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Hey ya'll. Thanks for adding me to the forum. Taking a bit of a leap of faith by bringing up the dreaded "kustom" word, but I'll give some back story. I grew up in Northern California going to shows with my pops and always liked the kustom crowd. I remember as a youngster seeing a '51 Merc with a DeSoto grill for the first time and telling my dad, "I want one of those". His response was something along the lines of "Sure kid, you've got champagne taste on a beer budget". Being that young I didn't know the grill wasn't original to the car. Fast forward many years and many cars later I came across a 1951 DeSoto Custom that needed a home. Guys usually rob the grills and bumpers and leave them to rot so I decided to give it the full custom treatment it deserved. Inspired by the Barris & Ayala's of Southern California I wanted to do something traditional that gave the '51 a facelift while still being true to its roots. Not slammed. No bags. No SBC. No tricks, just the good stuff. Here are some photos as it stands today and a list of the custom bits. Shaved and molded all around 4.5" chop Reshaped rear wheel openings Headlights extended 1" & frenched stock rings 1956 DeSoto 330 hemi w/ dual quds 1953 DeSoto Grill (STILL LOOKING FOR THE 2 OUTER MOST TEETH & WILLING TO BUY) 1956 DeSoto dash 1955 DeSoto wheel covers 1951 Packard spear trim 1956 Hudson tail lights Overrider using 1951 DeSoto bumper guards and 1951 Mercury center bar Ford shoebox rear window Will be painted 1951 factory solid midnight blue Will post more as things happen. I might be hounding ya'll for some parts!

That's why I thought it wasn't the same car. I think myself and everyone else answering envisioned something entirely factory.

to the man stuck behind you....a most disgusting car to be following behind and a nuisance to society at large...

I agree, pull the head, new gasket, valve job, even cut the head. Thats what i did to my 49, I have two cylinders in the 50-60 range. Drive it everywhere even it took it Detroit twice. if that works you can even pull the head, pan put in new rod bearings and rings. Whats a little smoke

I like the tail light job particularly. Edit: not so big a fan of the amount of roof chop without a whole lot of other stuff to balance that but I still think it's fantastic work.

HMM, After rebuilding my 47 I took it to a shop that only works on old or high performance cars. He four wheel aligned, reset everything. When you say it wont re center could there be a little binding? Believe it or not, one thing he did notice and we changed was the relation of the angles of the tie rod ends to the spindles and other connections points. His reasoning was that the car under load, turning bumps parts are moving around. What its worth department.

Progress!

While you are in there, check valve seat seal0ability. Lap the valves. No change in compression numbers when oil is used, leads me to valve seats.

I think I would pull the head and inspect the headgasket, it's probably blown between 2 and 3 cylinder and is a relatively easy and cheap fix.

Just received the hood bumpers from Roberts Motor Parts. As I thought, the originals were larger diameter in the stem, or at least the holes they fit into are larger in diameter than the new replacement parts. But, no worries. Just install them with a stainless washer on the back side. The same works for the glove box bumpers received.....too small in the stem but a small washer on the back does the trick.

Finally had a few days where the weather was right and I was around to paint my bed wood. Used Gloss Por-15 and top coated it with Rustoleum gloss black to provide UV protection. I am happy with the result and feel the wood will be protected for many years. This picture is before they have been bolted in completely but hopefully that will happen soon.

The worst part on the panel truck are the back doors . I dont know what he was as thinking. I will be attempting to fix this .