[Where did that Li'l Coffin come from ?]

I got the Aurora '32 kit many years ago, and recently found it in a box of random parts...i shortened the body, and put it on an Atlantis, formerly Revell, chassis and Pontiac engine from leftover Mooneyes parts. Amazing how the "1/32 scale" body fits tight on this 1/25 scale chassis.

["Low UFO" '62 Impala]

After my father died, I had a little extra money from his estate. I didn't waste it, but I did allow myself to search and destroy some mint AMT 3-in-1 kits, and just put them on a shelf. This '62 Impala was up high, and I dropped it on the concrete, in the box. When I opened the box, the windshield frame was in three pieces, so the effective "Value" of the kit dropped. So I always wanted to do an old 60's 3-in-1 with every custom part and all the 60's gadgets like skirts, side pipes, mirrors, rolled pans, tube grilles on both ends, antennas and spotlights, the wacky "half-top" and those super cool '57 Plymouth hub caps. They don't do anybody any good in the box, and I like to surround myself with things that make me happy. Selling anything just makes me nervous. Building an ancient screw-bottom is just plain fun. The only thing not in the box was the graphics.

[Tom Daniel's "Li'l Van"]

I found this recent reissue on line, and it was a real deja-vu moment...I built one a long time ago and don't remember where it went. I started building this on Tom Daniel's birthday this year! That is a Corvair turbo 6 in the rear!

[Bedford Fast Gas Tanker]

I saw a die cast car with the most outrageous wheels I ever saw, and brought it home, pulled out my old Bedford, and added a 392 Hemi and graphics from a set of Round 2 gasoline decals. It took a while to finish because it had a lot of parts, and adding a hemi meant a lot of interior fabrication...it is really stuffed in there!

[The Twin-Mill T!]

After the other two dragsters were complete, I still had the complete street rod T chassis, body and everything needed to make a radical hot rod, since I did not use a set of the widened digger rails and the two Potvin-blown 327's, so the natural thing to do was combine those ;leftover parts into the Twin Mill T. Not exactly for the street!

[The 426 Altered T!]

I got the Round 2 parts pack altered T body, and dragster #2 built this week is a little altered, on the Fiat frame and powered by a Ramchargers digger 426, wheels and tires too. This was fun to build, just a little different than the usual 392 hemi power.

[The 430 Digger!]

I built my first "Double Dragsters" and the first '25 T kit in 1962. 60 years later, I am still having fun with them. This digger is one patterned after a Lincoln-powered dragster I saw in a video. So I had to get a Chopped T kit and yet another Double Dragster, then assembled the rail and body, with the 430 Lincoln engine from the T, blower and drive from the Fiat. The kit was missing one radius rod for the digger and the Fiat blower case, and Round 2 just sent those parts needed to finish the 430 Digger! Now she's done.

[Custom Curbside Cadillac by Flintstone.]

There is no interior, windows are totally black because I could not find an interior that fit this body. All the rest of the Revell '57 ElDorado fits this body including the rudimentary chassis with Pegasus wheels. Some people don't like flames; I am a fanatic. I used them not only to accentuate the body lines, but some of the silver pulled off with the tape and I repaired it with some aluminum paint, but it was no longer smooth. The decals and the clear fixed that; the resulting "Blazing Black" and "Wet Look Clear" turned out remarkably shiny. I had to make the glass, glue it on the body and paint it all black on the inside, sorta like "The Car".

[Rookie of the year 1985 Thunderbird!]

It sure is nice to have good friends with similar...interests..,. or is that madness?? No matter. I mentioned that I did not have the 85 thunderbird body style in my NASCAR collection. Then he came by shortly after that and handed me the blue kit from this double kit, from 1994. Now I have a square nose Bird. The decals were still perfect, which was nice.

['32 sedan]

This is a kitbash that started when I happened to find an old MPC Switchers sedan delivery body, and most of a Revell '29 roadster chassis with the engine from a Revell '32, the sort of 392 Hemi. Chopped and channeled, almost ready for primer. I liked the look of the '29 grille and I added little sneaky pipes to the headers so the engine breathes better.

['55 Nomad pro street]

I was not sure which category to put this in, and I saw only one other labeled "Pro Street" and it was here! I just finished this so it goes in this one. A typical AMT '67 Chevelle chassis and engine are under the mostly stock body. I have another still in progress, the green one, done as a gasser.

['59 Cadillac hearse]

I was not sure exactly which forum this should go into so I am taking a chance here. This is #7 of 10 Flintstone bodies I went nuts for. I am not really a fan of resin bodies, but after successfully getting the first six done, I tackled this chopped Cadillac hearse. I could , of course, sacrifice a Revell El Dorado kit and stretch the chassis, open the hood and...wait, no, it will be curbside because I have so many projects on the bench and so little time...it will be cool but simple. Sometimes less is more. Speaking of more, my scale ruler shows this beast is almost 20 feet long! I added '65 Riviera wheels and body work has started. This is an easy one as far as cleanup and prep went; everything fits nicely and on to the paint shop.

[Flintstone '59 is finally finished.]

