A couple weeks ago I headed out to California for a "meeting of the minds" of sorts. Since the build of the car is moving so rapidly from concept to reality, we had to regroup and make sure we were all on the same page. Most importantly, we had to land on a direction of the metal-work details on the body such as trim, drip rails, the custom metal work on the rear, as well as window-mounting options. This proved to be one of the most important meetings yet; the RTR-X plan really evolved from concept to reality as a result.
Gary has been rockin' and rollin' on the chassis, working long hours and weekends to meet his deadline. His work is top-knotch and I am very happy to be working with someone as passionate as him on this project.
We also got to play with our Kinsler ITB setup, as well as the new 2011 Ford 5.0 engine!
While it might seem minor, one of the toughest decisions I had was deciding on what to do with the drip rails and the window trim. I really do not love the factory drip rails because they protrude so far off the body, and factory window trim just doesn't work with a build of this magnitude either. My initial plan was to cut the drip rail short and make trim out of carbon, tucking it closer to the body. However, that is not going to work out for many reasons. I do not like the fully-shaved look, as the trim creates lines that the car needs to maintain its classic look in my opinion.
After going over some references of trim and window mounting options with the team, it was decided that we would go with a bead-style drip rail that will be body color. It will accomplish both of my goals of getting rid of the protruding rail and factory trim, while keeping the important body line. Both the front and rear windows will be flush-mounted which should look sick.
Now that a decision was made on the trim and drip rails it was time to
decipher Andy's "artistic license" from the rendering to reality. To me
it is very important to do as much body work on the car as possible
with metal, rather then the easier option of fiberglass. Mark Delong, who is a metal wizard from San Diego, came up to meet with us and get a
plan in action.
Here we are discussing the rear of the car and the metal work required to get the look desired.
Here Mark is showing us what could be done with the fenders to match what Andy has done on the rendering. We are still up in the air if we will just implement the scoop from the rendering on the factory fenders, or if we will add some material to mimic Andy's "artistic license". STAY TUNED!
Kinsler sent us an ITB setup for mock-up. Seriously a work of art!!!
We set the Kinsler setup on our mock-up 2011 5.0 motor and took some
measurements to get an idea of what we were working with and see what
kind of issues we would run into, if any. Concept to reality!!! Well… we are getting there at least!
Last order of business was to go over some colors for the wheels and the body. Martin from Liquid Powder Coats in Pennsylvania sent some samples of powder coat for the wheels. I was not dead-set on matching the wheel centers to the body color, so I wanted to check out some dark green metallics as an option.
Here are the colors we landed on. The bright green will be the color of the wheel lips and the pin stripes. The dark green metallic will be the wheel centers, and the dark graphite metallic will be the body color. What do you guys think?
The final "meeting of the minds" wrap up. The "minds" from left to right are Gary Steen, Marc "Koz" Kozeluth, me and Mark Delong.
Here is the latest detailed rendering following this very productive meeting from none other then Andy Blackmore.
Now that the business was handled it was time for some day-dreaming. Here is me dreaming of tossing the RTR-X into a corner…
… and here is me cruising down some nice country back roads. Not sure why the serious face… I should be screaming and smiling!!!
- Vaughn Gittin Jr.
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
I like where it's going but consider a color closer to the body color for the center of the wheels-not exactly but close to it . The darker green in the center does not "tie-in" anywhere else on the Mustang. Everywhere else is beautiful.
the lime green is very nice. I think it would look nice as 2 similar hues, but the dark metallic green and lime green differ too much from one another. maybe a mixture of the two?
why not matt powers fluorescent green? keeping with the TEAM:NFS theme?
Those ITBs are beautiful.
PUTAMERDA! eu queo um desse!!!
keep the wheel centers black imo. what are the chances of getting a BOSS 302 stripe too lol
i don't care what colors you chose, as long as you use those ITB's. they look AMAZING
I think this is awesome. what about painting the ITB's lime green?
I would personally be bitting my nails throwing this work of ART into ANY corners : x
Excited to see this BEAST finalized!
throw some pink too!maybe the mirrors!
This is gonna be some machine!!!
Thank God it's got a Nardi Classic.
Can't wait to see how this turns out.
Ya man! Diggin the wheel centers and the greens you guys have there. Looks more mean! Man I need to get to SEMA this year to see it!
DON'T PAINT THE RIMS DARK GREEN! Just black, with bright green lips otherwise the rims are gonna look too "gangsta" (and not in a good way). Don't turn the car into a blingster.
Great progress and im really excited to see the finished product.........sidewayz with tons of tire smoke !!
artistic licence, what are you saying???? LOL
Freakin' SWEET !!!
Nice car man!:)
Wow!!!!!!!!!!
