Working man's 2002 Cadillac Escalade EXT

[FenderMender]

 

Before and After: working man's Cadillac Escalade

About a year ago I bought this 1:24 scale Jada Just Trucks 2002 Cadillac Escalade EXT model for a dollar at a Goodwill store.  The model was essentially a shell with a dashboard without a steering wheel, no interior or seats, no engine or engine bay, no tailgate and no chassis!  It sat on a shelf for a year all the while I had hoped some spare Escalade parts might surface somewhere.  This never happened, so I decided to challenge myself to construct a chassis, interior, engine bay with an engine and a functioning tailgate.  After having completed this project, I gained a tremendous amount of respect, admiration and appreciation for the truly gifted craftsmen, hobbyists and artists out there who are responsible for a great many absolutely incredible hand-made creations. These folks are true masters and artisans, skilled beyond belief.  The diecast manufacturers also garnered a renewed personal appreciation for their models, too, by providing models at very reasonable prices considering all that is involved in bringing them to market. Consider the huge costs of research, development, capital expenditure, tooling, labor, packaging, marketing and transportation. Significant, indeed.

 

BEFORE:

My order for getting the Escalade back on the road consisted of, first, making a chassis and putting wheels on it. The initial cardboard template turned into the final chassis with some plastic credit card stock added along the way at key stress points. Many measurements, trial and error fittings and alterations were done to make certain that the wheels aligned properly with the wheels wells, that the wheels rolled, that a cool stance was achieved and that the chassis lined up accurately with the screw holes on the body shell.

 

 

AFTER:

 Second, interior work began by making a steering wheel. Then one bucket seat from my very limited parts bin was mounted to a scratch-built plinth.  With no rear seat (planned or to be used) as an obstruction, it was easy to carpet the entire floor. My idea for this Cadillac truck was it was to be a single working man's "dream truck" that goes both ways: a roomy work truck and a WIP competition show truck with air suspension. LOL.

 

 Third, the engine bay was built onto the chassis and a 2005 Pontiac GTO Ram Air pan engine was installed. The engine, side mirrors and interior foot pedals are from a 1:24 scale Welly 2005 Pontiac GTO custom.

 

 Wrapping up the project included forming a tailgate from a small piece of sheet aluminum, covering black cardboard with brushed metallic tape for a reversible tonneau cover, adding a lower rear clip below the tailgate and applying a fifty-plus-years-old license plate decal, "Night Prowlers".

 Final version of the 1:24 scale Jada Just Trucks 2002 Cadillac Escalade EXT with a scratch-built custom chassis, custom interior and custom 2005 Pontiac GTO Ram Air engine. 

 

Thanks for looking....

 

 

 

 

 

  

[PappyD340]

Excellent work!!