62 Ford Starliner

[Olskoolrodder]

Apr 12, 2010 19:42:38 GMT -5 zenrat said:

I'm jealous of both the ease at which you seem to be putting this together and the contents of your parts boxes.

You and me both

Looking great so far ;D

[paraphrenic]

Apr 10, 2010 12:25:44 GMT -5 @vtwin88 said:

Rare? Isn't that a way to cook steaks and burgers?

That's the only rare I know of...

Amazing work... I think the front and rear end treatments are great!

Love the Vette teeth over the mercury grill (would look cool with or with out IMO)!

I think if you lowered the car to the ground, the pans (particularly the rear) would look lighter...

I love the rear Mercury insert... Looks awesome and worth chopping it out! I'd keep those chrome oval Mercury taillight housings for a special project, maybe turned on their side... But I digress!

I'd be tempted to put vertical chrome blades along the lower pans... or for the rear, three pipes a side with a license plate recess in the center! Of course if you were to do a few tricks with the paint (panel work or something) you could completely alter the visual weight of any part on the car without any further body mods!

Just a few thoughts...

Keep up the great work... ;D

[Deleted]

I put this one back on the bench...going to finish it this time!

I thought the body needed something on the sides after I shaved off all the stock trim. I added a short quarter spear I made from small T shaped strip styrene. Not 100% on it but I like it more than I don't. I still need to sand and shape it some.  Comments?

[Bernard Kron]

I think it really works. It "sells" the smooth development of the contours on the shaved door and the fender tops. The only question I would have is whether you'll need to add a balancing piece of trim on the front fender. You may not. It depends a lot on the degree to which any front bumper(ettes?) and grill trim show on a side view. I might consider some quick and dirty foil work and grill/bumper mockup on the one side once you get the trim contours to your liking. The other alternative is to extend it into the door, but this starts to crowd out the whole bare contours thing...

Really sweet overall look, definitely in my "customizing as purification" meme (vs. customizing as ornamentation and elaboration). For those who are philosophically inclined, it's the old Apollonian vs. Dionysian aesthetic debate, Marshall McLuhan's hot vs. cold, blah, blah, blah... Anyway, the Starliner roof line was one of Ford's greats, and your exploration/conversion suits it beautifully. Get 'er done!

[Gluhead]

Love it. Great progressions, too. They all "worked" very well. I'm pretty sure I will have to steal the "olds grill in a ford" trick...I especially liked that but I'm glad you went with the Buick, because now when I do it I won't be rippin' you off so bad.

The side spear looks good. I'm wondering if extending it 6-8 scale inches into the door would make it look even better? Keep at it, whatever you do.

[Deleted]

Can't wait to see more of this Baby!

[cycolacfan]

Just read this one from the start again and you've read my mind on the side trim, it looks great there and it does need to continue into the door aways. Stopping at the door like that makes it look like two halves of a car.

Or you could go a little wild and have it curving up from the front corner of the rocker panel like a reversed early 50's Buick, or put an angled vent behind the front wheel arch and have it come out of that, or a vent in front of the rear wheel '58 Impala style (only smaller) or even put an angled vent in above the trim behind the door and continue that front fender styling line along across the door.

[dodgefever]

Agreed, the trim definitely needs to extend into the door to avoid the police car/taxi cab effect. Other than that, spot-on; looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

[froghawk]

Nice conversion, Ron! FWIW, count another vote carrying that molding into the door.

[Deleted]

Thanks all for input here on the trim. I had already narrowed the leading edge almost to a point so I couldn't use another piece to continue into the door and didn't have enough of that strip left to re do all of it. While thinking it over and browsing through the parts yard I found these little Jetsonesque spears. They were full round so I sanded one side flat so it would lay flat on the door.

What do you think...does it work?




Starting to figure out a color combo for it. I want to keep it a lite metallic so digging around in the paint stash this jumped out for the body. With possibly a white or silver flake roof?



Comments and suggestions always welcome.

[ChrisV]

I think that the "rockets" work well with the theme of the '60/'61 Starliner roof.
If you decide to use them, I'd recommend swapping the stepped side spears for a set of 0.8 or 1.0 mm half-round strips.

For what it's worth, I think that a contrasting pearl white top would work far better than heavy flake on a subtle semi-custom like this beauty!

[Deleted]

Thanks Chris, I tend to agree with your suggestions, especially about the white roof. Still not 100 % on the spear though. Been pulling together some of the interior parts. '64 Galaxie seats, '64 Marauder dash and clear custom steering wheel from the AMT 65 Riviera kit. I'll do the carpet with silver embossing powder. Doing final assembly on the mill and I found some 3 blade spinners that I think will look good on the wheel hubs.

[Deleted]

I added some foil to those plain interior panels but wanted a brushed look. I used a piece of wadded up 0000 steel wool with tweezers to create the effect. I also installed those spinners on the wheels. I like it.

[RodBurNeR]

really nice! I am glad to see this one back!

[Kustoms Illustrated]

I kinda like those rocket spears. It carries out the "3" theme you got going on with the tri-bar spinners and the three stars on the roof line. They might be a tad bulky, but they certainly fit the Jetson-era look of the car.
Another possibility is to flip them and use them on the rear of the side trim. I would still bring the stainless into the door like everyone else has suggested, too. This is a very cool build, can't wait to see the finished product.