RDean58

Testors Lacquer Silver blue. Thanks for looking!

http://www.nissan.co.jp/CARLINEUP/index.html?id=0 Which ones do you think would sell in the US and/or Canada?

I guess they feel that Americans don't go for the small cars. Plus on some of the smaller ones there could be a problem with meeting our crash standards and emissions regs. I understand the Nissan Cube is coming to America in 2008! That would be so cool! To bad ( :wink: ) we already have a Honda Fit Sport ordered or else I'd look into the Cube. (Yeah, I got a model of both.) We haven't gotten ours yet (around the middle of July) but here is a pic of what it's gonna look like.

Daihatsu makes a car called "Naked :wink: " for sale in Japan only.

I've got one in process of being built (been that way for a year ) A lot of my Ferraris are red, although I do have some in other colors Blue Black Silver And another Blue One.

Very realistic Good job! I like your showroom display, I should get one for mine.

This 1938 Bugatti Atalante, parked by John W. Straus in 1962, will be auctioned by Christie’s on June 3 at the Greenwich Concours d’Élégance. By DONALD OSBORNE Published: May 27, 2007 From the NY Times AMONG serious collectors, there are few mysteries; with only occasional exceptions, cars of particular significance have all been deeply researched and their histories well-documented. A Duesenberg or Ferrari expert knows when an important example will be coming to auction and can typically recite its ownership history in numbing detail, referring to the car not by something as vague as a model name but by its exact chassis number. That is why the grapevine of the collector market buzzes when a rare car re-emerges after being out of sight for many years. Such is the case — and the source of anticipation — surrounding the French grand touring car from 1938, a Bugatti Type 57C Atalante coupé. One of about 40 built, the Atalante is the last design of a talented young man before his early death, and one of the most daring shapes of its time. Adding to its mystique, the car, owned by a member of one of New York’s most prominent families, had not seen the light of day since 1962, when it was last registered for the road. The Atalante has not moved from its garage space — it is now sandwiched between a old Farmall tractor and a 1949 Jaguar Mark V sedan — in a New York City suburb since then. It will be auctioned on June 3 by Christie’s at the Greenwich Concours d’Élégance, at Roger Sherman Baldwin Park in Greenwich, Conn. Christie’s estimates that the car will sell for $300,000 to $400,000. While noncollectors might be shocked by that price for a car in this state of neglect, its as-found condition adds charm for many would-be Bugatti owners. Many vintage cars, even from the grandest marques, have suffered untold indignities, but this Atalante is remarkably original — with little more than small repairs at the rear and the addition of bumpers — and it has never sustained the harm of a botched restoration. Its value is related to Bugatti’s status as one of the most revered names in automotive history, memorable enough for the Volkswagen Group to revive the brand in recent years for a series of ultraexpensive sports cars. The founder of the company, Ettore Bugatti, built his first car in 1899 and gave them his name in 1910, when he established his company in the Alsace region, then under German control. Bugatti soon became known for superbly engineered racecars, one of which won the first Monaco Grand Prix in 1929. To finance the racing, the company built powerful cars for wealthy enthusiasts, a business model later adopted by Enzo Ferrari. Ettore’s son, Jean, grew up in the business and established himself as an imaginative and talented automotive engineer and designer. Jean, who died in 1939 while testing a racecar, designed the bodies for the Type 57 models. Of the 710 Type 57s built, about 40 carried the sleek two-door coupé body named Atalante, after the quick-footed young woman of Greek mythology who would not marry any man who could not outrun her. The owner of this particular Bugatti is John Wendell Straus. Mr. Straus, 87, is a grandson of Isador Straus, who built R.H. Macy & Co. into a retail giant and who, with his wife, Ida, was among those lost on the Titanic in 1912. John W. Straus has loved cars since childhood. His first, at the age of 14, was a Ford Model T that he kept for many years. As a student at Harvard, he spent much of his free time looking for old