Actress Renée Zellweger wanted to give back to Jerome and Jerald, twin caretakers who looked after her publicist and friend Nanci Ryder after she was diagnosed with ALS. After Nancy passed away last year, Renée wanted to do something special for the men who had done so much for Nancy—and she called on Ant and Cristy to make it happen with a special twin gift of their own: a restored Oldsmobile 442 and a Ford Bronco.
Before & After
DESIGN HIGHLIGHTS
COLOR BY NUMBERS
Keeping the original details of both cars was important, and especially on the 442, since this version was only in production for three years, with 200,000 cars built. We restored all the original numbering and decals remaining on the car and recreated the ones we needed in order to give a muscle-car identity back to this beauty.
ALL BLACK, EVERYWHERE
Renée made some of the design choices pretty easy when she channeled Nanci’s favorite color: black, all the time, everywhere—including the wheels on the Bronco. (She allowed us to keep a little chrome on the 442’s wheels.) It’s a very sleek look, one that screams custom work and will turn heads on the freeway.
INSIDE OUT
Interior work on cars like these can be tricky, especially when you’re trying to recreate the stitiching and restore paneling that you won’t be able find anywhere. While keeping everything black, per Renée’s instructions, we mixed and matched materials for both cars’ upholsteries and used their old upholsteries as templates for our updated materials.
More Inspiration
