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Car Model History part deux


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Attached are pictures of the three CAR MODEL cover/article cars I was able to obtain last month.  The condition of the three varies:

-The '57 Chevy is in quite decent shape.  The bumpers have "silvered" a bit, but they're better than equivalent parts in some unbuilt Revell kits from the period that I have seen.  The paint on the car still has a nice shine.  The seam between the original kit roof and the balsa extension piece is visible, but not obtrusive.  A detailed build article appeared in the July 1964 issue.  This model was entered in the Revell/Pactra contest series in 1965 (the third and, I believe, last series).  I don't know how it did.  Probably for the contest, the wheels and tires used in the original build (from the base kit) were replaced with AMT '55 Nomad wheels and tires.  A custom grille bar from an AMT '56 Ford kit was also added.  And no, I don't get the Ford oval decals on a Cadillac-powered Chevy.

-The '49 Mercury appeared on, and in, the May 1966 issue.  Two Mercury kits were used, the second one donated body sections for the custom front end and to stretch the chopped top.  The Hurst mag wheels and tires appear to be from the '66 Mercury annual kit.  The chop is incorrect compared to a 1:1 Merc, in that the top is stretched and the rear window area is cut.  Good 1:1 Merc chops shift the roof forward without extending it, and tilt the rear window area forward to close the gap.  The tempered glass backlite can't be cut anyway.  Plans are to clean this one up, reattach the loose parts, and then build a clone with another two Merc kits.  I'll do the "wrong" chop but will cut the two bodies so as to have fewer seams to fill.  The original build stretched the roof with a piece added in at the center, with the B-pillars being spliced in towards the end of the job.  I'll do it differently but it will look the same.  The paint on this car is Testor's metalflake blue, from the Ed Roth color line.  One of the newer Testor's custom lacquers should approximate the color.  I might even use the custom wheels from a reissue '66 Merc, just because.

-The '65 Coronet appeared in two issues (November and December 1965) and on the December cover.  My November issue doesn't have a cover, so I don't know if the Dodge appears or is mentioned on it.  The November article outlines the wheelbase alteration, with December allocated to paint and hand lettering.  Different themes were used on opposite sides of the car.  This model is in one piece but isn't in great shape: the paint is on the heavy side and exhibits a lot of cracking on the hood, roof, and deck.  I wanted to get this car in particular, as I thought someone not knowing what it was might tear it down and strip the paint for a rebuild.  I'd like to build a new one of these (or more likely two, each with the same lettering on both sides).  Maybe two Polar Lights Coronets, or possibly an original MPC for one car and a Moebius Plymouth Satellite for the other....  

Thunderball 1.JPG

Rebel Rouser 2.JPG

57 Chevy panel.jpg

custom merc 2.JPG

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Very Most Way Excellent! I've been going through my Car Models of the era and ran across the Merc article the other day. Like my Henry 8th Mustang, it was built by Paul Sable. He was quite a mainstay of the mag in those days, with a feature article almost every month. He also did stories on painting, on customizing (chopping, channelling, and sectioning), and engine detailing. He seems to have got bitten hard by the Funny Car bug in 1965 and went heavily off in that direction for awhile--your Dodge (I'm assuming that was Sable too, right?) and my Mustang were among his first, but he went on to build pretty credible replicas of Eliminator I and the Tickle Me Pink Charger. Looks like he stopped writing for the mag in late '67 or early '68. 

Congrats on your scores. It's great to own these things, isn't it? B)

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The Dodge was built by Mike Baltes, who also built the '57 Chevy panel.  Paul Sable did far more articles than Mike did.  Mike later worked at (or owned part of) Auto World.  When I was selling aftermarket parts in the late Eighties, I remember getting a solicitation from Auto World for samples, as they were thinking about carrying aftermarlet items.  Nothing came of it, as that stuff was in its infancy back then, and most guys couldn't offer much of a discount.  Besides that, with conversion parts your sales are limited to a small fraction of the people who happened to buy the kit that the conversion goes with.  I distinctly remember the solicitation letter being from Mike Baltes.

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7 hours ago, Mark said:

 ..... -The '65 Coronet appeared in two issues (November and December 1965) and on the December cover.  My November issue doesn't have a cover, so I don't know if the Dodge appears or is mentioned on it.  .... 

November '65 cover here, from this person's site collection of the '62 - '68 covers. No Coronet shown or mentioned on that cover.

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Congrats Mark!   That Paul Sable Merc was part of what inspired me to do my full custom chopped Merc (with a correct top shop) that finished 2nd nationwide in the 1976 MPC National Customzing Contest series.   

I'm encouraged to see the interest in the modeling community for historic topics like this and the ones that Richard acquired a couple of days ago.  I've been told by some of the "experts" that this was not a topic of interest to the modeling community, but I've always thought that might not actually be the case. 

Best of luck on your restorations and new projects relating to this acquisition.  

TIM  

 

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Nice!  I wouldn't even have an idea where to look on ebay for things like this.  Did the sellers know what they were selling?  Where is that blue 40 roadster pick up that someone did inthe other magazine in the 80s?  I'd love to have that one for some reason... don't judge me... lol  

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10 hours ago, randyc said:

Nice!  I wouldn't even have an idea where to look on ebay for things like this.  Did the sellers know what they were selling?  Where is that blue 40 roadster pick up that someone did inthe other magazine in the 80s?  I'd love to have that one for some reason... don't judge me... lol  

This one?    TIMDSC 0548

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13 hours ago, tim boyd said:

This one?    TIMDSC 0548

 

:D  That's exactly the one.  For some reason that is one of the few covers I can remember.   And that build made some sort of indelible impression on me.  Go figure.   I bought the kit with a similar build in mind.   Just the ideas.  And I have used the windshield post idea more than a few times.  I thought when I mentioned that you might have been the builder but didn't want to credit it incorrectly. 

It's so 80s.  But that's when I got back into modeling and real cars and styling really heavily.  It is perfect 80s.  If you ever decide you don't have room for it.... 

There will be some of us who remember THIS and other builds like it as the historical cars like the others in these two threads.  At that age where the earlier magazines and columns were before our time.  

Thanks, Tim.  Great to be able to talk to you and others from the various columns on forums like these now.

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