There are all kinds of sheetmetal out there that make for outstanding examples to start with when building yourself a custom. Of course, there are all of the traditional pieces of iron such as Mercs, Chevys, T-birds, and the like, but let’s take a look at something different this month and see if we can’t arouse some curiosity and have a hot rodder out there give it a go.
This month’s exercise starts out in larger-than-life fashion with a 1955 Packard 400 two-door hardtop. Since the first top chop, it’s the body mod that makes a custom. Yes, it is cool to have a load underhood but it’s the body, followed by the interior that sets the tone for a custom—the make-it or break-it effort is all about bodywork, paint, and upholstery.
Grille Starting with our ’55 Packard, how about we slip a ’54 Corvette grille between the headlights? Can’t go wrong with those nice, big, shiny teeth.
Body Mods Now we are into the “good stuff” with rolled lips around the top of the wheel arches and bumpers with the rear fenders. The side exhaust is molded into the side body panel, while more metalwork is needed to French the headlights and taillights. The body side is de-chromed with the exception of the front window trim, grille, front, and rear bumpers. Look closely and you will see recessed fins into rear fender to accentuate the complexity in the bodywork (lost art). It has approximately a 1-1/2-inch top chop that slants rearward to give the impression that the car is moving forward; moving while standing still. The front glass is arched forward to give the interior a sense of more space. The hood and rear fenders are peaked, while the front hood ornament is recessed along with recessed rear antennas (a lá lowrider style).
Paint
After all that sheetmetal mastery is massaged into an ultra-smooth metal finish it’s time to cover our handiwork with a deep candy root beer over a silver base. But it’s now time to metalflake the top with 1/500-inch square silver metalflake (ultra mini), while the side scallops are mixed with 1/500-inch square gold metalflake outlined in black.
Interior
The time has come to address the interior, again a key commitment to any custom. Here a simple two-tone tuck ’n’ roll while in leather is done in a paint-matching root beer brown with pearl white by the sewing machine of Michael Maestas.
Engine
In this day and age customs are more about body mods; the chassis and powertrain are given close attention as well. For our Packard, how about a Chevy’s two-mode 6.0L hybrid engine? We thought it would be very interesting to have a period custom that looks very old school on the outside, but uses new technology to make the ride smooth and efficient.
The hybrid two-mode engine combines the latest in Electrically Variable Transmission (EVT), and a 6.0L V-8 engine, Active Fuel Management (inbreed GM’s cylinder deactivation, and an Energy Storage System.) The EVT is an assemblage of two 60kW electric motors.
Brakes
Hey, we are old school and a custom to boot so how about Buick finned brake covers over the disc brake package? It gives us a vintage custom look with modern stopping power. We drive today’s customs. The traditional look of drum brakes with Wilwood 10-3/4-inch vented rotors are outfitted with four pistons per caliper.
Suspension
For the suspension we will lean heavily on RideTech for their latest in air suspension systems with automatic levelers and electronic controls.
Wheels
The latest from Borrani wire wheels giving a period-’60s Ferrari look wrapped radial (again, a concession to today’s highways and high speeds) with wide whites from Coker.
Frame
We can achieve everything we want with a stock frame that has undergone a freshening and modifications to accept our modern day mods.
So what we have is something not so mainstream in our ’55 Packard 400, but once carefully modified the end result is a very cool and individual custom for today’s custom car aficionado.