John Goschke

Looks great, Tom! Did you have to modify the front inner wheel wells to lower the front?

Yeah, man, that's way better! Nice work, Andy.

Thanks, guys! Hope to have this model done by the end of the month.

So nice! Well done photos, too!

Somehow I thought this was going to done sooner than this, but anyway, I finally managed to finish the Sunliner's interior, wrestling with Essential Tremor frequently while working. Going to have to change my building style to get the Fun vs. Frustration Quotient back in proportion. The interior on this mild custom is stock except for chrome garnish moldings. Mods to the kit part includes side panels from Revell Skyliner. Revell Skyliner steering wheel on AMT '57 Ford column with scratch shifter and signal lever. Heater, radio, and clock from Revell Skyliner notched into AMT dash. Window cranks replaced with the scratch power window switches. Stretched sprue lock knobs.

The Starliner is looking great! Very nice color and I really like the wheels and tires you've chosen! With you and Steve G. building these my Starliner is getting restless shut up in its box!

Very sharp, Steve! Great color combo and the perfect stance. I also like the improvements you made with the radiator support and the taillights and will be stealing those ideas when I get back on mine someday!

Great restoration! Really like the color combo and the wheel/tire choice. Nice detailing under the hood, too. Since you asked, my only suggestion would be to add some spacers, or something, to widen the front track width a bit. The wheels look like they're tucked too far inside the wheel well.

Yes, helps a lot! Thanks!

'56 T-bird is available in 1/25th from AMT.

Andy, would you be able to tell us what the upper inside front fender of the '57 Ford actually looks like? Revell's Del Rio still has that low inner fender well that interferes with lowering the model (and would seriously impede suspension travel if it were a real car!) It's been a long time since I had my last real '58 Ford, so my memory's not quite clear on that aspect, but I don't think it had much of an inner fender well, which was why they always rotted out over the headlights.

Beautifully done classic sports car!

Yeah, it's August! Where's my roadster? May have to break my long standing habit, and actually do an out of the box build of a NEW kit when it arrives, instead of setting it aside to work on something released before 1962!

Wow! I love this! Beautifully smooth fade painting.

Nice work! Your detail painting is especially well done.

I haven't built that kit, but that T-bird engine looks like the 401hp, 390 that's in the ex-AMT '34 Ford pickup kit. Interesting that they made it an option for this re-issue of the old Lindberg "T" kit. How much does it interfere with the frame? If it's not too much you might be able to reshape the frame rail a bit and the starter and bellhousing a bit to relieve the conflict. Work slowly, trimming a little, then test fit, trim some more, fit again, and so on. If it interferes a lot you're probably better off with the kit flathead, and customize it with some flathead speed parts from another kit. Keep in mind that that tri-power 390 would've been a brand new engine in '61, so it would've been an expensive choice for a backyard rod builder at the time. However, if you're thinking of your rod as a pro-built show car that somebody invested some dollars in, then the latest super stock Ford engine would've had real impact on the show floor!

Great work! Proof positive that the proper wheel and tire choice and the right stance can make any vehicle look cool!

Actually those are the chrome reverse rims that came with the kit; I believe the '60 Vette kit had them as well. Correct, Chris. The Chevy and Ford truck kits used these rims, as well as the '60 Vette and T-birds. These are from a T-bird.

Thanks, guys!

Uh... Wow! Very impressive workmanship on this project! Definitely going to be the baddest Gremlin on the planet!

A few months ago I finally lucked on to an affordable built-up AMT '60 Ford pickup on eBay. The day it arrived I stripped the decals and junk off, gave it a scrubbing, and started chopping it down from the kit's 118" wheelbase, 8' bed configuration to my preferred 110' wheelbase, 6.5' bed. Took a couple evenings of work, but I managed to get to this mockup stage before jumping back on other projects. Check it out... Two shots from the auction listing: pretty typical build, but fortunately not painted, and not too much of a glue bomb! No engine, compact 13" wheels up front for a "rubber rake." Here she is shortened up. Eight scale inches out of the chassis and out of the front of the bed after cutting it away from the cab. 10 scale inches out of the rear of the bed, just in front of the stake pockets (easier cutting there.) A piece of 1/32" ABS cut to match the rear inside bed wall reinforces the join at the rear of the bed. The bed floor was also cut eight scale inches in front and 10 in back.

Another in your succession of consistently outstanding builds! It's always a pleasure seeing your work. Looking at this new-tool kit built up makes me wonder if the time I've invested in two unfinished original '60 Ford annual kit-based builds was worth it!

Interesting info, Steve. Thanks. I don't think I've seen enough '61 Electras to have taken note of that two-tone treatment, and have always preferred the proportions of the Invicta and LeSabre series.

Great work! The taillights are very convincing – very ingenious solution.

Glad the Buick won the poll! Don't know if it helps, but more than a few '61 Buicks were two-toned like this. If I remember correctly they had the primary color on the rear panel.