Art & Inspiration So a guy walks into my store...

...and tells me his brother wants to know if I want their old fleetline...

I will go into further detail about this car being somewhat relevant to an earlier version of the H.A.M.B. at a later date, I'll just say that it belonged to a guy that some here knew personally, and who left this world too soon a few years back. No, it wasn't boyd...no cheap shots at THAT man (God rest his soul as well), just a clarification.

For now, I need some advice...

Whether anyone here thinks the following idea is "kool," or no, I care not. I simply have a question on how to get a photo of a person, or rather somehow putting a photo image of that person onto...say...a dashboard, or other piece of metal that will be otherwise painted and cleared over? Has anyone experience with rockland colloid stuff, where you apply the chemicals and then expose an image onto it (think less work intensive version of, or an attempt at a modern tintype)?

My son wants to put this car back to how my friend would have finished it, and I'm thankful for that. It's going to be somewhat of a tribute to the friend who started it, but who wound up having more projects than fate allowed him to finish...if a mild traditional kustom with the only non traditional addition being my friend's photo added isn't traditional enough...well, I won't make any apologies for that. Right now I'm just all too happy that it didn't become one of the victims of the most recent scrap iron grab.

Again, I will add pics soon, hopefully VERY soon...I too dislike posts that leave me waiting to see pics, LoL!

Hope I didn't run any good folks off with my defensive sounding post...I just know how some of the trolls here can be.

 

decoupage or frame it under some plexi

 

The guy would have finished his car with a portrait of himself on the dash? Who was this tacky guy?

 

lol...no, but I am going to. (notice the good humored smiley there...)

and to further clarify, I meant the earlier days of the H.A.M.B. not someone's rip-off of Ryan's work.

I'm thinking the idea of just a photo image on a piece of metal that isn't necessarily part of the car might be a good idea instead, but then again who knows...the guy was mostly known to folks from around here and those who came to the old hangin' dice show in Ft Smith...like I said though, I don't give two turds from a rat's ass if people like my idea or not, just asking how to make the image permanently part of a piece of metal.

I know there will be people gripin' and snivelin', save it for the newbies, it don't faze me anymore...

 

thanks!!!

 

I think you could make it work with contact cement and clear coating, but what about having it airbrushed? It would be more "traditional", and you could have the image anyway you want it. By that I mean you won't be depending upon the quality of the pic (which may or may not be a good pic). Plus you could have the car brushed in the background with a smiling friend/dude in front or something.
I love fleetlines, so you got my attention.

 

It will last forever with the pic under a coat of paint just make sure the clear coat or lacquer or whatever you use has some UV protections so the photo will not fade!! with many coats!! Also MY Opinion!! I think its a Good idea! No matter where a car is or where it will end up someone some how cared enough to make it get that much farther! Most Pinstripe's sign their work and most people who have an original Ed Roth sketch really cherish it more now that he is gone!

 

I'm not sure if this is the best method, but it is one method.
Copy the image onto lazertran (http://www.lazertran.com/) either with lazercopy or inkjet (they produce medium specific papers for each) and when the material has dried you have a transfer like those that come with plastic model kits. You will need a white or pale background for the image as the material is transparent.
It helps to use warm water to separate the transfer from its backing paper and the image will expand slightly.

Apply the image using a decent artists brush and turpentine - quite a strong one if possible, but too strong and you get problems. When the image is dry, paint over it again with turpentine. The turps dissolves the transfer ground leaving only the pigment on the prepared surface. This means that you can also paint (eg. airbrush as suggested by someone above) on top of what was the transfer.

The transfer material is quite brittle and I suspect it would have difficulty landing on a surface that was too great a three dimensional curve, but will deal with curves in one direction without a problem.

The paper is a little sensitive to the image -subtle colors get a bit weak but vivid colors tend to work well, and detail is good. As usual with these sorts of things, do a test first.

When the image is dry, you can seal with a varnish - check the manufacturers instructions - they include a useful sheet with the paper.

If I remember correctly, the paper comes in European A3 size.

Have you been to an Italian graveyard? Many of the dead, especially those held in urns, are pictured on little enamel plates.

 

Pull the glove box door & have it lazier etched A guy in SPGFLD Mo. can do it

 

Have an artist paint a little portrait from a photo. That might be more cool than an actual photo. Another friend of his who is an artist and could do it would be even more cool. Just another thought.

