Art & Inspiration Just fine as they came

The older I get, the less attached I am to customizing. A lot of cars that I would once have modified look just fine to me in their original form. In fact, a lot of cars that I really disliked when they were new look really good if they're freshened to look like new.

Notwithstanding my current view that nearly any old car looks good when it's in really nice condition, there are a few cars that have always appealed to me as they were constructed, and that have always seemed to need little or no help. Because I have nothing else important to do, I think I'll show them and start a pointless discussion. In no particular order, these cars would all tickle me to own and drive, and they wouldn't need any more help than perhaps some wheels & tires and a ride height adjustment:








Okay, the last one is a cheat because it's customized a little. I'd settle for a stock '56 Nomad. I've never owned ANY of the cars above; that's probably because I don't think they need any help, and I do get off on changing stuff a bit.

Of course there are many more. I've shown only American cars, and all except the '40 Merc are postwar. There are a great many prewar Fords that qualify, but maybe that's another thread.

I'm confident that there are other opinions out there.

 

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/aa/3a/ec/aa3aec8f1a2876b590642a3eb5792fab.jpg

 

I'd be in that Stude in a heartbeat.My high school car 65-67.

 

i agree, sometimes stock is ok. a chopped 50 merc is meaningless without a stock one to compare it to.

 

The '50 Olds coupe is one of my all time favorites. Sure wish I had all the ones I've owned and thrown away.

 

S
The Nomads come close to that now.
You hit me pretty good on the Honduras Maroon 61 as that was my absolute dream car in the early 60's I left a lot of hand and nose prints on Pontiac showroom windows in the early 60's in the Puget Sound area on Dad and Kid weekends as we spent many a Sunday morning hitting the Pontiac dealer lots.
Still the do or don't customize or modify a near perfect old car probably should hing more on it's rarity and The fact if it was something special to begin with or just another car off the ***embly line. The Chrysler 300 up through 1959 being one of those special ones.

 

I agree to a point. I still think a shave on the emblems is a must on most cars. When I buy a new truck or car I get the heat gun out.
You picked some fine rides. I have always wanted a Stude
Right after H/S I bought this 56 300B
That was 1975. Still my favorite out of the 50 or so cars I've had

 

I agree with your picks. Not much could be done to make them look better.

 

The Olds coupe is so perfect,wouldn't change a thing.

 

It's funny you made this thread. I was recently at an auto museum in Sarasota and when I saw this car I thought, man this is perfect, I wouldn't change a thing about it. Now I'm not sure if these are the style wheels and tires that could have come on this car but I don't really think swapping wheels is customizing a car anyway. I have a shirt that says
"Chrome wheels don't make it custom"

 

I've always loved those Chryslers.

 

Maybe it has something to do with age,I too find that cars I wouldn't give a second look at when I was younger now appeal to me and cars that I would chop in a heart beat look just fine now.

A clean simple car with a nice stance and the right wheels really doesn't need anything else to get my attention. HRP

 

50Fraud, nice selection of cars. I would have to add a 57 Roadmaster 2dr hardtop to my list.

 

The factory designers probably agree with you. Most cars shown in advertising art/photography are lower than the actual production model. It's the engineers that messed them up by raising them to a more "public road friendly" height.

I can't think of any old car that wouldn't look better with a couple inch lowering job.

 

Yeah... I have a friend in Mpls. who's had a 50 Olds since it was 15 years old, and he has kept it through all the fads and style changes since. It's been raked with drag slicks, shaved and lowered in the back with sombreros all around, lowered all around with skirts, different interiors, a roll bar's been in and out....last time I saw it it was pretty close to stock...slicks on Ansens in the back and stock wheels painted white on front.
It's always been a great lookin car through the years, and the stock ones look great too.

