Maybe frenched into a rolled pan...

http://www.jbmicrofinish.com/images/2155plate.jpg

From here (http://www.jbmicrofinish.com/catalog_2.html)

??

Don't like it, not a bit. If you had a choice, you wouldn't even have a lic plate, lets face it, you have it because you HAVE TO. So, you have this ugly sheet of metal with numbers and letters on it that you HAVE TO put on your car or truck, why do you want it to stand out? I mean, I want to put it on in sort of an inconspicuous way as possible.

Brian

Don't like it, not a bit. If you had a choice, you wouldn't even have a lic plate...


I agree with you except that it's become a universal fact if you want to actually drive your vehicle. So, much like I might design a woman without a (wait for it...)... mouth, I have to accept the fact that they come with one, and so concede that at least they can dress them up with lipstick :rolleyes:

</i keed, i keed>

Lip stick would compare with a nice normal license plate frame. This billit thing would be 1/8" black lip liner with dark brown lip stick and a gold capped tooth with a star in the middle. :)

Brian

I do not think that the basic shape is right for the back of your truck. I have been following your truck build for three years almost and it just does not in my opinion seem to go with the direction you have taken so far. The football shape does not compliment any shape that you presently have on your truck. Maybe if you could get one more "rectangular" in the same style it would mesh better with the other areas of your truck.

Unless, you are intending to bring a similiar shape on with taillights. But even then...

http://www.airkewld.com/parts/prodimages/tailights%20billet.jpg

These might help tie the plate in. Would you powdercoat it or leave the chrome/ billet look?

I do not think that the basic shape is right for the back of your truck.

Agreed... the post was just a "what if," and not intended for the Wallet Eater.

Well then...I think it would look good on a late 30's vehicle. It has a little bit of that art deco style to it.

Maybe something like this:
http://images7.fotki.com/v118/photos/2/223020/1455731/36Fordleadslead4or-vi.jpg

It would look really good in place of this plate

http://images6.fotki.com/v97/photos/2/223020/1247007/P8152726-vi.jpg

I like the armrests they have on that site

Primered, ok, we are talking "taste" and "opinion" I agree. But do you really think that plate frame would look good on THESE stunning lead sled examples of a 36 Ford? I mean, the first one is a tiny bit off with the "wrong" tires and wheel covers, but the lower one is absolutely stunning, flawless, period 1950ish art. I don't like the plate frame, period. But I can see how it would fit a similarly shaped car like a 36 Ford three window. However, not THESE cars, maybe a billited out modern version, but not these two examples.

Brian

I think it would.... it matches the back bumper great

Well then...I think it would look good on a late 30's vehicle. It has a little bit of that art deco style to it.


Looks early 30's at most, and I've never heard it called "art deco style" before... but I approve ;)

XXL why dont you try those vacuum operated units that the streetrodders use a lot of times. It only flips out while being driven and retracts once you turn the truck off and park it.

If you like it you like it. Thats what its all about. Do what you want.

how about making a rotating roll pan for the oval license plate holders with matching oval tailights mounted in it. (both frenched in of course.) that way, they disappear when parked, then appear when driving, ala james bond....why does this keep coming up? dunno...

Jay

Okay guys, don’t beat me up for this but I have to say it. Some things are just plain WRONG. Yes, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” but some things are just plain WRONG. What I am talking about is, when someone does something to a car or truck that “misses the point”. Some times the whole thing is a miss; other times there is a reasonable trend in the work, and then, out of no where is some “after birth”.

