Lekkere sled

[29er Hot Rod]

My name is Paul Hoffmann, I was born in California to Dutch and German parents. I am an American, but I speak Dutch and German....but unfortunately I cant write it too well. My wife is from Eindhoven who I met when I lived there after college and both my children have Dutch passports.

So, since that is out of the way, let me start by asking you if you have ever seen a stock factory 1940 Mercury? They are really ugly. In the "Build" section of the website, we describe that the roof was almost entirely hand made, yes section by section, because the stock roof is impossible to alter to work as low as we went. The roof modification, chassis modification, and window modifications, were done in a late 30's early 40's style. We tried to make the car look like it was designed after a Delehaye or Talbot Lago of that era. It has been described by some as the most beautiful Mercury ever built and the man that did the work is a national treasure.

I understand it is not for everyone but trust me, it is a major major improvement from the UGLY stock 1940 Mercury. Yes, they are expensive rare cars, but they are nowhere near as beautiful as a stock 1940 Ford. Some cars should be left stock (1959 Impala, any year Woodie etc) and others look ridiculous stock.... and the 1940 Mercury is one of those cars.

I am almost 2 meters tall and I fit in the car just fine. There is lots of headroom in these cars.
I hope you find your own 1940 Mercury and you never change a thing on it. Since we are handing out opinions, I think thats a total bore. Zo denk ik er eigenlijk over. Mine? well, we chopped the shit out of it because thats what we do here in California.

Proost.


Paul in Santa Barbara

ik zeg ook proost, (onder het genot van een biertje tijdens het slijpwerk )

greetz Ep

[Firefly]

My name is Paul Hoffmann, I was born in California to Dutch and German parents. I am an American, but I speak Dutch and German....but unfortunately I cant write it too well. My wife is from Eindhoven who I met when I lived there after college and both my children have Dutch passports.

So, since that is out of the way, let me start by asking you if you have ever seen a stock factory 1940 Mercury? They are really ugly. In the "Build" section of the website, we describe that the roof was almost entirely hand made, yes section by section, because the stock roof is impossible to alter to work as low as we went. The roof modification, chassis modification, and window modifications, were done in a late 30's early 40's style. We tried to make the car look like it was designed after a Delehaye or Talbot Lago of that era. It has been described by some as the most beautiful Mercury ever built and the man that did the work is a national treasure.

I understand it is not for everyone but trust me, it is a major major improvement from the UGLY stock 1940 Mercury. Yes, they are expensive rare cars, but they are nowhere near as beautiful as a stock 1940 Ford. Some cars should be left stock (1959 Impala, any year Woodie etc) and others look ridiculous stock.... and the 1940 Mercury is one of those cars.

I am almost 2 meters tall and I fit in the car just fine. There is lots of headroom in these cars.
I hope you find your own 1940 Mercury and you never change a thing on it. Since we are handing out opinions, I think thats a total bore. Zo denk ik er eigenlijk over. Mine? well, we chopped the shit out of it because thats what we do here in California.

Proost.


Paul in Santa Barbara.

I'd like to congratulate you guys with building an awesome slead, the attention to detail is just amazing. I love the subtlety of all the mods

[Joost....]

Well thats something i wouldnt have expected. Welcome to the forums, you guys indeed created a stunning ride. The way the windows look with the custom framing is just brilliant! Congrats, youre envied

[Shev Ed]

Well Paul, congratulations on the work you did.
Don't get me wrong, you will get my respect with all the work and effort that surely was involved building this car.
Blood, sweat and tears as we say here in Holland

But im just not a 'fan' of the end result, I just see a choped car that was better looking when it was original.

I can understand quality was not so good back in the days as for comfort and such, but why not choose to improve components instead of completely 'chop' it beyond 'original looking' ?

I don't know man, it's just not something for me to see these beautiful cars that survived for 50+ years, getting chopped up.

Good original cars are getting scarse these days, especially the old ones. Guess this just explains to me why.

I understand the 'culture' in US on cars is totally different from what we have here, and that this is just the things you guys do...
Guess you gotta keep doing it if you like it.

But I don't

But again, don't get me wrong here, I respect the work you did, but the end result of it I just don't like.
I would have liked it more if it was kept 'optical' original, but with of course some necessary improvements for driving and fun.

But this is just my opinion on these 'kind of cars' , it's your car, so fuck my opinion. I know how these things work, everybody always have some critic on other people's work or vehicle's.

I was just telling my opinion because this topic started, so don't blame me

[thunderbuick]

Good looking cars are getting scarse these days, especially the old ones.

