Yaril Quintana's 1950 Ford
1950 Ford Convertible owned and restyled by Yaril Quintana of Yaril's Customs in Hialeah, Florida. Also known as "Miss Loved", Yaril based his convertible build on a beaten up two-door sedan that he bought in 2009. The build was started in July 2010, and Yaril's intentions were to build a car he could enjoy for a while and then sell off to get some money to build up his shop. He began it all by lifting the body off the frame. The floors in the car was in a bad condition, so Yaril cut them all out so he could start fresh instead. The frame was already notched in the rear by the previous owner when Yaril got the car. After tearing out the floors he decided to channel the body over the frame as well. As he didn't want to loose too much cabin space, the firewall was kept stock while the trunk body mounts were raised about 3 or 4 inches. A Chevrolet S-10 rear end was hung in the notched frame. As the S-10 rear end is about 2" shorter than the stock axle, Yaril decided to use 1" spacers with the axle. A K-member was fabricated to add strength to the chassis after the roof came off. A 283 small block Chevy engine out of a 1961 Chevrolet Nomad was installed in the car. The engine had supposedly 84 000 original miles to it and was hooked to a rebuilt 700R4 transmission from a Corvette. Both the engine and transmission were painted in the same Maroon color that Yaril had planned to use on the exterior of the car.[1]
When it comes to body modifications, Yaril wanted to use the taillights he shaved of his 1951 Buick, so the taillight-housings were modified to accept these lenses. After frenching in the taillights, Yaril shaved the deck lid and molded the rear splash pan to the body. The factory fender seams on the top of the fenders were removed and molded in for a cleaner appearance, and the gas door on the fender was filled in. Yaril kept the stock rear bumper, but he shaved it for bolts and welded up the holes before he sent it off to the chrome shop. A 1953 Kaiser rear bumperguard was modified to fit the the shaved rear bumper. The bullets on the bumper guard were welded to the top bar and the tips were cut out so the exhaust could exit through the bullets. August 14, 2010, after restyling the rear end and fabricating a new floor for the car, Yaril cut the roof off the old Shoebox. After the top came off, Yaril whacked 4" out of the A-pillars. During the chop the wipers and washer holes were filled. The rear package tray was cut out and moved forward 7 inches, and a couple of 1949 Ford convertible doors were purchased for the car. The convertible doors had a downward dip that prevented them from closing, so Yaril had to dolly the bottoms up to make them fit. While he was at it working on the doors, he shaved the door handles, filled in the key holes and rounded the bottom corners as well.[1]
Up front, the fenders were welded to the body, and the front splash pan was welded to the fenders. The headlights were frenched by welding the stock stainless headlight rims to the fenders. The headlight buckets were mounted from the inside of the fender by flipping the J-clips. A new grille opening was made out of 1-1/2" pipes. Using Don Carroll's 1949 Ford as reference, the pipes were bent to nicely follow the contours of the side fenders. In order to keep the top tube level with the floating 1951 Kaiser bars he planned to use, the hood had to be filled and extended downward towards the tube. The hood corners were rounded, and the stock front bumper was simplified by shaving the nuts and guards before sending it off to the chrome shop. A Gaylord inspired padded top was scratch-built from channels and 1/2" electrical conduit. The top was shaped with construction mesh in order to prevent the padding from sagging before it was sent away to the upholstery shop. Inside, the dashboard was shaved for radios and buttons, and painted in the same color as the rest of the car.[1]
After completing the new grille opening and the framework for the top, Yaril lifted the body off the frame for the last time so he could install the newly painted engine and transmission without scratching anything. November 4th, 2010, Yaril's friend Leo Vizcaino had primered the body so Yaril could start on the block sanding and final bodywork. By then, Yaril's short term goal was to get the car ready for a test drive to the Turkey Rod Run in Daytona about a month later....his overall goal was to take it to the Grand National Roadster Show in California 2 months later. The old whitewall tires were removed and replaced by a set of brand new Firestone 6.70-15 whitewall tires. The rims were sanded, epoxied and painted in the same color as Yaril had planned for the car. After about 4 months of hard work Yaril reached his short term goal, but as the car had only 2 miles logged on it he decided to trailer it to the Turkey Rod Run in Daytona. He drove it around Daytona all weekend without a hood and with the top covered in construction mesh. Driving it around Daytona he was able to tweak and adjust the car properly.[1]
Back from Daytona, Yaril took the car straight to his painter Leo's house. After countless coats of primer had been laid and blocked out, the final coat of yellow primer was laid on the car the 31st of December, 2010. A coat of black epoxy primer was used as final sealer before a few coats of the maroon base were sprayed onto the car. The color for the car was mixed based upon the maroon leather Yaril had chosen for the interior. A swab of the maroon leather was clear coated and scanned by the painter. By doing this a perfect match could be mixed for the car's paint. The base coats were followed by two coats of clear. These were sanded down and followed by two additional coats of clear. After sanding and cleaning these coats the last two coats were sprayed onto the car. These layers were wet sanded and buffed to perfection before final assembly could begin. As Yaril was planning a trip to California in less then a month, time was not on his side. The top and entire interior, minus the front seat ,needed to be done before he could hit the road. With good help from friends, the car was assembled in Yaril's backyard. From there it went straight to Rivero Upholstery for the final touch. At the upholstery shop they discovered that the material for the padded top was not bright white, but a bit tan. The correct material was ordered for overnight shipping on Thursday. As the credit card didn't go through the first time, the shipping was delayed one day, arriving on Saturday instead of Friday. The top was luckily done by Monday, and about 4 hours after it was finished Yaril hit the road with the newly completed car, heading for California and the Grand National Roadster Show. By that time Yaril had logged a total of 40 miles on the car. In order to make it in time for the show, Yaril and his co driver Leo took turns driving 200 mile intervals while the other napped. After 2,700 miles on the road, Yaril and Leo arrived in Ontario, California around 10 am Thursday. The travelers had just enough time to wash the car, grab a bite to eat and take a shower before they had to head for the show. While waiting in line to get in to the show, Yaril completed the build by installing a brand new set of 1948 - 1952 Cadillac Sombreros on the car. Miss Loved was displayed at the Suede Palace part of the show, and during the award ceremony on Saturday, Yaril won seven awards with his long distance tail dragging custom. After hanging around in California for about a week after the show, he hit the road again, and drove Miss Loved across the country to Florida. When he returned back home he had put 6,000 miles on the car since it was completed.[1]
Later on, in July 2011, Yaril tore the car apart again, sanding it down. His mission was to spot some areas that got "road wear" going back and forth to California, and make it ready for another road trip to Kansas and the KKOA Leadsled Spectacular. Needless to say, Yaril made it back and forth with his "cross country custom".[1]
In November 2011, Yaril advertised the car for sale on eBay. By then he had put 12,000 miles on it since it was completed in January 2011.[2]
In May of 2015 Yaril sold the Ford to Billy F. Gibbons of ZZ Top.[3]
Magazine Features
Kustoms Illustrated 31
Car Kulture Deluxe 53
Rod & Kulture 30
References
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