An example would be a traditional 1950 Mercury custom with a billit aluminum steering wheel. The builder was going along just fine…chopped top….frenched head lights……53 Buick side trim….and then, BLAM, out of no where an after birth. The billit wheel just doesn’t belong on the car, PERIOD. It is not “taste”, it is wrong. How about the 1950 Chevy fastback that was at the last show I went to. It was chopped, sectioned, but had the stock grille and bumpers. That was a little strange, but it still worked. It kind of looked like a Chevy designer had did the sectioning and chopping. Yeah, a Chevy designer was just day dreaming and showed us what it would look like if it were left up to him. It looked great…then the after births. The dang thing had 2000 VW Bug head lamps and 2000 Corvette tail lamps! He RUINED the car. All that work in the sectioning and chopping, right down the drain. Now, how would the ’50 Chevy head lamps look on the 2000 Bug, like crap, that’s how. How would Kesey Hayes wires look on that 2000 Z06 Vette, like CRAP, that’s how. There are thousands of “traditional rods out there with all the classic goodies; fenderless, black paint, tuck and roll, a white firewall, and then, a SBC with TPI and billit valve covers. I have even seen this with hoodless cars! Would one of Boyds cars look right with 20” billit wheels and a six duece set up?

We have all seen these cars, maybe one is in your garage. If it is I am sorry for being so hard on you.

You have the right to build a car anyway you want, this is true. But don’t put an after birth on you car and then cry because it didn’t win at the show. If you look at the big winners, the front pages of the rod magazines, they all follow a theme. EVERY NUT AND BOLT on the car, fits into the theme.

Is this “conforming”, yes, sort of. So what if it is, do you want a stand out car because it is pleasant to look at or because people want to laugh at it?

I’ll tell you what sets the cars apart, DETAIL, that’s what. If you want your car to be “special”, then make every nut and bolt follow a theme (ONE theme, any theme) and fill the car with detail.

Don’t make it WRONG, just to be different.

Those two 36 Fords, they are perfect examples of following a "Theme". The first one is a little off with the "wrong" front tires, the second one is DEAD ON and I will bet the motor and interior match, DEAD ON. THAT is following a theme. If for example that billit license plate frame were on that second car, it would be RUINED. Let me give an example, you want to do a stage play or movie set in the Fifties, one of the actors can't have on a paisly print shirt with Angels flight pants and platform shoes! It doesn't fit the "theme" of the show, it would stand out.

Mixing up the parts on a car is the exact same thing.

Personally, as I said, I don't like that frame and don't think it would look good on much of anything. HOWEVER, if a theme was followed with the tail lamps AND it fit the rest of the truck in that the WHOLE truck was sort of a billit streetrod look, SURE, to each his own. It would "work" not because I Brian Martin oks it, it would work because it followed a theme. If the truck had steelie wheels and more of a sixties look, it would not.

I don't make up the rules, I am just reporting them.

Brian

Okay guys, don’t beat me up for this but

Consider yourself beat up...

There's no wrong. Not even this guy--

http://z.about.com/d/sanfrancisco/1/0/c/castro_car.jpg

He had a "theme" in mind (one you or I likely don't understand). He executed it. He's probably happy with it. And it's got the "right" tires on it too... just ask him.

Every time I have posted my little "editorial" I have gotten similar responses. funny thing is, it proves the reader didn't read it at all. He saw what he wanted to see.

I AGREE with you, that "Art car" is exactly my point, he followed a THEME and a heck of a lot better than the guy with the traditional 50 Merc custom with the afterbirth billit steering wheel. I happen to be a fan of "Art cars" for THAT very reason. They are ARTISTS who understand the THEME point better than most rod builders.

Here is one of my favorites done to one of my favorite cars, a GM "A body" and I LOVE it. I wouldn't do it to mine, but I LOVE what he did to his.

Brian

http://members.aol.com/buickfam/artcarone.jpg

Okay guys, don’t beat me up for this but I have to say it. Some things are just plain WRONG. Brian

I disagree.

If you like it who cares?
If you don't win any trophies for it who cares?

I'm not worried about winning trophies or fitting with what someone calls a theme? :crazy:

Again, someone who doesn't get the point. If you don't, that is fine. If you do, THAT may be what you are missing. Like I said, I LOVE those crazy "Art cars". I LOVE low riders with etched gold plated frames, mile high four wheelers with a five shocks at each wheel, flawless accurately restored cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, planes, army tanks, etc. I love billit/smootie rods, modern customes, period customs like those two 36 Fords, etc. As my sig says "Fan of most anything that moves human beings".