cars abandoned in fields near the Cambridge campus. He joined the military in 1942, where, as a pilot in the Army Air Force with a fluency in French, he trained Free French airmen in Alabama. After the war he joined the family business; as a Macy’s vice president he was deeply involved in the Thanksgiving Day Parade and served as the store’s liaison to the production team of “Miracle on 34th Street†when it filmed in Manhattan. Mr. Straus often found himself at Zumbach Motors on West 54th Street, one of the first foreign car repair shops in New York and a gathering place for show business personalities like Paul Whiteman and Dave Garroway. It was there one day in the early 1950s that Straus saw a rakish black and yellow Bugatti. It was not just the car’s looks that convinced him he had to own it, but also the obvious care and craftsmanship that went into its construction. The car had originally left the Bugatti factory in Molsheim, then in France, with a convertible body and the optional supercharged engine. An early owner of this car also owned an Atalante coupé; the coupé originally came with the less powerful version of the Type 57 engine, a 135-horsepower in-line eight cylinder. In the late 1940s the body of the convertible was swapped with that of the coupé, mating the 160-horsepower engine with the rarer coupé body. Such exchanges were not uncommon at the time, with some well-to-do owners regularly changing the body style of their car seasonally to suit their moods. The Bugatti joined other cars in Mr. Straus’s garage, which over the years included a Rolls-Royce Phantom I, several Jaguars, a late-1930s Mercedes-Benz 540K, his original Ford Model T and a Duesenberg that had been purchased new by his father. They all saw service driving his family between New York City and their country homes in Westchester County. Mr. Straus became involved in education and the arts during the ’60s and left Macy’s in 1968 to begin a second career in education. He later became an consultant serving on the boards of many arts organizations. All this activity left little time for his cars and one by one they were parked, not to be driven again. It is exactly this sort of unrestored car that has helped the Christie’s auction at the annual Greenwich concours make something of a name for itself. “In selling a ‘barn find’ car, we find that you have to market it correctly,†said Christopher Sanger, vice president in charge of sales for Christie’s motor car department in the United States. “A picture’s worth a thousand words — you need the right images to create the proper mood, by showing the car as discovered so people can appreciate how undisturbed it is.†Finding cars like this is also a part of the competition between auction houses. “We’re all striving to find fresh-to-the-market cars — important and rare cars that have been tucked away in collections and lost to time,†Mr. Sanger said. Restoring a car purchased in original condition like this requires special care. Alex Finigan, sales manager of Paul Russell & Company in Essex, Mass., a shop that regularly works for top collectors, said that the work should start with documentation. “The process is that we photograph literally every nut and bolt. Although we’ve worked on many Bugattis, they’re all different. “We study any period factory photos as well,†he said. “This is all before a wrench touches the car. It’s very important to identify what is original and what may have been added later.†Restoration on a car like the Bugatti can take up to 6,000 hours of labor and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. In 2006, a restored Atalante sold at the Gooding auction at Pebble Beach for $682,000. For the person who buys this Bugatti, it will be akin to the thrill of an archaeologist at a dig site, combined with that of the museum curator who finally puts the object on display. It’s like unearthing a lost treasure, then bringing it out into the light of the world to be celebrated once again. By any measure of desirability, it’s worth the effort. The Greenwich Concours d’Élégance will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, June 2-3, at Roger Sherman Baldwin Park in Greenwich, Conn. Saturday’s concours is for American-made cars; Sunday’s event showcases imports. Christie’s holds a classic-car auction at noon on Sunday. Tickets are $20 each day or $30 for both days. Directions and information are available at (203) 618-0460 and at greenwichconcours.com. <center> </center>

