Thanks for your good thoughts, and kinder words, brother.
Contrary to popular belief, the thread isn't in recession, at all! I just thought I'd give it a bit of a rest between weekends, while the Ustaadjis worked their magic on the beast. In between, whilst the actual body of the Phantom has been bolted onto the frame and the coachwork has started, I've busied myself with some "phlights of phantasy", and some "phorays" into other less-visible, but equally-important aspects of the rebuild.
First of all, is the building of a hood ornament. Personally, I just LOVED the exquisite, beautifully-crafted figurines that would adorn the hoods of some of the most beautiful cars of yesteryear. The Rolls Royces, the Pontiacs, the Pierces, and the Bentleys. These hood ornaments would add a whole lot of character to the coachwork of the vehicle...whilst serving to set it apart from the madding crowd. I'll include some pictures of these as well, although the hood ornament I have in mind for the Phantom, is going to be a radical departure from any of these classics. I would like for it to be quirky, and irreverent, and humourous...whilst being beautifully crafted, and exquisitely appointed. And yes...it's going to be a surprise, for now
The other thing I've been focusing on, are the decals and embellishments. I've already posted an idea for the grille marque "Phantom" somewhere in this thread. I'm going to stick to that. However, all the plasticky, masala-type logos and stickers on the FJ are going to be replaced by new-made ones from chrome, when the Phantom finally takes birth.
Initially, I'd thought of renaming this vehicle the FJ405...for it being a hybrid of an FJ45, built from and FJ40. Well...now it turns out that it's going to be based on an FJ40, and styled like an FJ44, with the back of an FJ45! And, it's going to have a diesel engine, so it won't typically qualify as an "F" series, at all.
I wonder what it should be called. HJ445? HJ4045? Another thought was HJ84 (because of its manufacture year).
Strange how I'm concentrating on these absolutely irrelevant details, ALREADY! LOL
Thanks for the bump, Tareen saab. As always, your interest means a lot. And gives that extra incentive to keep up with the BAD work!
Cheers.