Colorized Flames

BOB BROWNS FLAMED COUPE

For the Rodder’s Journal #35 Rik Hoving colorized a series of black and white Hot Rod photos. The magazine had asked him to do a follow up on the colorized Custom Car photos in the Rodder’s Journal #33, which was a huge success.

One of the photos in the series of Hot Rods was this photo taken by Dean Moon of Bob Brown’s 1940 Ford. The photo shown here is actually a pre production version with much lighter yellow on the flames. I have always liked this version much better than the later more orange fade version, which was adjusted after Greg Sharp found some accurate write ups on Bob’s Ford. I think the final version is more accurate to the real car, but the lighter yellow flames shown here appeal much more to me. Perhaps has a little more custom feel to it over the more traditional Hot Rod flame colors or perhaps I feel that the color fits the shapes of the early style flames just a little better.

Bob’s 1940 Ford was featured in the 1954 issue of Rod & Custom Magazine and according the article the flames on Bob’s Coupe caused quite a stir when he parked the car in front of his service station. The magazine never mentioned who did the flame paint job and wild pin-striping. It only mentioned the flames were done in orange, blended with Chinese red and black over a rich metallic maroon lacquer.

Spread from the Rodder’s Journal issue 35 showing the Bob Brown 1940 Ford Coupe with the final much more orange flames.