Torchmen49's Shoebox gets a face lift "The 7 Year Itch"

I wanted to post some pictures of my buddy Dave York’s “Torchmen49” shoebox. He has had the shoebox for 7 years, it was already chopped and customized but he figured it needed more and recently completed some really cool modifications to the car.

The car was chopped but he took another 3 ½” out of the B pillar for a total of 6”, and laid the back window down to make it flow. He extended the front head lights by about 3 ½” and frenched the stock 49 Ford bezels. Dave also used an English wheel on the sheet metal along the fender back to the gravel pan. He removed the factory wind spears and grafted in 51 Olds tail light sections. The rear bumper is a front 51 shoebox bumper cut into 4 pieces and contoured to fit. The door vent windows are leftovers from the rear doors off of a '51 Merc 4 door he chopped. Dave put the passenger rear on the driver’s door and vise-versa so they pivot outwards (Poor mans AC).

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Anyways, I think you get the idea, here are some pics.

This is how it looked before he started.

 

Bitchin!

 

that thing looks fast just sitting there! awesome!

 

It looks familiar, I love it though looks damn good.

 

HOLY SHIT! The before was amazing! But the after is over the top!!!! Great job....

 

It looks great. Reminds me of the Buster Litton Ford minus the hard top of course.

 

Very, very nice work...would look even better if it wasn't flat black.

 

awesome.

 

I feel the same. Looks awesome, time for a new color as well.

 

God I love shoeboxes. It looks fuckin cool.

 

I am not a Ford guy, but that is awesome!

 

It'd be cooler in my garage!!! I love chopped 49-51's

 

nice,,very "buster litton-ish"...
his shoebox was one of the all time greats,,
yours looks fantastic too....
any plans for paint yet?

 

liked the before better ,sorry

 

Great look!...love the front end.....flows realy well!

 

Hey Mike (Custom54) thanks for your help getting this thread up and running, and 00 Mack for gettin me to 'thread' my ride in the first place. The box was gettin a little stale for me, and I wanted some change. I was initialy hesitant at first, the car worked, no bad angles, and besides, a lot of facelifted kustoms never fully recover. I'm really happy with the results myslef so far. I re-wacked the roof, trying to keep all along a traditional look and flow. I'm partial to upright 'B' pilars and getting the rear quarter windows and backlights to work together. It's all about 'flow' to me. I revamped the front and rear sections as well. The rear treatment was directly borrowed from the 'Linton' car that the Barris and Cerny shops had a hand in creating, that '98 Olds stuff was hard to find! The rear bumper on the car now is a narrowed and re-contoured '53 Ford front. Moving forward the drip rails are gone, something I don't always like but it seems to work here. The fenders have now been welded to the 'A' pilars, with plans to round out the rear corners of the hood, and '52-'54 Ford wheel well lips are next. As for the front end, I'm a big fan of the Wally Welch Merc that the Ayala's built, the headlight treatment as always haunted me, and not as extreme as the Studebaker treatment on the Linton car. Don't get me wrong that car is one of my favorites, and probably the best ever, a definate 'Milestone' car. I'm looking a replacing the front '51 bumper and Kaiser bridge in favour of a '49 Shoebox bumper with '49-'50 Merc bumperettes and bar. I think it will flow better with the new front fender profile and the De Soto grill teeth. I have lots of things to align and straighten out on the body yet, but at least its at a driveable stage. Plans for paint are definatly in order too, I got some ideas, but could use some more, Photoshop paint anyone? Hey, in the end its all about 'creating' a ride, some like em and some dont. Thanks for all the response. Stay tuned......

 

Outstanding!

 

great job mang

 

Dave, Really cool treatment. I am looking forward to seeing the new updates at this years HOTROD-A-RAMA. I will be there this year. Will the usual suspect be down for the show? Mike! Thanks for putting these pics up. See ya soon,Dale

 

Very cool....I want one.

 

Heh heh! I imagine all the usual suspect'S will drive down for the show. Glad you dig the changes on my ride. See ya at the RAMA. - Dave

 

Looks totally swank man

 

That is a very cool looking car, nice work.

 

Saw your car at Billetproof this year, and noticed quite a few changes. I was head scratching about the front fenders, as I too am a HUGE fan of the Litton car, but knew you didn't use Stude fenders.

Nice ride.

 

Outstanding progress. I have always liked that headlight treatment on shoeboxes, it makes them look so mean and long. Keith Weesner of the Shifters did that to his shoebox and it looks outstanding. I believe his was around 3 inches when I asked him about it. He showed me in progress shots and it looked like he did it the exact same way too. Nice work.

 

Nice work Dave. You never ceace to amaze us with your skill and eye for detail.

 

looking really really good

this is the type of car that i say to myself someday

 

Hmm, I think the before was a super sweet car, the latter looks like it belongs in OldStoolRods.

 

shit mate that things sex on wheels! going for a cold shower!

 

nice metal working that car looks kick A**