'62 Chrysler Newport rabbit hole (they multiply)

[ChrisBcritter]

I'd always wanted to tackle a Revell '62 Chrysler Newport convertible, just because it's not often seen built up - probably since the Jo-Han kit was so much more crisply done. A couple years ago I got started with this second issue translucent metalflake purple example, which I got in a trade with the late Tom Piagari:

Not too bad, but I wanted stock wheels and the engine was just a block, a crookedly-glued intake manifold, and the broken lower half of a supercharger drive belt. So I started looking for a parts car...

...and this turned up. Nearly complete including the engine (but custom finned valve covers) and stock wheels/wheelcovers. Probably sat in a stack of other cars; note the sagging torsion bars and windshield plus the tire marks on the front fenders. Figured there was enough here to make one good car.

And then I spotted this...

Near mint original body; the windshield frame was all there. The wheels started turning... I could now get two complete cars since the parts car was mostly good underneath the skin. So I decided to build the brown one as a stocker and the purple one as a mild custom, keeping the mags. Well, in for a penny... Of course, I still lacked one top boot and now one of the purple car's taillights had gone AWOL, so...

I picked up this junker. It also had a good interior, so I could cut the front seat out and make it separate to make detailing the interior easier.

So put 'em together blow 'em apart and whadda ya got:

This one's engine has a Jo-han fan, belts, and generator, plus resin valve covers, exhaust manifolds, and Torqueflite (Revell put a three-speed stick behind the engine, and NO pedals at all, so whatever). Will probably use a single four-barrel and aftermarket air cleaner and switch to dual exhaust.

The other also gets a Torqueflite and valve covers (shortened 1/16") from the MPC '65 Dodge which I used for casting masters, a Jo-Han air cleaner (the Revell one was wrong; it's for a 318 poly) and the new correct resin wheelcovers I made from modified Jo-Han covers. A bit hard to see, but I removed the front fender trim and re-aligned it so it doesn't curve upward.

The chassis; I did a bunch of repairs on the brown one, and the purple one's torsion bars are upside down and interfere with the engine. I think I have a fix.

I had to add about 1/16" of CA to the top corner of the left rear fender to get the taillight to fit, and fill the gaps at the front edges of both. Now they fit way better - will do the same with the other car.

So that's where I am now - more to come. Thanks for looking!

Edited August 30, 2020 by ChrisBcritter

[Spottedlaurel]

Good luck! Sounds like there's a plan there, although you know you'll probably end up with another one, to make use of the leftover parts........

[Elmer Fudd]

Yep, there's enough to make 2 now. Gathering up all the pieces can sometimes take awhile but it looks like you did well in the hunt!

[ChrisBcritter]

It took some doing...  It's not in the pictures, but I got a second good used windshield for the brown one. 

Ended up using the new modded resin wheelcovers because the originals are a bit undersized, plus two had sink marks in their centers (very common with these), and the Jo-Han ones have the little ribs around the center done right.

Any suggestions for a source of a good Mopar 2-barrel carb for the stock one?

Edited August 30, 2020 by ChrisBcritter

[Elmer Fudd]

The 2Bbl carb in the MPC Chevy Monza kits might be passable. It has a round air cleaner surface and a squarish front float bowl. It looks like it would need a base (throttle) plate added and maybe a little more material on the underside of the shallow float bowl. The AMT Monza has a primitive 4Bbl carb which never came on a stock Monza.

[blunc]

the factory 4bbl carb would most likely be a carter afb (or AVS)... if it really matters.

Fireball, sells this style carb.

 

[Nazz]

Great idea Christopher, I've always wanted to do something like this, 2 versions of the same car. BTW is that a 1968 Olds 442 in the background?

[ChrisBcritter]

30 minutes ago, Nazz said:

BTW is that a 1968 Olds 442 in the background?

Yes, but not mine - the photo came from the eBay listing.

[ChrisBcritter]

Mostly posted about this in the "What did you screw up accomplish today?" thread, but a little update here. Got the front seat out of the spare interior, sawed a notch behind the front edge to bend the bottom back. Of course it promptly broke in two places and spat a chunk of the top edge to who knows where. Some cursing, gluing and filling fixed that, and I added filler pieces on the sides from where they met the bucket, with decent results:

This will go in the tan one after I patch the floor and door panels. First I'll make a mold from this one and block it off to cast two copies of the driver's side area, which will become bucket seats for the purple custom.

I just finished redoing all four torsion bars, replacing most of the warped/twisted 1/8" thick plastic bars with 1/16" model car axles. The tough part was drilling out all eight stumps to insert the axles; I used a couple carbide bits drilling from each side by hand until the holes went through, then enlarging the holes to 1/16" without breaking the darn things, thank goodness:

The tan one is stock height and the purple one is lowered by flipping the front parts side to side. I'm putting supports under the axle bosses to make sure they align and don't sag. I'll have to countersink the axle pins on the purple one so they don't interfere with the engine.

I probably won't do too much more detailing on these chassis other than adding dual exhaust to the purple custom, since they're pretty rudimentary; and I've got enough to do with these sow's ears trying to get silk purses out of 'em!

Thanks again for looking!

 

 

 

[Tom Geiger]

Interesting project. I love to build from old glue bombs. I bought a 6 unit case of the former Lindberg 64 Dodges, because the chassis slips right under the Johans I’ve tried so far.. had you thought of going that route?

[ChrisBcritter]

Yes I have, but... in the case of these cars, the chassis aren't great but they're already on hand and were made to fit these bodies. Since I'm building two at once I'm choosing my battles.

As I've done with other projects like my '65 Nova, '64 Caddy and '61 Comet, it's been a fun challenge to improve/dress up the kit chassis since those were pretty good to begin with. I do have '64 Plymouth, '65 Comet, '58 Edsel and '60 Ford chassis stashed for future projects, and the '59 DeSoto will get '57 Chrysler underpinnings since they're a great fit.

[Oldcarfan27]

This is like a soap opera - I can't wait to see what happens next!!