Ragtop Man

Where did the wheels and tires come from? I was late to class and missed that part of the lecture...

Agree on the PL, they need tweaking here and there, but very accurate for the era, esp. the cage.

I would have thought the same, but the spec for the '65 Fairlane calls for fabrication of a quarter elliptic in #s 5 and 6 above. Keep thinking there was at least one magazine story on the Droke Fairlane - the industry was pretty good about sniffing out those stories.

IMHO the go to for this - assuming you have the '65 Fairlane already - would be the Revell T-Bolt, followed by the Moby "Dyno Don" Comet. Let me dig around for reference pics, I am sure they are out there.

The quarter elliptic was a 1965 innovation of sorts - first documented in the 2% Mustang SOHC builds. Thinking that they may have been used in the '65 Comet as well. '64 427 Special Vehicles practice was to keep the towers and springs - although DST relocated the towers in comets to the outside of the apron, which I think is correctly replicated in the Moby Cyclone drag car. But the old memory could be playing tricks, too... would not be the first t ime!

I was looking for a leaf spring rear / Ford (ish) rear steer front in the same chassis, with enough extra to trim out for wheelwells, etc. The original MPC kits I recall going together pretty well, but original DA #21 Mercs are a little pricey again. For sure, a truck arm chassis or front steer would be one of the practically free 90's NA$CAR kits.

Sooo... I have a back burner project seeking an original MPC GN Cyclone with the wider chassis. Object of build is to repurpose a beat annual '70 Torino with hogged out wheelwells. Got Flat Rock and Toledo all over it. MPC Cyclone GN would be perfect here.... Buttttt. I'm watching threads on Salvino's Monte/Charger and 'hmmm might be durn close to an older MPC' and sure beats paying shipping fees. (Full transparency: for this project a PL Tally would be a perfect donor, but they are a bit dear these days, and I didn't hit Ollies with a wheelbarrow when they were in...) What say ye? The MPC / R2 / MK releases are a bit narrow of hip and midsection thanx to the '80s "Southern Stocker" mods. IMHO, easier to cut back than fill in. Would a Sally beat a Tally to build a retired GN tribute Torinion knocking heads in Winston West?

Hey Mark, not sure if this will help you... but the Proctor T-Bird was built on the remains of his '58 Ford modified. Clem may have taken some **liberties** with the situating of the body on chassis, etc. but the inspectors were complimentary and though he'd done it about right. FWIW a R2 Starliner would be a great start. The annual kits and promos are common - you might find a junker under a table at a show with a busted window pillar. Chop off the roof and add it to the new tool '62 - presto!

Ain't nobody scoffing at the Iwata... been looking at one for a while, need one of the coupon deals like I used to get my Badger.

Only thing better than the story is the build. Nailed.

I hope to screw up that well on mine.

It wasn't really an "if" - there was one built by DST that was soon to get the 427 SOHC, campaigned by Darrell Droke. https://www.facebook.com/groups/futuresonics55chev/posts/3929428190659830/ Attached is the RFQ from Ford to what I presume would be DST to build a '65 Thunderbolt. Good working blueprint for a replica. This is what popped up on the HAMB in regard to the '65... "In 65 NHRA changed the rules from 100 cars to meet homologation to 500 production cars to meet the rule, and that ended the Thunderbolt program. But - In 1965 the Ford Experimental garage made one Fairlane with a pushrod 427. The car was given to and raced by Darrell Droke of Downey California with success under the name "The Wonder Colt." sponsored by Downey Ford. After a few months the car was switched over to 427 SOHC power. In 1966 the car was repainted and some changes were made. The car was then driven by Jerry Harvey and sponsored by Paul Harvey Ford in Indy (still with the SOHC). Droke was now driving Mustang Funnies for Ford. Again the car was successful. By 1967 the car was supposed to be given to Ed Schmidt from Michigan. His father, Harry, owned Ubly Dragway and Ford wanted them to get the car. It never happened. Ford did a 180 and decided to go with the '67 body style. Dick Brannan believes the car was taken back to Dearborn and scrapped but is not 100% sure. Cars have been known to get out the back door. It should be noted that on a 1/29/65 Ford memo it lists two Fairlanes for drag development but nobody ever saw or knows about the second car. It may have never left Dearborn but there is one person who says Les Ritchey ('64 T-Bolt driver) got the car. So , one '65 T-Bolt was made but it became a SOHC car rather quickly so it wasn't really a T Bolt any more.

Whenever I was in there, it was a beeline to the magazine rack for the latest Car Model, Hot Rod, or Auto World catalog. When we could ride bikes to/from school, I'd detour by there on my way home if I had a few cents to pick up some bubblegum. There was also a Jack's Drugstore (building still stands, bricks and mortar unchanged) at Silvery Lane and Ford Road that had kits back in the toy corner. I think we crossed the international dateline of Telegraph to ride over there on a few occasions.

On reflection, parts are in the tool now to make a '65 straight axle gasser, as well as the base-base sedan. Doubt we see another bodystyle out of the tool, but, would love to be wrong on this.

Mikey, this is magnificent. I don't recall Jason's Pharmacy ever having kits, but my memory is a brittle as the styrene. I recall that the variety store at Telegraph and Ford Rd. next to the 'dollar show' would have kits now and then. Got the blue box ish of the Deora there - and left "Mach Won" on the shelf. Don't recall where the K+L Cougar came from, tho. That never progressed very far.

Ha, circle is unbroken... a client of mine from agency days was an engineer on the ZQ8 S-10 project. Small (literally) world!

Ah, memories... wait, what? (grins) I was very much a WW2 aircraft and ship fan at the time (some day I will post the motorized USS Enterprise ) so I missed that specific era of kits. I did win the best photo award in the Car Model Dune Buggy Contest, tho. The longnose kit always looked cool, but if it wasn't at Joe's, Harb's or the local Kresge/K-Mart... chances were it didn't exist in my world. Of course there was the AW catalog, but alas, my dreams were always of the OOPs listed - when I hadn't loaned the catalog to Mother's Worry for dissection in the lunchroom at Adams Jr. High. Ah, for the day!

Long Nose Mustang is great - always wanted one innaday, but it was not a widely circulated kit. S-Truck is interesting, but not really in my wheelhouse, save a turn as a frame donor for an early Chevy pickup ('49?)

Saw a post elsewhere mentioning that Steve will be at NNL with the the current releases, and will have news about some others not yet shared. Look forward to seeing / hearing what's in the plan!

I'd just pressed "send" when the scale thought crossed my mind. Will look for the Heller one of these days.

Becuause I dig modeling pain... what if I'm sitting on a Monogram re-release of the very credible Aurora E-Type? Would that window upper do the job? I have no idea how that would fit or where any cuts would be (or if there would be) can't access any of my modeling stuff now for a test grok/fit. The Heller Jag is an interesting call, will have to track one down for a look one of these days.

Sublime. As in, damn, I wouldn't change a flyspeck. Keep smacking them home runs, Mikey!

Agree 100% - the AMT kit lines up very well with contemporary pix in HRM and others. Have heard voices here and on Spotlight rather slagging the AMT '40, but a very clean (fagile!!!) built turned up in a box of builts, with the orignal instructions and it sure looks good to me. Much more likely to get finished than the more detailed but more fiddly Revell '40.

Help me understand the tin box thing... are those really that collectable where they add value to the contents?

Yes - My saving grace for moving over here to Podunk-by-the-Sea. They got one of errrvathing, or so it seems.