Damn right.
That's why Paul create this model
Maaruh, gelukkig hebben we niet allemaal de zelfde smaak.
Wat zou het saai worden.

[Shev Ed]

Damn right.
That's why Paul create this model

HA !

Jij.. jij... aanpasser !

[thunderbuick]

[wouterftw]

"I would have liked it more if it was kept 'optical' original, but with of course some necessary improvements for driving and fun."

Dat snap ik dan weer niet, of het is origineel of het is het niet..
Dan is auto's verbouwen zoals ze dat vroeger deden, zoals het geval is bij deze kustom, een stuk authentieker dan moderne fratsen op je auto bouwen "omdat het zo lekker rijd".

[Santa Barbara Paul]

Well Paul, congratulations on the work you did.
Don't get me wrong, you will get my respect with all the work and effort that surely was involved building this car.
Blood, sweat and tears as we say here in Holland

But im just not a 'fan' of the end result, I just see a choped car that was better looking when it was original.

I can understand quality was not so good back in the days as for comfort and such, but why not choose to improve components instead of completely 'chop' it beyond 'original looking' ?

I don't know man, it's just not something for me to see these beautiful cars that survived for 50+ years, getting chopped up.

Good original cars are getting scarse these days, especially the old ones. Guess this just explains to me why.

I understand the 'culture' in US on cars is totally different from what we have here, and that this is just the things you guys do...
Guess you gotta keep doing it if you like it.

But I don't

But again, don't get me wrong here, I respect the work you did, but the end result of it I just don't like.
I would have liked it more if it was kept 'optical' original, but with of course some necessary improvements for driving and fun.

But this is just my opinion on these 'kind of cars' , it's your car, so fuck my opinion. I know how these things work, everybody always have some critic on other people's work or vehicle's.

I was just telling my opinion because this topic started, so don't blame me

Thank you all for the kind welcome. Please feel free to write Dutch, its my first language and I can read it like English,,, unfortunately, I just never learned to write it and it would take me a year to reply in Dutch.

I dont actually do anything with Rudy, he does all the work alone and I live almost three hours away from him. I cant really take any credit for any of it other than to say that I am most proud of not getting in his way. We have done a lot of cars together and in the hotrod world he like a god. But, oddly, its people that dont like what he does that impress me the most. Its like you dont know you are supposed to kiss his ass and you dont like it for honest reasons, rather than just praising something because of who built it. So Ed, I respect your opinion (although I will admit you may be one of only a few people on the planet that like the car before more than after) and hope you know I enjoy a difference of opinion. Just for you, I am providing a link that shows, from almost the exact same angle, the car we started with and the car we ended with.... if you still really like it better stock than with the hand made roof etc... well, I will buy you a beer the next time I am in Holland.

http://www.seabrighthotrods.com/?p=280

for the rest of you, some photos that are not on the website:

my car with Kirk Hammett's 1936 Ford.



and an upcoming feature article in Rod & Custom





again, thank you all for the warm welcome and perhaps I will have something to ad to this place sometime.
Paul

[slicknick25tolife]

i think it's a beautiful job and therefor a beautiful car. but i also think it is a waste to customize a very nice origional car.
i wouldn't mind to have this one though,....next to my 'original' '53 pontiac.
what's the price??

[rockatansky]

my car with Kirk Hammett's 1936 Ford.

!!!!!

[warriorair]

Zoiets doet al snel meer dan zes cijfers voor de komma . 8)

[Mobart]

SUPERRRRRR!!

Very nice cars!!!

[Shev Ed]

ja

Well, thank you for your kind words

I just have an opinion about things on my own, I like to think for myself, I know what I like, what I don't , what I want, and what I don't want.
Nobody will change my mind on these things

I never heard of the man before, even if I did, it would be no excuse to praise 'all of is work, just because he did it' , like a Rembrandt painting, some of his works are good and nice, while other paintings of him are just bad.
People who say 'it's a Rembrandt, so it's good' , don't have an own opinion on things, haveing some critic it's just a message that you are able to think for yourself, which is healthy if im right...
That's sorta the way I think about things. ( and ja, im drunk right now, Friday, work is done, etc... )

Thanks for the link and all (will check when the alcohol is out ( ) ) , but you seem to be a man with who I can sit a bar with and have some drinks

( ja, I know that last sentence doesn't make much sense, but you know what I mean ... )

Well, let us know when you come to town

[rene74monte]

in het nederlands!!!!!!