Body & PaintStarting with the $500 remains of a '54 Ford Victoria, Keith turned to Starlite Rod & Kustom to take his car off the sketch pad and turn it into a reality. The transformation began with a swap to a '52 Mercury front clip that was additionally refined with frenched headlights, a reworked hood, a narrowed and peaked bumper, and the addition of a '54 Chevy grille. The rearend was given an equal share of Starlite's attention with reworked taillights and a totally one-off bumper treatment using pieces from a '60 Corvette, a '62 T-bird, and a '67 Camaro. The main course came with the removal of the original top and replacement with a narrowed lid from a '65 Buick Wildcat grafted on 2 1/2 inches lower than the stock roof. The new top also required a reworked rear window opening, which was filled with a smaller '67 Camaro unit. The perfect color of Purple Rhapsody was found in DuPont's Hot Hues line and then sprayed in multiple coats by Starlite's own Jack Fields. Keith maintains the mile-deep finish with American Shine car care products.
InteriorMatching the good looks of the exterior is an interior completely designed by Keith. Both owner and Starlite worked together on custom components for the passenger area before sending the Ford to Downtown Willy for the fresh white vinyl threads. Knowing he would eventually be spending a lot of seat time behind the Mooneyes steering wheel on the GM tilt column, Keith had all the best creature components installed, like air conditioning from Old Air Products and a full sound system for future adventures. A '56 Ford instrument cluster was molded into the dash and fitted with Auto Meter gauges reworked in a retro style by Redline Gauges.