ToyLvr

Required a lot of hard work to build something like that. But why???

Since autos have been produced for over 100 years, it would take a lot of study of archive photos to pick out the al-time ugliest ever produced. In my case, I'll limit it to cars that I've had some personal experience or "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". Here's mine, in order of UGLIEST first... 1) Pontiac Aztec 2) Nissan Cube 3) '61 Dodge Dart/Plymouth Valiant 4) Chrysler minivan (especially the early ones) 5) '96 - '99 Ford Taurus (my family actually owned one; very dependable, but the front end look like a catfish staring at you in the driveway) 6) AMC Gremlin 7) AMC Pacer 8) '73 Datsun B210 9) 1980s Cadillac Seville "Turtleback" 10) Citroen 2CV

Jantrix - sounds like an ideas for a new topic - "Most Rare (valuable) Model I Ever Ruined" Anybody care to get it started?

Yeah, even my Mustang GT convertible gets around 20MPG around town. I switched to driving the VW Beetle because it got better mileage. Even so, the Beetle doesn't get as good gas mileage as I thought it would...

I guess they wouldn't like my daily driver, either....

For those not familiar, the Corvair gets it heater/defroster from shrouds around the exhaust manifolds, very similar to the old Volkswagen Beetle, only the Vair has a fan to help pull the warm air into the interior. If the pushrod tube seals leak (which was pretty much 100% assured in the days before Viton), or the exhaust manifold gaskets leak, you've wind up with some very unpleasant stuff inside the car if you turn on the heater. That will explain to all of my associates here on the forum who think I'm crazy....my brain is fried from too many years of breathing Corvair fumes and model glue/paint.

I'm an expert on leaking oil and stuff coming out the tail pipe, etc. Have owned 35+ Corvairs over the last 40 years. What comes out the tailpipe is not necessarily the problem; it's when the heater pipes it into the cockpit that the fun begins....

Hey, on some of those fancy "Pocher" 1/8 scale kits, there's an ignition key! And when you insert it and turn the key, the lights work! Real leather on the sets, too. Just how far do you want to go in detailing a model????. And don't forget the oil filter and dipstick!

Battery cables, Harry? As a kid, I don't think I ever put a battery in a model. I don't think I even knew what it was. ;-) Then I made my first attempt to build JoHan's Chrysler Turbine Car kit. It had two (2) batteries, or goodness sake, and they we're supposed to be mounted in the trunk. Way too confusing....left them out, too....

Do the Pinto in "Starsky & Hutch" motif. ;-)

We had a Maverick "Grabber" in the family back in the day. It moved out pretty well! 302V8 in a small car = fast. Really like your build, Al.

You know the old saying, "truth is stranger than fiction." A member of my family who is a professionally-trained mechanic was changing the oil in his car, and added just a bit too much during the refill. He climbed back under the car with a wrench and an empty oil bottle, intending to open the drain plug just a bit, and let a little of the excess oil drip into the bottle. As Murphy's Law would dictate, the drain plug came loose all the way, fell into the little quart bottle, and 4 quarts of nice new fresh oil proceeded to flood his driveway before he could get back out from under and grab a pan. ;-)

I have Mr Starbird's biography, as well as having read a lot of the history of the Predicta over the years. The irony of Harry's bashing is that the 1:1 Predicta actually wound up with a hole cut in the hood and a supercharger mounted on its engine! Likewise, it was wearing a garish paint job and mag wheels. See thepredictaproject.org (website by Mark Gustavson) That was how it was when Starbird rescued it years later from obscurity in California, and began to restore it to its original glory. Check out the photo on the aforementioned website. You'll find that Ron's ideas actually are quite close to reality. Anyway, FWIW, I like it, Ron!

I tend to build mostly "Replica Stock" cars of the 60s and 70s, so I'm a big fan of the old "annual" kits from that era. A lot of them have been reissued in recent years, but I prefer to buy original issues if I can find them at a somewhat reasonable price. I don't like the rubbery plastic used in the reissues from China, and many of these kits have a lot of "flash" due to worn-out tooling. IMHO, nothing beats an original issue kit manufactured back in the good old' days, when the tooling was new, and styrene was styrene. That being said, I must admit being tempted by new subjects issued by manufacturers such as Mobius and Galaxie, and the occasional reissue if I can't find an original.

A couple of years ago, I discovered a TV show on cable TV BBC channel called "James May's Toy Stories". Those of you who are car nuts, and machinery nuts in general, would probably like this show. Anyway, in one episode, he sets out to build the world's largest model airplane (a WWII "Spitfire", I think). He manages to find a manufacturer that can mold the parts in 1:1 size, and even has the parts on a sprue! He recruits local high school kids to help assemble it! I cannot provide a good enough description to do it justice, but it's quite funny. I highly recommend it if you can get the BBC channel on your telly, and can catch a repeat of the episode. The question remains, is it a model, or a full-scale replica?