I reckon the wheel centres should be something that isn't a part of the theme. Maybe a satin silver, the Olive green will look like a bit too much green IMO. Great project though, keep it up
Going to be one bad @$$ Stang.
Minor detail I forgot! The Dark green has a bright green metallic flake that matches the lip to tie it all together. I know its a bit different as there is no other dark green but I am thinking it will look great. Nothing some last minute paint work wont fix if I am wrong.
So, Siderman becomes Venom.
(I'm saying this with an eighties-marshal-arts-movie-with-poor-lip-sync voice.)
I like the idea of the colour centres, but you should either go a shade darker than the lip, or use a green with less saturation, so its closer to the grey. Car is Grey isn't it?
Those ITB's are awesome
I actually voted for the gold on black theme , but with this one I agree with mr.gutsy and keeping the centers black. And the bodies on the ITB's would look better in green than red, but I'm sure you guys already thought of that
Looks awesome, can't wait to see it done !!!
lol country roads are Serious Business!
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looking great so far JR, i'm glad you went with the decision not to make the centres of the rims that bright green, i wasn't so keen on it. The new choice looks quite excellent though!
You know I love green, but not feeling the dark green centers. IMO everything else looks awesome and think possibly a black chrome center for the wheels would do justice for the rest of the black on the car. If your set on a two tone wheel. Thumbs up on the build.
Awesome work !
I like the concept of two-tones wheels but there's too much difference between the lime green and the dark green imo. I agree with jerry and his idea of a mix between the two colors to replace the dark green.
Excellent boulot !
J'aime le concept des jantes bicolores mais je trouve qu'il y a trop de différence entre le vert clair et le vert foncé. Je suis d'accord avec jerry et son idée de faire un mix entre les deux couleurs afin de remplacer le vert foncé.
NiCe... =]
I Want See This In Action... =]
When can we expect the Coyote 5.0 to be released as a crate motor?
In my opinion, I think the dark green is an excellent idea. If the wheels were completely lime green, it would look way too flashy and... just not right for this. It would spoil how beautiful everything else is.
It looks like this Agent 47 Harbinger is almost done.
Damn!What a car!!!
I think the center of the rim should be black anyway.Really look sweet to see.
Oh I really can't wait this done!!
Keep it simple with regard to the wheel centres. You already have two colours being the graphite and the bright green. To introduce yet another hue of green would be a mistake IMHO. As others have suggested, either a shade of the graphite or black.
oh snap Martin from Liquid Powder Coats will be doing your wheels? i got my wheels done by him that guy got some talent with the powder coating and air brush work... good guy too and his prices are very reasonable!!! im lovin the color combo JR!!!!!
u guys where born to do this
Hey Vaughn, what will be the rim and tyre size?
ITB's anodized lime green!!
2010 mustang grill emblem anodized lime green!!
and the center of the rims should stay same as body color
Glad to see everyone is pumped just as I am! Thanks for the feedback. I know I am attempting something a bit unorthodox with the wheels. If it doesn't look amazing they will change.
@ Alex (aka- The hate machine) you are hilarious!!! Show me one similarity (besides they are both dynacorn 69 Mustang body's) between the RTR-X and agent 47's ride and I will send you a prize.
@BENJ I don't have the exact date. I will try to get it for you. A good guess from me would be January 2011 but it could be sooner.
@yatzek 18x10 front with 255/40/18 18x12 Rear with 295/40/18 Falken RT-615K
Falkens?! Why Falkens? Hee
Hey Vaughn i understand that your building the car with the community and fans in mind and its great to see them involved but at the same time i think your own personal taste and touch should be the biggest roll in this progress. as far as how you want the color of the car and color of the wheels that should totally be up to your part and i for one really like the direction it is going in, I think the centers of the wheel should be some other color then painting them the color of the body that to me has been beaten to the ground many years ago. making the wheels two color greens is some thing that you dont see every day and i for one like going against the grain. cutting down the bead is another great idea and adding a personal touch to it. the chassis and engine is just an amazing work of art and this beast will be an art in motion once done!
Keep up the great work i know us old school stang guys cant wait to see the end results
@ Benj- The official answer I received on the 5.0 being released as a crate motor is mid to late August this year. They are incredible engines!
@GTFanatic- Thanks for the feedback man, I really appreciate it. I really like this opportunity to share the progress and the direction of the car and its cool to receive feedback and opinions from everyone that is excited about the build. Rest assured at the end of the day I am doing nothing less then exactly what I want to do. I have a vision and I am sticking to it.
Thanks again for everyone's feedback and excitement of the RTR-X. Stay Tuned!
I'm not feeling the dark metallic green for the center of the wheels, I'd go with matte gray to match the decals on the body or body color
Good decision in choosing LPC to do the powder coating. Martin does phenomenol work. You won't be disappointed.