 

I don't know why anyone would object to something tasteful like a small pic on the dash. A poster print on the trunk lid that looks like a Nascar sponsor decal, okay, that's tacky as hell, but...

One sneaky way to do it, although it's not a permanent part of the car, would be to do a '60s style interior with a small TV and put the picture on/in place of the TV screen (although that may not fit the theme of the rest of the car). Or maybe use a steering wheel that could be personalized like '53 Skylark wheels were?


Just throwing some ideas out there - but I almost think if it was me, I'd put the pic on the right side of the dash someplace, either in place of say a factory clock so it looks like a framed photo, or decoupaged on the metal.

 

My original thought was something not too big, maybe on the glovebox door or something, not a full mural on the trunk or anything...

The airbrushing is something I thought of as well, and might be an option, I also thought of a line-art charicature...the most prevalent thought going through my mind was the tintype thing, as he was not only into old cars, but his whole family used to go to the mountain man competitions, and he had a lot of old neat stuff in his shop...some old tintypes being a few of the things that caught my eye. The possibilities are many, I guess the final decision will be based on what will go well with the interior...I may not be able to paint someone realistically, but I can sculpt like nobody's business...kinda like a stylized likeness, like a pontiac hood ornament is supposed to look like an indian, only something that can be chromed and will tie into the interior trim.

shinysideup, man...the guy wasn't stuck on himself by any means, and he wouldn't have put his own face on his car anywhere, but he was the kind of guy that if he were finishing up something as a tribute to someone he respected in life, he would have found some way to make them a permanent part of it.

 

Heck yeah! Man, y'all are coming up with things I hadn't even thought of...I really do appreciate the ideas! Keep 'em coming, I gotta hit the hay for the evening, work and all that tomorrow...

I'll check this out first thing in the morning

 

Maybe find an actual artist and get a burnished brass image with some 3D relief and color from antiquing the background.

Good luck!

 

How about his sculpted head and face coming out of the the shift knob as if he were flying out of the shaft? That would be cool.

I also like the tintype idea and the lazertran idea. It sounds like you could photoshop the picture to make it look like anything you wanted, including an old tintype, and then apply it using the lazertran method. The laxertran opens up all kinds of possibilities - anything you could print. You might consider customizing the gauges, too.

 

checkout the line art on my A trunk lid by Jeff DeGrandis [yahoo search /google his name]he can work from photo...look at dragfink.com for his cartoon of himself....great capturing of his personal look...

 

Okay,

I went back today to get a better look, the car suffered some damage in the fire a few years back, but I'm not scared off that easily

Took a borrowed camera with me, even managed to get a few pics...one with some smoky figure showing up...kinda creepy. The problem with posting these pics is that my laptop will not recognize the 8mb sd card, and for some reason the darned camera won't connect...MY camera is useless without the missing sony memory stick...I'll get these pics posted if I have to go to the library to do it!

The shed was kinda rickety after the fire, how it's stood this long I'll never know. One of the photos shows that the lathe turned columns that used to be pretty neat looking are now almost ENTIRELY CHARCOAL...so I was sweating it a bit with my big butt bumping into things while I was trying to get a few photos...ever had an entire building sound like it was about to fall in on you? HAHAHA! add to that my fear of red wasps and spiders...and yeah, snakes.


Copperheads.


nothing will deter me from bringing this one home though! I love fleetlines!

 

Air brush the image, picture will fade or turn yellow over time.

 

Another option for you if you have access to a negative of a photo of your friend. Take the negative and the piece you want the picture on (say glove box door) to an older style photo shop, one that still uses an enlarger to develop black and whit pictures. They will be able to access a clear light sensitive paint which they can apply to your piece, then put under the enlarger as they would a normal piece of photographic paper. You can then clear-coat over your tin photo.

 

A local guy has "In Memory of (name)" pinstripped on the front fenders, fairly large. Those that new the guy know what for and why this was done.

 

I seen a dashboard that had an amazing mural painted on it....It was a very detailed pic/painting of the car cruisin into a sunset and with in the clouds was a soft potrait of an individuals face overlooking the piece...The potrait was incredible and so 'life like' it kind of choked me up bit.....

 

I think the best looking and also most traditional options are:

1. Airbrush the photo, maybe in black and white, and have the artist add some other airbrushing or pinstriping to tie it into the dash so it doesn't just looking like a picture slapped on the dash.

