Bronco Colors?

As soon as I got the coupe back to Denver, I started to talk to body shops and painters. I spoke to John May, one of the best, if not the best, street rod painters in the Denver area. I told him the car was to not going to be shown. I did not want a perfect paint job, or even perfect body work under the paint. I was looking for a car that I could drive to work and park in the mall, one that a friend calls a 50-50 car - it looks good at 50 yards or 50 miles per hour. I didn't want to worry about road scars. John seemed to get excited as I described the car. He said that the body and paint work would take ten to twelve months. I thought "John, you're not listening." When he mentioned a ten thousand dollar price tag, I said "You are really not listening to me, John.

I heard that a local collector with twenty or more cars had all of his cars painted at a Maaco shop in Aurora. I spoke to them and they estimated $1,700.00. Some body work and painting inside the trunk was added. The final cost was just over two thousand dollars, a cool eight thousand less than the next lowest estimate.

Minor modifications were made to the body. The lower chrome spear on the side of the hood was removed, along with the "cat whiskers" and Ford Deluxe logo above the grille. As mentioned before, 124 louvers were punched in the hood. The holes for the extremely ugly '39 trunk handle were filled and the Ford emblem between the handle and licence plate bracket was removed. A '40 Ford trunk handle / licence plate light from Bob Drake was used. This handle is still no masterpiece, but it's way better than the earlier piece. Bob Drake reproduction '40 Ford bumpers were used front and rear. The rear bumper has a Ford script cutout which acts as a third brake light. Wescott front and rear fiberglass fenders were used due to the poor condition of the original steel fenders.

From the day I got the Dartmouth Green stocker, I envisioned the future hot rod as black with flames fading from orange to yellow. When I looked at the color samples at Maaco, I fell in love with a 1996-7 Saturn color called purple poly or purple metallic depending on the year. Suzanne pointed out that if I didn't get the flames painted right away, I would probably be happier with purple than black. I didn't and I am. When we picked up the car, Suzanne looked at me and said "I've only seen that look on your face once before."

I had 15" station wagon wheels on the front and Corvette AG wheels on the back. They were painted Chevrolet engine orange. This color combination led some folks in the area to believe I had painted the car in Denver Bronco colors. But it's purple and orange, not blue and orange. Besides, I'm a Giants fan.