Eli Lesters "57 Ford

Eli Lester, accomplished professional blues guitarist, likes to take time for himself away from the music by going into his garage and welding. He’s continued proof that cars and blues have always been a natural combination, going all the way back to the early Rocket 88 recording. Looking for a gig car, he bought this 1957 Ford Ranch Wagon from best friend Jason Finley in September of 2011. “My first thought was: lower, shave, and suede,” confesses Eli.
Admittedly, like honing lyrics for his next song, he just couldn’t leave it alone. The project became a complete makeover. Off came the body, and once all apart, the frame was powder painted. Gilbert Alemida, credited by Lester as a suspension guru, fabricated custom control arms and other suspension bracketry. The custom suspension mods to adapt the AccuAir were dictated by the Firestone G70 bias ply wide whites that Eli insisted upon.

They had to fit. The channeled body “lays down on the ground, but it still has a back fold-down seat offering flat back storage,” identifies Eli, as “I still needed to haul my favorite Fender Telecaster and amps to my gigs.”
“There’s a whole blues album in the car,” Lester laments. There were certain attempts that didn’t end well. “Everything on the car was done twice.” After Mike Webb did the body and paint prep, Eli took it home to his two-car garage. The list of details that Lester was involved with becomes a literal book of Eli. Front and rear lights were frenched. Like his lead guitar licks transitioning from note to note, the operative description of the wagon body mods includes “smooth.” The long body was channeled on the frame, and “all seams were smoothed. Front and rear bumpers were smoothed and narrowed for a better visual fit, and they lost all bolts,” describes Eli.