Faust

Okay, that's good to know. I don't know if I've ever seen one of the early/mid '80s Mustangs in that green. Ford has a thing with greens, it seems, since there was the one dark green (Dark Jade?) available on the Taurus SHO Plus cars the one year as an exclusive colour. It was then available on all SHOs (maybe all Tauruses) the next, but for the one year it was very limited. So you could get a normal 5.0 in this 4E then, eh? That would make a cool looking pair! Does anyone know when they discontinued offering that colour?

Of course the Iron Duke rocked! It was a Poncho motor! Poncho Power! C'mon, you had to know that was coming!

Yeah, that's true. You gotta wonder how much GM was "encouraging" them to pick the X-Car that year, eh? Don't worry about it, lordairguitar: I will definitely be building it stock! I can't waste an opportunity like that!

Man, I'm glad to see that the Citation elicited such a wide range of responses. Just like when I dissed on the Pacer, or any of the other loser machines that I build, I take great pleasure in kicking cars when they're down. However, I think it's my job to help balance the "rose coloured" views that age gives us! I'm sure not every Citation sucked hard, but a lot of them did. A colleague of mine bought one from his Uncle up in North Bay area when he was younger. The car was only 2 years old, and seemed to run fine. On his way home to Brantford, though, it kept overheating. The mechanics checked it, and it was fine. Driving it around thereafter, it would constantly overheat. It had only run fine because it's so cold up in North Bay! They never did solve that problem... I am surprised that they made it a Notchback as well. The hatch is the one I remember seeing more of, but I really hated the lines. I much prefer a true notchback to a hatchback, although I like Fastbacks. Figure that out, eh? I think it's awesome that the X car was Motor Trend (I believe) Car of the Year when it came out. Hmmm... eating a bit of crow, maybe? The article goes on about how awesome it is, but this was all written before any time had passed, and the weaknesses had manifested themselves. Sure, there were a lot of groundbreaking things in the Citation, but nothing radically new that Europeans and Japanese hadn't been doing for a while when it came out. GM might have wanted to steal some good ideas, but they did a bad job executing them! That's what happens when you get behind on production and demand is higher than you think. I believe that's what happened (in part) to the Citation; they had to cut corners to get numbers. A classic auto industry dilemma, and one that almost always ends badly! I have that Cavalier, you guys are talking about. It's not so bad, well, except for the tires. What with my Chevette, Cavalier, Citation and '84 Fiero 2m4, I've got a whole stable of forgettable but well-remembered GMs! Glad you guys are enjoying the article; I don't know when I'll get around to building this, but it will likely be a red '82+, or a maroon '82+. I don't want to mess with those side scoops. They look awesome on the front of that ricer one above, though!

If you guys have followed my builds, you know that my tastes run to the unusual. I love loser cars; they’re what I grew up with and I can remember them sucking even when new. I have found myself to be quite blessed when it comes to finding kits of these things, too! For example, I don’t think there’s much more of an automotive failure than the Chevy Citation. Well, okay, maybe Ladas and Yugos, but for American cars, the Citation is about as bad as it can get. Heck, even exploding Pintos don’t seem to suck as badly! (Or do they?) Regardless, I have been lucky enough to get a Cavalier and a Chevette, but I was missing something from the GM Trinity of Failure: A Citation! That has now been corrected, and I’ve got an Out of the Box review for you of the Revell 1/24 Citation kit. It’s not a bad kit, but for some reason they did it as a lowrider! What the… “Thankfully”, it can also be build stock! Check out the awesomeness here! http://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/out-of-box-reviews/revel-124-chevy-citation-xlowrider-oob

It's a nice colour; I wish it had been available more readily! I don't know what's with Ford and their greens; the SVO Plus was the only SVO you could get in green, too, in 1987 or '89 or whenever they were offered. The dark sage really seems to channel the whole "Bullit" thing, but I've never seen it mentioned as such. With grey Torquethrust wheels, though, it would be an interesting take on an update, don't you think? Does anyone know if the 4E Dark Sage was used on any other Fords in this era, or is it totally unique to the SVOs?

