W Humble

Chuck, exactly! I saved a bag of sprue material for a year or so hoping some mfr would ask for it back to recycle. Oh well... Wick

Bob, funny you should mention the old Mono tires; I had the Green Hornet, Model A tub, Sizler, and some other of their kits, and all the tires are gone from my parts box -- which is unusual 'cause I don't toss things away. The funny Moon discs, yes. I never liked the Mono axle/wheel mounting, and it broke easily. (I had three younger brothers!) In rebuilding these old models, I have been stuck with 1/25 sizes. I did the repop 'Slingshot' this year, and was able to swap some Sizler slicks and 5-spokers onto it, which are a bit too modern (intro in '63) for the late-50's style kit. Finding tires nowadays that look like the old Firestone Super-Sport (Indy or road racing) skins is difficult, and I need some. Most are 1/24, also; my Strombecker Scarab and Comet Panther kits had them, but only one now is in my stash. I wonder if anyone has a source for this profile tire? Resin or 3-D would be okay. I want to finish builds of two vintage Bonneville-racers, but need the tires. I tried Indycals resins, but they seem undersized for my kits, even tho 1/25. If I were really adept at casting, I'd make some of the Comet tire that I still have, at least. I get too many rejects when I attempt tires! The old 'Stones were really tall profiles, as one can see in photos of old skool racers, and many cars ran big 'n littles, requiring two sizes. I tried 'Wanted' but not much luck. Oh well... Wick

Even in CA, c. 1962, we ordered a lot of 'junque' from Honest Hisself. The prices were good, lot's of advice tucked into the text, and Charlie was a very funny guy; never took hisself too seriously! Still have a vew of his catalogs; fun! Wick

Funky Cyclops is, as I recall, a spoof car spawned by Road & Track magazine, and former GM stylist, Stan Mott. A gifted cartoonist, Mott was a regular contributor. He was one of the stylists on the 1958-59 Impala models who gave a big illustrated interview to Motor Trend, and probably lost his job there. Don't know who built the novelty car, etc. Wick

Might have been a six-banger. like my sis's '67. About ten years later, it needed a valve job (?) and she let it go for $750! I begged for first refusal, too! Oh well... Flatheads have their place, but not where more sophisticated, more powerful engines lived! I considered putting an OCH Datsun L-28 (290Z engine) I had into our old '51 Chevy Syline, though; smaller but much higher hp, and still good torque. Got 197, then 250, then 350 instead! Wick

Curt, More info on wh\ere to find your build, pls? I got into Smokey back when Fireball Roberts drove Pontiacs -- and before GM stabbed thier fans in the back and conceded NASCAR to the 'other two'. Got sick of them crowing about 'side-oiler 427's" and o,c 'hemis' -- GM had the biggest engineering plant on Earth, literally and could easily have stayed competitive, but the gummint was after them on anti-monopoly issues, and wanted to split Chevy away from the other four, so they bailed. Fooey. He wanted to WIN, but at least was innovative/subtle about it all. We're all partisan, and I prefer Chevy's and Pontiacs -- and the under-dog independents. Saying that: I have a '71 240Z restomod (ground up job; never driven through standing water, so no fun), a #3 condition '51 Ford Crestliner (flatheads forever,) and a project '61 Tempest with the Buick alloy V-8, only 200+/- built. Also, almost done Dad's '51 Chevy Styline Deluxe 2-dr sedan (350/T-5, etc.) for my son. At age almost 79! Wonder if anyone built a model of Smokey's 'side-car' Indy effort? Good to hear from you! Wick We both have 'oldie' pics, huh?!

