Kool Kat entered our lives in April 2003. Back then the car was Aqua and Rust, but the chrome was to die for and the body was sound. The second Mike looked at this car he saw the potential for a sweet custom. We had to replace the motor in it because the original 389 had a cracked block, so we found a 76 400, and the first thing Mike did was restore the engine compartment, paint the 400 engine the same blue metalic as the original motor. Then the car was lowered all the way around.
The car went to its first show July 4th in Pittsburg, Kansas. The car was still Aqua and rust for that show. Eight days later, we took the car to the Big Automobilia show here in Wichita, the car was shaved sanded and primered when it went to the Automobila show. After the Automobilia show, the grill was removed and painted red (to match the wheels), and 22 double bullets were added to the grid before it was installed back into the car (there double bullets are chrome V drawer pulls). Next the tail lights were removed each lens has two small bullets installed and a blue dot was put in the center of each lens. The car has 1 and 1/4" straight pipes, with chrome tips. It didn't take long to realize something had to be done about the tailpipes because they where scraping the street when we backed out of the drive, so Mike removed the back up lites (they didn't work anyway) and ran the end of the tail pipes thru the holes in the bumper where the back up lites used to be. When Mike was shaving the car, I had to so some fast talking, but managed to talk him into keeping the quarter inch chrome spear down the side of the car. My proundest moment was when one of our friends who is in the KKOA hall of fame told Mike, "Usually I like to see a car shaved entirely, but you were wise to keep that spear, it just makes the car look that much lower and longer (like the car needs any help in those areas) it really works on this car". He was surprised when I thanked him. Mike told him it was either leave it on or sleep in the doghouse.
We are far from done with this car, this friend of ours is itching to chop the top on it. Just a couple of inches. Once the body work is finally done, the car will get a flame and pin stripe job done along with a new primer and seal the paint. Then we start working on the interior. The car is sporting a full set of indian blankets on the seats, and on the rear deck. We are also going to install a sound system with controls in the glove box so we don't disturb the dash of this car. The radio and A/C-Heater controls match, and the dash is one of the best features of this car, and we don't want to changee anything there. Mike even removed the horn button with a bullet.
For more information about tooning your car please check out www.kartoonzgrafix.4t.com.
I am re-editing some of the pages, for more pics of Kool Kat see pages 2-5