I posted photos of this custom Imperial before it was finished, so I thought I would add these photos taken a few days after the first ones!  It is still "technically" under construction because it is just mocked up here; nothing cemented yet. I finished it quite a while after these photos were taken. One of six bodies I got recently, and I liked them so much I ordered four more. Anyone interested in buying a Flintstone body should understand why it takes a while; he is just one guy and when I asked about delivery he said he had about 300 orders to fill! After a month, I got a shipping confirmation. He makes good bodies, and since Modelhaus is gone, his business really got intense. Have patience!

['68 Dart gasser]

I got a '68 Dart Hemi kit in trade; I probably would not have gotten it myself, and with WalMart having about 15 Ramchargers kits for under 20 bucks, I got a few and I figured I could sacrifice one for the engine. Most of the rest is out of the parts bin. The decals were also acquired in that trade.

[1995 Mustang GT gasser]

I got several of the reissued Revell '55 gasser, and then while looking for a victim, I found I had three of those Mustang kits, all were bone stock GT's but not a bad kit, so I added some goodies from that '55 Chevy and lifted her up a bit. One of my favorites, so far, and under the hood is  Gofer 427 Ford. Here's a file from the box to the bench to the shelf.

[A pair of Nomads]

I haven't been here in a long time, and I have been building a lot, but I wanted to show these Nomads. The first one was just the stock version in a box with a lot of parts missing, but enough to simply put it on a '67 Chevelle chassis and use the big block with a few mods to complete it. The second is the reissue I just got, and since the pro street version is out in the paint shop getting clear over the light and dark blue pearl, I decided to do a mostly box art build...except for the injected big block, Revell '55 gasser wheels and tires, and I will be painting it light and dark green! Fun stuff so far; those old AMT Nomads were reissued many times minus all the gasser and custom parts; this reissue has 4 chrome trees and all the goodies only the original has. Both have had many modifications but if you have ever done a AMT '55 Nomad, you can see where they were changed. I know, lots of photos, but this takes you from the opening of the box to just a few minutes ago!

[Heller DeLahaye 135]

Nice. I have this kit, along with 12 others I got in the 80's. Quirky and unorthodox for sure, but unusual subjects nobody else did. I built the Talbot-Lago record a while back.

[Flintstone "Custom '59 Imperial"]

#5 of my recent resin builds, still in progress. This one I thought would be difficult, because the stodgy old stock body is straight from the front to the rear; this resin body has a deep "Door Dip" and I had to make the interior bucket fit the dip. l Once that was done, the rest was just trimming flash and making the interior and chassis fit. I added Pegasus 4-bar spinner wheels and tires to the slammed curbside chassis. Even up on its wheels, it is lower than the naked stock body with no wheels at all. I painted it with Ace "Primer and Paint" then "Bright Red" because the last four resin builds turned out very fragile and even careful handling caused chips and scratches. The Ace paint went on like butter and seems to hold up to the resin.

[Flintstone '49 Mercury sedan delivery]

I just finished another one of 6 resin builds I started this year. It wasn't a ton of work, but I had to really concentrate on fitting the interior and chassis. It didn't just fall together! I used the 413 Mopar mill, lowered it as far as I could, and added smooth bumpers from  Revell custom Merc. My camera wasn't quite up to focusing on that one shot; it says "If not for our tuna, try us for the halibut!"

[Flintstone '50 Oldsmobile sedan delivery]

This body is fairly easy to work with but it ain't a snap kit! The interior and chassis from the donor coupe fit nicely after some trimming, as well as the grille and headlight areas needed some work for the parts to fit. I was upset because the donor hood was way off, and would be a real hassle to fix it...then I found a resin hood in the box that fit near perfect. I discovered with resin bodies, weak primer and paint will not stick very well, even though I sanded it and washed it well. Some of it came off the body while removing some tape for two toning. I ended up just holding a piece of thin cardboard and giving it a freehand shot.

['68 Hemi Dart]

Another kit I got from a friend, and I probably would not have gotten it myself...but opening the box, I discovered a great candidate for a "modern" gasser! The Ramchargers rail provided the engine and rear tires.

[Boot Hill!]

I never had one as a kid, when it was new, but thanks to a few reissues, a friend gave me two of them so I could save the original kit I found a few years back. It has some charms but not an easy build for a young kid! Now I am old and can handle it.

[Flintstone '50 Olds sedan delivery]

I Googled to make sure it was real...and it is! GM made only a few Oldsmobile Sedan Deliveries, and some were used at the Olds plant as parts chasers! Then I found a Flintstone! With a little trimming, the club coupe chassis and interior fits nicely. I used a later J-2 option on the engine, and some old Monogram wheels and tires. I did not know that Oldsmobile had a totally different chassis and suspension than a Chevy for 1950. It has coil springs and ladder bars in the rear, which made it a snap to lower it down. Just cut the coils and make everything else fit! Now all I need to do is get it painted and finished.

[My old faithful Chevy Van. '78 with 136,000 miles...I wanted to do a replica, and this is what I came up with. Photos of the real van included; can you tell which is which?]

['51 Henry J sedan delivery gasser.]

It was fairly easy, clean casting that fit the chassis after slight trimming, as all resin bodies require.