Keith Koutcher is a Santa Monica-based automotive designer and builder. The following is his story on how he built his dream car, a !954 Crown Victoria, that he calls his “ Vicky Project”.
As a photographer, I always look for people like Keith and to photograph their custom cars. They set a high standard and I always try to show my work is as good as their work.And by sharing all my photos with the builders I often hear “ I did not know how beautiful my car was until I saw your photos” Then I know I did a good job. Keith says:
In this issue, I got back to my roots of traditional custom car restyling. This readers is my design preference, and this time it’s personal, as this issue’s little ditty is my own’54 Vicky project car. I’ve always liked the ’52-’54 Fords, but I really love the Mercs. If you really look at a Shoe box Ford or Merc of this vintage you’ll notice that the Fords look pudgier, that’s because the Merc’s longer in wheelbase and more specifically in the rear quarters, by as much as 4-8 inches depending on which two years you compare.
So when I started laying lines on paper I lengthened the rear quarters roughly 5 inches. I then used a shortened’52 Merc front lower bumper as a roll pan to give the car the Merc look as a starting point. With that completed, I chopped 3 inches at the A-pillar and 6 inches at the C pillar and replaced the rear glass with one from a Volvo P1800 thus reducing the greenhouse and instilling fastback posture to the new roofline.
The front grille bar is a smoothed ’54 Chevy, the headlights are frenched with
Merc headlight rims and bezels. I kept the stock Ford side trim and added Merc side spears on the rear fender bulges, the V8 emblems were lifted from a ’38 Ford
The exhaust exits through modified ’58-’60 Corvette trumpet/ bumpers grafted on to ’63-’67 Corvette bumperettes turned upside down leaning next to the frenched license plate in James Dean like fashion. The stock rear bumper became the center section of the rear roll pan.
The dash was restyled by mounting a ’57 T-bird instrument pod in favor of the stock ’54 unit. Refaced Autometer gauges and replaced the stock Ford instruments.
The seats were replaced with a set of early sixties T-Birds and then stitched in traditional tuck and roll, that lines the headliner and door inserts.
Propulsion comes via a 390 FE topped by a factory Tri-power backed by a Toploader 4 speed and a Nine inch rear end.
* To see more of Kaucher’s designs be sure to check out his website at http://www.kaucherkustoms.com/
As Keith worked out the mechanical details of the chassis and drive train, he linked up with the crew of dedicated traditional custom builders at Starlite Rod & Kustom in Torrance, California. The first step in the radical transformation was swapping the Ford front sheet metal with a Mercury front clip (a swap that required stretching the chassis 3 inches) and continued with Jack Fields, stirred up a batch of DuPont Purple Rhapsody began laying on multiple coats of the rich hue.
Once the paint was perfected, multiple pieces of chrome trim were bolted into place. There was so much chrome on the car that needed to be done it took the services of four shops! The final exterior touch is a set of chrome reversed wheels and wide white rollers on original Ford centers complementing audio equipment from Alpine, Custom Auto Sound and Pioneer. All the best creature components were installed from air conditioning by Old Air Products to a Ford instrument cluster molded into the dash and fitted with Auto Meter gauges reworked in a retro style by Redline Gauges.
Even the chassis got the custom treatment when it was stretched 3 inches to compensate for the longer Mercury front sheet metal. The lengthened chassis was reworked up front with the
addition of a set of Fatman Fabrications 3-inch dropped spindles mated to a pair of Granada 11- inch disc brakes.
The rack-and-pinion steering came from an Chevy Cavalier and mounts via a Fatman Fabrications kit. Firestone airbags adjust the ride height on all four corners. Moving to the rear
Cars in July 2006 as well as a Rod Custom Top 10 award and a Eagle One Excellent Choice award at the Goodguys West Coast Nationals in August 2006.
The car also spent the week on display at SEMA is not bad for a car that started as just a concept drawing! With national coverage, top-notch workmanship, and a carefully executed plan this purple smoothie is a show winner from coast to coast. Few cars get taken to this level and fewer still come out this well! With over-the-top customs bringing monster prices lately you’re looking at one of the best investments available!
