ChrisBcritter

MPC had to make the convertible an 880, as there were no 1/1 Dodge Monaco convertibles built. A friend of mine rectified that situation by building a beautiful phantom '66: http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2015/11/26/100-genuine-faux-riginal-1966-dodge-monaco-500/#comments-block Note the color of the canework in the interior shot. My '65 will most likely be pale yellow with a black top and interior; it was missing the engine and wheels so I parted an AMT Challenger for the 440 and Magnum 500s.

Very good idea with the window frames; that would be a big help for anyone converting a hardtop to a pillared sedan or coupe (on cars that used the same roof stamping, like the '53 Studebaker coupe, '57 Fairlane, '58 Edsel, '63 notchback Galaxie, etc.). Looking forward to more!

One thing to watch out for: the taillight lenses. Not interchangeable left to right. I've seen quite a few old builtups with the lenses installed upside down, tapering in the wrong direction.

Don't remind me. I've got as much work in repairing the hood of my '61 Bonnie as I have in the rest of the body since the originals took off. And that doesn't even count fixing the factory fit issues (wouldn't lay flat, too short on the driver's side, etc.). Both those vendors and a few others have been a big help.

I'm thankful for the parts sellers; my gluebombs would still be gluebombs without them. Of course some of them can list one parts tree - or one bumper - for $14.95 until kingdom come for all I care. Of course it's backfired on me - recently someone listed a set of three parts for a rare kit; I needed one of them but I didn't want to pay ten bucks for a hood. I let the auction run out, the items didn't sell, and I figured he'd relist them with a lower opening bid. He hasn't relisted them, period. Oh well (kicks self).

Weird thing is at least some '61 sedan promos have B-pillars. I once found a junk acetate '61 promo body that had them; used it to replace missing A- and B- pillars for a '62 promo.

Fast forward? You bet. Watching Barrett-Jackson would be unthinkable without it!

Hello, my name is ChrisBcritter and I'm a Continental-holic. Time to practice my molding and casting for the hood ornament, wheelcovers and rear grille, and do some whittling to make the B-pillars AMT forgot to add that year.

Shoot, I'm still POed about the Foose/Trepanian Sniper, which was built from a cherry 40k-mile '54 Plymouth convertible - they threw away most of it; could have built the car from a junked two-door sedan shell with the same results!

Had a Michael's coupon about to go stale, so I picked up a Revell '57 Chevy snap kit. Let's see how many years it takes me to build .

I'm even more surprised none of the diecast companies made a 1/43 or 1/64 version, considering they could get more mileage from the Peterbilt tool by changing trailers and/or liveries. Is Universal really difficult with licensing? Kevin, good work on the Valiant - is that a modified '64 Fairlane T-bolt roof? Might as well give you the CA license plates I've made for the truck and the car; just copy and print:

I'd like to see this done with a solid color to judge the effect better - get some idea of the consistency of the depth, gloss, smoothness, etc. And I'd be hugely impressed if a chrome finish could be done this way.

Having spent 32 years in southern CA, I really miss El Pollo Loco more than In-N-Out Burger (burgers good, fries not much different from anyone else's). Even better were all the little mom-and-pop Mexican places we went to in Lincoln Heights (especially Los Tres Cochinitos on North Main).

Never had a whole wagon. I got all the bits from sellers on eBay; engine was partly assembled so I had to do some repairs but everything else was NOS.

da ... da The story you are about to see is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. (And I took the survey.)

Sort of. I have a Craftsman '64 Malibu that I'm redoing to make it into a "what-if" 3-in-1 by opening the hood and adding the engine and all the underhood stuff from a '64 wagon, plus a radiator wall with the tubes for the front chassis screws.

Took advantage of this week's 25% off on models special at Hobby Lobby to pick up a set of AMT wide and narrow whitewalls, and used my 40% off coupon to get an erasing shield - it's photoetched mesh in a circle pattern that's a very close match to grille of the '58 Ford I'm working on: The area isn't too large (2 1/4" x 3 3/8") but it was only $3.49 before the discount - handy if you need a small piece.

Been watching these two - same guy almost got 'em both: http://www.ebay.com/itm/181942643550?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT http://www.ebay.com/itm/181942643137?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT I was rooting for the Mopar, myself - you could get a resin kit of the Chevy plus an MPC Stutz Bearcat for correct wheels and still have plenty left over to buy the Jo-Han kit...

In some cases these artists were big in other countries, but by some fluke managed to get over in the U.S. even if they weren't really trying - Kyu Sakamoto and "Sukiyaki" being a good example (Shocking Blue were Dutch, and Four Jacks and a Jill were South African and were more successful at home). Back to the U.S., here's a favorite of mine (reached #6 in March 1959; their other releases that charted topped out at #76 and #96): This song must have been a favorite of Jonathan Demme; he made good use of it in the movie Crazy Mama - although it rarely shows up on oldies stations.

Yes, a '63 Special.

Cool! Why did it have those Eldo/Toronado wheels - did it have a GM FWD setup mounted in the rear?

The first car my parents got after they were married: '48 DeSoto. (My dad said it had about 400 pounds of chrome.) They had it about a year and then traded it in on a new '53 Bel Air two-door sedan with Powerglide (my mom didn't want to drive manual).

Look at the photo of the real one. It seems if you split the roof down the middle back to front, spread it apart in the rear the 7 or 8 scale inches, then added material on both sides of the door opening, and narrowed the rear fenders, you would be pretty close to accurate? ETA: Scott, where does the gas tank go on a delivery?

I was brought home from the hospital in this: '57 Buick Century, Dawn Gray over Carlsbad Black with factory A/C and blackwalls. My dad ordered it at Bonnie Buick in Evanston in November of '56; cost around four grand. They picked the colors from the dealer display, but when the car arrived Dawn Gray turned out to look sort of purple (he had it repainted all black after this was taken). Both my parents made it a "true Century" by running it 100 miles an hour on an empty highway in southern IL; Dad pegged it at 120. The Dynaflow lost reverse in 1962 so he traded it in on a used '59 DeSoto. This photo was taken when the car was two years old. Oddly, it's missing the grille bar - my dad swears it came from the factory that way.

Snow's all melted here too; the rain finished it off today. Just waiting for the piece of tree to be hauled off the lawn...