Apparently started NASCAR using the body-profile templates? I have a signed poster of the Smoke and his Chevelle, pretty cool. I stuck a 'Smokey Belongs' sticker on it (it was inscribed to someone else, darn!) ref. to his being excluded from their hall of fame for his 'fudging' the rules, etc. I got to interview him once, for SPECIAL INTEREST AUTOS Magazine, and always good for vivid/outrageous quotes, when he asked what mag it was for again, and I answered, he snapped: "Never heard of it!" Put me in my place, but the session yielded some great copy on the Chevy W-motor (348-409-427) for us! Article was republished in 3-parts in the VCCA magazine GENERATOR & DISTRIBUTOR a bit over a year ago. Wick

Andy: so make a mold and resin-copy them for posterity? :-<) Delivering PPG paint to a local body shop five years ago. I saw a 'barn' custom '57 Ford with Edsel lenses AND a '57 DeSoto grille -- classic! Completely dechromed, otherwise, in white. Wick

Very pretty! I'd settle for either, as I have a complete '53 kit, minus body/hood, but I see about $200 for that kit with shipping. Not in my range! Still looking for a '54 Conestoga wagon, just because I think they're cute. I built my YOM AMT '53 as a ragtop (Stude built two, and customizers have done a number of 'em) but frankly the look is not fantastic sans nice coupe roof. I did the trunk lid Hawk-style. I put the Avanti R-2 from my Aurora kit with 4-speed in it. The Avanti kit was a fussy, warped mess to assemble (also YOM) but it got a BBC -- oops, "Hamilton" engine. In '65 we had a Lark Daytona HT racing locally with a 396 which he swore was factory, so they let him race A/FX. Racing the local dealer's first 396 Corvette, it broke a rear axle first shot out of the box -- not too surprising. But I'm rambling.... again! Wick

I'm rebuilding my YOM '61 Bonneville into a Catalina (sorta') and wonder what gold paint you used? It looks great! I interviewed Smokey for SPECIAL INTEREST AUTOS Magazine in 1979; he was always good for a vivid quote. I was doing a research article on the old Chevy W-motor, which he refused to run, preferring to stay with his '57 small block. He also hated the new Chevy body, because 1. it was too heavy, 2. the engine was too far forward, v. the front spindle, and 3. the 348-in. mill and it's lack of high-rpm potential. Chevy was proud of the compact size (not that much different than the 283-in., and even slightly less tall -- but that was the perceived problem: the W's had a 'low-rise' intake manifold, and it didn't flow well at the top. That was the first issue that the aftermarket/later-model intakes addressed, of course. Always a good torque engine. W tied the Corviar flat six for the shortest produced Chevy engine, pre Vega. When I asked him what kind of engine the W-348 was, he barked "JUNK!" Waiting for the Mk.IV 'Mystery' or 'Porcupine' I guess! Wick

Nice ride, Andy! The kids are going very subtle with steel rims and Audi Nardo Gray paint (maybe by me!). They're putting on a '58 hood, and using 4-dr seats as the car had none; the front bench back can be tilted forward. It's a budget build! It has I think a GM 609 power steering, and Grenada front discs. The business coupes were pretty rare; about 6K built in '57, I believe. Very popular model/body right now! Does someone make a kit of the 2-dr sedan? I'm working on a '62 LeMans ragtop kit (rare find, in both cases!) of a car we sold last year, and converting a '63 rag to coupe. The Tempest/LeMans coupe roof (there were two!) is very hard to find, and I may have to section a GM big-car roof -- if I can find one. In '63 I built a SD 421 representation which I still have, but ragtop, which they didn't do back then. Though the Tempest Y-body came topless in '62 and '63, PMD never made a hard-top (pillarless) though Olds and Buick did! However, Pontiac raced their little cars, and I don't believe the others did. My current project is a '61 Tempest coupe, with the rare (2,006) Buick alloy V-8; not well supported by the aftermarket or hobby!

