine feature car until sometime later when I got my hands on a copy of the Car Craft magazine with it shown as one of their top ten customs from the year before. Only recently have I managed to find a copy or the April 1963 Car Craft it was first featured in. Reading the captions I see it described as being built from a tudor, oh well. This is how Von Hunter did the front headlights Q. I saw the question that Pat Ciambrello had for you about bonding pot metal to steel. In the early ’60s a man named Ron Sweeney had a 1957 Ford two-door hardtop that was built by Von Hunter in Sandy, Oregon. The top was chopped, making use of a 1958 Ford roof, which has ribs. He also used 1958 Ford quad headlight bezels, which are made of pot metal, and they were molded into the fenders. The car was purchased by a friend of mine when he was in high school. While he was doing this, Von Hunter explained to me how he molded the pot metal headlight bezels from a 1958 Ford onto the 1957. He had the bezels copper plated, and then he bolted them on the car and soldered the bezels to the steel fender. The final smoothing was done with autobody solder (lead), and it did a beautiful job of joining the dissimilar metals. The car is still here in Gresham, Oregon, and after many years the job still looks flawless. This is the only time I have seen this done in my many years of dealing with cars. I thought you might appreciate knowing how this was done. The next time you are around Restorations & Reproductions in Portland, we could show you the car. Steve Stanford artist said : "Very famous custom..... Nice grille styling, too. A radical custom done tastefully from an era known for excess (show points, you know). One of my favorites. Thanks for sending it in"... If anybody has more info or pictures please share....... Sent from iPad
If your 57 Ford guy as I am and also love Kustom's you just can't get enough of it. I have seen it every time it was shown in Portland and it just keeps getting better. The Wizzard
Took a look through my collection of car show booklets. The car was shown at the 1964 Corvallis Rod and Custom show. Copy reads......... John Rudisill of Boring, Oregon presents his candy turquoise 1957 Ford hardtop. Major features include 1958 Ford top, chopped 3 1/2 inches, frenched 1955 Ford taillights, frenched 1958 headlights and a custom grill. The interior is done in turquoise and white.
Nifty custom fer shoore. Yeah, the skinny whitewall or a black tire with the chromies was what was a happening. Timeless. Looks great with the spokes' n whites too. Somebody done awesome work on upkeeping her.
No idea. Just found that searching the name online, thought you might be interested in the artist that did it.
Personally, I'd go with the chrome reverse. Coker has dual and triple white stripe tires. The triples aren't the same as the old ones however. They have a wider center stripe with a thinner one on each side of it.
The Jalopy Journal
