any pics of kustom or traditional 55 fairlane's?

Evidently that guy was there when ever someone shaved anything one mans junk. Overdone just a bit. Not to be racisit, well maybe a little is the guy hispanic. Its got that mojado truck with to many accesorys kind of vibe. Cant believe he forgot the curb feelers.

 

Mine.....

 

I think this was built in the 60s in Melbourne (note 4 door RHD) by one of the Perotta (sp?) brothers. Carps or Whodaky would know more than me...a bit before my time!

Paul

 

My ol man's custom 56 Victoria with mercury grille...

 

This car was built by the late Charlie Pirotta, of Springvale in Melbourne, Australia. He started with a brand spanking new Ford Customline and took many years to make each piece of moulding using nothing more than handtools and files.

After his untimely death the car languished and was eventualy sold to a Canadian collector of mid fifties Ford products. I guess he still owns it and it's nice to see it looking so good.

Gook wagon it may be, but it's also a work of art, built by a bonafide hot rodder and one of the pioneers of rodding in this country.

FWIW, I have recently converted a bunch of old 16mm movie footage to video DVD format, showing this car's evolution over many years, from stocker to what you see in the photograh. At the time of his death, Charlie was preparing to disasseble the car for repainting and detailing, finally satisfied that the job was complete.

 

Nope, Charlie made each and every piece by hand, from solid brass stock. he even made a bunch of unique tools in order to fit it all together. each pice is attached to the car with tiny machine screws.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Charlie thought it was just right.

Born in Italy, raised in Australia.

Look closely, he didn't.

 

Solid brass, half round or flat stock all hand filed to shape and polished to perfection before being taken to the chrome shop. Some of the mouldings are even diamond encusted others feature other gemstones and some of the detail elements like the tiny V8 badges are 24 carat gold.

Confirming Charlies skill, is the fact that each moulding on opposite sides of the car is a perfect mirror image of the other, not even a fraction of a millimetre out of alignment or shape.

 

And 'Gook' is the last thing you would ever have called any of the Pirotta brothers.

These guys were at the forefront of Australian hot rodding being founding members of this countries first ever hot rod club and at the leading edge when it came to setting the trends and taking our hobby forward.

Charlie's brother Joe, purchased a similar car at the same time Charlie got this one and in very short order, the Y block was pulled and sweriously modified. The main body was black and white with the top repainted using a brand new product they imported from America, red metalflake!

Later Joe and his brother in Law Charlie Caruana, built a model A Bucket, which became one of this countries best known and most legendary show cars winning an unprecedented number of show awards in Australia and New Zealand. When others started to challenge the nailhead powered bucket, it was rebuilt with a red and gold metalflake paintjob and more chrome and detail than most modern show rods.

One of the myths surrounding this car was that the engine was just an empty block and it was undrivable. Although the car was never licensed for road use, I have heaps of old movie footage showing it being driven around the streets of Springvale and even doing 'donuts' on the gravel pit in the Old Man's quarry and cement works.

Although not seen in public for almost 20 years, the car is still owned by the family and maintained in pristine condition.

Another of the Pirotta Brothers cars was a 1948 Holden (imagine a mono chassis '41 Chev about the size of a henry J) powered by a hot Y Block Ford. The thing was a champ on the backstreets and our ancient Riverside Drag Strip. However as drag racing took hold, others arrived with newer engine technology and more competetive race cars. So in the early '60s the egine in Pirotta's "Satisfaction" was swapped for the same powerplant as was fitted to the new king of the hill. A 4 webber fed Cobra 289 Ford.

When this combination became uncompetetive, the drivetrain was swapped into a brand spanking new Ford Cortina body (The Cortina being an English design whis was the evolution of the original Anglias) and the legent of Pirotta's 'Satisfaction' continued, until again the car's dominance was threatened by newer equipment. Not deterred, the brothers Pirotta and their mechanical Mastermind Charlie Carauna called on Holman & Moody bringing a blown and injected 427 built for a Funny car, home to Oz, where it was fitted to the tiny cortina and our first, if not one of the first in the world, 'Doorslammer' type drag racer was born.

When this combination was threatened, the boys purchased a new 427 SOHC engine and again comissioned Holman & Moody to build it to 'full race' specs with the biggest blower and latest Hilborn fuel injector system.

The chassis was also updated to cope and the top chopped giving this car a super radical appearance. It continued to dominate for another few years until it was retired from racing.

Along the way there were many cool hot rods and customs, including Leno Pirotta's '29 Ford Sloper with canted quad headlamps and many other custom touches, which was a car I often lusted affter in my youth.

Joe still has a fine fleet including that old FX still in pristine original condition, plus a Gurney Eagle powered '57 Thunderbird, the A bucket and a few other rare to this country US imports.

His current project is the full resoration of the 'Satisfaction' Cortina to it's SOHC 427 configuration, to be raced in nostalgia events.

Nope, definitely NOT a Gook or a Geek! This guy was MISTER Cool!

 

I understand the skill involved but that thing is ugly.

 

As I stated above......

Regardless if any of us like it or not, Charlie was definitely no 'Geek' 'Gook' or other 'uncool' form of humanity.

 

Oh yeah and some of that stuff is off of other cars like I said earlier he didnt. Hand make all that merc arm trim the taillights on top are early dodge or Imp.

One crazy ride im sure it will blind you from any view.

 

Thanks for the history Carps. My Ol' Man tells stories of running with these guys back in the day..Of the family working in the quarry and stepping straight into these brand new US imports, muddy boots and all!!

 

Probably pinched them off his old man's Imperial. However, much of the Merc, trim was actually standard on the Aussie spec cars from Ford Australia as they used a combination of US, Canadian and Merc trim parts to create different year models in order to carry the same body tooling for many years. This body style arrived here in 1955 and finally finished in 1959. The US bodied 1957 & 1958 Fairlanes were never sold here. Our last Mercury was 1948. And the only body style we had from 1949 onwards was a four door sedan originally tagged 'Custom' for the early shoebox models then after 1955, it was badged Customline until the car we know as a Tank Fairlane (The Failane 500) arrived in 1959. For this car there were now two models offered, the second being badged 'Galaxie'.

One of the cars finest attiributes is its exhaust note. The Y block is mildly modified and when it left Australia had a Lukey dual pipe header system that created an awesome exhaust note with a great crackling reverb not dissimilar to a Diesel with Jake Brake, on 'throttle off.

FWIW, the paint job is not original as the car was repainted in the late 1950s or early 1960s. However, it is a genuine low mileage unit and has never had a fender bender or other damage. Joe says before it left Australia it had never been driven in the rain since the day it was new.

 

Did the guy actually graft a '56 Vicky roof on a '55? A lot of work when all that needed to be done is swap trim from a '55 onto a '56. I would bet it's a '56.

 

Nope -- the red/white car actually is a '55 with a '56 roof. Here's my '56, which was done the easier way that you suggested:

 

heres my 55