StevenGuthmiller

I agree. I find it hard to believe that brushed on metallic paint would result in an even distribution of metallic particles on a body. Steve

Not glitter, but I use the Ceramcoat pearls all of the time. Especially the clear pearl which I use on nearly every build to give my interiors a metallic sheen. Steve

Looks sweet Jim! Steve

Absolutely fantastic Peter! Really nice to see the Le Mans rather than the obligatory GTO. Great work!! Steve

Looking very cool Jason! I've always wanted to do a '68/'69 Barracuda coupe with a mod top. Maybe some day. Steve

My sentiment exactly!! Steve

Nice that you were able to locate a hood for the '60! With Modelhaus gone, I wouldn't have had much hope for that. Steve

Added a speaker grille & a pair of defroster vents to the dash as well. The grille will go in later. Steve

It's pretty easy to mix your own engine colors if you're not overly picky. I mixed my own Chrysler, Buick & Pontiac turquoises, (all very close in color) from Testors flat bottle paints as well as Chrysler orange. I bought a can of Duplicolor Pontiac Turquoise Engine Enamel for my last project & it worked quite well. The Pontiac engine is Duplicolor, The Chrysler engine is a custom mix. Steve

It's a cold, rainy, dreary day in west central Minnesota so it's as good a day as any for an update. The body is polished & ready for foil, and the vinyl top is finished. I might try to get some foiling done tonight. Started a few modifications on the interior today. The engine that I'll be using is from the Revell '66 GTO kit, which is a 4 speed, so a few mods will be needed to convert the Bonny to a 4 speed. I cut the manual shifter portion from the GTO's console and ground out a section of the Bonneville's to accept it, then ground off the automatic details from the console. A little more adjustment & filling should take care of it. There will be quite a bit of wood grain added to the console & dashboard, so to facilitate adding the decals I drilled out the dash control knobs. I will add them back later with plastic tubing & rod. I will also remove the molded in dash "grab bar" & replace it with the one from the GTO. I think I'll do a little research & see where a tach would have been located & possibly add one of those as well. Steve

Yeah! More like a 360 "boat anchor"!!

Without having one of them right in front of me, my guess would be to go with the stock height as stated in the instructions. Usually the "highest" hole will be for the lowered version & the middle one for stock. My advice would be to just play with them a bit until it looks right. I've built a few old annual kits that have 4 different holes for ride height. With no instructions in most cases, you just have to try them out until you get the height that you want. Steve

Looks nice! Reminds me of when I was in high school. My dad was looking for a second car for me to drive when I was 16 & we stumbled across a very nice looking '71 Dodge demon in "Panther Pink" with a white interior & stripe, sitting in a used car lot. It was looking like a go until we started it up & my father heard a lifter tick. I was very disappointed to end up with a green '72 Plymouth Fury 4 door sedan! Steve

I think that's pretty close to the size of the AMT "parts pack" tires. Looks like they're about 29 MM. I suppose that's still a little too big. Steve

Must be a 13" wheel? Seems awfully small for anything larger. I know that Pegasus makes some lower profile white wall tires with "lowrider" style wheels. I have a set somewhere that I didn't use because they looked too small for a 14" or 15" wheel. They came with the Dodge Lancer style 4 bar spinner wheels. Steve

Nice! The '59 Fury is a real gem when you can find one with the interior. Steve

Under normal circumstances, I mask for both colors. I figure there's not much sense in spraying half of a body one color, only to cover it up with another. It takes a little longer to mask this way, but it saves on paint & you can spray which ever color you want, when you want. Steve

The skirts would go a long way to making it look a little nicer too. If the wheels & hubcaps come with it, you're half way home. All you need is a set of wide whites. They'll make a big difference. Steve

Some of these old promos can be worth quite a bit of money depending on rarity & condition. While your '63 Ford convertible is in terrific condition, it's not terribly rare. My guess would also be some where in that $50.00 range. Steve

I have 2 convertibles & a hard top. One of the convertibles & the hard top are a little rough, but restorable. They were both built kits & they both either had the balloon tail lights or damage from them. I finally ran across a nice unbuilt example & built it a while back. The hard top is still on my list. Steve

Funny how these '60 Mercs always seem to have been built with those ugly "balloon" tail light lenses, even when the rest of the model was built stock. Steve

I don't think the color is all that bad. Looks like "Metallic Bronze" & "Shell Beige". Personally, I think that the most obvious appearance upgrade would be a set of stock hub caps & some wide whites. That would "class" it up a lot. Steve

Looks a lot better already! I know that "if" I ever bought one of these, a "de-foosification" would be an absolute must. Steve

I owned a '58 Series '62 Coupe in pink. It wasn't pink, it was coral, "Tahitian Coral" to be exact, with a black top & a tri-tone pink black & rose colored interior. Absolutely beautiful in my opinion. Everybody's taste is different, but I'll bet that if you had that pink '57 today, you would be the envy of everybody in town. This is not a photo of mine, but you'll get the general idea. Steve

That sure is pretty Tulio! I'll bet I've built a half dozen of these kits in my younger days, but never very well. I think it may be time for a new one now that my skills have improved a bit. I've always wanted to do a fully dressed '56 Crown Vic Skyliner with skirts, a conny kit & the whole ball of wax. The day may be coming & it's builds like yours that get me psyched up about it. Steve