What hot rod of the '50s would be complete without flames? 

We once again turned to Bruce's Street Rods in Bandon, Oregon and their paint guy Seth Haga for a bit of retro. (Side note: This is a small town and our family has known Seth since he was in grade school. Even as a young Bandonite, he drew cars and more cars and even more cars. No surprise what he does today... and why he's good at it.)

It starts with taping the general outline of the hood flames, adjusting and rearranging according to the artist's eye.

We wanted the flames to be contained on the hood because of future ideas for the side and back.

Note Bruce's '40 Ford in the background at his shop.

Seth tapes paper over the tape flames. He then uses a tailor's tool to trace the flames through the paper, punching small holes in the paper. He removes the paper and the masking tape; sands the hood for a solid paint bite, retapes the paper to the now-dulled hood and shakes powder over the paper which puts dots on the hood in the shape of the flames. He then removes the paper and retapes the stripes by "connecting the dots." 

Except for the flame areas, the rest of the car is covered and an undercoat is sprayed.

After drying, the first coat of yellow is sprayed.

Seth then sprayed the orange highlights...

...Shot the red.

 He then removed the tape and paper from the hood. Note the dull finish of the hood from the pre-paint sanding.

Before pinstriping the edges of the flames, Seth shoots a clear coat so any slips of the brush will be easily removed without affecting the flame's paint.

A blue pinstripe around all of the flames is added. Note that Seth had yet to complete the grille area when this pic was taken.

The entire project is given two more coats of clear and allowed to dry for a couple of days and then rubbed out to match the shine of the rest of the Crown Vic.

Total time spent: About 29 hours of work from start to finish (excluding drying time).

We could have found someone who would have added flames directly to the Crown Vic without all of the prep, and it might have looked good, but it would have been surface-paint which could chip and eventually fade. The advantage of the Bruce's Street Rods method is that the finish is smooth to the touch, and there are no ridges between the transition from flames to non-flames.

 With Bruce's '34 Ford as a backdrop, the CNW Crown Vic -- with its 1955 Ford emblem square in the middle of the grille -- makes a retro statement that seems to resonate with both kids and older hot rodders.

A couple of minor points: The chrome grille was replaced with the "cop" grille which is black honeycomb. Not very visible in the above pic, but clear in the ones above, is the way Seth continued the bright yellow into the grille giving the illusion of the flames starting in the engine compartment. Nice touch.

This was a great addition to the sound of the side exhaust. The "hot rod" Crown Vic is taking shape much as we had planned, but there is still much to do.

Next: We can't put a continental kit on our modern version of the CVGT, but we certainly can add the modern equivalent -- the ever popular spoiler.