Ed Shaver

This is the first time I have tried any thing like this so Ya'all be patient with this ole Texan. I went to Wall- Mart several weeks ago with my six year old. any way we went to the model section cause he likes the "Cars" from the movie Cars. We saw the Grimlin and the Pinto kinda brought back memories cause I towed several to their final resting place in Dallas years ago. I also worked on both these cars for a living. The vacum wiper system on the Gremlin was sorry, to say the least. Now as for the present, lets be glad that there are models of these econoboxes. Yeah, they are die cast and they are avalible only though Wall-Mart. Overall the detail aint too bad. I have seen the two plastic model companies do far worse. Now onto another subject at "Wally-World" and thats Vans...... Hey back in the 70's I owned an accessory manufactoring company in Houston We made drink holders,seats, and a few fiberglass pieces to fit various trucks of the era. Mean while at your Wall- Mart, Planet-Toys has made avalible two really cool vans, a 74 Ford and a 76 Chevrolet. Both trucks depict the upscale version with the chrome and both vans are of the long wheelbase variety. They also both have the "Slide-Side" cargo door avalible on both. Chassis details on the Ford are totally incorrect as Ford incorperated their "I" Beam suspension right up until 1990 on their vans also it shows a Catylic converter that wasn't seen till 1976. On the inside, the seats seem to have come from a Pinto along with their seatbases. The motor box is a cross between a six cylinder and their one V-8. For the record, Sixes were flat in the back and offset towards the driver. V-8 equiped vans had a more rounded backside as the 8 didn't need the space that the 6 did. Now all is not lost, I have been able to strip the paint and correct the interior of the Ford without too much effort. This is the first time any one has done this van in 1-24thscale. M. P. C. did one as the Iron-sides Van back in the 70's and that was in their 1-20th scale. Find one now and you'll pay real large money for an unbuilt example. Yeah I have tried to get the "Beaurocrats' at the Plastic companies to do models of vans especially the early "Flat-Face' vans. Since my ideas went un heard, I'll reluctantly buy die-cast from the "W-W". Hey im in this hobby both to build and collect cars of my youth. I'm on dissability so I have to budget. I also have a family,ya do what ya do.