my idea of a dream custom

[larry woods]

Is there anything to say but "A DAMN NICE JOB"?

[Buddy Palumbo]

Mike - it's about freakin' time you got some pics uploaded !!

Seriously folks , this car looks even better in person . The dimensions are spot-on & the workmanship is excellent ! This car is gonna be one of the coolest sleds around the area , no doubt . All of the work done by the owner too , which is cool as hell in MY book . A car to be proud of .

Subscribed (finally )

[lukey]

Man!!! I was really diggin this thread till i saw the taillights...then WOW!! that blew my mind! The chop is dead on, the dash is amazing, and the quarters...im speechless! Cant wait to see more of this one


-LUKEY-

[James D]

Nice work. Love the Packard taillights.

[yetiskustoms]

tottlay killer. love the chop, the tail lights, all of it. good work, and refreshingly different too!

[rld14]

Holy crap. Really nice work, I'm really diggin the 54 Packard taillights..

[STEPHEN FIELDS]

looks great man, I love the olds dash in it.

[Cshabang]

DAMN TECHERS! (yeah i noticed)haha.....looks like the car is coming along nicely.

[jerseymike]

Originally Posted by thesupersized

yessssss! another cool custom shoebox on the east coast! whats your plans for the rest of the car? the tail lights look great! as does the dash! I'll be following this thread...

thanks, i've been following both yours and your brothers builds. both great original cars! did you get the nailhead in yet? as far as the rest of mine i'll keep posting pictures but i was going to say i was using hagen headlights just to piss off your brother!

[jerseymike]

Originally Posted by Chrisbcritter

Mike, that chop was very well thought out for this car - and the Packard quarters add just enough length. Are you going to use the Packard bumper or form a roll pan under the fenders and panel below the trunk lid to blend it all together?

thanks, definitely bumpers. the look i'm going for definitely needs bumpers.

[jerseymike]

Originally Posted by CHOPMERC

Mike, fantastic design and great execution..Love the quarters and tailights, one of my very favorites for shoeboxes...I can't wait to see what you're going to do with the front end..I'll be following this one..

Gotta love east coast kustom shoeboxes!!

thanks. i've always been kind of surprised those taillights weren't used more often. i think because of the shape they don't flow into most body styles like the widely used '57 packard does. and congrats on your car, came out amazing! just when you think there is nothing left to be done to a shoebox you brought us all back to the early 60's. outstanding. (almost makes me miss the red flames!)

[pbr40]

looks great! its always nice to see people put pride in their work!!!!

[jerseymike]

Originally Posted by cuznbrucie

Mike.......really nice concept and great execution......if only I could work with metal as well as you do......
Thanks for this great thread......I'll be following along.....

One question.......no heater now?

CB

thanks, as far as the heater for right now i'm stripping it down to bare bones then building back up a piece at a time. another advantage of using that dash is i more than doubled the amount of room behind it. so i can keep everything hidden. could even run hidden a.c. if i wanted. under the hood i'll be making new inner fender panels and i'll try to hide most lines and wires behind them, maybe even in a double wall panel, we'll see. vicky's looking good. did you pick a color yet?

[jerseymike]

Originally Posted by Buddy Palumbo

Mike - it's about freakin' time you got some pics uploaded !!

Seriously folks , this car looks even better in person . The dimensions are spot-on & the workmanship is excellent ! This car is gonna be one of the coolest sleds around the area , no doubt . All of the work done by the owner too , which is cool as hell in MY book . A car to be proud of .

Subscribed (finally )

well, well, well. i been waiting for you to stumble across this! figured i'd surprise you after a year or so of busting my balls you know i'm not very high tech, like my kids always say about me, so easy a caveman can do it! anyway your thread is looking a little dormant. what gives? was hoping to see you at the hamb and scrabble, man some great customs!

[merc-o-madness]

Nice! another cool east coast kustom! tail lights came out nice, finally a chopped shoebox that is actually kustom unlike the sea of chopped shoeboxes with stock grills and tailights. Whats your plan for up front?

[jerseymike]

thanks to all who replyed. progress is never as fast as you hope but i'll try to keep it up dated. i've been amazed and entertained by so many builds on here i figured it was time i give something back. as far as the overall build i wouldn't say i'm going for a specific time frame, just a look i like using parts i like. definitely an earlier look but not any certain year. and if anybody enjoys this thread you should probably thank buddy palumbo for shaming me into it

[jerseymike]

Originally Posted by merc-o-madness

Nice! another cool east coast kustom! tail lights came out nice, finally a chopped shoebox that is actually kustom unlike the sea of chopped shoeboxes with stock grills and tailights. Whats your plan for up front?

plans up front? you should read the reply i just posted to your brother!

[jerseymike]

ok, once the taillights were mounted along with the top edge of the quarter and the section below the taillight it was time to move to the outside of the quarterpanel. to start with the whole lower half of the quarter was junk, before and after the wheelwell. plus i had cut out the section with the windsplit on each side. add to that the forward shoebox quarter was much more curved than the flatter packard quarter section around the taillight, i decided to just hack almost the whole thing off and start again. once cut off i had alot of rust repair to do before any new metal could be attached.

then with the bottom cut off

about the front 1/3 of the wheelwell was gone and had to be fabbed

[cuznbrucie]

Originally Posted by jerseymike

thanks, as far as the heater for right now i'm stripping it down to bare bones then building back up a piece at a time. another advantage of using that dash is i more than doubled the amount of room behind it. so i can keep everything hidden. could even run hidden a.c. if i wanted. under the hood i'll be making new inner fender panels and i'll try to hide most lines and wires behind them, maybe even in a double wall panel, we'll see. vicky's looking good. did you pick a color yet?

Thanks for your compliment, Mike......I've already painted this thing twice and it still doesn't look like the *satin black* that I had envisioned........I am thinking about going a totally different direction and painting it something like the Nick Matranga maroon color.......my interior is already dark red and black tuck and roll.....

Your shoebox will be killer when you're done......I will be avidly watching your work......great welding and concepts...

CB

[jerseymike]

had to fab some new body mounts

then fabbed up some inner rockers and with everything reinstalled and primed it was time to get back to building quarters


bought some ems lowers and started with the front half.

then the back half. since i lengthened the quarter and made it flatter the replacement panel was now to curved so i cut the very back end off and ran the bottom edge thru the stretcher a few times which took the curve right out of it.