Eleventh Place: 

Richard Bartusek  '95 Shelby Charger Phantom

"Richard's other winning entry was this wonderful "what if" Charger. The hood and fender tops (down to the upped edge of the Stealth headlights) were replaced with equivalent sections from a Viper. Mated to the lower roll pan from the '95 Stealth kit, the nose is an interesting, fresh look but the redundant center grille opening unnecessarily confuses the front styling. Two separate GTS coupe taillight areas were acquired, butted top to bottom, and then grafted onto the Stealth body. That styling trick adds a more aggressive look to the back of the car, though the spoiler adds too much visual height to the body: For that reason, this car just screams out for a subtle 1-1/2 inch section. Richard has come to prominence as one of the best stylists of modern phantom vehicles and this effort also exhibits his considerable design and body working skills."

Twelfth Place:

Jamie Ivey  '49 Mercury Traditional Custom

Jamie has produced another worthy representation of a traditional custom, this one taking obvious advantage of some of the styling tricks on the old Goulart Ford. Jamie hand formed the headlight pods from styrene rod and sheet, and leaned the housing forward for an aggressive look.  The hood was sectioned, thereby avoiding the "dolphin nose" look common to so many cars of this vintage. The top was stylishly chopped and features deleted original "B" pillars and nicely slopped the "C" pillars. Correctly, Jamie installed a very large rear window which opens up and "lightens" the otherwise oppressive aspect of the rear of the car. Unfortunately, the windshield should have been similarly enlarged after the top was chopped. The rear taillight housings were leaned forward to mimic the headlight styling. Wheel flares (first pioneered on the Goulart Ford) relieve the slabsides and add visual interest. Jamie also terminated the character line at the end of the door, and deleted the dog leg found on the rear of the car. While the model needs window moldings, it is an excellent custom.

Thirteenth Place:

Rich Manson '53 Studebaker Convertible

Rich has taken an already excellent design and converted it to a lithe roadster. Staring with removing the roof, Rich installed front and rear rolled pans, vertical taillights, filled in the side vents and gas door, and added peaked headlight bezels to take advantage of the undeveloped front fender styling on the factory car. The door and hood lines were rounded and the upper front grilles were filled in. Painted an unusual but pleasing silver with a complimenting blue interior, this model is delightfully agile. However, there are a few glitches: The rear quarter panels are too long (lopping off three scale inches would be great) and the natural rise in the panel just forward in the trunk (which originally raised up to meet the factory roof) should have been lowered for a more sleek look. Also, with the twin grilles filled in at the front, the hood could have been extended forward to better integrate with the custom grilles. Having said all of that, this is a graceful custom of which Raymond Loewy would have been proud.

Fourteenth Place:

Nathan Sills Porsche/VW Custom

Nate has created another inventive custom. This time, he combined the rear clip from a 956 Porsche to an original IMC VW body. While that seems like an unlikely combination, Nate has managed to massage those two elements together into a surprisingly cohesive design. The Porsche rear wheel flares, resolved at the front in scoop, dramatically widens the rear of the car, probably out of proportion to the front. However, the filled rear quarter windows (into which scoops sympathetic to those on the rear fenders) help integrate the design. The headlights were artfully concealed behind flaps and the hood recessed into the front fender-pan design. There are a few hiccups: The entire body could have been widened about two scale inches to better integrate it to the width of the Porsche rear clip, and the hinges should be painted body color (they interrupt the flow of the beautiful black lacquer). And, though the spoiler is there for mechanical reasons (I suppose), it is a jarring design element. However, all in all, Nate's VW is a wonderfully inventive styling exercise.

Fifteenth Place:

Mark Hornbeck '50 Austin Sedan Drag Car

Though far from a traditional or modern custom, Mark's aggressive Austin evidences a substantial amount of custom body work.  Mark chopped the top and laid back the "A" pillars to produce a more aerodynamic look. The door frames were scratch built (avoiding the endless task of piecing together the kit items after the top chopping) and the kit rear quarter windows were filled in then opened back up to achieve the configuration of the Big John Mazmanian vehicle. The rear wheel wells were opened up to clear the big meats. The only design quibbles are inherent in the original design (since this is a replica): The top of the windshield opening should be extended into the roof to create a greater opening, the "B" pillars should be leaned forward, and the "hip" between the roof and the panel forward of the trunk is awkward. However, those are not Mark's problems; his work is very well done.