If someone "does his thing" that is his business. Last time I checked, and I checked with state and federal laws, that is HIS business after all. Like all the "Basics" I write on how to weld, paint, customize bodies, whatever, one can read them and use the ideas. One could also ignore them and do it another way that he has found to be better for him. Again, that is HIS business.

If one would like to step it up and build a real outsanding head turning car some of the ideas in this writing may be of help.

Brian

When I was throwing those cars up it was the body style not they way they were done. I liked the way they complemented the back window and bumper. It was a stylistic comment on finding similiar shapes. The only examples I could find of the year models were taildraggers.



If I were to use it on those exact cars... To make it even half way acceptable (maybe not even then) I would have the thing chromed.

(Disclaimer: I am a believer that traditional period rods and billet rides should be seperate but equal in terms of appreciation. I agree that mixing the two can throw a car totally off for me.)

Oh I agree with MARTINSR and what he is saying. He is just giving his opinion and a good one at that

Thanks! http://www.clintonjohnson.com/smilies/rocker.gif

Brian

[QUOTE=MARTINSR] funny thing is, it proves the reader didn't read it at all. He saw what he wanted to see.

That's not cool. Great points, but the presentation is lacking.

To the guy who originated this thread-do what you like. I'm into experimentation-I have a Kawasaki Drifter that I've done a bit of welding on the tank and alot of other custom work. Not everything looks top notch, in part becasue I'm learning as I go. The first time I mounted taillights to the rear fender, after 2 months I decided it wasn't what I liked. Wouldn't call it a mistake, only a learning experience; I learned through experience that my first attempt didn't make me happy :-) -that's why I'm gettting ready to paint the bike for the third time in four years.

Some people may have an affinity towards certain styles/things. For instance, if I had always wanted a billet wheel b/c my dad had on on his hotrod, there's no abosolute's stating it is 'wrong'. Maybe by defining (right and) wrong in terms of what a judge will likely award the most points for or what will command the highest dollar at an action/sale.

Like always this writing gets a lot of comments. I can agree with your that my remark may have been a little harsh. But come on, we are just standing around a garage in town bsing, it is no big deal.

I can not emphasize enough here, you don't have to be a "sheep" following the herd. You don't have to make a belly button car to follow a theme.

Most of us want a nice car, I mean, we don't want to build a 48 Chevy truck to be comfortable and ecomomical. We build it and drive it because it is cool to drive something different. We may not go looking for magazine covers or winning big shows, but it sure is a damn good feeling to do it!

My brothers anything but trendy all Buick 1922 Roadster and his "regular old" 55 Ford F-100 has been in a few mags with this months Rodders Journal ten page spread being the most exciting. They are NOT "belly buttons" they were built because that is what HE liked. If there ever was a bizzaro opposite to a "tendy" car it would be a 1922 Buick Model 44 Roadster made into a rod. It is near worthless because it isn't "trendy" with a small block chevy and a/c.

This article is kinda like an article on how to chop the top so it ends up the same on both sides. I mean, if you want to chop your top more on one side than the other, it is your business after all. :)

Well, I think we can bs out here in the garage a while longer before the wife calls, want a beer?

Brian

Hi Brian,

I know where you are coming from. Themes: rat rods, street rods, resto, tail dragger, lowrider etc. Pick a style and stick to it. I agree. Not only does it look good "aesthetically", it will cost more in the long run if you keep changing the style. I agree, some parts should belong to certain styles (chain steering wheel vs billet steering wheel, etc).

