Ragtop Man

Bwaa! What a maroon. Thanks for the update on wheels/tires. Need to dig a little deeper in the box.

The truck is a G-Body by other means. All the other swaps - bars, steering, etc. - are an easy layup but not strictly necessary. The "Dookie" was a CAFE play to get enough truck credits to keep selling the big ones. My B-I-L was a Brand Manager on Sonoma for a hot second back in the day, did a neat accessories play with it that really sold them through the GMC dealers that were allergic to small trucks otherwise.

Yep - that's the one. Super easy one to build assuming decals and a donor could be located. Damn, it looks good on those Cragars! FWIW, out of box promos that look a little scruffy are a very good way to source a '65 - and they bash 100% with the '65 Mod Stocker. Pro tip: Surf Woody has the best ever (maybe only!) Cruiseomatic in scale. My LHS in DTW had stacks of them. I would imagine a Thunderbolt would be a drop fit underneath, too, or a Moby Cyclone. If you are good with an olde skool platform style chassis, the common '69 Torino has the exhaust and sales copy wiped away... and includes a credible shock tower style engine compartment, too.

@GoodbuildNY Doubt the Droke car ran with a small block, but there is a recently restored D/SA that did - with the 289 HP and Cruiseo. B/FX may refer to the weight break, the Fairlane even with all the lightening (fiberglass from the quarters forward) was still pretty heavy for the class. Someplace I have an Elapsed Times story on the C/FX cars that ran small blocks but delivered surprising performances... a few 289 "Cobra Kit" Galaxies were notables. Had to be driven like they were stolen, but were nipping at the heels of the B/FX entries with much larger engines.

... and find yourself with a bag of Funny Car parts left over? Just landed an original release that - wait for it! - had the engine and a few chassis bits glued, but otherwise excellent. Would like to make it whole again. Thanks!

Carbineri are coming for you - all Ferraris are supposed to be red, Signore! Nice build - did you hit any snags and how did you fix them if you did? Asking cos there is one in my rotation to build 'one of these days'

Woof! Got me by surprise with this one, excellent color choice and a tack-sharp build.

Boom! A few more like this and they might bring them back. Really nice work. I pretty much had every one of the Monogram classics, but got bogged down in one or two (pre-internet phone a friend days) and just dumped them all.

[Drops Mic] I really like the model and the accuracy is awesome... but the 1:1 is a thing of joy.

Are these tools still in the crib or holding down fishing nets? Some very interesting kits that I don't ever recall seeing on the instruction sheet...

Which blue did you use on the Bandito? They all look great, BTW.

Going out on a limb to say that anything Falcon- or Fairlane-based in '64-5 with an SOHC would have had either a straight axle or the single-leaf, quarter-elliptic spring, if only to make room for the headers which were critical to getting all the power out of the engine. ('64 Thunderbolts had 1 5/8" primaries as delivered, which would be marginal on a 289 and are the achilles heel of the Revell kit!) Second pick is likely the final iteration with injectors, moon tank, etc. Guessing by the time it got this far, it was pretty beat up and would make sense to crush out.

Damn does that look good! Those old tools have been flogged so hard for so long, we forget how great they looked new.

Going out on a limb to say that anything Falcon- or Fairlane-based in '64-5 with an SOHC would have had either a straight axle or the single-leaf, quarter-elliptic spring, if only to make room for the headers which were critical to getting all the power out of the engine. ('64 Thunderbolts had 1 5/8" primaries as delivered, which would be marginal on a 289 and are the achilles heel of the Revell kit!

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.