Thanks for advocating the use of four doors in our hobby, Joey. Being the owner of a 50 chevy four door and a 46 Fordor mild custom, I realize the benefit of convenience they provide when dealing with youngsters and oldsters. Your example is very tastily done and more in compliance with the norm than a chopped Merc would have been it the custom hay day. Man, it could use another 2 inch lowering in the front!
Would have been nice to have seen it in color, noticed the duals sticking out, probably split manifold. full smooth caps, wide whites and skirts help to clean it up a bit too
A friend of mine got excited about a '50 Chevy more door, at the beginning of it, I just didn't get it. This would've been about 1985 or so. We drove by it and it was for sale. Didn't look like much to me, needed body repair (being from Michigan, do I need say more? lol). However it had dual carbs and a split manifold. He bought it took it to a friends shop that did the body work on it, painted it flat black, had a new tuck n roll interior put in with wide whites and Fiesta hubcaps. I had to admit it was looking good. He drove it that way for a couple of years, had it painted gloss blue as in the picture with flames. I still have the Fiesta's as he sold it without them. Another car that left it mark in history with me! At that time I was driving a '48 Fleetline. We had alot of fun with a moredoor when moredoors weren't cool! This picture was taken later when I had the '40 next to it and the red '56 pickup.
There were more 4 door customs back in the day then people realize. They just didn't get the exposure in the mags like other models did. Notice that this one was put in as a "Readers Ride". I did a 60 Chevy 4 door with my youngest daughter a few years ago and by the time we were done it looked pretty cool. And it didn't cost an arm and a leg. Whats really sharp is if you can find one of the 4 door hard top models. Torchie
I agree, a lot of guys had a tudor, or a Hot Rod, AND a fordor looker. for the trips to Portland, 40 miles South.. Fordors were cheap.
Always thought 4-doors of that era make the best-looking lowrider "bombs" where Color, chrome&period accessories galore. Not sure about this shaved side-trim-, door-handle& flat-black craze, though. Looks kind of low-rent. Sent from my SM-J500FN using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
James could have saved himself a lot of work if he had opted for a Special model 50 chevy, instead of his deluxe. My 50 fleetline came slab sided from the factory, no side trim to remove, no holes to fill. James did start with a deluxe. Note the stainless trim around the windshield and back window. compare it to the black rubber trimming my windows. It appears the mild custom is running full wheel covers. He has a wide trim ring, like mine does, that meets the hubcap, giving the full wheelcover look. I used spidercaps instead of hubcaps. I knocked off the hubcap tabs and inserted a license plate bolt bullet in each hole.
A lot of people who build 'more doors' make the mistake of removing the rear door handles. Don't. It really screws up the proportions. Take 'em all off or leave 'em all on. The fact that it is a four door and looks cool makes it even more cool.
A lot of people made and still make the mistake of "shaving" the side trim, supposedly thinking it makes the car appear more 'smooth' or 'light' when it does the exact opposite; creating one huge, slab-sided surface, adding visual weight, height and an element of squareness. The horizontal, bright side spear was incorporated into the design purposely to slim down said surface by an element inspiring a fore-aft direction of view, thus aspiring a longer, low-slung look as was the norm for that era of automotive design. Sent from my SM-J500FN using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The Jalopy Journal
