Gil Rodger’s 1949 Chevy Kustom coupe

With everyone going for the “oldskool” look these days, has anyone ever stopped to wonder if we’re doing it right? Did people really flock to paint stores like Rondex to pick up cans of high-class flat black paint, or get expensive undercoatings to layer beneath the John Deere muffler paint? Did our predecessors really chase after flatheads and Y-blocks, and shove fake Oldsmobile Rocket valve covers onto anything with eight cylinders just to achieve a certain look?

Now, don’t get me wrong-I’m a big fan of the style that seems to become more and more prominent at our cruise nights and car shows every weekend. It’s a welcome sigh of relief for people who don’t have the cash to achieve the Boyd Coddington look, and an even greater relief for “dirty hands” journalists looking for next month’s feature article. All I’m saying is that maybe, just maybe, what we need is a benchmark from which to base our perceptions of true old school, and the new (and often improved) old school. And maybe, just maybe, that benchmark is Gil Rodger’s 1949 Chevy Kustom Coupe.

Hi!

When Gil pointed out his car’s finer details at Brandon, Manitoba’s first cruise night of 2009, he followed most everything up with “and that’s how we used to do it.” Everything from the swapped out grill to the paint job, everything was done just “how we used to do it.”

The old way of working starts out with the grill, pulled straight off of a 1955 Desoto and welded flawlessly into the GM sheetmetal. The entire toothy opening is frenched by hand, the old fahioned way. So are the headlights, just enough to make the headlamps stand out. Between them sits a hood which may or may not have been sectioned, but it definitely had the corners rounded.

If you don’t know what that means, you’re not alone. ”Rounding the Corner” essentially means rounding off the sharp corners at the front of the hood to create a seam that flows with the rest of the vehicle. It’s a tiny feature, but one that Gil is quite proud of. ”No one does it anymore,” he said, running his finger along the carefully hand-formed curve, “but we used to.”

Under that hood sits the numbers-matching “Blue Flame” 235 cubic inch inline six, mated to the original two-speed automatic transmission. It might not seem like much of a powerplant by today’s show car standards, but it was General Motor’s flagship engine until the small block Chevy was unleashed upon the world a year later.

Just like the old guys, Gil did all the work himself, except for the all-new interior, stitched up in red and white leather. Note here that the dashboard is painted a gorgeous tone of dark red, hardly found on the rest of the car. Granted, this goes against most concepts of art and colour theory-you know, make a palette and stick with it, etc, etc, etc.-but somehow Gil makes it all work, thanks in part to a new set of Dolphin-brand guages and just the right amount of chrome accents.

Now, there’s lots to be said for getting kits and pre-stamped cutouts for things, but they didn’t have those luxuries back in the day. Decals were done by your pinstriper buddy with years of experience under his belt, and frenched tail lights were made with scrap metal, molten lead, and lots of swearing. On this car, Gil went for the old-fashioned approach, painstakingly building a pair of tail light housings that would make George Barris proud.

One thing that should be noted here is the lack of black paint, Mooneyes stickers, random rusty things hanging off the car, and metalflake. The whole thing is simple, smooth, and carefully handcrafted by a talented fabricator who took his time (5 years) to do it right. Because according to Gil, “that’s how we used to do it.”

Like what you see? Check out our Facebook page. to experience SundayCruiseFever.com in a whole new way. Meet other gearheads, share your own photos, and find out about cool offers before everyone else. Or if you’re feeling lucky, punk, follow us at Twitter.com/cruisefever. to find out where we’re shooting next. You can meet our crack team of photographers, check out a great car show with us, and pick up a copy of our new book, “Class of 2009″ before they’re all gone!

Share This!