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"My choice of a '49 Ford was mainly by happenstance, but then became a nostalgic trip to the past," says Seth Wagner, the owner of this Chicago-area business coupe. "That past was 1952, when I was just 13 and my sister's boyfriend had a '49 Ford coupe. His was smoothed and, as we said in those days, 'souped up.' I loved it, and never forgot the rides we took with the 'big guys' in a 'souped up' '49 Ford.

"In July 1998," Seth continues, "I was out for a ride on my custom motorcycle and spied an original black coupe in a parking lot. The car had a 'For Sale' sign on it, and after crawling all over it, under it, and in it, I called a knowledgeable friend who happens to be a licensed appraiser. We decided the car was in excellent shape and worth the effort of making an offer."

After parting with $4,500, Seth drove the Flathead-powered Ford home, quickly realizing it needed updating to meet his desired driving standards. Before long, customs like the Troy Trepanier-built Sniper and Ford's Forty-Nine concept car inspired Seth to commission design renderings from Gary Constable at Mutant Art. The modest initial plans soon snowballed into "an obsession to design a '49 custom rod like no one else had ever designed," Seth says. "Don't we all think of that?"

Coming up with a plan was one thing; executing it was another. "We had to do a lot of things to the steel components to get them to meet the challenges dictated by Gary's design," Seth says. "Kerry Hopperstad chewed 2 1/2 inches out of the top, tilted the B-pillars just enough to give it some class, and left us with the capability to use the original glass in the back and sides."

Frenching the headlights and taillights, filling the hood, building a custom grille, and recessing the license housing are all relatively standard Shoebox mods. What really sets this Ford apart is the custom trim gracing its slab-sided flanks.