Johnny Torres' first effort at customizing transformed a rusted out 1950 Plymouth 2-door sedan into this stunning purple beauty.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
`I wanted a fastback,' says Johnny Torres, who achieved that look by lowering his 1950 Plymouth DeLuxe 2-door and chopping 3 inches of metal off the top.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
The front end shows subtle changes -- the 3-piece front fenders were blended into a single unit, with the wheel wells opened up to accommodate taller tires; the stock grille was cleaned up and the bumper rechromed.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
Custom details, like two pairs of '59 Cadillac tail lights sculpted into the fenders, a handbuilt license tag surround and a pair of Harley Davidson exhaust tips jutting out below the replated back bumper give the Plymouth plenty of eye appeal.
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Torres wasn't sure what color he would paint the car, so opted for low-key black-and-white vinyl upholstery that would match any paint scheme.
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The '59 Chevy instrumentation looks right at home behind the stock '50 Plymouth steering wheel.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
The key to the restyling was a 3-inch chop top, which in turn necessitated the complete reworking of the trunk lid, which at one point was sawed into 18 pieces. The smoothly flowing contours made all that body work worthwhile.
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Although Torres now does custom auto upholstery himself, the interior of his Plymouth was done by Jerry Johnson of Hutchinson, who combined classic black and white vinyl to cover the seats and door panels. A furry white headliner sets the whole thing off.
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With the help of buddies Justin and Roy Fields, Torres used a '59 Impala gauge pod to blend into a handcrafted dashboard. The pinstriping covering it all was laid down by Jeb McGregor.
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Sounding a lot bigger than it is, the V-8 that powers the Plymouth is a little 267-incher that was pulled from a 1980 Chevy Malibu, which also supplied the 200R-4 automatic transmission.
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In keeping with the clean custom theme, Torres chose a set of Coker wide whitewalls mounted on chrome smoothie wheels finished off with sombrero-style hub caps.
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