After a complete strip to bare metal, a brilliant red and whitefinish was applied by Peter Emhoff using top-notch Glasurit products.Careful not to detract from the beautiful topcoat, Hicks stuck with thefactory brightwork, save for the hood ornament and Fairlane emblemimmediately beneath.
On the inside, one can't help be wide-eyed by thesubtle, yet sensational, interior work, a co-effort between Bryden andJeff's Custom Upholstery in Longview, Washington. The heavily reviseddashboard now plays host to an array of Auto Meter gauges, a PanasonicCD player, and Vintage Air heating and air conditioning controls. Theseats are covered in supple white vinyl and '57 Ford red cloth. Theforward bench is a Glide Engineering unit with the back cut down 21/2inches, while the rear is a much-modified stocker couch.
In the summerof 2002, Hicks took the '57 back home to Iowa for a high school reunion.As you can imagine, the car was a big hit, and, no doubt, the freshestlooking face from the class of '57.
The trip went without a mechanicalhitch, though in-town driveability of the traditional four-barrelcarburetion left something to be desired. Likewise, the simplisticinduction just didn't have the visual pop that makes an otherwisestellar car awesome. Bryden suggested one possible solution that hit theproverbial nail on the head--electronic fuel injection with TWM throttlebodies, a setup where the aesthetics remind us of downdraft Webers. Nomatter the description, Hicks was drawn in by the exotic look, alongwith the promise of improved road manners. The latter was accomplishedby Auburn, Washington's Blood Enterprises through installation ofAccel's Gen 7 digital fuel-injection system and 26 lb/hr injectors.Proprietor Craig Blood worked his tuning magic through the wonders ofDFI's laptop programming, and we'd concur the system is everything arestomod enthusiast could ever want.
Rather than describe Hicks' '57 asthe car of his dreams, we think it's well beyond what he could havehoped for back in the days of his first Fairlane. After all, who couldhave fathomed the kind of power, flash, technology, and accoutermentsthat go hand-in-hand with today's best restomods? Great as ourautomotive past has been, the present is a terrific time to be a carguy.