Thursday, December 10, 2009

WHAT WOULD YVONNE DE CARLO DO?


Long before I start a build, I think about what I really wanna to get out of it and why I'm doing it in the first place. So...why a Tall T?  Well, one of the practical reasons is that I'm tall (6'5"). But let's forego the intellectual alibis. This isn't about being logical. This is about trying to emulate something I love -Mercury Charlie's old T--but doing it a different enough so that it isn't just rip-off of his concept. I starting asking myself why my vision for the Hot Rod Shift Knob Tall T always begins and ends with Mercury Charlie's old T. I think that answer lies in the fact that it dared to be different. Really different.
It didn't look like anyone else's T in its day, or even now. Maybe it was the flat black paint with the wild-ass purple Von Franco tribal flames. Maybe it was the lavendar and white interior or the pearl white engine and frame. At the end of the day, it was just different. Which got me thinking about the Munster's car, which I've loved since I was a gawky kid in Glendale, California. It was so different. The fact that my T is definitely not going to be chopped has made me realize that what I want to build is also influenced by The Munster's. But not just the show. But that period in time, as well. So I've decided the T's name is going to be named Lily, named after Yvonne De Carlos's character in the Munster's. I'm going to start screening my ideas through a "Lily Munster filter". An odd thought? Perhaps. But a sure-fire way to build a car that has a unique POV. And perhaps some inherently feminine colors.
So from now on, this car will be built thinking about that oddly sexy, goth goddess. Would Lily pick Dark purple suede paint? I believe that she would. A Crushed velvet headliner? Absolutely.
Perhaps some pearl vinyl? Why not? Suddenly it's all beginning to make sense in a very strange way.

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