 

Most interesting comment by OP Tony whose 40 convert has been the object of more surgeries than an aging Hollywood starlet - with the difference in his case the outcome is wildly successful. I agree some designs are so pure and right from the start it's useless and even counterproductive to alter them. My all time favorite is the 1940/41 Lincoln Continental which was a custom car from its inception. BUT ... I would argue that Tony's 40 Ford and Kevan Sledge's 40 Merc chopped coupe are better looking than their stock counterparts. In fact, an unchopped 40 Merc coupe looks a lot like a camel with its ungainly roof. Time is the great leveler and it is indeed remarkable how cars we never paid attention to back in the day now seen totally cool. The 57 Buick hardtop - or coupe - referenced above. And a red 1960 Buick convertible like the one driven off the top floor of the parking garage in "Burn Notice." As well as so many others.

 

My tastes have definitely changed with age. Now in my old curmudgeon mindset my first criteria is "Would I enjoy driving it on at least a fair weather daily basis?" In a lot of cases cars that were on my want list are now on my "Nice but not for me" list. Cars that I'd not have had any interest in, are now on my want list.

I've pretty much lost interest in show cars...nice eye candy, but not something I'd want for myself. Now elegant simplicity catches my eye more than bling or excesses. I guess the best way to illustrate is the car that has been the biggest influence on my current project...Tweedy Pie. The original Bob Johnston version...

The blinged out Roth version..


To me, the simpler original version clicks for me...the later blinged out version, not so much.
<shrug>

 

Hi Tony:
Nice thread. I agree wholeheartedly. If you have the disease an old car just picks up your heartbeat. I think tinwoodies are a hoot and just make you smile!! Thanks. TEB

 

There you go! HRP

 

Thanks, Lucas. '40 Fords have been on my "don't mess with it" list for years, with the exception of the stock convertible top. I would not have done my mischief on any other '40 body style.

 

Tony, did you forget that that was a coupe you started with?

 

No. My original notion was to adapt a postwar Ford convertible top and side windows to a '40 convert. I posted the original rendering somewhere on the HAMB and said, "I'll never do this because the cost of the convert plus the postwar parts is too steep. I'd have $50K in it before the torch was lit." Somebody suggested cutting the top off a coupe and doing a Carson top, and when I looked on eBay there was a derelict coupe project offered for $4500. I bid the minimum, and nobody else bid at all, so it was mine. It was a complete rat, so I never felt any pangs of conscience about cutting it up.

So, in answer to your question, my rationale was that we made a convertible from a junk coupe in order to save money. Did I actually save any money by starting with the coupe? Don't be silly.

I have no excuse for channeling it, adding the faux Merc grille, or any of the other stuff. Those things seemed like good ideas at the time, and I can rationalize all of my other dumb moves at length. And, of course, I'm very proud of the way it's turning out, thanks to Don.

 

My favorite automotive design of all time is the '57 DeSoto, but I just couldn't stand to leave that giant hood bar/Gargoyle turd on it. Otherwise it's perfect.

I do have a good appreciation for a nice stocker though. Some customizing can look great and some can ruin a car, but a nice restoration or original car never looks bad to me.

 

A stock '40 Ford convert with the top up is ungainly: with the top down it's not bad at all.

Tony, your short list is excellent, but then I've known you have "the eye" ever since I saw the '50Fraud .

The '56 Nomad is the pinnacle of the tri-fives; I might even trade my '40 coupe for a real nice one.

vic

 

Thanks! I agree about '56 Nomads being the best tri-five. A distant second for me would be a '56 210 hardtop, mainly because you seldom see one.

 

Maybe Crocus Yellow and Black?

vic

 

Some things are best left untouched IMHO, my tastes have likewise mellowed over time as I got older. A few subtle alterations possibly to suit individuality but not over the top and ruin the car.

 

I'd love to own a '40 Ford coupe. And I agree that those and '56 Nomads look just right the way they came from factory

 

Definitely my favorite car of the 50's also. Has to be nosed and decked and maybe shaved handles. I would love to own another Mopar and top of the list is a 57 Desoto