Ragtop Man

W-409: Is the '62 that tough of a ticket to build? What are the differences that would be required to backdate a '63 R2 Stawag or a '64 Moby? Full transparency, I'm not a Chevy freak on the topic, looking for advice on this one.

Jaw on table - wow!

Think my point about assembly variation and quality may have been mis-characterized. Don't want this to stray too far from modeling, but the myths surrounding Smokey need some context. To the point, once GM had the assembly line cranked up and running, Fisher and the divisions typically did a very good job to get a presentable car into the showroom. GM were the masters of the "known" - perfecting paint, trim, hardware and accessories, landing new models in showrooms EVERY year. That said, there was a lot of 'slop' engineered into the system, to deal with shop-to-shop variation. So, the door was wide open for Smokey to clean up and enhance well beyond what the designers intended. He wasn't working with junk - he just had time to take it the rest of the way.

I no longer ask forgiveness for puns, allegory, alliteration ... That said, the Aqua Rod never really floated my boat. On reflection, the G-30 Van would make waves in my collection, and to your point, the waterslide decals do add a splash of color.

Steve Goldman would be able to give a (very) brief 101 about the challenge of 'updating' a tool to go from one model year to the next, say from a '67 Impala to a '68. The timeline of R2 kits goes back to the beginnings of the company, each generation of tooling reflecting the state of the business at the time of release. Alas, the records are few, and new technology to produce parts rarely aligns with the old. Short story is: unless the kits are designed to be updated or changed and the parts are baked in - Mobeius is masterful at this, and certain Revell?Monogram kits show the same forethought - they are what they are as you see them now. It is literally easier and more economically efficient to shoot a new '68 Impala, than to update a '67.

The correct Man-a-Fre intake (or something darn like it) is in the '63-4 Riviera annual kit, of all the places. I've cast it, just have to find the darn things!

I have a hard time seeing Round 2 going backward for something like a '65 Wildcat - a lot of incrementeal investement in an old tool with no significant future increase in the business. When we did the '65 (MLRC) there were a handful of orders even from the lunatic fringe at pre-pandemic prices. I Also seriously doubt any of the fiddly and hard to assemble IMCs resurface, they are a patience project even for the most experienced modeler. Absolutely agree on a '68 Impala of some stripe as a future product, and 2X on the lowrider contingent going loco for it. Were I counseling or kibitzing, I'd make it "simplified-bashable" so that it could be used with the existing '67 Impala to do a true, full-detail build. I'm not an engineer, but it would seem to me that conniving a post-sedan and HT from the same basic mix, were such a thing possible (Moby did it, tho) would be a win. Cos talk is cheap, I'd also stop by the $2 window on the way to the buffet and bet a revived MPC '69-'72 Grand Prix. Not overdone in the market, lends itself to the same treatment as the GTOs. Could easily see working a license arrangment with Hurst to build a neat little portfolio with the '69 442 and '65 GTO with very little investment.

At least! What a fantastic build. Well deserved award for a benchmark project.

Cha-ching!!!! Looks killer.

The "7/8ths" and "15/16th" are largely fiction to dramatize a point, not necessarly an empirical measurement. Cars of the day were built to fairly loose tolerances, not surprising considering production techniques and factories had not advanced nearly as quickly as the styling. Thus, gaps and fits could be fairly well camoflaged with trim and paint...at any plant in the '60s or '70s, as long as the car started, it was finished. "Paint it blue, send it through," as they said at the Ford Rouge complex just a few miles from where I grew up. Watch any of the modern online custom car 1:1 builds that start with 50s-60s bodies. Even fairly mild work requires gaps to be closed by adding metal around stock hems and flanges. Conversely, it would be no trick whatsoever to pick up an inch or so with no modification, much less a razor sharp race builder of Moody/Nichels/Yunick caliber. So... Smokey with his own agenda, and others more subtly, could pull in or reshoot gaps and move sheet metal around easily. He scooted the body back on the chassis, then channeled and sectioned what was left, perching it on the chassis just 'so' to balance downforce and Cd. "Didn't say you couldn't," as he was often quoted. The only hiccup was his chassis setup, years behind the field to the point where Vince Piggins had the Chevy chassis team build one using computer modeling techniques, the car that really put the inspectors over the top.

