Mark

Don't get me started on insurance companies... Next time you check out an insurance company's website, check their vehicle listings and how they come up with rates for the various types of coverage. Nearly all will be "above average" for collision coverage. How can you determine an average when everything is above average? Smaller vehicles are more costly because they are likely to receive more damage in an accident. Larger vehicles are more expensive because they are likely to inflict more damage on other vehicles in an accident. If you have been involved in an accident recently, your premiums go up. But if you haven't been in an accident, your premiums still go up because you might be more likely to be in one in the future...

A lot of that stuff was gone even in the Seventies...the choices made for the USA Oldies series were likely dictated more by availability than desirability...

99% certain the wheels (but not the tires) pictured are from this kit, or the '71-'72 Firebird kits. The Firebirds have two different width wheels. Concurrent MPC Dodge Challenger kits have these wheels also, but all four are the same, the narrower of the two.

I haven't seen the new one...not sure it's out yet.

The stock hearse was in pretty rough shape when it was last available. A guy I know bought one, the body had some weird flashing on it, that stuck out of the quarter panels like tailfins. Anyone else have the dual engine ambulance version? That one was only around for a couple of years...

Supposedly, it was Lee Petty who threw a fit over the Ford truck.

It's good when you need something that contrasts with the regular chrome, like the quarter panel inserts on a '57 Chevy. I haven't had a problem with it getting shinier during application, but then again I only burnish it enough to get it into place.

To steer things back to the original topic, some of these conversions look great, but without a real Pontiac Division behind them, they are what they are, what-ifs. How much are these going to go for? If I had a hundred grand burning a hole in my pocket, I'd step up for one of those Demon Challengers regardless...

Oldsmobile going into the dumper started with the engine switching. Cadillac brought out the Seville, but didn't make a 350 engine. They wanted (and got) the Olds engine, leaving Oldsmobile with not enough V8 engines for all of the Cutlasses they wanted to build. So some of them got Chevy engines. People got mad when they found out; after all, they paid extra for an Oldsmobile. They knew the basic car was pretty much just a fancy Malibu, but expected an Oldsmobile engine as part of the deal. Had Cadillac had their own small V8 engines (or used Chevy engines; the Seville was a heavily modified Nova) then Oldsmobile would have been left alone. Funny, when GM was switching engines, they always had enough Chevy V8 engines to go around. They never ran out of Chevy engines and had to substitute Olds, Buick, or Cadillac units. GM has been poorly managed since the late Sixties IMO. After the Toronado, they didn't seem to be able to roll out anything really different without a lot of problems. The junk Vega engine (why didn't they just use the existing Nova four?), the pieced-together Chevette, the recall-loaded X-cars, the midsize cars that all looked alike (remember that Forbes magazine cover?), and so on.

I use Office Depot for work; no Staples stores around here (though I did order from them online a couple of times). Fifty bucks worth of stuff, and they deliver it for free. Only in a "someone needs something yesterday" situation will I, or someone else, actually go to the store. I don't have anyone to pick things up; the maintenance peoples' priorities are the building and grounds, and we've only got one part-time driver and he's got his priorities. I can see these places trying to reduce the size of the stores; like hardware stores and even local hobby shops, they've got a lot of "dead" or slow-moving stock taking up space. People in my position (buying the supplies) will switch loyalties if they can consistently save money with one supplier over another, so it's not surprising that these places are turning over every rock trying to cut costs. That also results in a loss of service at the local level, but the people doing the majority of the buying want low price as #1 priority so that's how it's going to go in the future.

I was thinking of making the cut just a bit closer to the greenhouse, but this is pretty much how I envisioned it. The idea of joining the '53 front clip to the Foose cab sounds good, though.

'64 or '65 (note the early MPC logo)...probably one of the earliest kits marketed under the MPC brand.

Some people want a better stock '56 pickup than is currently available, and this kit might make a contribution to that. It's more a case of using parts of this one to get there, than it is of trying to convert it.

The AMT '66 kit was first issued in '67 as a funny car. AMT didn't offer the Hemi Under Glass version right away, and didn't offer it for very long. The MPC kit (there were '68 and '69 versions) is completely different, and was designed as the Hemi Under Glass from the start. The chassis and interior got reworked afterwards for the LA Dart kit. It's easy to forget, but back when those kits were first issued AMT and MPC were competitors and not brands owned by one company as they have been for the last 30 years or so.

The AMT/Ertl kit was an earlier Shelby Daytona Turbo Z, which used a different style wheel. Even then, the kit wheels were for a similar-looking non-Shelby version. It's as if the kit were designed as the non-Shelby Turbo version, and they stuck the Shelby name on it at the last minute.

Just picked it up...literally a one-hour job. Apparently there was a redesign towards the end of the '97-'04 generation truck, and the shop manual wasn't updated. It's nice to open and close the door without it sounding like someone cracking their knuckles. Now, to get the CD player straightened out, and get some tunes back...

There are actually two of them...the one pictured was built to be part of a between-rounds "funeral procession" along with a few other vehicles. The running one has smaller front wheels, a painted frame (show car has a chromed one), and a 426 Hemi (show car had a Desoto engine with Chrysler rocker covers). The "procession" didn't do wheelstands, smoke the tires, or anything else...just putted down the strip very slowly. Apparently it was done only once or twice.

Just my opinion, but to me it looks like there is a very slight "pie cut" section on the cowl, if not the cab itself. If the top is chopped, it's a minimal amount. The height of the window openings vary about 1/32" between this cab and the AMT '53 Ford. Same goes for the width of the cab through the middle of the doors. From the looks of it, it shouldn't be too tough to slice the roof off of the Foose cab just below the bottom of the side window openings (taking the top of the cowl along with it), do the same to the AMT '53, then piece the two together. The curvature of the hoods in the two kits at the cowl are incredibly close considering these were created over 50 years apart, by different companies, using completely different design methods. Nothing matches exactly of course, but they're close enough to be encouraging...

All that would be needed is the section of tooling that presently has the name engraved into it. For all anyone knows, Revell may have already planned ahead and cut tooling inserts for an alternate (post-Foose licensing) version. Blank tailgate, blank license plate, different wheels, maybe some other different parts, just enough to differentiate it from the current version. Looking at the specs for the 1:1 truck, I didn't see anything about a top chop, but the cowl and hood have been reworked. I'll be sticking the Foose chassis under another truck; plans for the leftover '56 cab include measuring and checking to see if the roof can be made to fit an AMT '53 cab. If it does, then it's just a matter of seeing what can be used from the old Revell '56 pickup kit to bring the rest of the '53 up to '56 spec.

Overhead cam...definitely not an Iron Duke.

How exactly does this one work?

It's a far newer kit, someone more familiar with the 1:1 car can probably find something to pick at, but it looks pretty good to me. Probably the best '67-'68 generation Mustang out there (a '67 Mustang GT was also offered, which shares a lot of parts with the Shelby).

Unless this is a straightforward slot racing track, it's likely nothing else will work. Aurora, Lionel, and others all brought out "slotless slot racing" sets back then, each had their own unique design which locked you into buying only their cars. Even with conventional slot racing, the track without the cars generally isn't worth too much because the vast majority of people collecting the cars don't seem to actually run them...

I'll find out Thursday when I drop it off...

My nephew sells new cars, and I've heard him talk about people taking out 96 month loans. I've never done more than 48 months, and that's only because I had to take 48 to get the zero percent financing that went with it. Eight years for a car? I paid my house off in 13...