Everyone loves a build thread.
Well, here's twist- how about flames start to finish?

For those who don't know, the car is over at So-Cal Speed Shop in Pomona, Ca.
Front 1/2of car has been repainted in 2 stage black (don't ask).

I've had flamed cars in the past but ever since I bought this car- I've wanted to flame it. Afterall- when you think hot rod- you picture a flamed deuce!
I've literally spent 2 months looking at flame pics. I've bought every book I could find. I've literally looked at thousands of car pics from all over the world (thanks to the internet) & printed out probably 800 that were prospects. From those- I narrowed it down to 15. The flames had to be traditional so that helped w/ the editing. I didn't want flames done on a plotter & transfered to the car. Alot of newer guys are doing flames like that- including a few old timers like Art Himsl.

So- I hired Dennis Ricklefs to do the honors. For those who Don't know who Dennis is- He did alot of Boyd's cars, Cars for Pete Chapouris, and has worked with Chip Foose, Chuck Lombardo, John Buterra. He's also done striping for Kenny Morris, Troy Lee, Dick Vale & Pete Santini.

So- on to the car. I met Dennis last week, 5/20/08- shook hands & handed him a pile of pictures. I bet he loved that!!! Between Dennis, Ryan Reed @ SoCal & me- we narrowed it down to 1 pic over a 2 hour session.
Dennis had a few issues w/ it- saying the flames looked to skinny but I told him it's just a guide & I expect to see Dennis add his flair to the design. He came in to start on the car last Friday 5/23/08 & called me today to take a prelim look. He's pretty happy w/ the door area but is still tweaking the hood area. He wants to refine it a bit & I'll take another look this Friday 5/30/08 at 9am to review. Everything is done w/ fine line green tape- all freehand. It's amazing to watch a lick pour from that roll of tape!

My liking? I know what I don't like. I dislike the entire shell painted white & fade from there. In fact- Dennis has already been given notice- no white paint! It will start at a pale yellow, go to orange & finally red. Stripes will be either blue or green. Dennis likes to use lime green instead of process blue & I'm still on the fence w/ the green.
Hmmmmm, green tape?

The door area is pretty much a done deal & that tape is down . All the tape on 4 pc hood is loose & you can see edges loose as he continues to tweak the design. He's dealing w/ over 160 louvers! He likes to ignore the louvers & flame right over them. I agree. After he pointed that out to me- I saw several of my pics that deliberately went around the louvers & your eye was drawn right there. He's not happy w/ the bottom of hood near latches & wants to mount the headlight & design around them. He thought they were higher & further back than they actually are. The redesign will add an additional lick between the latches. I came up w/ the lay-out around the grille shell & up onto the hood. Like the black Ford emblem? I got that from Bob Drake. Blue seemed out of place if we do green stripes.

Dennis does everything which I like. He does the lay out, mask, sanding, paint & clear- everything. He's shooting all the colors in HOC & is using toners. He says will make the colors jump off this black car.


So........
Here was the final pic from thousands, a very nice 34 Ford. I wonder who's it is? Funny, I looked for literally hundreds of hours & when I stumbled on this- I knew the hunt was over.
Hmmmmm, there's those lime green stripes again.
Dennis says it doesn't flow for him & the flames all look the same & are too skinny. Plus- you can see the hood line at radiator & I don't care for how it ends at bottom of radiator- but it's just a guide. The colors are right down my alley though.