Ford 1935 - 38 custom & mild custom

Metallica frontman James Hetfield has been a car guy for years. If you've ever seen the video for Metallica's song "Fuel," which is a 41?2-minute montage of street racing muscle cars and burnouts, that shouldn't come as a surprise. Right about the time when his taste for cars was evolving from muscle cars into hot rods and customs, he met Scott Mugford, owner of Blue Collar Customs in Sacramento, California. The two ran into each other every now and then at various northern California car shows and talked cars every time. Noting the kinds of cars that Scott's shop turned out, James commissioned Blue Collar Customs to finish a Ford F100 he bought that had already been customized.



With the F100 completed and looking like a true '60s custom, the search for the next project was on. Although he was looking for a three-window '36 coupe, a five-window "beater from SoCal" turned out to be a blessing because of the extra legroom. James had Blue Collar chop the '36, but it went under the knife in his own garage as well. "I proceeded to cut into it myself and keep it a rat for a while. That was really the extent of my skills anyway," he says. After driving the car to shows across California and racking up the miles, the '36 was rough around the edges, so he once again turned to Blue Collar Customs.

The shop installed a new air-suspension system using Slam Specialties 'bags, a modified Heidts Mustang II–style IFS crossmember, and a custom four-link in the rear. A little fabrication on the Mustang II's lower arms helped the airbag angle, and careful exhaust routing ensured the car would drop completely on its frame.



One day when James stopped by Blue Collar Customs to discuss the next stages of the Iron Fist buildup, it was still in the middle of metalwork. The roof skin had been shaped, a new, rounded-corner trunk lid had been fabricated, the hood was already converted from a three-piece to a one-piece, the new floorboards and firewall were in place, and the welds had been freshly ground smooth. The crew at Blue Collar hadn't laid down any lead or filler of any kind, but the initial plan was for a black paintjob, the most unforgiving paint color when it comes to revealing flaws or waves in the bodywork. The crew had planned on spending hours filling, sanding, and priming the car in preparation for the many coats of paint. James walked around the car and noted that he could still see the subtle transitions between panels and where welds had been made and then ground flush. He decided then and there to keep the car as is, in bare metal, to show the process of old becoming new.

To keep going in a more custom direction, and to satisfy his vision for the car, the attention was put into the interior. A '52 Chevy steering column was mounted with a drop made from an old, aluminum Mickey Thompson connecting rod. All of the interior brightwork was plated in nickel rather than chrome. The interior was fully finished with oxblood leather upholstery and gloss-black paint. Both the audio and air-suspenson system controls were hidden, as was the A/C system, which you won't even find when looking under the hood. An all-electric air conditioner was pirated from an electric car and cleverly hidden between the seats and the trunk. Cold air enters the cab via cast-aluminum vents that came from a vintage boat.



Keeping the A/C compressor and hoses out of the engine bay went a long way in making the Chevy small-block look clean, and Stromberg induction made things much more traditional, but the details were also important in the build. Every hex-head bolt on the engine, chassis, and body is stainless steel, and each one saw time in a lathe for a turned look.



The '36 was wrapped up in time for the '12 SEMA Show, and it's made the rounds at West Coast Customs Cruisin' Nationals, cruising in rough iron style with comfort to spare inside. It may ruffle some feathers with custom-car purists, but it's the blend James was after.

Ho Petit papa Noel tu ne pourrais pas la mettre au pied de mon garage celle là???
Pour moi c' est une oeuvre d' art , sublime tous ces details

Ouais c'est clair, voici d'autres vues

La voici avant quelle soit brut de tôle, j'aime aussi

J'ai une Ford 1936, elle ressemble pas à celle-ci, c'est bien dommage ...

quelle incroyable caisse... et l'intérieur est sublime !!!
les phares E&J pour moi ne sont jamais aussi bien allés avec une caisse que celle-ci...

This is the result of years and years of thinking, studying, planning, and finally constructing what the owner felt was the perfect late '30's fat fendered Ford custom. Inspired by the work of Harry Westergard, the owner liked the lines of a '36 Ford, but felt it to be too short for that long, low look. He also felt the trunk lid on a '36 looked lost in the rear body. The solution: graft a '40 Ford rear clip to the '36 cab cowl and doors. The bodies were grafted at the door post, but the wrap around upper body panel was left from the '36, allowing for the use of '36 top irons. This stretched the wheelbase approxiamately 4-5" and cleaned the trunk area up with the nicer lines of the '40. That fulfilled the "long", now for the "low". The body is sectioned over the chassis to bring it closer to earth, and the rockers are reworked to eliminate the running boards. Then the front fenders were peaked at the back, and moved upward towards the hood to line up with the rockers. In order to accomplish this, the hood sides as well as the grill had to be sectioned. The hood tops were combined and hinged at the rear. The fronts of the rear fenders were also reworked to elinimate the running boards, and a pair of custom stone guards were fabricated and installed. Finally the whole body was massaged and painted with PPG basecoat/clearcoat urethane and color sanded and polished to perfection.



