CLIFF INMAN-INSPIRED KUSTOM.......

[Jay Whittaker]

Those that know me know that I love nothing more than cutting up a perfectly good car to make it something (I feel) it should've been. One of my Brothers of the Sprue, Tony Matthews, got hold of a '57 Chrysler 300 kit and reached out for some guidance on how I do custom work on these little styrene wonders we love so much, which I was happy to do.

As luck would have it, I also had one of these (albeit a different issue) sitting in the cabinet above my work bench and figured what better thing to use as the example. So we unofficially happened into an unintentional dual build, and I wanted to share it with y'all...

Plans for mine are eliminating that time-honored aircraft intake opening grille, adding ‘57 DeSoto side trim, ‘56 Packard taillights ordered from R&M of MD, a beautiful long ram 413 gotten from Texas 3D, along with the Kelsey Hayes wires copped from a '56 300 kit replicating the Inman car.
This is not a build of that car, but rather a build inspired by it, as the title implies….

Edited April 1 by Jay Whittaker

[Jay Whittaker]

After filling-in the rear medallion relief and license plate recess with acrylic filler, I set my sights on eliminating the aircraft air intake grill that, in my opinion, greatly detracts from the overall beauty of this car.

Experience has taught me to cut-away only what is absolutely necessary and to “test set” possible replacement donor pieces beforehand to make blending as seamless as possible.

In doing this, I discovered that an AMT ‘57 Chevy hood fit the bill perfectly (no pun intended) and I proceeded to make the transition. You’ll notice that I built-up filler on the back side of the hood as well, as I discovered while contouring the front side that the styrene was getting thin. I can never thank Mike Sarris enough for introducing me to this acrylic nail filler because this stuff is SO versatile!!…. You’ll also notice that the lower grille opening has been ground down and the inner grill plate eliminated as was necessary.
 

Edited April 1 by Jay Whittaker

[FrancoZanella]

nice

[NOBLNG]

Nice work blending in that Chevy hood.👍😎

[TopherMcGinnis]

You are correct about the grille in these cars. Bleh! At best. I'm interested to see how this one goes 😁

Is the acrylic resin black light cured?

[Jay Whittaker]

2 hours ago, TopherMcGinnis said:

You are correct about the grille in these cars. Bleh! At best. I'm interested to see how this one goes 😁

Is the acrylic resin black light cured?

The acrylic filler is a 2-part liquid/powder that when combined harden through a chemical reaction. It can be gotten at any Walmart or my favorite place is Sally Beauty Supply, as you can get larger quantities. The only catch is you must use a real animal hair brush, not a synthetic. Use lacquer thinner to clean the brush after each dip. 
😁👍🏻

[JollySipper]

This is so very much right up my alley! Love the early kustoms........

[NOBLNG]

2 hours ago, Jay Whittaker said:

The acrylic filler is a 2-part liquid/powder that when combined harden through a chemical reaction.
😁👍🏻

Do you have a brand name? How well does it sand? 
Thanks, Greg.

[Jay Whittaker]

11 minutes ago, NOBLNG said:

Do you have a brand name? How well does it sand? 
Thanks, Greg.

There’s no particular brand name I’m loyal to, I’ll get the names of what I’ve got when I get home from work later as I cannot remember off the top of my head (Geritol Deficiency Syndrome, don’t ya kno)….

As far as sanding goes, you want to get it very close to the end shape if you must sand it by hand, as it is harder than the styrene (which makes it great for reinforcement applications).I use a Dremel with the sanding drum bit initially then finish off with a sanding stick or sandpaper. 

[stitchdup]

36 minutes ago, Jay Whittaker said:

There’s no particular brand name I’m loyal to, I’ll get the names of what I’ve got when I get home from work later as I cannot remember off the top of my head (Geritol Deficiency Syndrome, don’t ya kno)….

As far as sanding goes, you want to get it very close to the end shape if you must sand it by hand, as it is harder than the styrene (which makes it great for reinforcement applications).I use a Dremel with the sanding drum bit initially then finish off with a sanding stick or sandpaper. 

you can get slower setting liquid for it. I have 2, 5 and 10 minute setting times for the ones i use. the ten minute stuff can be worked while still soft using stainless tools and as luck would have it they are on amazon for not much money

[espo]

I like how the hood modifications change the personality of the frontend. The most interesting, to me anyway, changes that Inman did on the inspiration car is the way he chopped the top and changed the shape of the rear window area. 

