ChrisBcritter

I'm sorry - what?

high dollar loss

When I was just shy of 16 in 1976, I was determined to get something vintage for my first car. Living in the Chicago area meant everything in my $300 budget was thoroughly rusted out, but there were a lot of solid cars where my folks grew up in western Kentucky. While on vacation there the previous year, I fell in love with this green '41 Buick Special sedan: Poor old thing had been parked since 1967, and my dad's cooler head prevailed. While driving to West Paducah, we spotted this (also green) '50 Plymouth Deluxe sedan: Bought it for $200 from an older gentleman named Lapoleon Bridgett (I'll never forget that name!). My uncle topped off the master cylinder and we drove it back to my grandparents' house. It had 72,000 miles and ran and drove OK, although my uncle noticed it had a bit of rod knock. Never got it back to Chicago and ended up selling it for what I paid. I moved to California when I was 21, and after my '74 Coupe deVille was lost to an engine fire, I spotted this ad in the L.A. Times: Since I already had the Revell kit, I borrowed the money and bought it: Enjoyed it for almost two years until a hit-and-run a-hole clobbered it in front of my house. After replacing the Imperial with a tired but trusty '65 Skylark, I (like Eric above) got a '72 Chevelle SS: Factory 350 4-barrel, so not a hot rod, but a fun driver. Note the '69 deck lid script and non-SS bumper (I added the emblem later). Looked good but had a number of little mechanical issues that I had to keep fixing, so after a couple years sold it when the trans started slipping. Wonder if it's still around?

Got one forty years ago that I backdated to a B-17E for my Pearl Harbor home movie (which never got filmed); builds up just like the Monogram G does. With all the interest in the Memphis Belle, I can't understand why it hasn't been reissued. But back to cars. Oddly for me it's been Jo-Han kits I could have gotten many times but never did: the Chrysler Turbine, the Mercedes and Cadillac classics, but most particularly the Plymouth police car. That kit used to be everywhere for years, and I've seen it built many times; just never did warm up to it (although I did build the AMT '70 Ford police car once). After that, it would be the Monogram Lil' Coffin - very cool show car, and again a popular kit reissued many times; didn't ever pull the trigger on it for some reason - although I'd like to get four of its front wheels/tires for my Hubley '61 Ford wagon project.

Yes, the '66 Craftsman T-bird hardtop was the promo mold, and has the correct hardtop interior with the package shelf. Probably not too hard to remove the hood and use the guts from the convertible to get a more detailed model. Back on topic - wonder if the Styline parts for the '57 T-bird still exist? Loved the box art on the original kit.

thunderbolt and lightning

I've made a lot of gifs, but very few memes, so...

and switch scam

time with family

Yep - the vent window post molded flush with the door IDs it (plus I don't recall any other Beetle kits with opening doors?).

Most memorable concert overall for me was The Legendary Ladies of Rock & Roll at the Cerritos Center in 1983. Martha Reeves, Darlene Love and Ronnie Spector with surprise guest MC Mary Wilson of the Supremes; Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye were in the audience. Won tickets on KRLA and got front row seats - thus got to shake hands with Darlene as she worked the front of the stage . Most memorable club date: Catalina Bar and Grill in L.A. in 2006; two nights with the great blues singer Linda Hopkins as she recorded what would be her final album, The Living Legend Live!. Honorable mention: Early '90s, Dizzy Gillespie at the tiny Vine Street Bar & Grill in Hollywood; my best friend was a waiter there and got me in. Clint Eastwood and then-partner Frances Fisher were sitting 20 feet away from me. Least memorable: Delivering three large Domino's pizzas - on time - to Guns 'n' Roses at Perkins Palace (Pasadena) in late '87 - they tipped me 32 cents.

They got the darn things and the refund is coming through. They say. At least they aren't sending four more outdated tire swings.

the subway, darling

I spoke to Ed Sexton at the Milwaukee NNL show a couple years ago about that - the bean counters at Revell have nixed it.

Buggy by Barris

Update: Got return labels from seller, taped 'em to the tires, schlepped them over to the local UPS/FedEx shop and sent 'em on their merry way. Now the refund wait begins... Meanwhile my boss had me pick up a new set of Assurance All-Seasons at Walmart, and I made sure they had late-'21 date codes!

Looks like Norm Grabowski to me?

wee wee, monsieur

Checking the new trees against the original issue, looks like we've lost the original's two-piece open steel wheels - too bad; to me, they're the best ones AMT ever made.

Aha! I spy the old CA trailer plate from the license plate sheet I made back in 1983. Here's where I got that number: The Kenskill travel trailer from the 1962 movie Panic in Year Zero!.

First time behind the wheel in my early teens was in this '69 Olds Delta 88 with a 455. Dad let me drive it around the empty high school parking lot; first thing I learned was how to brake smoothly without throwing us forward: Took driver's ed at Glenbrook South High School; we had a couple Datsun B-210s to learn manual shift (on the Dan Ryan Expressway, no less ) I also recall the school using an ivory '76 Monte Carlo with no vinyl top and a brown '75 or '76 Chevelle sedan.

gets nose job

mating season documentary

Oh my cod

Ordered a set of tires through Amazon for my boss a couple days ago; new Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max. Extremely quick delivery - dropped off on the front porch this morning, and... No, they didn't get stolen. Yes, they're brand new with factory labels. But... check out the date codes: April, June and July 2017 - almost five years old. Amazon did OK a refund; hope the seller doesn't stick me for the shipping