You are 16 years older than I am so you got to experience cars of the late 60s and 70s as they came out. You also got to experience what the older generation were doing to the older cars (50s & 60s). I, on the other hand, got to experience new cars of the 80s (big whoopdee doo). I got a late start in the automotive experience and I didn't have family that was into cars. My point is, I wouldn't know a true 60s rat rod build vs a 50s rat rod build and whether or not some bolts were available in the 60s and not in the 50s. I would just call them rat rods. I know some parts look good, and some don't. Ask me what a stock 50 merc grill looks like and I'll probably give you a description of a desoto grill because that's all I see in the mags. Mods were done because they looked good back then, not because they were period correct. I wonder if the guy that did the first grill swap on a merc got alot of flack from it.

Anyway, I say, if Kenneth can make it look good, why not. Besides, anybody know what theme his truck fits in? :lol:

I appreciate your point of view Brian. Opinions are opinions and everybody is entitled to one.

btw, I'd like to see some of your brother's rides.

Jay

Jay, I think it is more about studying the idea you are after, "to what end?" in other words. Every part, every mod needs to be studied carefully. And most importantly, "How does it fit in with the REST of the car?". I am not saying one can't make your own "theme" that has never been done before. I am not saying one can't step out there into the stratosphere and grab a comet no one has ever seen. Hell, if no one had done that we wouldn't have the "Sniper", Jamie Muslemans 34, The Beatnik Bandit, etc.

There are all kinds of cars that go WAY out there with some strange idea that WORK big time. One was a 57 Chevy convert that was built off a 59 cowl. I have only seen the car once in person and it was STUNNING. It was a Boyd or Foose or someone like that car. It used the 59 windshield and cowl and they sectioned the doors, quarters, fenders a little down to fit the height of the 59, then they widened the hood and trunk to fit the width of the 59, all without saying "I AM MODIFIED" it looked like a friggin stock 57 on 22" billit wheels that was squashed a little. Like an artist took some artistic freedom in a sketch and improved the 57 just a little by changing it's proportions.

Check out this link http://radrides.com/photogallery.php for some super cars that are right on the mark. Now, you don't have to like the styles, you don't have to like the cars, just look at the ART of each one. Here is another one, Cole Foster is brilliant, one of the true artists of our time. http://www.salinasboys.com/salinasboys.html


I was just going to post a photo of my brothers roadster but the damn link won't work. Anyway, pick up The Rodders Journal http://www.roddersjournal.com/index.php?port=magazine this quarter (it is on the new stands soon) and look for a black Buick roadster and a teal F-100 photoed on the San Fran bay, he got 10 pages! We are pretty jazzed, even our dad got some ink and a photo.

Brian

Again, someone who doesn't get the point.

Oh, I believe we've got the point. There are approved "themes" and those that are not. A car from the 1930's has to have the "right" tires or it's not right. It has to have a particular steering wheel (definitely NOT an "afterbirth billet") or the theme is busted.

Problem with your argument is that is centers around your definition of what's an acceptable theme. A-body with faces is apparently OK. Purple art-deco 1930's car with "wrong" tires is not. I can read... and I read your 'position paper' on themes as, I believe, you intended it. And it's still the same argument... only that "themes" isn't "proper period accessories" as much as it is "things that appeal to MARTINSR." Nothing wrong with that, actually... just don't own/ride in/look at any of those cars that offend. As for the billet football license plate frame, I may just have to mount that in the middle of my hood on a spinning turret with a set of multi-colored Christmas tree lights wrapped around it. ;)

LOL, if you put lights all over the truck and a santa on the roof it should be one cool ride. :)

Nope, you still don't get it, but that's ok. Thanks for being open minded and giving it a shot.

Brian

As for the billet football license plate frame, I may just have to mount that in the middle of my hood on a spinning turret with a set of multi-colored Christmas tree lights wrapped around it. ;)

dude that is sooo last year:ele:

Nope, you still don't get it

That's a pretty self-serving response (kind of putting us lesser folk in our places).

/no reply necessary

Ok, "I guess I didn't explain myself well", better?

Brian