Mike Tackley's 50 Olds

It all started when the door on my '55 T-Bird wouldn't shut right. I have known Mike Tackley for 35 years on the west coast of Florida but I hadn't talked to him for years because I was caught up in the throes of seeking my fortune and raising a family. We started out like all car nuts in the fifties and sixties, raising cain, racing, and then lying and exaggerating about our successes in these worthy pursuits.

I drove the 'Bird over to Mike's and, as his guys were wailing on the frame machine, we wandered over to look at Mike's latest project. There was a '50 Olds coupe sitting up on jack stands and looking sad and forlorn as could be under a cover of body shop dust, and it was totally gutted. The top had already been chopped and Mike had the help of long-time customizer John McNally with the layout of the cut and style of the top. John has cut many a top and his expertise showed as the top looked just right.

The more that you looked the more you realized that this car was further along than the first impression would lead you to believe. Over a 2 year period, Mike had come a long way building and rebuilding the coupe. When he first bought the car it was sub-framed so badly that the springs had no travel! The car was taken to Charlie Butterfield in Melbourne, Florida and Charlie redid the sub-frame and made the car sit right. The car now has a 1975 Camaro sub-frame, with power steering and disc brakes and as you can see from the pictures, the car sits right and the top flows right with its 3-1/2" chop.

As this story unfolds, you realize that almost everything on this car was done and redone (Literally!) to get it just right. The next step was the drivetrain, and Mike knew the only choice was a Chevy Big Block punched to 468 cubes and putting out over 500 HP on the dyno! Brandywine heads, Crane Roller, then out to the Street Performer hugger headers and through 3" Flowmaster exhaust all the way to the back and you won't believe the mellow sound of this big block! This car was built for burnouts!

The interior is an award winner, with Ronnie and Maurie Kimball at Capri Interiors in St. Pete, Florida doing the honors. Capri has stitched many of Florida's top customs over a 30 year period and they really outdid themselves on this one. Mopar dash, console, molded side panels, all in hot rod red. Working with Ken Vanzill at Neon Specialities. they molded flames into the headliner that dance to the bass in the stereo and really attract some attention at the local drive-in!

Mike has owned Tackley's Auto Body in Clearwater, Florida for over 18 years and you can believe that his work is all over this car. As you look at the custom and hand formed grill you realize just would a genius this man is with metal and why He is recognized as probably the top custom car builder in Florida and that his touch is seen on cars at rod runs all over the United States.

Which brings us back to me, Bob Nugent, a neer-do-well computer graphics nut and all around nice guy, and the dusty, primered coupe, sitting in Mike's shop. I had been a striper and sign painter in the early days and had gone on to more lucrative pursuits over the years and now I had more time to play around and return to my roots in graphics, and enjoy the tremendous advances in the Macintosh computer graphics field. Mike, in his subtle way and in the voice that is a cross between a foghorn on steroids and a parrot with adnoids, said, "draw me sum'pin!."

So with a computer generated sketch taped to the wall in the spray booth, Mike, spray guru Paul Stong, and I began to lay many coats, shapes, flames, scallops, pearls and sweat over the once dusty primered coupe. I must admit that it was a learning process for me to be introduced to the miraculous magic of the new technology offered by RM Diamont Finishes. Basecoat, clearcoat, different application techniques, everything was different from the old days. Now I knew why! The finish was spectacular! Pearls, purple, red, orange, yellow, russets, flip-flop, it's all in this paint job and now Paul puts on the final touch, the deep-gloss clear. WOW!

Mike and I have a test for any projects that we do now, and that test is the goose bump test. This car certainly passed the test. We rolled it out and then immediately rolled it back in because the bottom looked so good that we painted the designs on the top! One of the techniques we used on this car is the computer based masking that I have designed for the flames and scallops. I will soon have a video tape out on this process that shows how the computer has replaced the local pinstriper and has made the application of flames quick and easy. You can actually see how your car will look before starting the job.

Last night I was looking at the car under the lights at a auto refinishers convention. Mike and I have toured the car to conventions around the country for RM Diamont Finishes to show what can be done with their faboulous paints and enjoy talking, bragging and occassionally lying about our adventures with the car. ( Lying is called "bench racing" to the chronologically challenged.) This is not just a show car because, Mike has driven many a mile to rod runs and shows with his other buddies like Big George Greenawalt and his 55 Sedan Delivery that was built in Mike's shop. Even at the convention that we were at last night, we fired it up and drove home in the rain with the exhaust still echoing in the convention hall. On the way home the air quit working, some things never change!