58 Rambler Rebel gasser

[demonhunterfan]

Well brothers, I don't know if I just have a thing for old Ramblers, or if it's all the painkillers I've been taking to help me thru this problem with my sciatica problem........ anyhows, I saw one of Ed Shavers (as usual) way cool dioramas with an old 59-60 Rambler sitting there getting filled up, and I told him I wanted it ;D ;D ;D, but he aint parting with it. Really cool bone stock replica in two tone green. I went to one of my books on the '50s cars, found me a cool looking 58 Rebel 4door and worked it up into a gasser.

This is the original drawing I did from the photo of the 58, done with ball point pen.

This is a color study I did in colored pencils on a copy of the original drawing. Just something about the stock green one that Ed has.

Here's where it's at, at the moment. I just got me a new monster Dell computer, and got the Adobe Creative Suite 4 package which has all kinds of cool artistic programs in it for doing artwork like this as well as video editing for the band I'm a part of. Anyhow, to get to this point, it's a little like working with a plastic model. I took the original drawing above and 'cleaned' it up, made some revisions, and when satisfied with the revisions I finally started 'painting'. What you see here was 2 seperate layers. One layer was the background to which I airbrushed the blue to white gradient. The second layer was the Rebel Rouser with all the smoke & stuff 'layered' over top of the blue. Still got a lot of 'painting' to do, which again is a little like masking off a plastic model. With the kool tools in PhotoShop I'm able to pick, or 'select' certain parts and then 'airbrush' them. Unlike the models tho, if'n I screw up the painting, I can just hit 'Undo' and start over again. Gotta check back in the book and see what the cubic inches were for the biggest Rambler V8s back then and apply that to the front fender. Probably put some of the gasser classifications on it as well.

Sure wouldn't mind finding an old Johan and gassing it up....

Later and God bless

[84vanagon]

Being quirky, I just love it!!!

Man, if I had a Rambler kit it would be in your hands!

[Kit Karson]

Feb 23, 2010 18:17:38 GMT -8 84vanagon said:

Being quirky, I just love it!!!

Man, if I had a Rambler kit it would be in your hands!

John,

Sorry, no Ramblers here, either, Bro! Do like your drawing and pray that the pain is soon gone from your life.

You guys have a very Blessed day in the Lord

[dimaxion]

The largest Engine for Ramblers was 327 cid . The fastest car in 1957 was the Rebel . It was a limited edition 4 dr. in one color . Silver , or any color you wanted as long in the shade of silver . You take the smallest body , insert the largest Engine .....Hmmm....
This could be where John Delorean came up with the original idea for the GTO ...The first "muscle car" LOL . Buick did the same with the Century since 1958 . Many other car makers did the same . It was a proven formula tried and tested . It makes sales . ;D I do like your artwork . Very nice . Thanx ..

[demonhunterfan]

Thanks guys! Love how you say you're 'quirky', Don -- another thing we have in common Bro! ;D Didn't God say we are to be a 'peculiar people'? Thanks all, especially for your prayers about the pain-- they're helping a lot.

Thanks for the info about the Rebel, John. I still haven't gotten back to the book I got the picture reference from. That's kinda strangely cool, how the car makers would make a high performance car out of a 4 door. I was going to take issue with the silver color thing, until I re-read your post and saw that it was a limited edition. 327 cubes, eh? I've always wondered about all the 'other' 327s I've heard about. To me the 327 was, and probably always will be, the Chevy engine. Again, pardon my laziness in not looking further, but wasn't 1957 when Chevy offered a 327 with some kind of fuel injection or super charger thing? The Rambler 327 and the Chevy (or GM?) 327 wouldn't have been the same? I'll have to do some research on that. Kind of cool to think that somebody at Rambler was daring enuff to start a new trend, and the others followed up on it.

