Favorites Series
Over the Timeframe of a Period of ten years, One Skilled Car Painter Was Responsible for Custom-Painted Fifties Favorites
During the 1950’s, one talented painter of automobiles revolutionized the art by painting new vehicles with pinstripes and other designs that had not been seen previously. That man, a West Coast “striper” of renown named Tom Kelly, became famous for his work on six cars, now known as custom-painted fifties favorites.
Those six cars were not limited to one auto producer or even one year, as they ranged from Oldsmobile to Ford to Dodge and Chevrolet and, for the most part, were distributed from 1950 to 1957 vehicles.
Possibly the automobile among the six with the most interesting history was the 1950 Oldsmobile 88. The car had many desirable attributes in addition to the stately paint job Kelly gave it. The 1950 Oldsmobile 88 could accelerate from 0 to 60 in 12.2 seconds, won the Carrera-Pan American-Mexico road race from the Texas border to Guatemala, and was graced with a design where the hood dipped toward the front fenders. Night and day, the winning American team maintained a speed of 78.4 mph during the entire 2,178 mile race.
The prize two Portland, Oregon drivers earned for winning the Carrera-Pan Ameican-Mexico road race in 1950 was slightly more than $17,000.
Another interesting vehicle among the six custom-painted fifties favorites was the 1957 Chrysler Desoto Adventurer. The standard model included a 345 horsepower, 8-cylinder engine, and was geared by a three-speed automatic transmission. Push buttons placed well left of the instrument panel activated the transmission.
Designed with a longer body, more chrome, higher fins, and sitting lower to the road than its predecessors, the 1957 Chrysler Desoto Adventurer had a distinctive aerodynamic look about it.
The 1955 Dodge Royal Lancer, 1951 Ford Crestliner, 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air, and 1953 Ford Crestliner Victoria rounded out the six vehicles most known for the painting of Tom Kelly.
Although smaller than most Die-Cast Replicas, these custom-painted fifties favorites are available at here at Hot Wheel Games. These Die-Cast Replica cars can be bought as one package or separately. Anyone wishing to buy one or more of these Die-Cast Replicas will find them constructed at 1:64 scale, be about 3.5” in length, and include authentic paint schemes, detailed emblems and interiors, and be equipped with rubber whitewall tires.
“My Favorites” Series: Primers and Concealers
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This entry was posted on Sunday, February 5th, 2012 at 2:01 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.