Hey Guys and Gals, I mentioned in my intro post that I would post up some information about a mild custom I brought back to life. For those hoping it was older, sorry and of course, I said it was MILD not WILD. It’s named the Hun. When I bought it, it was clapped out and need of a total redo. I tried to remain true to the original build back in 1960 as I brought this car back to life. It was first built in 1960 by a man in Columbus Ohio that worked at the old Curtiss Wright aircraft factory. This plant was eventually bought by North America Aviation. North American produced the F-86 Sabre fighter jet and later the F-100 Super Sabre fighter jets at that plant. This individual of course was fascinated by the Jet Age and the front line fighter jets that he worked on every day. He bought the Hun new in 1955 but by 1960 thought it needed a restyle. Since this was the Jet Age, he decided to bring features of the planes he loved into the restyle to create the Hun. The car was nosed, decked and shaved as every mild custom should be to clean up the unnecessary trim items Ford sent it out the door with. It was lowered four inches in front and three in the rear to give it a slight rake. The grill recalls the elliptical air intake of the F-100 Super Sabre. Placing the air intake at the front of the F-100 allowed for a more streamlined fuselage and it helps clean up the front of the car too. The tail lights he selected to look like the hooded exhaust of the F-86 Sabre. The hubcaps were meant to look like the jet turbine exhaust of these front line fighters that produced enough power to break the speed of sound. The exhaust uses functional cutouts that are tucked behind the front wheels with ribbed caps and must be unbolted when a little extra power is called for. It gives that unique Y-block exhaust note a bit more volume to let people know what its running. The 292 Y-Block is backed with a three speed overdrive and the 4.11:1 rear axle. Since customs are for getting the girls, the trunk was upholstered and incorporates this emblem that works in several ways. It recalls a gunsight, aircraft wings and/or “V” for victory. So, let me know what you think. Did he pull off an aircraft inspired custom update of his daily driver back in the day or not?
Great looking car, the only part that doesn't fit the build to me is the big modern blue oval emblem in the grille.
Ya beat me to it. Nice looking Ford though. I like that upholstery work with the fender emblem, nice detail.
Beautiful car, I agree the emblem is out of place, but my opinion and 5 bucks will get ya a cup of coffee. Dan
I like it and would also drive it (which may not surprise some considering what I do drive)… I do agree that the Ford emblem in the grill seems out of place compared to the rest of the build. Otherwise, a very cool mild custom from what I see.
Love your car! If it were me, I'd paint the inner ring of the headlights the white like the hood. I've always believed that the factory was too cheap to two-tone them.
Hello again guys. Thanks for all your comments and criticisms. I figured I’d get flamed for the choice on the emblem. When I first finished the car, I ran it without anything in the grill opening. That was because I couldn’t think of a good period piece to use here. After a while, I felt that at certain angles, just too much radiator showed with the grill fully open. There was evidence that there was something mounted there as there was remnants of a bracket. I considered a bullet like the Shoebox Fords but felt the original man that customized it would not want to go backwards ten years with his updating. I also thought whatever went in there needed to accentuate the elliptical opening of the F-100 he was trying to mimic. Thought about “V”s from DeSoto’s and Chevy’s but those didn’t feel right. I considered filling the grill with a ’58 Ford grill piece but felt that took away from the look he was after. Considered lots of other parts that were post 1960 as well. Ultimately, while recognizing that the Blue Oval is not period, it did a good job of obscuring the radiator and worked with the elliptical opening idea he was after. So a question to you guys, what period piece did I overlook/forget about that could be used in place of the somewhat polarizing Blue Oval?
Hey if you like the blue oval keep it, if it was mine I’d maybe change it but not sure with what. I really don’t think anyone flamed you and and a few highly regarded members said to keep the blue oval. Again a very beautiful car, blue emblem and all!!!!! Dan
The big oval doesn't bother me that much but it isn't what I'd do either. The grille is very strong without it. Why does it need "something" there? I'd paint the radiator black and make a simple black grille insert to go in front of it. The car looks great both ways but, show of hands, who really thinks it looks better with the badge?
If you, the owner, think it looks better with the badge, that's really all that matters. But if you do... It looks like an F-150 grille badge to me. You can buy aftermarket black and chrome ones. If you can't, don't want to, or won't get around to making that black grille insert, maybe one of these would work to mute that big splash of blue on an otherwise red and white car? (Photoshopped above but can't hardly tell the difference as the image is so small it almost compresses the blue out anyway.) https://www.ebay.com/itm/234568356545 $31 on eBay. Or... Mid-60s F100 trucks had a big red V8 badge that's about the size of that oval. Opel also had a cool, large V8 badge that to my eye suits the swept-wing aviation look. Also, some google searching turned up an early 60s AMC V8 badge that's about 5 inches wide. Might be a little subtler, but still puts something there.
I like the car. I feel like a piece of blacked-out screen or mesh material behind the grille opening would obscure the radiator and be more period-correct than the modern plastic oval emblem. Lots of late 50's and early 60's customs had a mesh grille backing, sometimes painted and sometimes not. lots of '58 Ford car or '58 Thunderbird grille mesh pieces got cut up to fill those areas, but sometimes it was just light expanded steel or aluminum. I think that would look nice and it would kinda play into your military/aviation theme too. The blacked out center looks great in @trevorsworth 's photoshop above, with a mesh it'd look like that from all angles. But if I really wanted something to fill that space, I'd put 2 horizontal bars of a tube grille in there, that'd work too. I know we're all harping on that one little detail. But the rest of the car is so well executed, with all of the details right. I really like it otherwise.
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