Glad you all like the Rebel Rouser-- I'll have to get it in the paint booth Oh, and John? I'm a John Jr. also

Later, and may God bless you all

[dimaxion]

The new powerplant for Chevrolet in 1957 was a 283 cid . It was available with Fuel Injection at 283 HP in the uppermost option . Hmmm...why were the Chrysler 300 so named .
Internally the Rambler 327 was Similiar to the GM version SB . Even had the Beer Can . Definatly not the same .
'58 MY the new Chevy Engine was the 348 . It stayed the same size until 1961 . Changed to 409 , the SB stayed at 283 until the '62 MY , enlarged to 327 cid .
BTW , in '58 MY Ramdlers offered Fuel Injection and Pushbutton Drive . Mercury also offered pushbutton Drive . Chry- sler also offered Fuel Injection on the Hemi This was the last MY , in 1958 , for the Hemi until 1964 . There is one example of the 1958 Chrysler FI in existance . Both AMC and Chrysler recalled FIs and replaced with carburators to make the Autos much less fiddly and hard to live with . ;D
Way cool on the John Jr. . I hope you don't have the Battle to get Your name on things I do . I am not just John . I have people telling me I am the same person anyway . ? Cannot fix stupid . It was an Honor to be a Junior when I was born . This current Generation have made it a Horror with their disrespect . All I can do is pray for them . Enough of my rant ...
I would like for you to make the Rambler happen in 3-D . The last '59 Rambler Wagon kit has instructions how to convert the body to a 4 dr. Sedan or HT. You will have to scratch a Grille .
May God's Blessing permit relief for your back issues . I have a wrecked Siatic and Degenerative Discs . Like the Aussies say ..Good Day .
God Bless you and yours ..Thanx John JR

[demonhunterfan]

Wow, thanks for all the info John! Now that I've read it again, I do seem to remember reading that before-- about the Chevy 327 being introduced around '62. That's kind of funny about the cars offered with fuel injection and pushbutton drive. Good thing God apparently finally put some gear head in charge in some of those places so we could have shifters and center consoles instead of pushbuttons:D ;D .

I just may be building up the Rebel Rouser. A good buddy may be tracking one down for me. I did a little looking myself on Ebay and saw all '59 Wagons. One of them showed the instruction sheet, and it did seem to show that you can do that conversion to a 4 door sedan. Although, since I saw the wagons -- I think a gasser wagon would be pretty cool as well. We shall see!

I got to spend some time in PhotoShop the other day, doing a little 'masking' and 'painting'. I'll post up some pics soon.

John Jr, so sorry to hear about your back and sciatica problems. I'll be keeping you in my prayers, my brother.

Later and God bless

[demonhunterfan]

Been spending some time with the Rambler in the 'Shop--PhotoShop, that is.....

...here I am 'masking' off the flames on the front of the hood. The 'masking' is a pinkish/red overlay that I can add to or take away from. Kinda like laying tape on and then cutting it away.

Here the flames are completely masked, and ready for 'painting'.

Here I've made the first pass with the green. Just like a real airbrush, the flow of the 'paint' can be adjusted. The big circle off to the left of the flames is the 'brush'. Although the 'masking' isn't showing now, it is still there in a sense. The only area of the screen that I can apply the paint is where the flames are because they have been 'selected'-- they're surrounded by a white dotted line.

Here's a closer shot of the 'brush' now with yellow paint in it. I've added the yellow to the flames and they're just about done.

Here I had 'masked' off the whole car and background, etc-- everything on the screen except the windshield and added a heavy red tint to it.

Here's where it's at now. Same drill for every color-- mask off everything on screen that doesn't get painted, paint it, then make any adjustments to the paint (brightness and/or contrast) before I 'merge' it all to the car. Each time I paint a part I can make it a seperate layer-- kinda like painting that part on a transparency over top of the drawing. When I am happy with the painted part I 'merge' the layers together so they become one. I then save that as a jpeg, and that's what you're seeing here.

We's getting there! Later and God bless


Oh yeah! almost forgot-- if you want to see more of the steps, they're here in my Fotki:
public.fotki.com:80/V866/58-rambler-rebel-ga/

[Kit Karson]

Way cool, John!!

[sigmaman]

Thats lookin' pretty good.