1956 Ford Customline

A 1956 Customline came in paired with a 1969 Charger, both getting a permanent coat of Icon Rocklear on the same visit, and pulling a glassy modern depth out of paint this old is genuinely difficult. The Customline's holding a rich shine that reads sharper than most cars twice as new. The two tone teal and mint green is the part that gains the most, because the coating deepens both shades without softening the line where they meet.

Fifties bodywork behaves nothing like a modern car under lights. The panels are large, gently domed, and full of chrome interruptions, and the paint's sitting over steel that was never as flat as a stamping plant makes today. Instead of one long mirror reflection you're getting a series of soft rolling ones across the hood and down the flank, which is why the raised and side profile frames do more work here than a straight on shot would.

Icon Rocklear bonds into the clear coat instead of sitting on it as a layer that has to be stripped and redone, and that's the reason it suits a car like this. Older paint's the most vulnerable to UV fade and dulling, and the coating resists both while keeping dirt and grime from getting embedded in the surface. It doesn't yellow, and it needs no waxing and no annual inspection to hold the depth it's got here.

Seventeen photos, the interior included, down to the dice hanging from the mirror. See the Charger's half of the same job on its own photoshoot page, or read more about Icon Rocklear.