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Johan 31 Caddy


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I have one, and started building it.  Mine had a short-shot hood, so I decided to hot-rod it, but moved on to something else when I had some things to figure out.

I found that the parts fit together really well, but the frame is in multiple pieces, and mine came out with a twist due to slightly warped parts.  The engine, interior and suspension went together beautifully.  Body looks really good.

My example had chrome that was faded, but came off really easily with Simple Green, so I can repaint it.

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I built the Cabrolet? version of the series for the then owner of Johan, box stock & painted as the original box art, to be used for box art on the rereleased version of the kit. Never happened & the model seems to have disappeared. 

Anyway the kits are high quality but fiddely.  As it happens the build up was delivered to the client at the Auburn auction where there was a 1:1 formal sedan under the tent. I was more than a little impressed with the kits accuracy compared to the real thing & also Jo-han's attention to detail.

I started a conversion of another Cabrolet to a 500 Pace car by grafting the cowl area from the Phaeton to the Cabrolet. The Pace car body was made by a different coach builder & the windshield design is totally different from the kit. Unfortunately it now has joined my many started but unfinished projects.

Hopefully you will enjoy building the kit.

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It was rumored that when Okie bought the remnants of Johan at auction, one of the tools he bought was one of the Cadillacs. In the original brochure he did, he showed a 'rat rod' version of this car.  No telling what happened between then and now.. or if he later discovered he had an incomplete tool.  

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I built the Cabrolet? version of the series for the then owner of Johan, box stock & painted as the original box art, to be used for box art on the rereleased version of the kit. Never happened & the model seems to have disappeared. 

Anyway the kits are high quality but fiddely.  As it happens the build up was delivered to the client at the Auburn auction where there was a 1:1 formal sedan under the tent. I was more than a little impressed with the kits accuracy compared to the real thing & also Jo-han's attention to detail.

I started a conversion of another Cabrolet to a 500 Pace car by grafting the cowl area from the Phaeton to the Cabrolet. The Pace car body was made by a different coach builder & the windshield design is totally different from the kit. Unfortunately it now has joined my many started but unfinished projects.

Hopefully you will enjoy building the kit.

That Pace Car also was a V12, not the V16.

 

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I have built all three versions of this kit, the Fleetwood Town Car, the Phaeton and the Cabriolet. I consider them among the finest Full Classic models ever kitted. There are many photos of 1:1 cars out on the internet. I will try to find a photo of my Phaeton and get it up here.

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I built the towncar WAY BACK in Early 70's!!

looked good for a few days, then sat in the back window of our 70 Impala

on a trip from Pittsburgh, Pa all the way to Bryson City, NC!!

Needless to say, It Deformed badly!!!!!

 

I have all 3 unbuilt now, and a Parts lot Cabriolet.

I also want to do an Indy Pace car, But not sure I want to get 2 more kits

(bash 2 I have) to make one

Also, Where do you get a correct V12????

 

I too remember Okey taking over Jo-Han and announcing the re-issue of these and the Mercedes

but their never gettign done.

So, Any idea if the tooling was Scrapped the same as most of the rest??

 

I do wish they still had that Large Loving Cup trophy!!!!!

But Neither of the ones I have owned EVER had one!!!!!

Edited by Edsel-Dan
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I built the towncar WAY BACK in Early 70's!!

looked good for a few days, then sat in the back window of our 70 Impala

on a trip from Pittsburgh, Pa all the way to Bryson City, NC!!

Needless to say, It Deformed badly!!!!!

Ya know something... we have all done that at one time. Learned the hard way.  And it's not our fault!  Those pesky model companies CONSPIRED against us to melt our models, so they could sell us more models!   There should've been a warning printed on the box!  Like when you get your suit back from the cleaners and the clear plastic bag has a warning "Do Not Place Bag Over Your Head!"   I feel a class action suit coming on!

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Here's a shot of how far I got with my Pace car. At this point only two kits were used. Half round plastruc still needs to be added for the molding. The only other kit I would rob would be a 1/24 Monogram Cadillac to get the larger wheels & tires that the photos of the actual car reflect.

As far as the engine is concerned I was not aware that it was a V12 till Art pointed it out. I would probably go with the V16 or possibly shorten the kit engine. If there are any alternatives out there please let me know. It does have me wondering if the wb on the V12 is shorter than the V16.

These kits can usually be bought around $15.00 at shows. Not that many builders are interested in them.

image.jpg

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No, Lee. The Monogram 452 B is a V-16 also. I think the notion of using a shortened V-16 is the best bet. I too am curious about the wheelbase and hood length.

Al, you are off to a great start on a V-16 Roadster.You might want to study the sill plates above the running board carefully as some of them have sills more like the V-16 Town Car fender set.

Eric

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If this kit is as good as the other Johan Gold Cup Series classic kits, it should be outstanding. 

One caveat:  I have found that the reissued versions of the Mercedes 500K that are NOT Gold Cup kits are not produced as well -- more flash, inconsistent chrome. These reissues generally have a white border around the box top art. 

Edited by sjordan2
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  • 3 weeks later...

I think think it's one of the best kits every made in this scale.  The detail is incredible, and everything goes together surprisingly well for a kit of this ages and complexity.  As you can see in the photos, the wire wheels are amount the very few that re actually somewhat decent in that scale.    Definitely one to buy if you like classic cars.

Try to get one of the earlier issues, as the molds did get pretty abused toward the end.  For example, the stone guard originally had a nicely detailed Cadillac crest which was ground down to a blank spot on the later issues, and of course, lots and lots of flash.

On the subject of the V-12s vs the V-16s,  the Johan kits has a set of V-12 Taillights.  V-16 taillights have more of a concave face. If you're looking for info on V-16 or V-12s, this site is a gold mine.

http://cadillacdatabase.com/

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No, Lee. The Monogram 452 B is a V-16 also. I think the notion of using a shortened V-16 is the best bet. I too am curious about the wheelbase and hood length.

Al, you are off to a great start on a V-16 Roadster.You might want to study the sill plates above the running board carefully as some of them have sills more like the V-16 Town Car fender set.

Eric

Cadillac's V12 is virtually identical to the V16, just 2 cylinders shorter (of course, on each cylinder bank).  As for the wheelbase and hood length, yes, both are shorter on the V12 than the V16 cars.  For reference, the 1931 Cadillac V16 cars were 222.5" overall length, with a wheelbase of 148". I believe this difference is primarily in the engine bay.  The Model 355 V12 cars had an overall length of 209", with a wheelbase of 140".    The difference in overall length was accentuated with the Model 452 V16 chassis, given that this series Cadillac had significantly larger bodies than were cataloged for the V12 Model 355.


Art

Edited by Art Anderson
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Cadillac 355cid V12 engine:  https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/1931Cadillac370AcoupeV12-engine.jpg

Cadillac 452cid V16 engine:  http://images57.fotki.com/v1418/file1Mz8/885fa/4/43743/1172716/CadillacV161.jpg

Note also, the two sides of these engines are virtually identical, left to right, each bank of cylinders being pretty much a "mirror image" of the other.  It shouldn't be all that difficult to rework the JoHan V16 into the V12.  Bellhousing and transmissions are the same for both engines.

Art

 

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