THarrison351

Ooh, Nice!

From Franklin Mint and better known as Al Capone's 1930 Armored Cadillac Imperial V-16 Sedan. This big Cadillac is sharp and well detailed. It was very dirty but almost completely undamaged and with all accessories. I didn't think it had any damage until I started to clean and polish and discovered the right horn and headlamp bucket was unattached. Fortunately the horn was captured by its mount bar and the lamp had a second attachment point or they might have been lost. I also discovered the right exhaust tip is missing. I'll have to look through my parts and see if I have anything close. There were a lot of nooks and crannies which made this difficult to clean. I find it pretty cool they include a Thompson .45 submachine gun, a replica of Al Capone's white Fedora hat and a leather briefcase. The car has unique details like gun portals in the rear door windows, a hinged working trunk rack and the doors are piano hinged. Here are the pictures. You might be able to see in the picture the right horn is askew. Trunk rack unfolded, too bad they didn't include a trunk in this version. I think there's another version with one. All cleaned up and ready for action! Tomorrow Danbury Mint's 1950 Mercury Custom.

It's a good looking diecast!

That. Front. Bumper. 5 MPH before they were invented.

Made by Danbury Mint and based on the prototype 1948 Tucker 48 better known as the "Tin Goose" this is a beautiful diecast and really captures the current condition of the 1:1 car. The prototype originally had a ginormous 589 cubic inches (9.65 L) flat-6 cylinder with hemispherical combustion chambers, fuel injection, and overhead valves operated by oil pressure rather than a camshaft. This unique engine was designed to idle at 100 rpm and cruise at 250-1200 rpm through the use of direct-drive torque converters on each driving wheel instead of a transmission. The problem was it was never fully developed, loud and difficult to start, and oh yeah, no reverse. It's too bad DM didn't model it on the original version because Franklin mint has a passable version in multiple colors. Another difference is the prototype had conventional rear doors as opposed to the "production" model having suicide doors in the rear. This is an exceptionally well detailed model and it looks much nicer than the Franklin Mint version. I do have one of those too, but it's packed away. This one had a paint smear from the tampo print on the fender. I polished it off with Zymol cleaner wax. The only other things it needed were a good polish and the engine cover support put back together. Someone had over opened the cover and pulled the two halves apart. Here's the photos after the repair and polishing. I haven't been taking pictures of the chassis on previous cars, but I made an exception. Tomorrow I'm posting Al Capone's 1930 Armored Cadillac Imperial V-16 Sedan. This car was filthy and a pain to polish.

What did you do for the exhaust? The flamed version exits through holes in the rear pan.

Pretty Sharp! Great song and video too! Someone needs to build that drum kit from the video though, It's pretty dang outrageous!

That's a cool kit that you should enjoy building. A lot of people malign it because of the undersized smallblock Ford engine. I remember building it as a kid in the '70s when it was the Lil' John Buttera's '26 T Street Rod. I liked it and it looked pretty good when finished, Molded in metalic brown, I didn't even have to paint it.

So, some time ago I was attempting to collect as inexpensively as possible at least one manufacturers car from the mints made in the '50s. The 1955 Porsche Speedster is the only offering from Franklin Mint. It's pretty well detailed and can be had fairly cheap if you have patience. My first one was dirty, in good shape otherwise. Came with the box, styrofoam and paperwork, but was missing the down top cover as most offerings seem to be. So I've been watching for a couple of years for a wreck or even a top by itself. A month or so ago a complete car popped up for cheap. The seller had taken bad pictures (2) but it had the down top part I needed. The seller said it was in good condition, but was missing a wiper (it wasn't). Gramps46 inquired wanting a review when I got back. Here both of them are. One's going on eBay when I get my act together. You're not seeing double, the one with the top is my first one. The topless one is my new one. This model has a lot of detail. Photoetch, wiring and nice paint. It does have doglegs on the doors, but they don't stand out too bad. Next up, Danbury Mint 1948 Tucker Tin Goose!

I really like almost all the M2 cars in 1/24 scale. They look pretty good, have some variety and fit my cheapskate persona. Great review Randy!

Yeah Randy, lol. The car came with no instructions, so the first thought I had was there must be a magnet in the disc to hold them to the wheel. When I looked at them up close nope, just punched pieces of metal. When I placed one near a wheel, it snapped right into place. Then I was trying to figure out how to get them back off. They fit very tight and wont slide around. I looked at the baseball bat thing and thought maybe it's a stronger magnet and viola, off they came. So, I hope to be home on Saturday night. I plan to get back to the rest of the cars, get them cleaned up, repaired and posted. While I've been up here in the cold, I won a 1955 Ford Crown Victoria Custom from DM that has suffered the same fate most of them and the paint on the chromed top is cracking and flaking. I'll see of I can get the rest off and repaint it. There's a guy on eBay trying to pass one off as a mistake that never has had any paint. You can see in the pictures some overspray on the edges. Sheesh.

