49 Ford Hardtop (01/13/16 '54 Merc. taillights)

[steveb]

After reading some of the recent comments in ”where have all our friends gone”, I realized that I hadn’t added anything to this place in quite a while.


I chopped the top in a similar fashion to the way I did my 50 Olds. 3-1/4 inches on the A pillar & a little more in the back. I moved the backlight towards the rear of the car about 4 scale inches. The filler panels are made from various pieces of an AMT 50 Ford convertible top. The middle portion ended up looking a bit flat, so I added filler to give it more curvature. The side window opening will have a strip of trim inside & vent windows (picture the Panoramic Ford)
Rear fenders have added styrene & filler to resemble a 54 Mercury.


The front grille insert has been thinned down a bit more since these photos. Front bumper is a resin copy of a ’51 Ford bumper that I made a while back. Headlight bezels will be blended into the body.




The rear bumper is a combination of ’53 Ford & additional styrene to make it look like a mix of ’51 & ’53 Fords.


I scratch built the ’54 Mercury taillights & cast a few in red tinted epoxy. I gave the pattern to Norm Veber & hopefully he will be casting some for sale.


The taillight opening still needed work when this photo was taken, & the fit has been fine-tuned since.

I may not have any more updates for a while, but this is a start. For those of you who are on FB, you can see more photos here: 49 Ford Hardtop

[dodgefever]

Oh, that's about perfect. Hope to see more here, because I don't do FB.

[Deleted]

Beautiful proportions. I like the Merc tail lights too.

[EchoBravoSierra]

Looking awesome so far, Steve. Always a pleasure to follow one of your builds.

Will you be at the IPMS-SWAMP show in Lake Charles coming up on 1/30/16?

[Deleted]

She is a beauty!

[randfink]

Another slippery-lookin' Steve Boutte custom. MAN, I'm lovin' this!!!!

[krassandbernie]

Thanks for 'coming back' Steve! Your builds are always a huge inspiration for me; and this one is no different! I like everything about it......and the reworked front wheel wells really caught my eye for some reason.

[lo51merc]

Steve, welcome back and with such a sweet custom too! I might have been the one that started the "Where have all our friends gone?" thread, and I'm glad it got you back. This Ford is spot on. Every modification is perfect to my eyes! And those Merc tail lights! Wow! I'll be ordering some of those from Norm for sure. Thanks for them too. I hope you come back to show us your progress on this beauty.
Gary

[Johnny]

Welcome back - great to see the "master of kustoms" at work! This Ford is no exception, like everyone else said: great mods and scratchbuilding going on here. I'm liking it alot!!

[steveb]

Thanks, guys, I really appreciate it! I'll try to keep it going.

Eric, every year comes around & I think I'm going to go to a local show, but it never seems to happen for oddball reasons. Maybe it'll happen this time.

[Joker]

Killer skills and vision.
Basically an AMT '49 and then...damn, just damn.
Clean photography to boot.
Can't wait to see how the chrome window trim is done.
Thanks Steve,for sharing your w.i.p. photos.

[squirrel886]

Oh my, can't wait to see this finished.

[Dennis]

The first word that comes to mind when looking at this and studying the restyling you've done is, "Elegant".

[Kustoms Illustrated]

Beautiful chop and stance! Those Merc taillights are definitely on my "must have" list!
Thanks for posting Steve.

[Mr409]

Every time I see your thread I'm prepared to see something fantastic. Yet every time my jaw hits the floor when I see your updates. Again very nice work with this Ford. The body mods are pretty much perfect, I really like thet grille and headlights on front. That new rear end is just right too, and I even like those skirts even if I usually don't like them! It looks impressive so far...Keep it coming!