One of the funkiest was a car featured in several custom car magazines (on teh cover of one of them) back when called "The Cyclops", it was a 49-51 coupe chopped with a pair of early 50s Cad quarters and a third taillight in a fin on the decklid. The front end was better but had a 3rd eye (hence the name I guess) in the center. The car had a dash filled with so many gaugse and ****ons and lights it could have been used as the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. Last I knew the car was seen behind a gas station in Nacogdoches TX after a fella there had tried to sell it for about $15K or more, this the late 70s-early 80s. I hope this wonderful piece has survived and someone is storing or restoring it for future custom car lovers.
This was mine a coupla years ago...'54 Packard lights with a heavily modified bumper from a '57 Chevy
Here's my interpratation of stock 49-50 tailights sans windsplits... I like the 54 Packard treatment Eddie, very nice...
Here are some Packard lights on a '53-54 Merc. Not quite the same, but might help you get an idea. Personally, I think they're a bit large for a shoebox, but so what?
yeah It really was a plymouth believe it or not! ill dig up some more old pix... here's my other buddy's car from the emperors cc. in victorville. He added quarter panels too.
here's Johnny's plymouth when he first got it. Here was the first time he chopped it. It started off as a fastback. [/IMG] and here he was rechopping it again. that car was pretty wild. No one could ever guess what it was until they saw the grill opening.
here's one from that "incredible 49 chevy" post. Its pretty different but cool. says the car was built at the drag n shop in whittier, ca by david garcia.
They are 54 Merc lites. I really like that car, BUT when you look at it the tail lite lenses are obviously what you notice first. Its actually a ton more work than it looks, how he gets the "look" with that is the shaping around the license plate, the skirt area, and the reworked lower filler panel turned extended pan into the rear bumper. Thats alot of work. His cars are amazing.
here's my 51 victoria with 56 packard quarters and taillights...the rear bumpers have since been replaced with 55 pontiac wagon bumpers, they flow much better with the packard lights.....
I really like what you did, would you pm me some close up shots of them? what did you do to the front of your car? thanks
Woah! That looks amazing. The way that windsplit body line interacts with the lower chrome on that tail light... art man. Art.
Funny thing: when the original model for the '49 Ford came to Ford Styling from George Walker, the taillights were vertical -- almost exactly as you have them. One of the few changes that was made for the production design was to flip the taillights 90° and add the windsplits.
Lights is spelled lights not lites. I have always had the idea of 54 mercs below the windsplit but upside down. Anyone ever seen that done? If so pics? Bobby your packards are the only ones Ive seen that really look at home in their and dont look m***ive when compared to the rest of the porportions of the car.
The Jalopy Journal
