Peter Lombardo

Not a car we see very often... really well done. Very unique and super clean. NICE!

Very well done, love the color..... i'm impressed.

Base coat of white on. Wheels I am planning to use, the car may sit a little lower, not sure yet. I have a little surprise in the trunk which you will see later. I went with the moon roof on this, yet to be tinted and finalized, fit wise, not sure yet if it will be closed, open or vented upward.you can see, there a just a few more small blemishes I need to clean up before the final base is applied.

I have been working on one of the salt flat cars. I have added the openings for the vent louvers over the four wheels. These will have quarter round louvers added to the front of the opening and then smoothed into place. Since you may not see my plan for the car, I did a quick pencil sketch of what I am planning. The rear will have a spoiler basically level with the rear deck extended back with the drag parachute below that. Besides the numbers and lettering, a few sponsor decals will be added and the body will have stripes done in white, candy blue and yellow. The chassis will be hand made mostly with small diameter tubing on a basic frame rails bade from rectangular stock with an independent suspension front and rear. I am planning a blown Allison engine. Here is the quick rendering.

No surprise Bill, it looks great......... extremely clean and tight as usual for you. Love the color.... not red, not orange.... somewhere in between. Beautiful !

Nothing left to say..... it is a magnificent job of recreating a vehicle model that hasn't been done before. I am completely impressed. Personally, I never cared for these cars when they were produced, I always thought that Ford had two sets of designers working on the car..... one was responsible for the doors forward, and one for the doors rearward, and they never met to compare notes until the two sections were put together. But hey, that is just me.... regardless, you must be very proud of the work you have done here. It has taken a long time and the final result makes it all worth while..... This is what I think modeling is all about..... most anyone can assemble a kit and make it look great, but not everyone can create from nothing.... that is a true skill, and that separates you from the pack. ...... great job! World-class!

Looks great, too bad these old Jo-han molds are gone for ever. You did a wonderful restoration......... well done.

Crazy, but I like it a lot..... I really like that it is a completely different take on a kit built in many liveries, but all basically the same.... this is very unique One of a kind. Sharp!

In my last post I said I was thinking about opening up the trunk..... well I did.... In this shot, note the area at the rear of the fenders where the tail lights will sit.After the trunk, I was thinking about a sunroof on the car..... why not, it is a modern custom of a 54 year old car. So I cut out a large opening in the roof for a sunroof..... the only question is should it be a sunroof (metal, well in this case, plastic) or a moonroof (glass, also plastic, just clear tinted) A number of years ago I built a 1958 Chevy with a Chazoom roof with a remote control opening sunroof.... I doubt this one will be motorized since that was a real witch (b) to engineer.... but it is pretty cool Here you can also see the openings in the rear window deck for the speakers. There will also be speakers in the doors too. I have to admit, I really like the silhouette view of the car, it is now long and low. I am thinking about (so most likely will do) having the front seats swivel as the doors open....... I haven't built them into a car since sometime around 1963 so I think I can do a better job of them now. I will begin finishing off the trunk interior and build the hinges for it next.

Wow, that is different........ pretty cool, well done.

Yes.... that makes my model more important then ever. Here is the story... https://www.thedrive.com/news/24870/california-wildfire-claims-vintage-car-collection-including-1-of-1-1948-norman-timbs-special So sad.

Sure looks better outside, but wow, it is stunning. I remember that color on that car.... looks great.

Hey Curt, should this be on the finished page? It looks great though.

Yeah, I thought you haven't been around in a while..... I am on and off due to a new business I have started which is killing my time..... I just posted to your rear engine Ford truck.... very nice.

Really sharp..... something you don't see every day. Very clean and a great color for the build, understated and clean. It would sure be difficult to keep those front wheels on the ground.

Just beautiful.... love the color and the engine..... not totally sure about the white top, but what a great clean and detailed build. Love it.

Very nice build..... the colors remind me of the convertible one I did...... I guess we think alike. Very well done.

Really nice detail.... impressive build.

What a great little "Buger" you built there. Love it, ..... one of these days, I will have to get a hold of one of the bodies. Great job, love the colors too.

Since the Riviera is nearing completion, it is time to begin plans on the next cars to reach the workbench. This time I want to build something completely different for me. I am planning a couple Bonneville salt "What If's" fantasy builds. First up is a body that I created many years ago for the Norman E. Timbs Special I built. This is a body that I vacuum formed which I intended to build his roadster from but after careful inspection rejected because the rear contours were not correct. I corrected the buck and remolded the body, so this is a one off body that is slightly different from the final Timbs car. Here is a link to that posting from a number of years ago............ I always thought that this shape would make a great Bonneville race car so now I think it is time to get it built.Just from the "yellowing" of the plastic, you can see I have had this for some time now.I am thinking maybe twin Hemi engines sitting side by side and a single seat way up front...... could work. right? The second car is from a clay mold I sculpted many years ago with no particular plan for the final body. It is kinda'' like a Group C race car and kinda' futuristic. It sat around for years and the other day while molding some roofs (one for the Riviera) I figured I would knock one off of this car too. After looking at it the idea of a Salt Flat car hit me. Especially because of the body from the Timbs car I thought why not. If building one salt flat car is good, two would be even better, right? For this car I am thinking an Allison Engine since the car is bigger and beefier, so the engine should fit in there. Here is the clay master. And here is the body molded from the master Rear view.Front view You can get an idea of what I am thinking for the cockpit area and where the body will separate to open the engine bay. Think scratch build tube chassis and full independent suspensions . I want the wheel areas to be enclosed and louvered areas to allow air to escape. Could work. right?

Updated pictures with the body in primer. Just a few "rough" areas yet to correct and the body will be complete except for the tail lights, which are being cut into the back edge of the rear quarter panels. The two holes on the rear pan are for the exhaust tips. The mirrors are a resin re-pop of Prowler mirrors. Just a few areas need some putty (left rear side window corner both the a and b pillars) and sanding attention and I have to clean up the trunk lines..... still debating whether or not to open the trunk up.

Great looking build, love the color and the faint flames..... nice. The hood hinges look like they could hole the weight of the entire car, but pretty cool. My friends dad had one of these (4 door version) and having driven it many times, a Viper engine certainly would be welcome to get that land barge moving quickly. Very nice.

After careful inspection, something about the profile shot of the car was bothering me. If you look at the front fender profile at the front, there is a rather significant diagonal angle downward from the top to the bottom which gives the car a more aggressive look to it. But looking at the back, the rear end of the back profile, especially at the bottom, does not have a similar diagonal slope to it but more of a vertical line. I think the front and the back should have a similar line to it. So I added some polystyrene to the back edge and built it up. Then I added some putty to fill in the surrounding areaI also added twin recessed antenna openings in the rear quarter panel. Here the door is in the open position and I have ground down much of the rear section and removed the molding which I will rebuild later.Now the slope on both the front and rear fenders have the same diagonal slope and the front and rear look like they belong to the same vehicle. The rear fender still needs a little more work and I have to rebuild the trim line, but I like the continuity of the fenders.

Very subtle chop.... looks very nice, I have to really look at it hard to see any evidence of the work. Love the color..... what we have come to expect from your workbench. Sharp.

Keep going, looking great.