BURNT ORANGE
Fat Fender Garage Strikes Again
Fat Fender Garage Strikes Again
LET’S GET REALLY REAL HERE FOR A SECOND. WE’VE ALL been there. Park the project truck in the garage, daydreaming of what one day she will become. Tinker here and there, but life always seems to be pulling us in one direction or another, while her day at the ball waits. Best intentions go by the wayside and a couple more years go by. Yup, we’ve all been in Duane Hubert’s shoes at one time or another. Duane bought this 1956 Ford F-100 because not only is he a true-blue diehard from an early age, but he’s always loved the sweet lines of the 1956 Fat Fender Fords and has always wanted to bring his own personal vision of the perfect ’56 to life.
It’s not always a straight path, and the destination is only half of the fun. Sometimes it really is more about the journey and the things we encounter along the way.
Duane’s first build was a ’67 Ford Fairlane 500, and he always had a Ford truck slated in his mind for the full resto treatment—but he just couldn’t swing it even after giving it a try off on and on through the years. As most restorations usually start off, you just don’t know what you have until you start taking it all apart. After a couple of years of tinkering on his own, reality set in and Duane slowly realized that if he wanted to have this project completed correctly and in a timely manner, he would have to call in the big guns and let someone else with the expertise needed in this arena take the reins.
With that in mind, Duane luckily made the right call. After one visit to Fat Fender Garage and meeting with Jason and the crew, he knew he would be in good hands. First things first, what started out as a 429 motor swap quickly turned to a complete Coyote swap and plenty of custom and modern features that FFG is now well known for in this arena. Duane knew he wanted a head turner, but more importantly, a cruiser that he could enjoy and truly drive!
Next up was the importance of the color to the overall build theme. Duane wanted a color that wouldn’t blend into a sea of other F-100s in the lineup. Something he hadn’t quite seen before. Something that would stand out, but not be too “look at me” bright—he wasn’t quite feeling red or
bright orange, so the team put together a custom mix that was somewhere in the middle. Jason and the FFG BASF crew played with mixing different colors and they all fell in love with this custom mixed FFG Burnt Orange. With some massaging of the body and tons of prep, the BASF color laid down quite nicely. It actually looks like two different colors, whether the truck is in the shade or the sun, and Duane admits this is probably his favorite part of the build as the color is where he gets the most compliments.
But beyond style and modern power, comfort was at the top of the list as well. So, an interior arranged by FFG and wrapped by Bryan Cline Interiors combines modern creature comforts like Vintage
Air and Dakota Digital gauges with the comfort and class of a classic ’56 hot rod interior styling. All in all, everything might have taken just a bit longer than planned, but in the end, she came together quite beautifully.
It’s not always a straight path, and the destination is only half of the fun. Sometimes it really is more about the journey and the things we encounter along the way. For Duane, he admits it was definitely a bit of both, and now that he’s crossed the finish line, seeing it in these pages will be his victory lap. Stay tuned for more, as we’re sure we haven’t seen the last of these badass Fat Fenders rolling out of Fat Fender Garage.