ChrisBcritter

Looks like someone was trying to cheat... the wind?

My first reaction would be "OF COURSE THEY (censored) ARE - I JUST GOT A (censored) '58 FORD YESTERDAY!!!" Seriously, I doubt it - even if by some miracle they found the molds they wouldn't reissue all of them. The Pontiac, yes - possibly the Ford and Buick - but why the Chevy, Edsel or Imperial (which was probably altered to make the '59 anyway)?

Simplest idea: make a casting of the hood and resell the kit? Otherwise you could make a dirt tracker or jalopy racer with a simple sheetmetal hood. I'm sort of in the same boat with an ITC '40 Mercury - I've had no luck finding the missing hood so I figured I'd build it as a gasser, but it wouldn't conform to the class I want to put it in without one, so I'm going to patch one together.

Elegant job, Peter - Jo-Han really went out with a bang getting the look of this car right. If only they could have done a '79 Eldo before they went paws up. Ray Liotta's ride is a rare canvas-top Phaeton edition - they came in that bronze with a black top and white with a navy blue top. Not too tough a conversion in scale, mainly reducing the opera and rear windows and adding a simulated tack strip. Differences in grilles from '77 through '79 are easy if you remember them like this: '77 - mail slots '78 - egg crate '79 - fine mesh

Tim, is the deeper offset on the wider rear wheels going to be all on the inside? Usually I've seen them deeper on the outside. Also, is a vintage 4-door police/taxi package something Moebius would even consider if they could piggyback it onto this tooling without too much expense? Thanks for posting the photos - looking forward to the Jo-Han/Lindberg/Moebius roof comparison!

I built one of these back in the day, too! I got this sometime in the early '70s and built it stock, painted green like on the box. Then after seeing too many movie car chases, I decided to try making it look like it had been through some action. This was mostly done by holding it up to a light bulb to soften it up, making dents with a screwdriver and carving wrinkles with an X-acto blade. I left the right side undamaged except for several bullet holes made with a straight pin in a Dremel (had no micro-bits then!). Sometime after that, a friend of mine was making a stop-motion monster movie, so I repainted it black and blue to match a wrecked/abandoned car we filmed with me in it, then filmed the model being blown into the air by the monster (using a firecracker, which knocked a hole in the chassis and blew off the lower rear axle). So this poor heap has been through quite a bit but it's one of my oldest surviving models.

The roof transplant seems to line up very well - was it a close fit or did it need finessing?

I've been wanting a '58 Fairlane 500 hardtop in the worst way - and that's pretty much what I just got : Kit body on a friction chassis; but it was the cheapest one I've ever found. I think/hope there's enough good material left to kitbash it with one of my '58 convertibles and a spare '59 Edsel chassis. Wish me luck getting the roof grooves opened up again... I wonder about those odd front wheels; those shallow discs with that bolt pattern look like they belong on a late '20s car.

I love seeing his builds - and I've noticed recently he's still using the 1956-62 California license plates I made back in 1983: (yes, I was once part of the aftermarket... I consider this an honor! )

Sweet job anyway. Other than the license plate, it looks completely different from the ol' Husky and Starch ride...

Found these on eBay cheap: They're 1/28 scale WWI aircraft spoke wheels. I want to build some sort of homebuilt '20s speedster either from a Model T or the Beverly Hillbillies '21 Olds, and these might do the trick for the accessory wire wheels some of them had. At 14.90mm diameter the size is good and the style looks pretty close. Also finally picked up some Alclad chrome the other day; here we go, folks... Edit: Just trimmed the wheels from their backing and checked the fit, and it looks like they will work better with Model T rims and tires. I have an unbuilt AMT '23 T Budweiser van as a starting point, so off to the research pile...

Hoo boy. I really hope you're finding smooth plastic under all that goo - no lacquer check or 80 grit sanding marks. I wonder if you could modify the SC/Rambler hood to match? Basically re-contour the front profile and fill in the scoop hole.

+1 for using the thin material - big reason being that the thickness of the glass will be obvious when a hole is drilled through it.

Yay! Now I can build the cop car from Cooley High (already have the '64 Caddy). Looks like I'll have to rob a Jo-Han '67 for the bench seat, decals, etc.

Now here's something I want to see. Will you keep the steerable wheel setup from the sedan? I recall someone posting they needed some A wire wheels if you're not using them.

I have one as well; how will you deal with the pebbly finish - prime then sand, or sand first then prime? Plan for mine is a beater surfboard carrier jacked up in the rear with some primer/mismatched paint on the front end and a '60 grille, like someone bought it wrecked and fixed it up on the cheap.

Keep those tires bagged - they're big-time plastic melters; you may want to recast the whitewalls in resin or they'll soften up pretty fast. Don't ask how I know this...

Thanks Ron - there's a photo that's worth a thousand words!

I really want to see how this comes out - was the vendor autozonehobbies? Almost all the kits/promos from their collection look like they were painted with a trowel. I put in low bids on a couple of them, but I just couldn't tell what was under that stuff. I should have saved some of the images...

I'm going to try that - Steve, if you ever build any AMT '60-'64 Corvairs, you'll need it for two big spots on the TOP of the rear bumper where they put the sprue attachments for some reason... (just trust me on '63... )

Really looking forward to everyone's photos! (I'd like to see if Tom Piagari brings some more nice stockers this year.)

Holy mackerel. Reminds me of a song: "Fly, Robin, Fly"

If you just need a body, here you go: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-24-1-25-Model-Car-Truck-1940-Ford-Sedan-Delivery-Body-Glass-/221905811053?hash=item33aa9df66d Although the Rides fender unit might be the base for a custom - french in some new headlights, scribe the rear fenders to look like it has flush skirts, and put those podded headlights on a roadster where they belong...

Rebody it to look like one of the Davis '40s Easter eggs and you've got something. (source: kitfoster.com)

Sure! It's a reminder of those nostalgic '50s/'60s movies of the '70s that you saw when you went to the drive-in in your Maverick! (Like American Graffiti, American Hot Wax, Hometown USA, Crazy Mama, Macon County Line, Return to Macon County, W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings, Cooley High, The Wanderers, and, uh - oh yeah, Grease.)