Man. I really envy you guys and the Rite-Aid Drugs. Nothing for us out here in Kansass.

Danbury Mint 1937 Chevrolet Budweiser Christmas delivery truck. Only one I need to complete the set. Franklin Mint 1939 World's Fair Ford Convertible Coupe. The first time I saw one I knew I wanted it. Franklin Mint John Dillinger's 1933 Ford Deluxe. Just a good looking diecast and I have the Capone Cadillac. Franklin Mint Bonnie & Clyde's 1932 Ford V-8. Same Story. I've been trying to find them for less than $50 with a box complete can be damaged, but repairable. I'm always on the hunt for a mint bargain that's complete but reparable or dirty. Three other diecasts I'm on the lookout for are Carl Edwards 2016 Subway 1:24 NASCAR Toyota, SunStar I Love Lucy 1955 Pontiac w/2 figures, Luggage, Guitar case, and Racing Champions Marty Robbins #42 Dodge Daytona. Unlike the FM and DM cars, they need to be in their orignal packages and unmolested.

M2 has really knocked it out of the park for 64.5-66 Mustangs and Shelby GT 350s. I've got a one off Shelby 350S prototype that M2 replicated in green and is supercharged like the 1:1

1932 Ford Deuce Highboy by Danbury Mint. Oh boy I got luck on this one. This was a little more than I usually like to spend of under $50. The same seller sold me the 1940 FORD Hot Rod and a Plymouth Prowler for cheap. I saved a bunch on shipping. I saw one of these in another listing and had no idea it had options. You can make it a street roadster highboy with a top on or off or you can remove everything and place Moon discs on the wheels and a tonneau cover over the cockpit and go dry lake racing. All it needed was a good polish and the windshield glued back in the frame. The black baseball bat looking object is a magnet to help remove the Moon discs Highboy Roadster with Duvall windshield Drylake Racer with helmet and goggles

Snake, I kind of favor the the phantom #2, but I would have personally punched an RB block out to 500+ cubes with giant Indy heads all disguised as a 383+6. love the 67-69 bodies. Hate that they were never really mean't for big blocks.

Sorry, it's not Franklin Mint. It is Danbury Mint based on their 1940 Ford Deluxe Coupe.

1940 Ford Hot Rod by Danbury Mint. I like this one. It looks like they used their existing 1940 Ford coupe dies and modified them just enough for that Hot Rod flair. Those yellow flames are blinding. The rest of the car is a deep dark metallic blue that only needed a good polish to bring it back to life. I really like this car. I have one more car I can post. The Danbury Mint 1932 Ford Highboy. If things go well and I have time, I'll drop that tomorrow.

Looks pretty good Randy. I have several versions from M2. All from Walmart at $19.99 each. I do like the FM versions too.

Yeah, my first FM green one was a reject off of eBay. Broken mirrors, bumpers and filthy. One of my first Mint purchases. It cleaned up nice, and repaired pretty well. The only thing missing is the trunk license holder. I hope to unpack it soon. I really lucked into this red one.

Man Randy, that 300 is the Bomb! the difference in 56 and 57 Chryslers is night and day!

Randy that's much nicer than the 10 dollar cheapo from Walmart. Red and white or that bright yellow I've seen in the brochures from the '70s are my picks. I like those Lincolns too!

1948 Chrysler Town & Country by Franklin Mint limited edition in Sumac red. I got real lucky on this one. I've had a repaired green FM version for years, but was on the lookout for a nice one when this popped up. The bidding ended early in the morning on a weekday and I guess there wasn't much interest. There are several differences in appearance between the DM and FM cars. The DM has what appears to be a textured leather pleated interior and the FM has a smooth two tone pleated one. The dashboards are different too, once again two tone for the FM and single color for the DM. There is no glass in the vent windows of the FM cars. Under the hood the Spitfire six really stands out on this version from FM. I think both Mints did a good job under the hood. I discussed on the DM the doors open awkwardly and on this one the have the dreaded dogleg. The trunk hinges are handled differently on both cars. The FM has only exposed piano hinges and the DM has rivet detail. The DM car has what appears to be full wheel hub caps where the FM has just the dog dish. There are other unique differences as well. The DM has a spotlight on the drivers side and the FM has fog/driving? lamps. The DM has a fancy exhaust tip too. Finally, I think the actual wood on the FM is much nicer than the DM. So this car only needed a nice polish as well. No damage or broken parts and just a hint of rash on the hood. Just like my other one, it doesn't really show well with my cell phone, but after I polished this with wax, it's nice too! So we made it to Winnipeg. Pretty dang cold, but it's gonna get worse tomorrow in Yellowknife. I'll post the Danbury Mint 40 Ford Hot Rod next.

That Chevelle looks sharp Randy!

Thanks! I'm very happy with this one. I polished and repaired a Danbury Mint 32 Ford Deuce Highboy tonight. I'll post more pictures soon. My trip to the cold is pending and I'll post repaired and completed cars from there, I hope.