If it is, they changed the front fenders, it looks like the blue one has the front fenders radiused higher, as well as the red one has some sort of swail-tail in the rear of the front fender.
No. The blue one is a mish mash of different year bodies, starting with a 38 coupe. Bruce's was always a 40.
Not the same car. The red car was bought new by Earl Bruce in late 1939, who immediately had it chopped and the quarter windows filled. Earl kept the car his entire life, re-customizing it periodically, until he died around 2009. Although he had it painted blue in later years, there are so many detail differences between the two that it's unimaginable that the blue car is the same one. And the proof of the pudding is that the blue car is a '39 with a '40 DeLuxe front clip -- notice the windshield frame and the position of the wipers. Edit: Oops, X38 beat me to it with essentially the same answer. And he's probably right that it's a '38 rather than a '39 -- but absolutely not a '40.
Exactly cleatus. Tommy was known for his "Teardrops". Very simple but elegant. One possibly two horizontal lines. He would do a set of graduated size teardrops verticaly. I found a thread somewhere showing his work as well as that of a current young stripper that emulates his work. Apperently Tommy showed him some things before he passed. I will have to try to find it now. Torchie.
Saw this one at GNRS last month. Was one of my favorites. I especially liked "The Club" on the front floor.
Yep most of the early customs were very restrained but had enough changes made to set them apart from the other factory spec models D Conrad - you hit it out of the park!
I preferred WWs on mine (VERY similar to your car), but Jack Calori, who virtually invented this style of '36, always preferred blackwalls on his. DRD57photo
The blackwalls make the car look like it has a longer wheellbase. Better in my opinion. But most people won`t understand the 40`s blackwall look.
I usually like whitewalls on a custom, and thought yours needed them at first, but now that I've seen it, I think the black walls give it more of a 40's vibe. Though you can't go wrong with either.
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