Design Phase: Cuda

[go-fish]

Here is what we are working with as far as aesthetics. Included are a few chops that I like for paint schemes and wheel center colors for the 3 pc. Lites. I haven't had the opportunity to look up other colors for the wheel centers but there were several at the Schott booth that I liked. Also, at this early point I am rethinking the brushed lip because nothing else is going to be brushed on the car. Maybe a stainless or titanium colored lip and darker center?

The silver color with the red strobe stripe is a favorite right now. I know I had told you about the Hotrod Black and red stripe but I would like a more durable paint. Then again, I don't know the particulars on Hotrod Black and it's resilience to UV rays, moisture, and general scuffs and scratches.

We're basically looking at the flat black car and silver car, both with red stripes and flat black hoods ("organisol" as per OEM AAR Cuda hood and fender treatment is a very rough matte finish, not as satin-y as HRB). These other chops are just for fun. I really dig the Hotrod Black with lime green stripe and race gold centers on the Lites but I don't have the balls to pull that off.

I'll stop typing here and try to accomplish the point of this thread, let you see my vision and gain your input. If I find the center colors and possibly a lip color (given we divert from the brushed lip) I'll go ahead and post that when I find them.

Now






HRB




Silver (I am leaning toward this)





Imagine this with a race gold centered 3 pc. Lite!





This is the paint mask kit that I had custom made. There was no way I was going to do a vinyl stripe.

[TonyL]

Im a fan of the silver and black with red too. Looks killer.

/Kinda like Larry's car.

[Daren]

I'm really really digging that old Army green with the star in the window. It's different. Dare I say Flying Tigers style WWII P-40 shark's teeth on it? If I had to choose from the concept art you listed then the black one gets my vote. Still that Army green muscle machine build is where it's at though....

[67 ls1 vert]

Hey Johnny... check your PM's.

[go-fish]

Yeah. I went ahead and threw money down on the back two 3 pc. Lites at the Del Mar GG show. Jon and I were talking about options. We both agreed that it needed all black Lites if it were going to be HRB. However, if I wanted to go with silver a brushed lip would be nicer. Building the wheel and doing it all black will make it very hard to redo it if I changed my mind on the ext. color. It would be much easier to powder coat black over a brushed lip though.

Now that you say that about MotiV8er it makes me like the black more. I've got a good buddy from down South that has a 69 Z-28 and always gave me hell about how Plymouth copied the 69 Camaro in 70-74.

[go-fish]

I'm really really digging that old Army green with the star in the window. It's different. Dare I say Flying Tigers style WWII P-40 shark's teeth on it? If I had to choose from the concept art you listed then the black one gets my vote. Still that Army green muscle machine build is where it's at though....

At one point I had drawn up a torpedo with a barracuda fish head. It would have been really cool "Bomber Art". I was hanging out with a bunch of geezer Rat Rod guys that were egging me on to to some really wacky things to it like a grenade shifter handle and yellow stencils in the WWII aircraft style (i.e. "warning", "exhaust", "escape latch").

I've decided to turn it back into a car.LOL.

[Daren]

Have a boat load of fun on your build no matter what you choose for aesthetics! Those geezers where on to something IMO. Few few minuets in paint.net produced this image:

[go-fish]

I use Geezer as the highest term of endearment. I dig the look myself as well but it was always an interim look. I would like the end product to be something different.

[Flash68]

Man that top HRB render looks bad ass man... love it. I agree - the silver one instantly made me think of Motiv8r.

The teeth on the green one looks like the A10 Warthog models I remember in my teens... killer.

[Daren]

Digging the top render myself but makes me question the feasibility of those white letter sidewalls on that low profile tire. Custom vulcanized and expensive I'd imagine. Without that white lettering the top rendering looses the "nascar" vibe about it and becomes kinda whatever.

[go-fish]

Damn MotiV8er! LOL.

Another thing to keep in mind on the HRB one, the flat black hood and duck tail rear spoiler on the original AAR's was Organisol which was super flat so there would be a contrast between the two blacks. The satin feel of HRB and the heavy matte of the Organisol.
I was thinking Viper Red for the stripe.

[droptop73]

I really like the green stripe version it has an old school Trans Am vibe (the racing series not the car).

[wellis77]

Silver, red stripe, red interior!

[DriverzInc]

I like this one the most:

If you did this, Man, I would love to see a gold centered LITE with a matte black outer on this car.

And this one second:

In this one, I all matte black LITE would work, but still wanna talk you into a matte black center, gloss black outer.

[Bryce]

The gold minilites look sooo good in person. You have to put them on your car.

[go-fish]

Good things to consider and I feel like just talking about it with other folks helps me really figure out what I am going for. I think the Silver job is falling from favor. I feel that is a great look and it would be very eye catching, probably the most of all the choices I posted above, to people not in our little Pro-Touring bubble but it would need a level of execution that I can't afford right now.
As I was explaining the car to Jon at the Driverz booth at Del Mar he came out and said, "It sounds very "Street Fighter"", and that is exactly the vibe I have been working for as far as mechanicals go. The car, to me, is a "Street Fighter" and will be. That beautiful Silver with Red strobe stripe is anything but. It's too beautiful to be called that and would deserve a level of attention to detail and ornate odds, ends and doo dads. Another thingto consider is wheel choice. I'm going with the New Gen Lite in 3 pc.and the Silver/Red needs a different wheel IMO, like Boze Velocity.

I have a deep liking for the heritage Jon has injected into the Lite wheels. The was always going to be an AAR 'Cuda tribute. I want to pay respects to the Trans-Am series of the late 60's and early 70's. I've always wanted to build my version of an AAR "Cuda ever since I was a little boy when I was standing right by the exhaust of the Dan Gurney #48 AAR factory car. I then got to sit in the #77 Challenger T/A at the Coronado Speed Festival a few years ago which further solidified the fact that I was going to build a Street Fighter AAR, my way.

[go-fish]

Parts showed up today!!!

Thanks Ron at www.Hoodpins.net and Gary Tooker of www.topflitegraphics.com

[go-fish]

Black chrome lip?

[go-fish]

Possible wheel center choices...

[MrQuick]

HRB all the way