I am leaning toward basic black. One color.

why don't you paint it Benz royal blue? like on the badges. You are after all, transplanting a heart. To go 30s era black, how unexciting! :D

Im thinking 50s era gaudy and fun

I may have to include some flames emanating from the nose.

If you paint it white you can do a black diesel smoke cloud graphics instead. Flames are so common. :D

And bullet holes?:)

A propane kit for offroad use only?

Painted flames...;)

Actually there is an artist who does painted very realistic lifelike flames on the west coast somewhere. Since he is an artist you pay accordingly I suspect but they are really a work of art.

At the same time I am not suggesting Tom do this. Still I find those artistic flames tasteful.

i have to vote against black. it makes for a not-fun time driving during daylight in summer. two words...solar oven.

It kind of looks like a rat rod.

The current trend is to just clear coat over the existing paint to maintain the vintage look.

It's all about the patina.

I'm going to vote for pink. With candy canes emanating from the hood.

Solar oven maybe, but he will have Sanden powered A/C, so it may not be as bad as you think.

tail lights.

...look original but aren't;)

Tom, who is going to do the bodywork and prep? Any time estimates yet?

I experimented with those thin led strips that are also very cheap out of China. Very unobtrusive third brake light if well thought out. Can just look like a piece of the rear glass rubber since they are black. For many reasons that come to mind I feel it would be important to have a good third brake light. If done carefully after some experimentation perhaps the mirrors as turn signals as well. A few of these things are almost convention on cars and trucks now.

. There are two common versions of these strip lights one of them being about 3/32 inch thick by perhaps 1/2 inch wide.. The one that we landed up putting on private snow plow trucks is somewhat more bulky and lights up the road behind the vehicle at night when the brakes are applied. The thinner one is more than adequate for a personal vehicle though.

Actually we used them to show the vehicles where at work and they turned out to be a real safety feature as the smaller rotating beacons have nothing on them.

Also can be split wired to present additional turn signals. Even dimmable to present the effect desired. Not gaudy as basically they are almost invisible. Few people notice them when off as they are unexpected. Less than a dollar a foot delivered.

Designed for 12 volts. Also can be worked into totally concealed cab interior lighting unless on and they draw very little current. Even come instantly full on unless the thermometer is well below O degrees F. Depending on the manufacturer for the lowest working temperature. We did not find that lowest point here on the snow plow trucks. It has to be colder here some days in the winter than where you are as well.

No I have not incorporates any into our resto rod yet but still may. The thing is to keep them tasteful, pretty much invisible unless on, and well thought out.

I have come to realize that since people are staring so intently at my vehicle when on the road. They could easily miss the conventional taillights that are small when I am braking. A powerful third led brake light makes sense to me today.

Also a couple of the high powered ones behind the grills might provide additional running lights. I have not given much thought to that other than these light take so little current you can almost discount the loading. The hardest part of using them again is to do it tastefully. The easiest part perhaps is that they are so cheap directly out of China on ebay.

Michael at levaire racing and restoration. I plan to keep it looking stock and incorporate lights as you suggest to provide excellent safety.