Customs Does your car have a theme?

Raytown is practically on the next block from me, how cool.. actually i don't know exactly what this "theme" stuff is all about, we all have a concept, personality and attitude all our own, shaped and influenced by our life's experiences and it all comes through in the cars we build and/or drive..

 

I don't need a theme to dictate what my ride looks like, I just build 'em however I want, using whatever parts I can get my hands on.

 

Actually I share a zip code with KC. its a PITA sometimes when they punch my zip into the computer it comes back as a KC adress.

Funny but I have been telling people to build their own cars for decades, that a car is a direct reflection of the builder and not necessarily of the owner.

It takes a little investigative work to decifer but the OP was actually saying he wanted to build his car '60s style. He used theme where we may have used the word period or era. he mentioned that he wanted to paint it flat black, which is certainly an option if that is what he wants to do. never the less some of us shared our memories of the era that he was talking about. No one actually told he he couldn't or shouldn't just what we remembered.

 

Ok, Porkandbeaner is so eloquent in his restatement of the OP’s question, I’ll retract my smart-aleck answer and actually talk about my goals for the car.

I really do have a ‘62 Falcon Deluxe that I’m putting back together. It’s not radical, but my mindset is to make the car what I might have if I’d bought it new in ‘62. I’m a young professional and a family man, so gassers and radical customs are out of the picture for me.

I’m not hesitating to update things where they will remain hidden, but it’s important to me that the aesthetic remain all pre-Beatles. I’m installing the 200ci engine from a ‘65 Mustang, but it is externally almost identical to the 144/170ci engines available in the era. I haven’t decided on hop ups, but a period Offenhauser 3x1 intake is likely.

I really like driving a column shifter, and thankfully I’ve acquired the knowhow to put a Borg-Warner T86/R10 3-speed overdrive behind the Falcon six. I figure our early sixties family man could have hauled a ‘57 Ford overdrive trans out of the junkyard even more easily than I got one off Craigslist.

I’m running 14-inch wheels off a Maverick, which didn’t exist in the early-‘60s, but mounted with skinny whitewalls and ‘52 Ford hubcaps they look right in time with the car. A guy in the era would more likely have run 7.00-13s on the stock wheels instead, but theoretically could have done a five-lug swap to get 14s. Another option might have been Nash Rambler 4-lug wheels, which were 15-inch.

A slight lowering is in the cards, probably with cut coils in front and a pair of lowering blocks in the back. Definitely period stuff.

I will be running disc brakes in the front and a dual-jar master cylinder, but that’s largely an out-of-sight-out-of-mind thing, and IMHO a wise move given that today, unlike the early ‘60s, 9.5 out of 10 drivers are also running discs and expect you to be.

The interior on the ‘62 will be taken from the ‘61 Futura I’m currently driving, which will be glaringly obvious to the Falconoscenti, but won’t jump out at people. It’s certainly a plausible period installation.

I’m even running a factory pushbutton AM radio that I had modified with an aux jack. Most people aren’t going to have a clue that my car is anything other than a restoration, but that’s ok. My goal is to have something that resembles a perfected version of the car; much like you saw in period advertising. A period-style tachometer from New Vintage USA is the only thing that will say “modified” to the casual observer.

Paint seems to have been a serious issue in this thread. I’ve gone back and forth on it myself. I really, really like flat paint on the right car. It’s probably not period-correct to aspire to flatskin on a finished car, but it really does look good in certain circumstances.

Another advantage is that flat paint resembles the old, worn-out paint so many of us treasure on time-capsule cars recovered from barns, garages, and desert abandonment. In salty regions of the country, flat is about as close as most of us are going to get to patina.

That being said, I think gloss is the only option on my car. It’s in primer currently, and a professional paint job is not in the cards at the moment. I’m also not set up to spray at home. There’s still a lot of time to decide, but I’m currently leaning toward a Rustoleum roller job in Royal Blue. It won’t be perfect, but it will protect the sheetmetal (priority no. 1 for me) and should be presentable.

Sorry if I got a little long winded.

-Dave

 

Dave,
The your color choice should look real good on the little Ford.

If you wanted black there is an option that most folks don't consider. John deer Blitz black is actually paint and not primer. it can be buffed. Whe you buff it instead of getting that mile deep laquer look it takes on more of an aged enamel look.

There was a 63 Futura with a 260 in it running around the town I lived in in the late '60s. It was set up pretty much the way you are describing but it was black with real subtle red pinstrips. real sweet looking car. That would alos wotk with your blue choice, blue with red lines look real good.

 

I've seen that Blitz Black Buffed up and I like it a lot on a buddy Lin's 32 coupe,looks good and water proof too.
I really hate any primer looking stuff as a finial finish anyway,fine for temp but not final paint,don't know why guys even think it was ever old school as a final paint,sure was not here in Fla. in the 1955 to 1965 time frame. Anyway my rods were so much fun back in my first faz of rodden that I'm still haven fun building the same way;1955 to 1965 ,what I'd call style

 

Restomod? OEM paint, trim, updated suspension and period style powerplant. Adapting OD transmission to OEM hydra-matic column.