f1ford48

I took this 1/18 gasser down to the frame and built it back to stock with the flathead 4 cyl.the interior was redone with a bench seat and stock steering wheel and dash. the rear fenders filled back in around the wheel openings with epoxy and styrene.same for the blower hole in the hood.whole car lowered with new suspension. wipers and gas cap added as well as a front bumper. the hubcaps are carriage bolt heads that were sawed off the threads.other parts scratch built and pirated from the 1/18 boneyard.

ANOTHER IMAGE

I wanted to build this car since I was 10. it is THE MOST FAMOUS AMERICAN RACING CAR of all time. owned by artist Peter Helck for 50 plus years the car is now in the Henry Ford.this big 16 liter racer still wears its original paint and has never been restored.it was the first American car to win the Vanderbilt Cup Race.an international competition dominated by the Europeans untill 1908- the year that the big Locomobile won. for years I looked for a kit and at one time converted a 1/16 Mercer into this racer.however I was never satisfied with the results. thanks to ebay I eventually found there were 2 different kits produced in 1/16 scale.released in 1949 and 1961.both long gone when I was a young modeler [1970] One was by Eldon/Ungar-under the title ''1908 RACER'' circa 1961-motorized and in colored styrene. a snap kit-basically a toy- I thought I would super detail it and have what I wanted but after seeing it in person I decided to save it for posterity.the second model was from Hudson Miniatures ''Old Timers'' Series released in 1949. it was in balsa wood with plastic wheels.and had an amazing set of plans-basically blueprints-to 1/16 scale-now I had what I needed to build my version of ''OLD 16''!! after seeing the contents of the Old Timers kit I realized that I was about to enter the world of scratch building-im glad I did!

lately ive been building abandoned,junker and barn finds in diecast. I use a real iron paint and then a mild acid wash so the rust finish you see is real rust- it works on plastic as well.