John Goschke

Well, we probably won't get it, but I'd love to see it in 1/25th. DKW (Auto Union) 1000sp. Not iconic in its own right, but it does emulate an icon...

Same basic chassis across Chrysler, Desoto, Dodge, and Plymouth brands. Different wheelbase lengths.... Chrysler • Windsor - 122" • Saratoga, New Yorker, 300E - 126" Desoto • Firesweep - 122" • Firedome, Fireflite, Adventurer - 126" Dodge • All models - 122" Plymouth • All models except wagons - 118" • Wagons - 122" So you'd have to shorten the AMT '57 Chrysler 300C chassis or lengthen the '58 Belvedere chassis. Pick your poison.

The truth is that it wasn't reduced in size at all. The body was set back approx. 2" on the chassis and the underside smoothed.

Nice clean rebuild with a very attractive color combination.

Nice work on that mirror, Steve. That "twin-strut" Mopar mirror is very distinctive and a prominent feature on the later Forward Look cars. I made a set for my '60 Dodge, but cheated a bit on the head, cutting a pair off a couple circa '62 Johan mirrors (back in the days when I had a lot of Johan kits to rob parts from!) Covered 'em with BMF, which is looking a bit tarnished these days!

That mirror looks terrific, Steve! The lack of accurate stock mirrors is very frustrating when you're building late '50s and early '60s cars, a time when every manufacturer had very distinctive mirror designs.

Nice work on the interior, Steve! In this scale I don't think it's really necessary to literally duplicate the pattern of the fabric, just give those areas enough texture or contrast to suggest the detail. What you've done really works!

Thanks again, guys! No, Roger, I don't think I'm going to go any further down that slippery slope than I already have! I know what you mean about the front floor of AMT's '59 and '60 Continentals - a convincing argument for building a hardtop! Their Mercuries from the same years have somewhat the same problem. Pretty freakin' annoying...

Thanks, guys! Steve, I agree on the "mirror-pack" idea! Correct factory outside mirrors in pairs along with popular accessory mirrors in pairs would be great. As for color the outside will be custom colors in circa '59-'60 Larry Watson style. The interior will be stock, similar to yours except for the use of Tamiya Champagne Gold instead of the "Geranium" coral color. Steve, the ABS seems to carve easier and hold sharper detail when I'm making these small detail parts. Also I think the grey color and greater opacity of the stock I have makes it easier to see what I'm doing than bright white styrene. It's also more flexible than styrene, especially Evergreen.

Earlier this week got some more of the scratch small detail bits done. Windshield wipers. Interior rear view mirror. Sunvisors. Each wiper has an angled arm carved out of ABS plastic then an extension for the arm and a blade made from strip styrene. The ABS arm is drilled in back for a styrene rod shaft inserted through the cowl. They'll be painted gloss black before Alclad Chrome. The sunvisors were cut from styrene sheet using photos as reference for size and shape. The edges and corners were sanded round. The center inside corner and outside front corner were drilled to receive styrene rod shafts. The outside shaft was bent to fit in a hole drilled in the windshield header while each center shaft fits into a bracket on the header, more or less like the real car. The rear view mirror was cut and shaped out of ABS plastic sheet then drilled in back for an aluminum wire bracket. The bracket fits into a hole drilled in inside upper edge of the windshield. The mirror and bracket were sprayed gloss silver. The reflective face of the mirror was cut from a polished aluminum sheet. Still need to make a radio aerial. The two Revell '57 Ford Custom Tudor kits I have may lose their outside rear view mirrors soon, unless somebody who didn't use them wants to donate mirrors from that kit to the cause!

I've never seen that one, but I remember my girlfriend and I walking out halfway through "Macon County Line" when it was first released thinking it was really stupid. The yellow hardtop from "Return" seems to have one of the worst flame paint jobs ever.

You're correct, sir! Thanks. That percentage should be 0.65% That seems more sensible given our anecdotal observations. Doesn't take a genius copywriter to use the much more impressive sounding "300,000 families" than "less than 1%" of families!

1955

Just don't do "piss yellow!"

Sorry to hear about this issue, Steve! The '59 Ford was looking really sharp. I haven't had an issue with cracking clearcoats, either Tamiya or Testors "Wet Look." When I have had issues with paint cracking it was from applying too much paint, too quickly or not waiting long enough before applying a second color over the first. Is it possible that applying you're clear only 24 hours after the color coats is not giving the color enough time to dry thoroughly? Then as the clear coat dries the color underneath is still drying but at a different rate, leading to cracking in the surface finish?

Great color combo and superb looking engine detail.

Great weathering! Definitely looks like a nice daily-driven car.

I like it!

Great work on the rebuild. You're lucky to find one that was as complete as it was. More often than not the front axles are broken and can be a tough repair. Good job fabricating the hairpin. Good call leaving it bare plastic! This kit, in both motorized form and static version, appears in the Monogram catalog leaflet in an early 1964 1/48th Hawker Hurricane kit in my collection. However, from what I recall, this kit was a rare sight on store shelves by that time. I don't remember any of my model-building buddies having one back then in spite of the relatively long time it was available. At $1.98 for the non-motorized version and $2.98 for one with the electric motor this was a rather pricey kit. It's gone from the catalog leaflet in an early '65 kit on my shelf.

Nice work!

That's approximately 6.5% of American households at the time. Does that seem realistic?

OK, Michael, here's that '55 Ford ad. Mom, Dad, three kids. New house with a two car garage. These folks were more like the wealthier families that lived "up the hill" from us, where the bigger houses were... And here's a '57 Chevy ad. The copy isn't about being a two-car family, but it's pretty obvious that this young family's doing OK, maybe somewhere in So.Cal. with the Modern home and the Corvette in addition to the new Bel Air. Maybe Dad works for a defense contractor like Lockheed? Out of the perhaps 200 1950s-era ads in my little collection these are the only two featuring a two-car family. Incidentally, in thinking about this topic I did manage to remember several early two-car households in my old neighborhood. One, where the lady of the house had a red '57 Thunderbird – definitely had another car, but can't remember it 'cause of that T-bird! Two, was a family further down the street that bought a brand new '60 Ford Country Sedan and kept their '53 Buick Special four-door as a second car. Three, my little sister's friend's family had two English Fords - pretty unique at a time when foreign cars were few and far between. Mr. Green, who probably weighed close to 300 pounds, made quite a sight banging through the gears and tearing through the neighborhood in that little white Consul! Four, my friend Sal's family, who lived in an ultra modern custom home on a wooded hillside overlooking the Delaware Canal, had a "loaded" white '61 Country Squire (with fender skirts!) for mom, while Dad had a dark red '63 Cadillac Fleetwood sedan with a black vinyl top. Five, was a couple, who had one daughter (unusual in a neighborhood where practically every house had at least two kids), always had Jaguars, a sedan and a sports car (made them even more unusual!) Their first Jags I remember were a MK-VII sedan and an XK-140 drophead coupe. The drophead was always in the carport, while the sedan got the driveway! Of course all us car kids made a pilgrimage to their driveway when the mister bought one of the earliest XKE coupes!

Looks gorgeous with the foil! Interior looks perfect!

Two car families were relatively rare when I was growing up in the '50s and early '60s in our neighborhood. Mid-late '60s-early '70s they were much more common. Most of the homes, built in early '50s thru to mid '60s had a single garage. However, in my collection of car ads I've got a Ford ad from model year 1955 touting the practicality of becoming a "Two-Ford Family," with sedan for Ward and wagon for June.

Terrific artwork, Jeff! Hope you got paid for your work. Really a shame this guy seems to have made such a bad name for himself.