LIL’ GRAPE

Story by Terry Denomme
Photos by Kevin Roberts

 “It was going to be a more gritty, Lake’s style car with a darker colour,” says Foxley, who traded a ’55 Pontiac-turned ’55 Chevy straight up for the rolling ’34 Ford coupe shell and pile of parts in October of 2008. A fan of the iconic Piersen Brothers and Alex Xydias So Cal ’34 coupes Foxley said his main stylistic goal was “a super hard (top) chop.”

The paint evolved out of a relationship Foxley formed with Winfield a few years earlier when the custom car icon laid a fade job on Foxley’s chopped ’52 Chevy. “I really like his work. By the time it’s done it has so much heart and built-in appeal,” says Foxley.  “I didn’t do it just have his name on the car although that does give it a built-in success.” Winfield is truly passionate about his art. At 84 years of age, he spent 20 hours in the KMS Car Parts (Coquitlam, BC) paint booth creating one of his classic fade paint jobs using House of Kolors pearls and candys over a pink base coat. In the end Foxley estimates more than 40 to 50 coats of base were sprayed on the car with 10 coats, or nearly two gallons, of clear on top.

Winfield actually started with House of Kolor white sealer and added magenta candy concentrate which created a pink colour base and just kept layering and adding more candy and overlapping it until he gets it to where he wants it to be. Foxley says Winfield’s paint process is always fascinating but can be a bit frustrating at the same time. “There isn’t really a lot of forethought into how it’s actually going to go he just kind of paints it until he likes it,” says Foxley, echoing Winfield’s own words.