All that is placed on a custom, tubular chassis with a Heidt's Superide independent front suspension, Corvette independent rear, and power 4 wheel disc brakes. The engine is a crate unit from Street and Performance. It is a 350 TPI, chromed and polished everywhere. Transmission is a 700R4 with a Lokar shifter. Interior ammenities include a Glide Engineering seat, Vintage Air, Flaming River tilt column, Vintage Air, and leather upholstery.



This car is not only gorgeous, it works. Starts, runs, stops, steers and drives fantastic. It is quiet, tight, smooth, comfortable and reliable.

Steel 1936 Ford cabriolet cowl and doors























Steel 1936 Ford front sheet metal, hood sides and grill sectioned and backs of fenders peaked to eliminate running boards

Duvall windshield flush mounted in original cabriolet post

Custom hinged windwings

Steel 1940 Ford rear quarter panels, trunk lid and rear body panel

Custom stone guards on rear fenders

Steel fender skirts

Frenched tailights

Working German canvas convertible top with boot

Body channel over tubular chassis and rockers reworked

Mercedes SL mirrors

Heidt's Superide front suspension assembly

Corvette Rear with Coil overs

Chromed Street and Performance TPI engine

700R4 transmission

Lokar shifter

4 wheel power disc brakes

Leather interior

Glide Engineering seat w/ Shroth retractable 4 point belts

Custom AutoAvionics gauges

Flaming River tilt stainless steering column w/ Nardi "thin grip" wooden steering wheel

Vintage Air

Loads of Dynamat throughout

SPW wiper system

Ron Francis wiring harness

Aluminum radiator with electric fan

22 Gallon fuel cell

Coker Classic radial wide whites w/ 95% tread on Wheel Vintique Steelies w/ caps and rings

 


 

Like modern-day fables, once in a blue moon we read about a car enthusiast who stumbles upon an untouched original Jaguar Lightweight E-Type, an entombed '54 Corvette, or--like Jay Leno--the missing Duesenberg, peacefully hibernating for decades in a Manhattan parking garage. It does not happen very often, but when it does, it's an event of a lifetime, just like winning the lottery.
That's how we felt upon discovering the magical FoMoCo Freighter, the much-admired cover car of Rod & Custom Magazine's August 1962 issue.

Due to a very lucky constellation of circumstances, this Full Kustom survived 44 years as if preserved inside a vacuum bubble, unharmed, unaltered, unbelievably beautiful. For various reasons, immaculately preserved, unrestored custom cars from the early days of the hobby are virtually extinct; the emergence of the FoMoCo Freighter after nearly five decades of gentle storage is a singularly important event. Not even Bruce Meyer, custodian of one of the most distinguished Hot Rod collections on the planet, can boast of owning a truly original, untouched early car.

Never been exposed to a drop of rain in its life, and having traveled a mere 6,219 miles in almost half a Century, this super-low-mileage California survivor is in such amazing time warp condition, it's instantly ready for another glossy photo spread in Rod & Custom or The Rodder's Journal!

A copy of the original August 1962 Rod & Custom Magazine accompanies the FoMoCo Freighter, nicely outlining the truck's history.
Ray Nish, service manager for an Oakland, Calif. Lincoln-Mercury dealer, transformed a 1937 Ford sedan into the FoMoCo Freighter over a period of 13 years, exclusively using FoMoCo parts (hence the truck's moniker).
In February of 1962, Mr. Nish's just finished state-of-the-art Kustom was shown at the Oakland Grand National Roadster Show

During the early 1960s, Ray Nish and his wife Sally occasionally drove the FoMoCo Freighter to Central California shows, accumulating less than 5,000 miles on the odometer. Always properly cared for, the Freighter eventually spent a number of years as part of the private Robert J. Pond collection in Palm Springs, California.
Miraculously, the Freighter's caretakers resisted the urge to "update" or "modify" anything, presenting you with the unheard-of opportunity to obtain a virginal specimen hailing from the Golden Age of Kustomizing!


State-of-the-art, circa 1962. The FoMoCo Freighter rests on a narrowed and shortened '56 Mercury frame and suspension. It is powered by a monstrous, fully chromed and aseptically clean '57 Lincoln 368 cubic inch Turnpike Cruiser V-8 engine, backed by a '57 Ford Thunderbird C-6 Cruise-O-Matic transmission and a '57 Lincoln Powr-Lok rear end with 3.31 gears. Firewall and radiator cover were hand-formed from sheet steel, then triple chrome plated.


