MORE FLOOR AND FIREWALL FABRICATION

New lower firewall.

Pedal placement, toeboard,floors

It's starting to come together.

AN EXTERIOR COLOR STUDY

All I can say is "Yes". This is that color I'm seeing in my head. A light Turquoise with a silvery sheen. Oh man, is this right in the wheelhouse that I where I want "Abalonia" to be. 

In fact, as I look at how well the silver spoke wheels look, I'm tempted to paint the frame and perhaps even the engine and firewall in a silvery gray color. Just had to share this one. Wow. Nice. Jealous. Inspired. 

While I'm on this silver frame and firewall tangent, I'll go one step further. Instead of pearl white for the interior, how about silver vinyl. I think it would be both subtler and more unusual and would still lend itself well to using pearl drum kit material judiciously, perhaps as gauge surround material and on the center console and or door panels. 

And just to go one step further, it seems like a darker charcoal color would be a nice accent color for things like the engine block and side pipes and wishbones, Brake drums, front axle, grill, etc. 

TAIL LIGHTS

While researching tail light treatments for my roadster I came across an intersting option on the HAMB. The gentleman with this roadster put 1961 Chevy Impala tail light lenses within 50 Mercury

bezels. I've got to say I like it a lot. The 50 Mercury part is very traditional while the dagmar-like shape of the tail lights are really different. 

Bravo. 

I think I may have found my tail light treatment. The HAMB rules. 

CENTER CONSOLE AND DASH THOUGHTS

After looking at examples of roadster dashboards that transition into center consoles, I realize that I don't want my dash and center console to be one piece. What I want I is for the dash and the center console to complement each other but not connect.  I want to make the center console look like an early sixties factory 4-speed floor console. I've included a few shots for reference. Like the center console below n El Tiki, built by Tom Culbertson, I want the console to be functional, and to integrate the ignition and light switches. I also like how the center console sweeps up into the roadster's package tray, which creates two separate seats and would even allow a center rear speaker grill to be integrated. I guess the best description I can give is that I want the interior to look like a sixties factory concept car.

Note the low profile seats, and the wraparound backrests.

Dig the light switch, the ignition switch and a period correct ashtray 

Something along the line of this 1963 Mercury dash would be great. 

This is a pefect example of what I don't want. Too futuristic and frue-frue. Don't like the overly rounded sweep of it.
. 

Even theough I won't have side sills as this interior does, I like the way the console sweeps up and creates a pocket for the seats to fit in. 

The onlt thing this console doesn't do is integrate the shifter, which is what I want mine to do. Other than that, this one is completely badass. NArrow and tasteful. It looks like a factory early sixties deal. 

An erly sixties Nova piece.

This Olds Cutlass consloe looks pretty damn sweet. 

This gives and idea of how the console could have a kick-up and integrate a vintage tach. 

A DASH PLAN

I occasionally peak at E-Bay Motors and look at model A's for sale. It's a great place to find inspiration. Today I came across just that. A novel dashboard treatment that strikes me as worthy of emulating. Using a 1955-59 Chevrolet truck instrument cluster centered on a modified dash. What I really like about this set-up is that all of the gauges-- except for a tach-- are contained in the single, centered gauge pod. I think a similar setup would perfectly complement the custom steering wheel I'm planning on using. The gauge is the right period, it looks cool, and it would give my interior a look that suggests it could have been built in the late fifties to early sixties, which is dead on the period I'm shooting for.

This 1963 Chevrolet Biscayne steering wheel was modified by HAMBer Adam Yelton, then thoroughly restored by yours truly. All told, I own three customized Adam Yelton wheels, each one restored to perfect condition.
This one is slotted for my roadster and will technically be run upside down from its stock configuration in the orientation that it appears here.  

Being that my steering wheel is going to be modified early sixties Impala wheel shown above, and my engine and trans are going to be sixties vintage, it begins to establish a theme that can inform other interior choices. For instance, I could use a 1955 Chevy AM radio I've had lying around for years and perhaps even use reproduction 1955-1959 headlight switches, ignition switch, etc. Hell, we could even incorporate the 55-style speaker grill in the same shape as the instrument cluster and form a waterfall off of the rear package tray that sweeps down into a narrow center console and then extends all the way forward to in the conerter console, incorporating the four-speed shifter along the way. Who knows, we could even consider seats and door panels inspired by the 1955-57 Bel Airs. So that's my inspiration for the day. HERE'S A LISTING FOR THE PART.