2. Have the photo cast into a plaque of sorts. This will definitely take a skilled sculpture to make a 2d picture 3d and look right.

 

You could check with some airbrush artist some of those guys are just pure awsome and you could put clear over it when your done.

 

awesome suggestions guys, I'm thinking the airbrushing might be what I go for...

Now, for the (to most people who are afraid of a little hard work) scary part. As promised, photos.

Did I mention the building the car was in had caught fire a few years back? This first photo is as best I could capture with the hot mid-day arkansas summer sun being what it was...you can partially see how bad the building's framework was damaged...


The smoke, ash, and soot from the fire did a number on stuff...the car never physically caught fire, but I would hope I'm not the ONLY H.A.M.B.'er that would try to resurrect something this far gone...




This is the first time since before 2000 that the car has seen daylight. The seat frame on top was there when the building caught fire, and burned...but the fire was put out before the inside actually caught fire...the tops of the seats are charred, the foam is still on the steering wheel, everything has this black soot, but no signs of anything other than just intense heat...



The engine compartment...I was scared before I opened the hood, no telling what I would find under there...when I first saw the heavily oxidized 'vette covers, I thought "ohhhh noooo....." but a closer look showed that none of the rubber hoses that were still under the hood had burned, again, just some really intense heat did it's best to destroy things...still, I'm not scared of this, not one bit!


We got it towed to a friend's property where it will be secured behind a locked gate, with ten foot fencing all around until I can get stuff moved here at the house to begin work...much to the disappointment of one neighbor and city hall...for now, my calling my projects "art" has held them at bay as they don't want to fight what my attorney calls a constitutional case.

Photos of progress will follow as progress is made

 

oh...I forgot to mention...I don't know how many from the early days of the HAMB that knew Phatboy personally are still around....but it was his and his eldest son's (hemikat) project. People who used to come to the Hangin' Dice show in Ft Smith might remember Hemikat from the incedent when the Ft Smith policeman who came to check out the ruckus was an old friend and more or less let people carry on Good times, Good times! Phatboy, Hemikat, and myself were all members of the River Valley Kustoms club, the KKOA affiliated club that was the host for the show every year...

There are a few kustom touches that he thought about along the way that will find their place on this car, and as he was one of those like myself who think people should do things THEIR way, I will also be putting a bit of myself into this one as well...but not straying far beyond what vision they had for the car at the time.

 

2 guys walk into a Bar..and wam!..ones knocked out!

ok sorry with the way your Title was written i thought this was going to be a joke

 

Having read your words, and having seen the photos, I can only say, "Go for it"!! This car is a direct connection to the now gone owner/builder. It....he.... deserves to have it rebuilt and put back on the road.
A cool looking custom!!
Pay no attention to any naysayers who might appear. When they're gone, nobody is likely to do anything to remember they were here.
And, I've seen worse examples of damaged rods and customs brought back.
One more time....DO IT!! And, please, keep us posted with news and photos.

 

lol, no problem...I intended to add a punchline, but forgot. This Arkansas heat/humidity gets to me!

 

I would say that it's a good project but as for putting him on the car.......... maybe put something of his in the car..... I've done this like getting oddball parts from an old friend of mine and build them in.. it's not very outward in the car but I know they are there and he gets a real kick out of it (or did).... the purpose of it being a tribute should be for you and your friend, not everyone else. just try to find something personal to him and use that.. not that your idea was not good, I just think it should be for YOU

 

I'll definitely be keeping y'all posted as progress...well...progresses. The ONLY reason it didn't come to my house this afternoon is that both my hauler and my daily are down due to two necessary engine swaps, with NO more room in the driveway nor carport. Both of them are a week's worth of thrashing from being able to move...

...I'm not scared of this fleetline at all. I've DRIVEN stuff that makes this look like a concours contender, but I'm not going to let this one wind up like that "just enough to get by" stuff.

After talking to the youngest of the brothers today, I found out their dad had a vision of a nice black paint job that looked like the old-fashioned single stage paints of yesteryear, the rear fender treatment was never finished because they weren't sure they liked them...I'm considering grafting on or fabricating caddy sections (the late 40s/early 50s ones) like my uncle Bugs did on his fleetline in 1955. The ONLY thing that is certain is that this car is going to be the priority as soon as my daily or the hauler is roadworthy in the next couple weeks, and that it is going to be built and driven as intended.