SRM: Where did the dash come from?
FOOSE: It's a '38 Lincoln Zephyr, but it's narrowed. There are normally two ashtrays next to the gauge cluster and those were eliminated as we narrowed the dash about 11 inches overall to get it to fit into the car. Then I also wanted it recessed. No, I think it was 8 inches overall--11 inches was the Model A we did for Overhaulin'.
SRM: Do all those just blend together after a while?
FOOSE: (laughing) Yes, they do! We've done 83 cars so far on Overhaulin'
SRM: Wow! That's staggering!
FOOSE: Yeah, it's a lot of work. (smiling) That's why I look so old!
SRM: Has the steering wheel been modified in any way?
FOOSE: No, the steering wheel is stock, other than the fact the horn button is nickel plated rather than chromed.
SRM: Explain about the nickel plating, because there isn't any real amount of chrome on this car, is there?
FOOSE: There are a few pieces in the interior that I left "highly reflective" but 90% of all the pieces, well, when you chrome plate something you usually get it into copper, then you polish and finish and high luster the copper before you nickel it then chrome it. What we did was, once we got it to copper, getting it to its high luster, then we media-blasted it with glass bead, and then dropped it into the nickel which gave it that warm kinda satin finish. Then all the nuts and bolts on the motor are stainless, which is a warm finish as well. But we media blasted all of those on the motor, throughout the chassis--everywhere. Everything has that same finish to it.
SRM: The seats came from where?
FOOSE: They're B-17 bomber seats. I got them from a guy who restores aircraft at John Wayne Airport. His name is Ron; he found the two seats for me. Steve Jones, from California Metal Polishing was polishing one of the airplanes for him and he called me to tell me about him and that he has a coupe of containers full of extra parts and you might want to come down and see if there is anything in these containers that you can use. So I went down there with Steve one day and met Ron, and told him what I was really looking for was a pair of seats. He thought he had some, opened a container, and one was sitting right there in front. He pulled that one out that was still upholstered and with the seat belts still on it. All the bracing for the bottom, everything was there.
SRM: Why are the seats different from each other?
FOOSE: The passenger seat, which has that bolster at the top, is for the parachute. He pulled the next one out and I asked what he wanted for them, and he said "Uh, how 'bout a hundred bucks?" And I said "A piece?" and he said "Nah, for the pair". I couldn't get that hundred bucks out quick enough! All we did to get them in the car was to rework the braces underneath, so we could get them down, because originally they would have sat about ten inches off the floor but we got them down to two or three inches off the floor. The seatbelts, they're original, are really sun bleached, but when you open them up, you can see that they're about the same green color as the interior of the car.
SRM: You ever get some old timers who recognize they're B-17 seats?
FOOSE: No, but I do have people who recognize them as aircraft seats.
SRM: The windshield, and the surround for it, is what?
FOOSE: The center piece is a piece of glass, and then the sides and the two door pieces are Plexiglas. Same way an aircraft is built. I built everything out of cardboard and tape first, then we made the pieces out of aluminum, and we made steel molds of what the windshields were going to be, and then had Metalcrafters drape-form the Plexiglas over the steel.
SRM: Nice to have friends like Metalcrafters?
FOOSE: (Smiling) It helps!
SRM: What's the car look like without a windshield?
FOOSE: Looks like it needs one. The car's not bad without one, but I just love it with one on. It just kind of finishes it off. I've got several different ideas on what I want to do with some headlights; I just have never stuck them on yet.
SRM: And some of those ideas would be . . . ?
FOOSE: I've got a stock pair of '32 headlights, but they look really big, then I've got a set of Appleton spotlights--a bigger set. They had the regular set but then they also had a mini set, and I've got those, too.
SRM: What did they use those for?
FOOSE: I think they were police car. I've got all the mounts, and I was even thinking of putting in the rotating assembly and connecting them to the steering so they turn with the wheels. But they wouldn't do that on an airplane, so it isn't very "aircrafty." And the other thing I thought about are some cowl lights. I've got a set of '32 cowl lights and a set of Model A cowl lights and '34 and thought about putting the headlights inside the cowl lights.
SRM: So is it true that any hot rod is truly never finished?
FOOSE: They're done the day you sell them. It's someone else's project then.
SRM: There are a lot of things on the car that you've always wanted to do. You mentioned ideas that went back to your time with Boyds, which seems like decades ago, are there things that you wish you could have done with the car?
FOOSE: Well I see this car as two cars. And what I'd like to do is build another one that is an extremely elegant version of this one. Not a military version, but one that could compete with the fit and finish and maybe even the coloring of the Impression. I think with all the Lincoln parts you could build another one of these even taking that '32 grille shell and finishing to a Lincoln style grille and going back to a full fender and the whole deal. And with the V12 flathead in there and finished off, chrome moldings instead of a beltline, this car could be stunning that way.