That there is a race car. Got all the feels right on it.

Those import kits can be a bear to complete, much less detail as well as you did! Great job. It is a shame that the 1:1 concepts never got to production; they would have made the rest of the industry seem "like happy amateurs."

Cool idea! Like the contrast between then and now. FWIW, the 1:1 '64s are frequently high mile cars. They were built about as well as a Ford ever got at that time, and just kept running on those FEs and Cruisomatics. So your weathering is just how they look in Marketplace or CL.

Nothing but net - a box art quality build. Great job!

Was listening to XM the other day and what was on..."she's the terror of Colorado Boulevard!" In my mind's eye, I'd always seen the LOLFP as a '64 Polara, but this works just fine, too. Really looking forward to these, Moby is killing it with the Mopars. Question to the other kids: How well would these roof swap with the Satellite sport hardtop to get a really good '65 Coronet HT for all manner of builds? Or is it in the queue for later? The original 'feels' the best; the PL went wide of the mark but some will debate. A slam dunk replacement for the painfully expensive originals would be great.

Outstanding work and great use of the other kits - really sweet build.

I had to scroll all the way down to realize this was a model and not a picture posted from one of the hotrod books as your "inspiration" - !!! Incredible work and detail, completely had me. So good I got nuttin' - that is just amazing.

Cat was out of the bag on the Chevelles a while ago; I will probably need to score a few from my LHS that tends to price them well. I can see them getting some traction out there in the market, given the decades of '65 Elcos and Wagons out there since the '80s. Don't sleep on the NASCAR and Sportsman racer types, either, cos this was THE car as the '55-7's started to age out. Get your dremel out, and this pops on the AMT '65 Chevelle Mod Stock chassis, or grab the '72 Monte Carlo re-release (MK, Allison/Coca Cola) and you are in bidness. Of course, MPC GNs and the near-throwaway 90's NASCARs are good donors, too.

Can you post a link or more info on Rod's story? BTW, this looks great.

Feel free to put up pictures of the model any time. Oh, wait... Stunning detail - my jaw is on the table. Fantastic build. Any in progress shots to show what you were doing to get to this point? It is incredible.

Definitely, one of the Cadillac lover's Cadillacs. Truly, the best car in the world at any price in 1949, with the outstanding OHV 331 and war-proven Hydramatic. With only light updates, one of these is a very comfortable daily 'reacher'. The build looks great, kicking myself for missing a few of Don's later items including this one. Have yet to drop the dime on TMP, but, something like this would definitely put me over.

More than one observer (no less an expert than Ken Miles, IIRC) felt that the coil-spring Cobra chassis with the FIA-spec 289 would be the fastest Cobra around most courses, very few tracks where the 427 can really unwind for long enough to pay for the penalty in weight and braking. The build is absolutely great, the narrower fenders are a definite improvement. Sits just right. Now to win the lottery and get a 1:1...

Great color combo and ditto about this kit fighting like mad. I just gave one away that was fighting me like nobody's business. Glad to see you got through this baby to the end!

Best speculation IMO are line extensions of the new-tool Charger and Bronco. They go together very well, leverage existing license agreements and have good market momentum behind them. They are can't-lose product, easy sell through the channels right this moment... if it is NOT in the plan, I'd be shocked. I'm following that with a wild guess - some sort of current Jeep Wrangler, or a Ram pickup. Either one would be a smash. Given the heat in the older truck segment, I think they would be very wise to look at a 2WD re-release of the annual Squarebody (c. '78/9?) that would have a very minimal tooling investment to bring a very rare kit back to market. A 2wd/4wd similar to the AMT '76 Ford "Super Stone" would be welcome, and a great seller. Long ball from the black tees: MPC '66 Bonneville HT. I know Steve G. is a Pontiac guy, and if anyone can dig this one out and make it shine, he can. He seemed to downplay the Galaxie speculation a while ago.

Sorry for the dumb question, but, what model year is the Revell Blazer - ? I know they had a few out there. And Daddyfink, God help me but those MPC Street Funnys were a lot of fun to build. Never quite looked like the box... but really didn't care, either. It was a time when we judged the quality of the kit by the width of the slicks!