Regarding the Aztec used in the "Breaking Bad" TV series, I think it was the perfect choice as the personal vehicle for character Walter White, who is portrayed as a sort of a "geek" chemistry teacher (no disrespect intended to any real chemistry teachers here on the forum). I agree that this particular TV car would be quite a collector item after the series finale, assuming it is still around.

One of my buddies in the local model car club encountered one of the earliest Aztec while traveling south on I-75 near Dayton, Ohio. It was a yellow one. It was the first time he had seen one, and he thought that it was so UGLY that it had to be something that escaped from the nearby Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in their top-secret U.F.O. hangar!

Here's some more... Beverly Hillbillies '21 Olds Truck; "the Saint" - Roger Moore's Volvo; Chrysler Imperial from the short-lived TV series "the Hero"; 60s Galaxie from "The Andy Griffith Show"; How about the custom Olds Toronado from the detective show "Mannix" Lastly, did anyone mention the Monkeemobile?

I've been a big fan of the Chrysler Turbine Car ever since the 1960s when I was a kid. I followed the program's progress with great interest. I have several of the model kits and promos, and a lot of other related memorabilia. I've been to museums across the country to see the existing cars, everywhere from the Chrysler museum in Detroit all the way to the Petersen museum in LA. I've even travelled to the NATMUS museum in Auburn, Indiana, to see just a single Chrysler Turbine engine they have there (great photo opportunity). No, this doesn't make me an "expert", but I have tried to educate myself about the subject as much as possible. Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, Steve Lehto's recent book "Chrysler's Turbine Car: The Rise and Fall of Detroit's Coolest Creation", (as was refered to in an earlier part of this thread), offers the definitive history of the car. The author also does a lot to help debunk some of the myths that we're arguing, er, "discussing", here. if you're really interested in the Turbine car, check out this book. I really HATE that video of the Turbines being destroyed. Such an ignoble end to such a great car...

Ace-Garageguy: I don't know what your personal situation is, but if you're a working guy, maybe this will help. For a short, but productive, period of time, I was able to set up a " remote" workbench at my place of employment. Like many other companies in recent years, my company had a lot of "downsizing", and thus some offices and other work spaces were shut down. I found one that I knew for certain would not be used, and with the permission of an undertanding supervisor, I brought a box of modeling supplies to work and stashed the box in a corner of one of the unused spaces. I was thus able to wolf down a quick sandwich, and then spend the rest of my lunch hour working on a model. I wasn't able to do certain functions such as painting, but this did allow some time to do things such as scribing panel lines, body prep, etc. I felt like I was accomplishing something on my modeling projects, and it was a relaxing distraction from work for a while. Ironically, as the economy improved, I got too busy to take a full lunch hour, and eventually had to evacuate my little hideaway so it could be used for its intended purpose....

A while back, I was at a model car contest/swap meet, and observed that some fellow was there buying-up all of the old 60s era boxes that he could find, whether the kit was intact or just an empty box. I managed to catch up to him and talked to him a bit. Found out that he was looking for stuff to decorate his new "man cave" at home. He wanted to decorate at least one (1) wall with nothing but model car boxes. I thought that was a pretty cool idea, but a bit expensive...

I was out in the Portland, Oregon area a while back on a business trip. I managed to find a little free time towards the end of the day, so I decided to head to the Evergreen museum to see the Spruce Goose. I got there about 4PM, and the museum was scheduled to close at 5PM, so my goal was to head straight to the Goose display and spend all of my limited time there. I was looking around for the big plane amongst a bunch of really awesome vintage aircraft, but didn't immediately see it. I suddenly realized that I was standing under one of its massive wings.... The picture that Jeff posted really gives a good perspective of the plane's size - it's Indescribable.

Yeah, this thread is kinda ironic when we have a couple of other threads going that discuss the size of our model stash, and *why* we stash them. However, I'll play along. My favorite kit is the JoHan Chrysler Turbine Car (full glue-kit version, not the promo). I figure that I could build a dozen or so before I'd ever finally get it right....

The professionals in the body shops are painting with spray guns, of course, so they can mix up their own paint and add some faster-drying catalyst. The shops with more resources can afford a climate-controlled environment. I do have one trick to offer. I gave a combo thermometer/humidity gauge, and I keep a close eye on it. Even in the midst of the humid summer, there is often a brief period of time on a given day where the humidity will drop to an acceptable level, and I can sneak in a quick paint job (at least on the interior parts, wheels, etc.) Hey Nick, please explain to me how you can paint INSIDE the air conditioned house and get the fumes to disipate by the end of the day. My old lady always catches me if I try something like that. She has the nose of a bloodhound..... ;-)