garagepunk66

Great work on this rare kit Steve. I will be following this one closely!

The "oval case" GMC blower in the AMT 40 Ford is typical of a unit modified by pioneer hot rodder Tom Beatty. He, and other builders modified the cases, trimming away the large mounting flange, and counter bored the inside of the case for Allen head bolts to retain it to the manifold. This process was commonly referred to as "case pruning"

Greg, here is another source for the Monogram Pontiac.... The Tom Daniels Sand Shark aka Dog Catcher kit. https://public.fotki.com/drasticplasticsmcc/mkiba-build-under-c/monogram-instructions/show-rods/monogram-sand-shark-/scan0006.html#media

Greg, I goofed on one of those suggestions... The 36 Ford has a multi-carbed flathead, not a Pontiac. Sorry

Hmmm. I am eyeballing that grille in the Maitso diecast..... I have seen it online for as cheap as 16 or 17 bucks. Might be worth it for the grille alone. Might yield other parts as well. The rest of the car is kind of questionable, proportionally speaking

I am starting to come around to that thinking guys. Now to find a GTX grille. Does anyone cast it? I believe it was 2 pieces, a surround and an insert for the mesh

One of the front wheel openings is completely malformed at the corner because of a large air pocket, there are lots and lots of pinholes and air bubble inclusions all over. The molds appear to be shot as the grille had spots where the teeth were all blobbed together. The grille had a big chip out of the corner and it came with two front bumpers and no rear, and those were equally in need of repairs due to the same issues

Ha, you are probably right about that!

Don't kill the messenger. It is likely that a TorqueFlite was used in the actual car, which was not, incidentally, a "Factory Backed" car. It is important here to make a distinction between factory contingency programs and actual back door skunk works type race cars. Contingencies made sure there were cheap or free parts available to independent racers who were most likely to help sell cars on Monday (record holders and highly visible teams).... Ford really didn't sweat too much about something like the TorqueFlite transmission use if a guy was on a contingency deal. They knew that drag racing at that point was largely a mongrelized sport and soon enough their then brand new C6 transmission design would have enough r&d and field development in racing to be in wide use

TorqueFlite transmission adaptation was pretty common in drag racing for only about 3 years 1965-67. The reason for this is that since Chrysler pioneered the concepts of modern automatic transmission use in drag racing starting with the Max Wedge cars, and the aftermarket and shops like Art Carr having built them already to take big HP numbers, the TorqueFlite was way out in front in terms of development and brute strength. If you look at the magazines from that era, you will see ads for those adapters. Funny Cars, Gassers and lower class Altereds are where they were most commonly used. The Clutch-Flite was the next logical progression, as torque converter technology lagged behind a bit

Concerning the Monogram kits.... Flathead in the 40 Pickup and Multi carb Pontiac in the 36 Ford (great for backdating the butchered 32 Ford roadster kit) The 34 Ford had a Pontiac as well, but morphed into a neither fish-nor-fowl quasi SBC when it became the ZZ Top Eliminator 33 Ford Some of the Tom Daniels kits provide additional options. The Bad Medicine kit, for example, has a really nice vintage SBC Weiand blower intake, GMC supercharger and drive parts that fit the SBC engines you mentioned. The Son Of Ford came with a nice set of Algon injectors for the Pontiac engine. The poorly proportioned 57 Chevy kit from the 70's has Rochester FI that fits the SBC's too

An ethical question, if you will indulge me. In more recent years, I have come to regard the Jo-Han 1970 Road Runner as a holy grail kit, while I have watched prices climb completely out of reach. The old Monogram 1/24 kit never did much for me with its wonky proportions, and the SMH Resins kit I got recently is a disaster. I just scored a very abused 70 GTX promo on that auction site, and I am contemplating a Road Runner conversion, using pretty much just the body and front bumper (the rear bumper is broken). I do have a Jo-Han Road Runner grille and Air Grabber in the parts box, as well as several Superbirds, built and unbuilt, as well as the aforementioned SMH Resin kit to pull the rest of the parts from. The plan is to put it on the Monogram 69 Charger Pro Series chassis bits. The quandry is, of course that, once I cut out and fit a Superbird tail panel, sand off the scripts and the wheel opening moldings, it's no longer a GTX. On the other hand, this is one rough character....

Steve, can you elaborate on how you made the breather grommet in the valve cover? Drilled a hole in the end of round styrene rod and rounded the outside radius before cutting it off? Everything looks fantastic

Oooh. Tasty mods and beautiful work. Following.