Custom Hearse

O.K., I give.... What was the difference?

I know this is gonna sound dumb Hans, but I don't understand what you mean. Here's some pics with a better explanation of what I want to do.... The exhaust sticks out from the side, with nothing holding it on except for the plastic exhaust.... I want to find a way to make a connector from the aluminum pipes to the cars frame.... Right where that big gap is between the two.... If you can explain to me what you mean (I'm a bit slow in my old age ) it would sure help. Thanks

Shocking work my friend! I like the way you did the skulls on the body. Keep up the great work!

Love them.... HECK, I LIVE ON THEM!!!!

Two in a row I've been wrong, Harry....

Nice build Brian! I built one of those a long time ago myself. Glue bomb was an understatement.... Great job!

That's funny Clay.... Now go to your room. seriously though, I need to find a way to make a mount for the side exhaust. The pipes are aluminum, and they sit away from the frame. I need a way to mount them to the frame.... Any ideas?

Yeah right! O.K. here's what happened.... I had the box with the pieces of the kit sitting behind my modem when the internet went down. I picked up the box and set it down on my chair so I could work on the modem. Just before I started working on the modem, I said to myself 'with the way things are going, I'll probably forget I set that there and sit on it.' And what do you know, I DID! I didn't damage any parts except.... THE DOORS! I broke the tops of the doors off. I put a want ad on the buy sell trade forum for another body so I could cut the doors off of it, but no luck with that, so I found 2 doors from another hearse kit that didn't have have the broken doors, but the side trim was sanded off, which I wanted to keep on there, so I repaired the 2 original doors, and sanded off the trim on the body and 2 repaired doors. My fat hind end strikes again (hmmm.... it rhymes, I'm a poet and didn't know it!)!!!! Now you can laugh to your hearts content....

uhhmmm.... One had reverse lights, one had an aluminum cover over it, and one had exhaust outlets? Thanks Len. I wasn't sure if it came with one. I definitely want to get one of these kits. It looks like it'll be a great builder!

Not to be nit-picky, but where is the back seat for the stock 150? It'll be kind of hard to build a stock vehicle with no back seat....

Well..... It could be worse. I had a '71 Plymouth Road Runner that was a great running car.... Until I blew the right side head off the 383.... So I went to an L.A salvage yard and found a 426 Hemi (this was back when Mopars weren't the big money cars they are today), and had it re-built and installed. About two weeks later, I'm just cruising along, when the back end goes upwards suddenly (the rear tires came completely off the ground). I got the car to the side of the road, walked to the rear and looked under the car. Lo and behold, there was a 6 inch diameter hole in the rear axle casing. About half a block away, I could see the spider gear laying in the road.... Went to the salvage yard in L.A. (again), and got a rear axle for the car. Replaced the rear axle, and drove the car for another month, when lo and behold, the car wouldn't start. I did a complete tune up, but it didn't help, re-built the carbs, but it it didn't help, so I had the car towed to the shop where the engine was built.... Lo and behold, they took the timing chain cover off, and found that the timing chain had twisted the pin clean out of the camshaft.... They fixed the problem, but I got so tired of car being at the shop. As soon as they finished fixing it, I sold the car to a friend of mine.... ONE OF THE DUMBEST THINGS I'VE EVER DONE!!!! Now the car is worth thousands of dollars, even if it isn't a numbers matching Hemi car, just having it now would be a thrill! I could just cry....

I'm still trying to get this one done. I'm hoping for suggestions on how to mount the side pipes to the frame. Anyone got any ideas? Thanks.

It's back.... I had an accident with the kit (please don't ask, it's embarrassing), but I've fixed it, so stay tuned for more!

Thanks Dave!!!! That is an awesome website! I would love to build some models of those cars. Thanks again!!!!

I will go with model....

Look good. I have two of these kits that I need to build. I me a guy here in Joplin that owns an original Hemi Daytona, and I thought about building a copy of his car. I'm looking forward to seeing more work on this build.

So whens the next one Flame? I'd like to enter it myself....

That is a beautiful looking charger Juergen! My first car was a '68 Dodge Charger, but it was painted (yuchhh) metallic green. My mom made me sell it.... I was only 14 at the time, and didn't have a license.... Oh well.... Anywho, you did an excellent job on the vinyl top! it looks very realistic! Looking forward to seeing the engine build. Keep up the awesome work!

Awesome work Dave! I really like the split window! I am definitely looking forward to seeing the paint job you're going to put on! Well Harry, I did do that 2007 T/A you posted (still not finished.... I just can't seem to keep to one project.... Thankfully I'm not alone!) on the (HA HA HEE HEE) other forum. Love the artwork you did on the 'Vettes. Beautiful!!!!

Thanks Tommy. I was hoping they look O.K. I may have to thin them down a little more, but there's plenty of plastic left on the backside!

It would be cool looking Hans, but I'd have to grind out the holes in the photo etch to make it work.... too much hassle. Thanks for the idea anyway. You're welcome Kenny! I'm glad I could help you out with this idea. I didn't want to wait another 2-3 weeks for the resin parts to arrive.

Looks really good Jim! Awesome work on the stripes. I'm looking forward to seeing more of this build.

Update.... Reading Marcos' build of his 1960 Ford Starliner, he mentioned that he was ordering resin headlight buckets for his kit. I decided to try and see if I couldn't use the kits headlight buckets. here's some pics of what I did.... I cut the headlight buckets from the kit grill, and then separated each bucket, and then trimmed them.... I then sanded the backside to make them thinner.... Here they are laid out on the photo etch grill.... Let me know what you think....

Hey Marcos, how's the build going? I got the photo etch set today, and I was wanting to get some pointers from you on using it.

I'd have to say (no surprise here), Jo-Hans Heavenly Hearse is my favorite kit.... I had graduated high school when this kit came out, and I bought somewhere between 25 to 50 of those kits, and made something different out of each one. My first serious kitbashed custom that I ever built was was Monograms Fire Iron, back when I was 16. I cut off the front frame of the truck, mounted a top fuel dragster frame to it, mounted two 426 Hemi engines, and the fuelers front suspension to it. That model helped me get my first job, working in a hobby shop. The last kit that comes to mind, is the first contest winner I ever built. I took two "A-Team" vans, cut one in front of the rear wheel wells, the other one behind the rear wheel wells, and made a six wheel van out of it. I painted it (by hand) with red flames on the front, white flames in the center, and blue on the rest of the body. I entered it into a contest in Iola Ks., and won a first place blue ribbon.... Hmmm.... Anybody have a couple of "A-Team vans they want to sell....?