Andy, I picked up a new Revell Ranchero kit in the mid-eighties at a discount store, and eventually built it as an '80s pastel turqouise surf rig, almost chrom-eless (Meteor grille), with a basket handle roll-bar, Targa style. It reminded me how glad I am that they don't still make glue-together kits like that; it fit pretty well, but sticking the body sides to a central tub and then having to fill the glue seams, etc. was a pain. I put a SBF from a '62 Comet kit AMT in it, with the old COBRA valve covers, etc. Did you notice that the thing has '59 front bumper? Turn sigs on it, etc. Looks okay, but not stock at all. My daughter and hubby are building a '57 Custom '6B' business coupe 1/1 currently, T-BIrd 5.0, like that. Can't afford '55 Chevys any more! Wick

Likewise, and I still have some of the decal set! Wick

Jason, thx! Ordered one! Wick

I'm rebuilding my YOM '61 Pontiac (B'ville converted to Catalina, sorta') and I'd like to dedicate it to Glenn 'Fireball' Roberts who campaigned the cars so valiantly, but need a decal sheet; apparently these went out of production some time ago, but I wondered if anything was available nowadays... ? A shot in the dark! Wick

Colored plastics; reminds me of another very trivial thing about JoHan kits -- usually if you stripped the chrome parts, they were molded of a marbleized-like mix of various colored styrenes. Never noticed any other kit maker recycling plastic scraps that way -- and not a bad idea, either! When I toss a big handful of sprue, I often wish there was somewhere to recycle it in a practical way. Oh well... Wick

I have a fair percentage of JoHan models (in a small collection) and all are MoPars, c. 1960-61. Revell did Plymouth-Dodge in '62, also. They were brittle, and the 'kustom' stuff was a bit behind the curve, but nice kits overall for sure. None of mine had engines, but all had the funny pseudo-torsion bars up front, and very thick metal axles. The most notalbe thing was that our local '88-cent store" carried only Johan kits, and at that price they were much cheaper than AMT-SMP 3 in 1 kits (usually marked on the box at 1.39, which helped my budget. MoPars of the Exner era! Wick

I had the Revell Buick and '56 Ford; and still have a few bits and decals from 'em! But in concentrating on the question, it was probably the Revell 'Old Timers' Model T kit, one we ostensibly bought as a Father's Day present for my late Dad about 1955. We also bought him a R-R and a few others, which I graciously glued together for him, good helpful son that I was! I still remember trying to secure the wheels on the plastic axles by the kit-recommended method of heating a screw-driver blade with his Ronson, then pressing it against the excess axle stub -- and half the time getting it so hot it fused solid! Aaugh. Dad passed in 1958; coronary. The Buick and Ford were hard to build for a ten-year-old, but I LOVED the idea of customizing them, and began to wean myself away from aircraft, ships, and tanks. My first AMT 3-in-1 was the '60 Edsel ragtop, but I (again!) built a '59 Ford for my lil' brother. When open hoods with engines began to appear, that was the best!! I had all the Spotlite model books; wish I had some now! I had the Mono duece kit, and some others, plus some decals for 'em yet. A lot went by the wayside when I packed them away in 1969 upon being inducted into the Army; wa''nt sure I was coming back. The big carton got crushed, and half the cars broken pretty severely, tho all the good ones are repaired now. Still a few from 60 years ago unfinished, but... ! Wick

Did you mention what you wanted for the whole lot of 1/25 stuff? Wick

Thanks! Wick

Jeff, don't think so on tires, but I'll go thru my box. No use for Firebird clear hood, at all? Wick

Hey, N CA is the center of the universe! (Well, I'M here!) Ole' Wick

Sweet! Only on MCM forums?! I was converting an OLD Aurora Avanti kit into a NV Hwy Patrol car -- to save it -- and thought it might be cool to have it 'sponsored' by STP/Stude! Oh, it has a BBC. like a Lark (Canadian) I saw drag race in '65 that claimed to be a true F/X car! Wick 3191 Coronado Rd., Chico, CA 95973

Thanks, I bought the decals as the 2024 IPMS show in Yuba City CA. I built an RAF Brewster Buffalo kit, and another one as the air-racer that was planned for the thing, but never built (I just faked a Wright R-2600 from the SB3A dive-bomber that they built onto it, and lowered the canopy, etc. The XP-55"B" and Shinden are almost done, and I'm glad! Nice projects, as a diorama (photos soon!) but I'm going back to automobiles; aircraft are too fiddly for my old eyes/hands! Wick