Car Craft Dream Rod

The Car Craft Dream Rod was built by the famed customizer, Bill Cushenbery, for Car Craft magazine which carried a full feature on the finished car. Built from a wide array of parts (including several body panels from a 1960 Pontiac and a 1961 Corvair!), the fogged candy/pearl white/yellow custom was powered by a Ford 289 and was a wild hit on the custom car show circuit. It was popular enough that MPC issued a faithful 1/25 scale kit of the car. A few years after it was built, it was sold to the ISCA which commissioned a substantial revision to the car's styling. Called the Tiger Shark, the car wasn't as successful as the first iteration, the car made the show car circuit and was the subject of a revised MPC kit. Now, the car has been acquired by a new owner who is restoring the car to its original configuration. Thanks to Dick "Fuzzy" Fuerholzer for the restoration photos presented here, and thanks to famed custom car restorer Mark Moriarity for the photos of the Tiger Shark before he started the retro-restoration of the Dream Rod.  

This rare picture shows builder Bill Cushenbery polishing the multi-hue pearl and candy paint job. Note that the body hasn't been dropped onto the detailed frame. This full color image shows the delicate candy yellow fogging. Check out the narrow whitewall tires surround the '62-'63 T-Bird Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels! This steeper-angle image shows the bodyside design and the tires better. Check out the exhaust! This shot of the driver's side also reveals the off-set headlight pod and the taillight. Some time in the mid-Sixties, the Dream Rod was restyled to have more Corvette-like front fenders that enclosed the wheels. This was not a successful design.

Check out this mid-process restoration shot of the Dream Rod. It's clear that a lot of effort has been required here.

Bibliography

Popular Customs	Winter 1963	p. 42
Custom Car Yearbook #1	1964	pgs. 63
Hot Rods & Customs of the Sixties (book)	1997	pgs. 56-57