My Uncle has all his Dinkys from when he was a "wee lad", so to speak! He's given me his army stuff, since he knows I'm a military history buff. I have quite a few HotWheels and Matchbox cars from 30 odd years ago, too. My Uncle has his Matchboxes from the 50s. I grew up knowing they were called "matchbox" because the old boxes looked like a box for matches. Are kids now even going to know what a box of matches looks like? I love old toys of all kinds. Toys are the one thing that really tell a story, at least to me, just by looking at them. They ooze with the hopes and imaginations of the generations that spawned them. I'm glad there are others out there who feel the same too!

Oh yeah, Tootsie Toys were awesome too! I don't have many if any of those now. Old toys were and are really cool. A totally different vibe from today.

One thing I always loved as a kid was tow trucks. Of course, I also loved anything that was an army vehicle. Now, I don’t build much if any armor, but thanks to the Dinky company I can satisfy both my childhood loves with the Scammell Recovery Tractor! This is an old Dinky Toy from the late ‘50s and into the ‘60s. Like all Dinkys it’s a really hefty toy with some neat, albeit crude, detail. Sure, it’s not as precise as a kit, but the old military Dinkys have a feel and presence all their own. Being someone who’s interested in armour, but not enough to build it, I find replicas like this are indispensable. Add to the fact that the thing is, in itself, a relic, and it’s even cooler! For something a bit different, check it out: http://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/cool-stuff/military-dinky-toys/dinky-toys-scammell-recovery-tractor-no-661/

Fantastic! I love these things, and I've never had a chance to see one built before! Wagons rock. T/As rock. Therefore, Kammaback (sp?) rocks! Well-built and well-finished!

Wow, thanks guys! I'm glad everybody likes it. I personally have always thought the SVOs were pretty cool. They were very different from everything else (at the time), mind you, but pretty cool nonetheless. I had a little pull-back-action toy of one years ago; it was actually 4wd! Went like scoot! Thanks for the compliments on the build and detailing. I did what I could, but some of the detailing does leave room for even further improvement. I wonder if the MPC SVO is any better? I have one, but I'd started this when I picked it up. Hmmm...

Well, since it’s the 50th anniversary of the Mustang this year, I got motivated to pull a ‘Stang out of the stash and have a go at it! Of course, I decided to pick the weirdest one I had; no ’68 Shelbys or ‘80s 5.0L cars would fill the bill. I wanted to do a Mustang that most people seem to have forgotten about. Clearly, the oft-derided SVO was a perfect candidate! I’d picked up the Monogram 1/24 kit a couple of years ago, and in researching it, I’d found that it didn’t come in many colours. However, I also stumbled across a couple in dark green. Doing more research, I found that this colour was for the Hertz rent-a-car ones only. I was immediately drawn to this rare version of a fairly obscure car, and, well, the rest is history! Check out my 4E Dark Sage SVO and tell me what you think! http://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/cars/monogram-124-1985-5-mustang-svo-hertz-4e-special/

I don't know myself how you'd build a slider for the doors on this one. Doing a cargo version would be tough, too, because the interior bucket is all one piece. Of course, with a bit of imagination, some measuring and some cutting, I'm sure it's doable! I'm tempted to get another one because these were used as "Blue and White" (AboutTown, at the time) brand taxis around London, Ontario (where Iive) for quite some time. Of course, they were also used for Black and Yellow taxis, too. This is one of those kits that should be reissued, I think, to celebrate the anniversary of the Caravan. I'm not surprised that they didn't fly off the shelves the first time, either. I mean, most people seem to want to build muscle cars and customs; a plain-jane grocery getter isn't really going to turn them on. However, it's a neat kit of a real trendsetter, and I think that's why a lot of people here, who appreciate cars and modelling more deeply, think it's so cool.

My dad drove a 1976 Torino; It wasn't S&H, but it was a cool car. My brother LOVES those cars. He's already pumped about trying to convert one to Dad's car. I might do the same. Am I the only one who cares about the Rabbit? (Not Golf, but Rabbit - that's what those cars are to me!) LOSER HATCH ATTACK! Someone had to scream it, it might as well be me! I NEED a Rabbit to super-loser up my collection. With that weak styling, coal-oily bumper bits and those hubs that look rusty and welfare right from the factory, you KNOW I can hardly wait.