Sixteenth Place:

Les Arkle  '50 Ford Convertible

Like others in the Second Photo Contest, Les has done a good job capturing the look of a nostalgia Fifties custom. Aside from chopping the top and modifying the kit-supplied Carson top, Les added traditional side trim (providing an avenue to add a second color) by imbedding aluminum trim in the body and polishing it once the model was painted (as neat trick). Modest headlight and taillight frenching occurred, as well as adding a traditional continental kit. '49 Merc headlights and grille complete the work. Though modest in dimension, this example is particularly well done. There are only a couple of problems with the styling: The louvered windshield shade seriously interrupts the smooth flow of the "A" pillars onto the roof and the louvers on the hood (apparently taken from an old kit) don't "work."  Also, the side pipes should be molded into the body (in the way the Alexander Bros. did in their later work) rather than just to hang it below the front fender and rocker panels. Having said all of that, this is a nice piece of nostalgia customizing.

Seventeenth Place:

Otis Conley '49 Ford Custom Coupe

This is one of the most interesting custom '49 Ford coupes done recently. It is a very vigorous effort featuring a 3-inch section, a raked rear roof, a top lowered into the body after the quarter windows were filled in. The doors were also re-scribed to match up with a Corvette interior and the hood has been modified with a centrally mounted scoop. It also benefits from an excellent Testors base coat/clear coat finish. There are some design anomalies, too, which detract from the otherwise interesting design: There are no realistic rear wheel wells (how would you change a tire?), and the lower rear quarter panels kick upward just at the center point of the rear axle and the small rear window which, while kind of funky, isn't terribly practical. However, Otis made good use of flame graphics on the side of the car to disguise the heavy slab sided aspect of the car, and the vertical taillights are interesting and well done.

Eighteenth Place:

Louis Ranger '66 Cadillac Coupe de Ville

Louis Caddy is a deceptively complex custom. Starting with a 3-inch chopped top, the model also benefitted from a complete dechroming, the wheel wells were subtly reshaped with added flares, and front and rear rolled pans were fashioned along with a re-scribed trunk outline. A polished pearl purple paint job compliments the monolithic look to this interesting custom. However, there are some design oddities which would take a lot of work to correct: Though Louis was careful to avoid an "aircraft carrier" flat roof after the top chop, it is still too long. When a massive, essentially flat roof is chopped, you really have to shorten up the top to reduce the overall length of the roof. That means that the "B" pillars have to be moved forward. To avoid a rear deck/trunk that would be too long at that point, the rear quarter panels have to be shortened along with the frame. Imagine such work on this beautiful custom!

Nineteenth Place:

Steve Milberry '65 Pontiac Bonneville

Massive custom cars are difficult to build, and Steve's creation is interesting. Starting with a chopped top, a horizontal taillight was installed as well, and vertical headlights (with vac formed clear lenses) adorn the front. The fogged paint job (a combination of candy purple and candy burgundy) is reminiscent of vintage Cushenberry paint jobs and, more recently, those done by Rod Powell and Sahagon. For all of the pizazz, however, there are a few problems with this design: The sharp bend in the hood does not resolve the elevation of the hood into the interesting grille, and the top may be chopped just a bit too far to balance out the massive body. The use of skirts in the rear, too, while maintaining the Mitchell/Bradley "cokebottle" design, contribute to the really massive aspect of the rear of the car; for the same reason, a raised front wheel well would have introduced a bit of "lightness" into the design. However, the roof resolves nicely into the trunk and, despite the hiccups, the custom is generally a well-integrated design.

Twentieth Place:   

Steve Barone '58 Thunderbird

 Long a neglected as custom fodder except by famed customizers Larry Watson and Darryl Starbird/Dick Scully, Steve has taken a sympathetic look at the '58 T-Bird. He wisely replaced the two round headlights with single rectangular units, and installed a horizontal grille to visually widen the front of the car. Sympathetically, the taillight units are also horizontal with chrome bars set on a red background. The front and rear bumpers were molded to the body (reminiscent of the Electra T-Bird show car) with the rear bumper protrusions wisely removed. The rear rolled pan has two cut outs for exhaust and the inset rear license plate is a nice touch. However, there are some anomalous touches which are a problem: The blower set up greatly interferes with the sleek design, the door chevrons are entirely out of place as are the trunk-mounted chrome antennas and the outer most extensions of the front bumper should have been shaved off. Still, this is a nice looking, subtle custom. 

Car Modeler/Custom Clinic Second Annual Photo Contest Winners Places 11-20