Customs The Zephyr that rocked Santa Maria in bare metal

X3. Yes, I can agree with you, too.

He does seems like a nice guy, but it is about his work, not him personally. I just don't think a project like The Zephyr really fits his style. He also comes across much better on his videos than his bio, too.

 

Agreed. Nobody has said a word about Ian as a person. I'm sure he's a great guy, most of us just don't like his work.

 

I tend to lose the plot on these types of build or builder when they start throwing around the concept that they do what they do to be original and not do the same old same old. To me that is an excuse for not having the creativity of coming up with something new within the parameters of an asthetically pleasing design. There are alot of guys who can cut a car up and weld it back together and get it a nice paint job with no eye on the overall design and then claim they did it on purpose because they didn't want to build the same car everyone else did. That is not being creative or original it is using a excuse for a crutch of not being able to come up with something original and well designed.

 

A few years ago, Ian had one of his wilder creations in the park at Paso. I was talking to him when some little kid walked up, and asked Ian, hey mister, how fast is your car? Ian looked at the kid, and said something like, I've had it up to 612 miles per hour! The kid stood in awe for a second, and said, wow, that's really fast! I had to wait for the kid to walk away to go ballistic (LMAO). Ian's a "pistol"

 

Que?
Not that what you have drawn there is a bad design, but is that your conception of "Traditional"? I can recall of no kustom built in the era of ''real'' kustoms that ever sat that low, and the greenhouse looks as though it followed the ''roadmap'' through Harley Earl's B or C Body design studio of the 40's , just alittle too faithfully. A split front light on a Lincoln? mighta just as well started with a Buick and bolted the Lincoln doghouse to it! The C post and quarterlight shape look alittle "streetrod-like", again not a bad look, "if" ya like streetrods, but traditional? uh, no. If you built this for D'Agostino or Zocchi and painted it some ugly "Fuchsia Pearl" the sheep would probably love it, but as a traditional kustom this design "tolally falls apart ", just as the Santa Maria Galpin Zephyr does for some.
Again, NOT a bad design, but Not traditional.

" Hypocrisy is the Vaseline of social intercourse "

 

personally I like it, I'd def. rock it

 

Where did he say that was intended to be traditional? I see it as an example of a modern day semi-radical custom that has great lines which flow and work well, but with a tip of the hat to the old ways - which were so diverse, that this car would not have looked out of place at a custom show in '56. If that car was in my garage, it would never be sold.

-KK

 

I'm wondering why you went ballistic? Obviously, Ian likes to have fun.

 

I think he means laughing hysterically.

 

EXACTLY! It was pretty damn funny. Ian's got a great "dry" type of sense of humor

 

I that the roof off a '50 Plymouth?

 

MY POINT EXACTLY! 95% of the original post was about the "Me-Too" faction tryin' to fit the Santa Maria Galpin Zephyr into the ''veg-a-matic'' of perceived "traditional" kustoms, and worderin' why it wouldn't fit!

" Spending a nation into generational debt is not an act of compassion "

 

no its a ford shoebox with a crappy front end!

 

If I and or be a this?

 

Groucho, I believe he meant to say, "I have the roof off a '50 Plymouth?"

just kidding, jleavesl.

 

Maybe, but thats not nearly as funny.

 

Hey,

Snowballs chance we can get subtitles for the balance of these posts?

"Humpty Dumpty was pushed"

 

Right? You would think he should be more concerned about the...what would that be? Oldsmobile?...front end!

Again, just kidding jleavesl.

 

DAMN, you too? I'm guessin he was gonna say "IS"...............that the roof...............The mind is a terrible thing to waste

 

A Zephyr is also a terrible thing to waste.

 

That my man is Badass!

 

Hmmm, i appreciate the comments, though allow me to digress.

First off, back up the traditional police bus, brother!
I know i said it's a traditional board, but that doesn't mean that i think everything has to be strictly traditional to be respected. If i wanted to just draw up a traditionally styled Zeph, i could do that. Hell, i have done that (check the client section of the website ), but it wouldn't make a hell of a lot of sense for me to post that, since there are already a wealth of photos of finished cars posted in this thread that show how nice they can be.

Secondly, didn't say my design was "traditional" or even correct for that matter. Just another point of view based on the same set of guidelines from the same starting point as the builder did: heavy chop, section, extended front and rear fenders, hard topping the roof, bagged stance, etc.

As far as the roof goes: my point is that if you are gonna do a three window, start with a 3 window, or at least reference one so the end result flows more with what the original design had working to it's advantage. i kept as a 5 window as a personal style choice, along with splitting windshield, the reshaped wheel wells, the 36 headlights and a host of other things that you might love or disdain. To say i knocked off a 40's GM coupe is a bit much, but hey, your opinion is as valid as anyone else's, so i have no problem with ya thinkin what you want. I do disagree that the quarter light looks street roddish, but i guess i always thought of that as more of a custom cue.

As far as convincing the "sheep" goes, gimme a break dude. I'm not out here, trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes. ...git it, wool?
I simply don't see the cohesiveness in that car that i do in some others that i find more successfull, traditional or otherwise. It looks like the result of a bunch of different elements with nothing tying any of them together, so the sketch is my quick stab at how i would approach the same project. Feel free to feel the way you do about it.

if i have misunderstood anything you were saying, or you wanna keep discussing, hit me up on PM.

Since i don't have a good quote to end with, i'll go with one from the late great Col. Sanders...

"I'm too drunk to taste this chicken!"

 

How about... "The only way that car would flow is if it were heated to 2500* F"

 

like it...a LOT!
a zephyr fastback...this one would have pleased my eye more that Ian R's take on the 5 window's redesign. Hope somebody gives it a shot.
His fabrication skills and above described personality for sure speak for the man though.
But to each his own. And if the client is happy and wanted it that way, who are we to judge......and now please continue the entertainment...Can anyone convince anniecargirl to mail something again?

 

It's a custom, and thats what a custom is supposed to be. Customized.
Do you guys remember your first swig of alcohol or coffee?
It wasn't love at first taste, was it, but now, probably can't do without it.
Excellent craftsmanship. Customs are traditional....
(what I meant to say)

 

Actually when I don't like something I stop eating or drinking it. Why would I want to convince myself that something shitty isn't shitty? People do it everyday though, that's why we have cigars, caviar and "reality" TV shows. I'd rather continue doing things I enjoy, like building well designed cars with ideas that have proven themselves pleasing and successful.

Craftsmanship and traditional styling are completely independent of one another. Something can be extremely well executed (like a Boyd-style car) and be nowhere near "traditional".

I'm always puzzled by responses like that and when people think something is traditional just because they did whatever the hell they wanted by themselves. There is also not necessarily any correlation between being different, doing something yourself, traditional styling and something actually well designed. In fact, people rarely pull off all four. These cars are perfect examples and only have two of those in my opinion.

It seems like now we are not only being lumped in with the "rat rod" term, but we are having the term "traditional" bastardized and stripped from us too.

 

If they want my 'tradition' they'll have have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands.........the filthy apes!

 

[/QUOTE]


As a shoebox owner, a piece of me just died.

 

This Zephyr is the best car I have ever seen on the HAMB

So... hey uhh... Am I in the artsy club now?