Tims 1954 Lead Sled

FLORIDA. As I walk through the rows of cars at the Dearborn cruising in Englewood my eyes are instantly drawn to a metallic paint job soaking in the Florida sun. A metallic blue/green offset by a canvas tan top, topped off with the perfect amount of chrome. by Lars Krantz. Translation Stefan Blautzik

You can enlarge the pics by clicking them

Marveling over the style and flow of a 50’s custom done just right a man suddenly approached me. “The car can be yours”! Tim Cotton, sporting a pair of shades and a handlebar mustache introduces himself.

I introduced myself and the verbal barrier between my Swedish accent doesn’t matter. No matter where in the world car guys all speak the same language.
After the regular car meet talk I find myself invited back to Tims moonshiner shack 2 days later.

Pulling up, I’m overtaken by the southern charm of a simple old barn surrounded by palm trees and aged with patina. In Front of it sits an old gas pump and the beautiful custom. Overwhelmed with the beauty of the old barn, gas pump, and the custom Tim starts to tell his story. He bought the barn years ago, with an old farmer living upstairs, and plenty of Whiskey in the basement. Tim turns the page and starts on the customs.

The body, a 1954 Ford Victoria, smiling with a customized Chevy grill with extra teeth. A 2.5” chopped top done with an old mercedes roof with trimmed and slanted windows. The hood was completely reworked to contour the rest of the remapped lines on this 54. On top of all that the small details like the frenched headlights make this car. A true custom done right with years of custom hot rodding and lead slead tricks. A beautiful rolling piece of art and culture.

Tims been cruising the streets and breaking necks with his 54 Custom Ford for two years now. It’s finally time for him to let his baby go so he can get started on his next rolling piece of Art.
Its very seldom that someone takes the time out of there day to tell their story. From gearhead to gearhead. Tims hearts and brain have been fueled with the passion and beat of an American V8. I’d like to thank Tim for giving me the opportunity to let Swedes listen to a  a true American car guy story. 

Mr. Tim Cottons own words

My Fuel infected addiction to horse power and hot rods started at a very young age, when l was about’5 years old. I was raised on a farm in westem NY in the “Hay Day” of the muscle car era. Often l would be sitting at the dinner table listening to my Grandfather and my two uncles discussing their latest street race adventures.

They discussed how they might squeeze a little more horse power out of their engines. They all drove supped up Pontiacs and were all great drivers.

My father also loved cars and drove a 39 Willy’s stock car at the dirt track before l was born. The old Willy’s sat on a concrete slab behind a chicken-coup along with a couple of old Edsel’s and Studebakers. As a young boy l spent hours fighting the hornets and snakes for my spot to play in the old race car. We also had our own 5 mile dirt track in one of the cow pastures and we would race our field cars every chance we got!That being said, that gave us a huge advantage once we were old enough to drive legally! When l was 15, l bought my grandfather’s 62 Pontiac Grand prix 389 three duce 4 speedfor $100.00. l drove and raced it for about a year and then bought a 1968′ GTO convertible 400 ram air 4 speed. Since that time l have had 64 hot rod classics and muscle cars. including 3 Willy’s coupes Chevells , Ford Fairlanes, Corvettes and many Mopars which were raced over the years. My daily driver for the past 42  years was almost always some kind of hot rod… ”

l married the love of my life Valerie. She is a beautiful, loving, smart and a very funny girl, who is the best wife and mom everl Valerie is the Art teacher at Vineland Elementary School, where she works very hard and enjoys her work very much.

Val has always supported my hot rod fascination. We are blessed with three wonderful, hard working sons whom l am very proud of . James is 24 years of age, Bill 23 and Colt 20 who are also into American muscle cars.

Soffan är gjord av en verktygslåda med skärmar och tak från en 1930 Chrysler.  Bilden i bakrutan är Tims mor och far på bröllopsdagen när de lämnade kyrkan i en hotrod. Båda är borta nu.

No tooners in our yard! James just sold his 1970 Boss 302 Mustang. Billy has a‘ 1972 heavy Chevy Chevelle and Colton is into 4×4 Trucks now but his dream car is a 1969 Camaro.

 We have done a lot of family projects where the entire family has worked together rebuilding and installing engines and doing body and paint work. Val‘s a great masker with her artistic ability. The boys can do just about anything!

Yet probably the best car we have ever owned and the most valuable car we have ever had to work on, we cannot take credit for! The 1954 Victoria chop top custom lead sled we presently own was the brain child of Lyle Wadrif of Eustis Fl. and Bill Blutch of Englewood Fla. Lyle told me he spent over 2 weeks just on the metal fabrication on the hood pancaking it then cutting welding and fabricating the custom eyebrows. Bill also did much of the highly skilled customizing on the car. Being a two time World of Wheils Vlfinner, in Tampa with his 77 Firebird and 46 Ford.

Lyle and Bill also received help from three  highly respected and skilled car builders. Bill’s son Dale Blutch of Venice did much of the welding and fabrication extending the rear quarters and molding in the Packard tail lights. Ron Jamison of Englewood put this talent to work on the old Ford for many years. Spending days at a time under and inside customizing. Ron Franklin of Englewood Fl. also contributed his building skills chasing modifications not to mention the making of the beautiful machinery.

This team of exceptional craftsman truly built an over the top master piece !! Bill Blutch unfortunately passed away and we purchased the car from his son Dail Blutch. My son Bill and l worked on it for another year and a half to complete the car.

Description: 13 year build, thousands of man hours, no expenses spared, roof chopped 2,5 inch, Carson top installed, windshield tilted back, air conditioning, pancaked hood with eye brows, Chevy grill with extra teeth, door handles shaved, remote entry, Packard tail lights, frenched antenna, fully custom and leather and wood Thunderbird interior, digital dash, detailed undercarrige, power rack and pinion steering, front disc brakes, 292 ci V8 with 312 heads, rebuilt Cruise-o-matic transmission, Ford 9 inch rear end, Clarion digital 12 disc CD changer. Thank you for your well-written lines Tim . How much ? Tim has declined to 40,000 dollars so start with a deck of cards and replace each card with a thousand of dollars. Then you can call Tim on the corner and .. … take the car home …