That is awesome! It's the flipside of the whole "ricer" phenomenon, where small cars are just, well, butchered but not improved in performance! This is one of those double-take kind of cars! Looking fantastic!

Thanks, Carl. The Colour is one I wish Ford had used more of. Clearly it's meant to evoke feelings of the "Bullit" 'Stang, and it works! I like having to mix up custom colours, and I'm always pleased when they come out right! The hardest part about working with my Dark Sage is that it dries nearly matte. There's going to be a lot of glossing in the future for this one! (No pun intended! Well, okay, a bit of a pun intended....)

What a weird phenomenon! Thanks for the compliments, Jeremey!

Wow, what the what happened there! I've fixed the link in my original post, too. Sorry about that. This board doesn't seem to like it if you do the <http://address> manual text entry. Once I did the link with the like tool, it worked! I apologize, and I appreciate your posting the correct link too! Say, what is "rickrolled"?

Well, with the interior done and the chassis finished, it’s on to the body for the SVO. Unfortunately, the body needed a bit of work. There’s the usual flash and stuff, but that’s not as big a deal as the not-so-bright way they mould-makers thought of for attaching the spoiler. The rest of the car seems fine, but that end of it needs some work. Check out the progress on my ’85 SVO below! It’s starting to come together now! http://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/2014/07/18/spoiler-alert/

Yes indeed, good sir! It is the 4E Dark Sage that you could only get from Hertz! It reminds me a lot of a new take on the Bullit Mustang in that green. I'm assuming that's what they were going for, eh? Thanks for being willing to help me out, Fred! Say, does that colour description you gave above also hold for the later Fox Mustangs, like the '92 convertible I have? Also, if I do that one in the blue/silver two-tone, is the overspray blue or Silver? In other words, is just the cladding silver, and bolted of after, or is it actually painted silver that would overspray. Actually, would there be some of each colour? One other thing: I have a Turbo Capri ('79), so would the same colouring hold there, too? Thanks!

Thanks Fred! That does help a lot! I'm just going to leave the chassis as is for this one. I think only hardcore Mustang guys will know that anyway, and it looks fine to my eyes (not to mention that I rarely look at the chassis when the car's done). However, I have another SVO, plus the '90s convertible (I'm assuming it's the same: am I right?), so that description is going to save me a lot of problems then. Do you have an SVO? I tried to find pics of the underside "factory fresh", but couldn't. So, I just did what I could based on some other cars I've seen. I thank you very much for the time it took for you to write that all down. Next time, I'll be right on the money!

Thanks for the compliments, guys. Joe: I'm sorry that the site isn't easy to use. Can you tell me what's not working for you? I want people to be able to come to the site and look at stuff easily, not to be bogged down. I laid it out according my my own logic, but that doesn't mean it will work for everyone. Let me know what works and doesn't and I'll see if I can make it a bit easier to navigate. I do apologize; it is the first website I've ever really done, and there are limits to what I know and what Wordpress can do, but that doesn't mean I don't want to improve! Everybody else, too; let me know what you think and would like to see!

The SVO is getting closer! While the first coats of paint on the body are drying, I have had some time to work on the bottom end of the SVO. I’m not really impressed with the chassis on this kit, though. It’s okay, and the pan is fine, but the suspension and drivetrain aren’t exactly world-beaters. What’s even more interesting, is that this chassis and suspension is the same as that used on the ’92 convertible ‘Stang I have, as well! I guess if real car makers can do it, model companies can stretch the use of a platform too, eh? The engine isn’t as detailed as it could be, but it’s not bad. As always, I’ve just built up what’s in the kit, since I prefer to do the best I can with what I have. Take a look and let me know what you think about it! http://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/2014/06/20/from-the-bottom-up/

That's too bad... I take it your friend drove one? That's one reason I'm looking forward to this one. I've ridden in and test driven these things, so it'll be a rush to build one. If only they did a kit of the earlier, squarer ones. Did anyone ever do that?

That's not my engine, sadly! However, I agree that that engine also looks great. I'm sure that mine will not be anywhere near as good!