Fighting Irish Camaro F/C

[ratnasty]

Hello everyone this post has a lot of pics and a long read but I think the car and person deserve it . First off I did NOT build this model , I was won it off of ebay . It had been listed 3 times and I watch it everytime so I step up and bought it. Now I never have bought a built up with the intension of leaving it the way I got it , but this is a different story.

Ok here we go . This model was built by a young man in NJ. , and when I say young man that was back in 1973. The gentleman that built it is Micheal Durante and he used to go to Englishtown to see the drags. After receiving the car I had to talk to him. Mike is now 52 and he built and competed in a MPC sponsored model car show and won 1st place. Everyone is probally saying this is all fine and dandy , but remeber in 1973 there were no resin companies (except maybe Modelhaus), no Slixx decal company and no after maeket companies selling plug wires and steel braided hoses (please remember this line when you look at the pics). The body was altered from a stock Camaro and the body work is fawless. The chassis is 100% scratch built ( I thought it was a MPC chassis but its not ).There are only 5 decals on this car ,1 Hays decal on the lower rocker and 4 on the dog house and the rest of the car is hand lettered , yes thats what I said (HAND PAINTED). After I got the car I did need to help it out very very little . The front windsheid needed to be replaced (it was dingy and bowing outward) and the rear glass was replaced , (it had brush marks in it) . Now back in 1973 there was not a lot knowledge on clear coating models so I gently wiped the body down with Windex and started the clear coat process (5 coats then blocking it out then 1 final coat). I use Duplicolor clear coat and added the canard wings back on (the mounts were there but the wings were long lost. Sorry for the long read but after I thought about it and the quality that a 15-16 year old did I was blown away and yes I did the math from when it was built and to the age at the time of built and his age now and it all matches. So when you look at the pics just remember these facts about Mike and this car:

*built in 1973

*built by a 15-16 year old

*scratch built chassis

*all hand lettered graphics and a altered body

*and NO SLIXX DECALS

*and NO AFTERMARKET CO. around

I hope you enjoy the pics as much as I enjoy now owning the car.

thanks Chuck

[brett]

from the lips of Bill Engvall " Now thats Awesome"

[KENNEDYJR]

That's a great looking build-love the paint on that one.

[MicroNitro]

very cool, Is Micheal still building models?

[Matt LeBlanc]

WOW!!!!!

[whale392]

And to think that car could still place or win today!

[Old Coyote]

Amazing build

[Rider]

That is be-ut-i-ful. It's amazing what we can do when we're young and don't have the "limitations" of life barring down on us. Great job on the touch-up resto.

Is the script hand painted or was it stencilled? Either way I am inspired.

[rssschris]

Fantastic ! If I could do that I`d never use decals !

Chris

[Ben]

For some reason, i'm just getting little boxes with a red X where the pics are suposed to be? Do you have a link to them?

[bigmikevee]

Hey Chuck,

Getting same results as Ben, little boxes with red X in them, tried to right-click open, logged off, then back on, still can't open. Would love to see the model you are talking about, I remember those days when all we had was our love of "cool car" models and some imagination, we would try and build what we saw in the pictures in Hot Rod and Car Craft, or maybe build the car we knew we would never be able to afford. Seemed like a lot of my friends ( and once in awhile..... me) would build some really cool cars, we would raid mom's sewing kit for wires and things, dad's toolbox for sandpaper and tools, and hope to stumble onto something that would help make our models look good. I remember using nailpolish on an engine..... straight from mom's medicine cabinet, little brush and all, no thinner, no primer, no sanding, no clearcoat, just a little bit of skill and time, and it looked awesome!!

AAHHHHH...them was da days!!

Mike

[ratnasty]

I think Fotki was down but here a link to my albums and the car

my album

http://public.fotki.com/ratnasty/

fighting Irish album

http://public.fotki.com/ratnasty/fighting-irish-camaro-fc/

thanks Chuck

[Ben]

WOW!!!!!!! That guy has some serious talent!!!!!!! I could never let something that nice, go! You really got a great build up there!!!!!!!

[spkgibson]

That HAS to be the most impressive build I have ever seen,And built in 1973,That was the year I was born,I sure hope he is still building,That is a work of art!AMAZING!