Some would call it a ton of Patina. Your absence seems to have caused an uproar, almost to the point of becoming an outright rebellion: http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/threads/does-it-suck.53271/
You know, I am a guy who likes chrome on a classic car/truck, but I have to say, the black on the vent window frame looks good. It ties it all together.
I spotted your Del Rio on facebook a few days ago, the '80s turbine wheels gave it away.... Oh, and I also saw the red wagon on the same group page this morning.
If I'm not mistaken, all the chrome seems to be there. All he did was to blacken out the original color of the frames. If the factory had done that, it would have been ahead of its time, since this styling method became popular later. Both of my Daihatsus came that way. I like the way it looked on the red one. But, on my present silver one, it doesen't do the car any favors. Black contrasts best against vivid colors like that red on that wagon In which case, I would prefer to have the frames painted in the original silver
My dad would be jealous of the Del Rio, He's had two 57 Fairlane 500 hard tops, a 57 Ranchero and a 57 sedan delivery. The first new car he bought was one of the hardtops, dad dropped a Paxton equipped 312 into the Ranch ( the RCMP hated it" and the sedan delivery was the parts chaser. I still have one of the spare Y block intakes & Holley teapot carb. And yes I love the 63.
He could've ordered that '57 Chero with an 'F'-code supercharged 312 from the factory, but okay. IIRC, there were only a handful of Cheros and wagons with that engine.
It would have been nice but he bought the Ranch used, also he never liked to leave things as they were most of my early memories were either hanging over a fender watching him work on something or at a work bench where he usually had an engine torn down.
Like Leadslead and I did over the last few days. BTW, Jeremiah, I work on the computerized cars and I don't need an engineering degree; frankly, I see some of the crap engineers do and I have to ask myself if they used their sheepskins as TP?
I know. That was a tongue in cheek comment aimed at how much more complex things have become on modern engines. The average person can work on a new vehicle given they have the aptitude and are willing to spend the time doing research and likely acquiring the proper diagnostic tools. However I think we can all agree that it's not anywhere as simple or straightforward as it used to be. My Dad used to do all of the maintenance on his vehicles and did many, many repairs when I was growing up (most if which I helped him with) Now he and Mom have almost new vehicles, and he doesn't touch them. Just drives them and fills them with fuel. He still works on the old stuff, but the new stuff, forget about it.