[Jay Whittaker]

20 hours ago, stitchdup said:

you can get slower setting liquid for it. I have 2, 5 and 10 minute setting times for the ones i use. the ten minute stuff can be worked while still soft using stainless tools and as luck would have it they are on amazon for not much money

Hey thats good to know! I had no idea that there were different setting rate liquids out there. I’ll have to that a try.  Thanks for sharing that tidbit. 😁👍🏻

 

Here is a pic of what I’m currently using. 

[Jay Whittaker]

The top needed to be chopped, but ever-so-slightly, so a-hackin’ we went….

[Jay Whittaker]

But we weren’t happy with that. After completing my “‘64 World’s Fair” GTO with the optional roof, I said to myself: “You idiot, you could’ve used that on the ‘57 300!”…..
Thankfully my friend Mike Alvarez helped out huge with a spare optional roof and I was able to get my game on once more…. That factory backlight was just too wonky, and it was almost scary how close the fit of the GTO roof was.

Edited April 4 by Jay Whittaker

[dust collectors]

Man this is cool! Will be following along.

[JollySipper]

I like the sketched-on side trim idea! It looks like something MoPar would do, and would give you a line for a tutone paint job........ (should you choose to do so)

[Jay Whittaker]

9 hours ago, JollySipper said:

I like the sketched-on side trim idea! It looks like something MoPar would do, and would give you a line for a tutone paint job........ (should you choose to do so)

Thank you! 
 

Yessir, that is the outline of the proposed ‘57 DeSoto side trim that will be scratch-fashioned onto the sides. At the present time I’m looking to go with a deep wine color overall, with a champagne beige/gold for the inset as well as the interior. 

[Jay Whittaker]

I dove into the lowering of the frame, and the rear suspension was an absolute breeze!…. It’ll be interesting to see if the front treats me as nicely. Before any mods are done though I need to fill in the top of the frame rails that will show in the engine bay.

The first shot is the ‘stock’ ride height (getting a nosebleed up here).. The second pic is the rear axle propping up the frame after hogging it out for clearance, allowing it to just about lay frame (no, I’m not). The next shots show the guidelines drawn and then the fore & aft comparison of the rear rails.

So setting up the lowering of the front suspension doesn’t look like it’s going to be a major catastrophe, and hopefully I didn’t jinx myself by saying that…. I started off by observing the angle of the lower torsion arms, and started bending things according to the amount of lowering I was trying to achieve. After that was separating them from the cross member attachment and re-gluing them at a more level position. This, combined with reversing the spindles, should give me what I’m looking for. The final mock-up will tell the tale.

Edited April 7 by Jay Whittaker

[Zippi]

Great looking mods so far.

[TopherMcGinnis]

I too Like'm Low

[espo]

16 hours ago, Jay Whittaker said:

I dove into the lowering of the frame, and the rear suspension was an absolute breeze!…. It’ll be interesting to see if the front treats me as nicely. Before any mods are done though I need to fill in the top of the frame rails that will show in the engine bay.

The first shot is the ‘stock’ ride height (getting a nosebleed up here).. The second pic is the rear axle propping up the frame after hogging it out for clearance, allowing it to just about lay frame (no, I’m not). The next shots show the guidelines drawn and then the fore & aft comparison of the rear rails.

So setting up the lowering of the front suspension doesn’t look like it’s going to be a major catastrophe, and hopefully I didn’t jinx myself by saying that…. I started off by observing the angle of the lower torsion arms, and started bending things according to the amount of lowering I was trying to achieve. After that was separating them from the cross member attachment and re-gluing them at a more level position. This, combined with reversing the spindles, should give me what I’m looking for. The final mock-up will tell the tale.

Depending on the alignment of the upper and lower mounting pins for the spindles they can in some instances be swapped from one side to the other and turned upside down to lower the front end. The big sticking point would be where they meet the upper and lower control arms, and the tie rod ends. Sometimes you can just redrill the mounting point on the upper control arms so that the wheel and tires are in the correct alignment. 

[FoMoCo66]

This is a really cool car, I kinda like this look better than the stock formation. The open mouth type grill looks silly to me and I like the Chevy hood graft a LOT.

[Jay Whittaker]

Thanks so much folks!...

 

So the front suspension cooperated with me, once I got the fronts done I scratched up a couple of lowering blocks for the rear and I was able to get the whole car lowered and on all fours this weekend. Pleased as punch!

….And added a nice set of mock-up shots, sitting as she will on all four feet.

Edited April 7 by Jay Whittaker

[NOBLNG]

Nice stance you’ve got there now Jay. And great work blending in that GTO roof.😎

[Mattilacken]

That’s a really good looking custom! Everything seems to work with each other. Great craftsmanship from your part as well making the build look easy!