To make Ray and Sally's driving chores easier, the pickup was equipped with '61 Merc power steering and power brakes, power windows, power vents (!), and a power antenna.

Truck retains its amazingly well-preserved, reversed chrome wheels with baby moon hubcaps. FIRESTONE Deluxe Champion wide whitewall tires of the dimension 7.50x14 helped achieve a low profile; we've just installed a fresh set, obtained from COKER Tires.
 
Words and pictures can't begin to describe the quality of workmanship found on this custom. Literally, thousands of hours went into creating this masterpiece. The original sedan body was completely re-worked, including a 2-inch top chop. '40 Ford Deluxe hood and fenders were fitted, an entirely custom-made bed and rear fenders added. Even the--removable--running boards are hand-made from heavy gauge steel.
All the subtle body mods have withstood the test of time admirably. There are no bubbles; there's no rust anywhere. The two-tone Pearl and Byzantine Gold paint--done at Bob Philippi's Lincoln-Mercury shop--still looks fabulous, with just a few negligible signs of age. Plentiful chrome trim is shiny and pit-free. We've had well-known striper "Itchy" freshen the original Tommy the Greek pinstriping.
 
Having unlimited access to late-model parts, Ray Nish installed brand new 1961 Thunderbird gauges, radio, and switches in the Ford's much-modified, chromed dash. Immaculate steering wheel is from a '61 Comet. Everything works, even the AM radio.
Note '57 T-Bird floor shifter and neat pedal layout. Yes, the emergency brake is functional, too!
 
Details, from left to right:

• Lincoln window lift switches.
  
• Thunderbird Gauge Cluster. Odometer shows original mileage of 6,219.5.
  
• Traditional 1-inch rolled pleats, duplicating exterior's gold-and-pearl color scheme.
  

 
Supremely comfortable bucket seats originally served duty in a 1953 Mercedes-Benz 220 Cabriolet.
 
Just like body and engine bay, the interior, fashioned in 1961 at Oakland's Mission Upholstery shop, is completely intact and original, including carpet and headliner. Note the fully finished, chromed window frames. Tinted safety glass was used all around.
 
A half dozen '61 Comet tail lamps. Note working back up lights. Rear step bumper and truck bed liner were fabricated by hand, using diamond-plate steel, then fully chromed.
 
Another very special, period Kustom touch, setting the FoMoCo Freighter apart from the rest: Carson-style, rolled and pleated naugahyde tonneau and tailgate covers.

Small, but important details: chromed jacking equipment, usually stored behind the seats.
Truck was shown locally in 2005, returned with a trophy every time! To call the FoMoCo Freighter a crowd pleaser would be quite an understatement.
Trophies are included with the pickup.
 
The all-steel FoMoCo Freighter certainly is one of the most important period custom cars in existence.
At the 2006 Barrett-Jackson auction, Don Tognotti's sympathetically restored Ford "Avenger," another early Sixties Oakland Roadster Show Star, sold for $216,000.00. You may be able to build another Kustom of this caliber for that kind of money, however, you will never be able to duplicate the pedigree of vehicles like the Avenger or the FoMoCo Freighter. These unique, historically significant automobiles are finally receiving the recognition they deserve, being proudly displayed in their own class at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
In today's realm of ultra-collectible classics, authenticity and provenance are everything, and the Freighter features plenty of both.
 
Rarely, if ever, will the opportunity arise to acquire a genuine, unaltered, pristinely original, early Custom, shown at the Oakland Roadster Show, featured on the cover of Rod & Custom, then properly stored for almost five decades. The fabulous FoMoCo Freighter has an illustrious past and is now ready for a celebrated future in the hands of a caring collector.
We are willing to bet the farm on it: within the next decade, this fantastic truck will be worth a quarter million Dollars!









Addendum:
This show truck sold in November 2006 to a collection in Texas.

lien original:
http://www.californiaclassix.com/archive/40_FoMoCo_c367.html

1936 ford 5 window coupe. Start by saying this car runs down the road good and shows good. I do drive it so there are some chips in the paint so its not perfect but it does show very well. The car was built in the early 90s not long after the owner pass away and it sat untill Sept. of 2012 when I found it. So when I got it I had to rebuild or replace almost everything mechically. Motor was good 350 sbc just put new hoses belts decluttered the motor compartment and added some finned aluminum stuff. Electric fan with thermostat. Runs cool. I had the th350 trans rebuilt, got a new drive line, rear end 10 bolt. New brakes from master cylnder to calipers and wheel cylnders. New steering from column down to new rack. reworked the hole steering linkage. New gas tank and lines. New tires and hubcaps. Has IFS on front and leaf spring on rear