It's week 8 of our Rear View Review, and for the last looker of this series, we're doing something totally different by showing off a car we haven't completed yet. This is Nick Ford's '66 Ford Mustang (no relation). Nick is a high level team member of an Indy Car Racing team and wanted us to re-create a classic Mustang with a modern, pro-touring theme.

To that end, we've added steel wheel flares on all 4 corners, tucked the rear bumper, hand crafted a rear decklid spoiler, lower rear valence and made one-off tail lights. We also hand fabb'd an aluminum front bumper and chin spoiler, added mini-tubs and a custom rear floor, widened and deepened the side quarter vents and created a custom engine bay.

Although we've done a lot, there's still a lot left to do to get this pony ready for the races. But for now, the project is on hold because, well, Indy Car Racing won't wait. Hopefully, we'll get the green light to get back on her soon.

In week 7 or RVR, we're taking a look at Steve Leon's '37 Chevy Business Coupe. This was one of our most challenging and favorite projects because it looks deceptively stock but is actually heavily modified. In a way, we modified it so much to keep it looking like we hardly did anything at all. We'll explain.

At a glance, the body lines on this '37 look like Chevy designed them more than 80 year ago. That's because Steve wanted his '37 to retain its classic lines. But it had to ride, drive and "run" new. Comfort and control were important too, but again, the look had to be preserved. To address the ride & run, we used an RS REVO chassis and set it up for a 400+ bhp LS3 with a 4L75E transmission. For control, we used AFCO double adjustable shocks, 12" Wilwood brakes and 18", true-wire wheels from Dayton. The wheels are a critical element in combining the classic and control Steve wanted.

As for comfort, there's Vintage Air A/C, updated wiring and electronics and an interior trimmed out in sued, leather and brown, square weave carpeting, courtesy of Brian Bhode. One especially interesting interior feature, and a glimpse into modifying things to look stock, is the original heater box, which has been restored to look like it came form the factory but now hides the radio.

This same subtle-mod approach continues outside, where we used '39 Chevy bumpers tucked in tightly to the body, shaved multiple items (we're not telling, see if you know what they are) and gapped all body seams for consistency. The cinnamon paint was sprayed by Jason Graham.

Sometimes, people ask us if it bothers us to have done so much to show so little. Our answer is, not a bit, because that was our intention all along. Plus, we wouldn't say people don't notice Steve's '37 since it was considered for Street Machine of The Year.



See more pictures of Steve's '37 here.

It's week 6 of our Rearview Review, and this time around, we're taking a look at a car we didn't even want to build. This is Vic Buraglio's '69 Dodge Charger, and it is one of the most talked about and polarizing cars we've ever created. It's also one of our favorites. But it didn't start out that way. In fact, we almost passed on taking it on at all, at least in the form it was originally presented to us.

Initially, Vic wanted us to build another car that captured his youth. Much like his 63.5 Galaxie, Vic wanted us to create an updated version of a car that meant a lot to him and his wife when they were a young couple. The only problem we saw in this case, was the car itself. Simply said, '68 -'70 Chargers are ugly, or at least, they have a major design flaw and we wouldn't take the car on unless we could address that design flaw. Fortunately, Vic agreed to let us do our thing. Turns out that "doing our thing" created a lightning rod of controversy and debate that's still going on.

So what's the critical design flaw that we "fixed" that sparks such controversy? Ironically, it's what most every MOPAR enthusiast and Charger lover fixates on: the swooping convergence of fender and quarter panel on each front edge of the driver and passenger doors. Punctuating this questionable design, is fake vents that do nothing but draw your eye to that intersection; they neither feed nor extract air, they are simply part of a trail on a road to nowhere. Our job was to give that road direction and a destination.

We started by losing the intersection and dumping the vents along with them. We created new door skins that bring the fenders and quarters together smoothly and seamlessly, then we got to work carrying that smoothness throughout the rest of the car in subtle, almost imperceptible, but significant ways. We enhanced symmetry and proportion by stretching the wheelbase and pushing the tires out to the corners to eliminate the large factory overhangs. We tucked handmade bumpers, tightly into the body, removed signal and side marker lights and created new front and rear lower valences, all in an effort to streamline the car's profile and overall look. We created a custom fabbed hood, devoid of fake scoops and capped it with a custom made one that pays homage to some of the famed MOPAR Super Stocker scoops, but that is uniquely its own. We also lower the rockers to eliminate the unsightly factory pinch weld. Then we set it all down over a custom chassis and one-off custom wheels and nestled a beautiful and powerful Gen3 HEMI between the fenders.

In the end, we managed to create exactly the car that Vic wanted with exactly the look and execution that we expected from ourselves. We also created a car that was a Top 5 finalist for the 2018 Street Machine of the Year Award. And in the process, we created a lot of angry MOPAR fans.

Wanna see more? You can check out more detailed pics of Vic's Charger here.