Making time on the Bandit Run. By DAVE KINNEY Published: May 27, 2007 From the NY Times Atlanta Eastbound and Down TODAY is the 30th anniversary of the release of the movie “Smokey and the Bandit,†a Burt Reynolds romp that the actor once described as “a little like eating Chinese food — about an hour after you see the movie, you may want to go see another one.†But for many people, the real star of the movie was the car he drove: a 1977 black Pontiac Firebird Trans Am with gold striping and a “thunder chicken†graphic on the hood. With plenty of Hollywood stunts and trick driving, the Trans Am left an impression. To commemorate the anniversary of the movie, a driving event called the Bandit Run 2007 was held from May 15 to May 17, with about 200 participants in 85 cars traveling the 660 miles from Texarkana, Tex., to Atlanta, the route traveled in the movie. The event was open to anyone; owning a Trans Am was not required. The movie is about a trucker, nicknamed Snowman and played by Jerry Reed, and his decoy and lookout man, Bandit, played by Mr. Reynolds, who agree to transport 400 cases of Coors beer from Texarkana to Atlanta. It is Bandit’s job to occupy the police — nicknamed Smokey — so the tractor-trailer of beer can make it to Atlanta without being discovered. Thirty years ago, Coors beer was not sold in states east of the Mississippi River. In the south, Texas was the cut-off line. The idea for the Bandit Run was a collaboration of David Hershey of Keller, Tex., and Dave Hall, the owner of Restore a Muscle Car, a restoration shop in Lincoln, Neb., who said they thought it would be fun to recreate the road trip from the movie on its 30th anniversary. Mr. Hall’s shop had restored Mr. Hershey’s 1977 black Pontiac Trans Am SE, or special edition, which replicated the paint scheme of the Trans Am used in the movie. Mr. Hall and Mr. Hershey promoted the event on Motortopia, a motor enthusiast’s Web site. More than 300 joined the Bandit Run group, many posting photos and videos of their cars. Bandit Run participants came to Texarkana from all over the United States. I wanted to attend, but I also wanted to arrive in the right car, so on April 20 I bought a black 1979 Trans Am with almost 100,000 miles for about $10,000 at a collector-car auction in Branson, Mo. I had always wanted a black Trans Am and this was my excuse to finally fulfill my dream. I bought one like the car in the movie. Jim Cox, who, along with his wife, Kathy, owns the collector-car auction, found a mechanic to prepare the car for the trip. The air-conditioning was repaired, new front springs were installed, and the tires, brakes and shocks were inspected, adjusted and, in some cases, replaced. The foam was also replaced on the two front seats. The Bandit Run group gathered with their cars May 15 at the Tex-Ark Antique Auto Museum. The mayors of Texarkana, Tex., and Texarkana, Ark., welcomed us. Pontiac Firebird Trans Ams from most model years were among the 25 or so cars there for the start. More cars, including many Trans Ams, dropped in and out of the run along the route. Talking with the participants, one theme appeared continually: most were fascinated by the car in the movie and most first saw “Smokey and the Bandit†when they were much younger. Jed Morgan of Call, Tex., said he was “born in 1977, the same year as the movie.†“I watched the movie likely since I was 3,†he said. Mr. Morgan, 29, a nursing student, was traveling with his brother, R.J., 18, in a black 1977 Trans Am. Jed Morgan bought his car last year on eBay and is already devoted to it. “I’ve already made arrangements that my brother will drive it in my funeral procession, if he survives me,†Jed Morgan said. “It will be in front of the hearse.†We left Texarkana on that Tuesday morning with a police escort. In many of the small towns we drove through, police cars had pulled over with officers standing beside their cars like an informal honor guard. Most officers waved as we passed. The first leg of our journey, and the longest drive, was on the first day. The 382 miles from Texarkana to Tupelo, Miss., was mostly on rural two-lane roads. We had good weather for most of the trip, with the exception of a cloudburst that happily coincided with a lunch stop. If the first day had included a hard-luck trophy, our car would have won. About two hours into the trip, we noticed a strong smell of burning rubber. We looked under the hood and discovered that our air-conditioner compressor had seized. The compressor belt was destroying itself trying to turn on an unmovable bracket. With a cut from a razor blade, we solved one problem only to have another appear. I thought that by removing the tension from one belt, I had changed the dynamic of the others, so I assumed the alternator belt was slipping. Tightening the other belts at our lunch stop did not help. The problem was diagnosed as a broken fan clutch, a serious problem, but not one that had to be fixed immediately. We soon stopped at an auto parts store in Greenville, Miss. Five minutes and $30 later, we were on our way with a new fan clutch ready to be installed. Just outside of Itta Bena, Miss., our car had what could have been a trip-ending breakdown. The driver’s side rear wheel worked its way loose, and by the time we pulled over, three lug studs had sheared off and a third was bent, leaving the wheel attached with just one lug nut. Had we traveled an additional few feet, the wheel would probably have come off. Our situation seemed pretty hopeless until Mr. Hall, the event organizer, appeared with some spare lug nuts. After scavenging one lug stud and lug nut from the opposite side of our car, we had enough parts to continue to Tupelo, our first overnight stop. A morning car show in the parking lot of the Tupelo Automobile Museum gave us time to find some parts and fix the car. We were soon on the road, but about two and a half hours later we stopped just outside of Birmingham, Ala., so we could enter the city in a group. While we were waiting for the stragglers, many of the truckers who had been running with us for the last hour gave us a blast of their horns while some passing motorists flashed thumbs up. By now, our group included about 50 cars, the overwhelming majority of them Trans Ams. Steve Clark, a club D.J., had traveled to the event from Sheffield, England. Mr. Clark, who said he was on his fourth car-related trip to the United States, owns a 1978 Trans Am, but he did not bring it along; he was a passenger in a friend’s 1969 Dodge Charger. Mr. Clark is planning to rent a car and end up in Nashville for the Dukesfest, an event related to “The Dukes of Hazzard†television show. A lunch stop on the third day at the Talladega Superspeedway, the Nascar track, brought the group together for one last time before reaching Atlanta, about a two-hour drive east. Most of the participants were staying in Atlanta to participate in the Year One Experience, an open house run by Year One, one of the largest suppliers of restoration parts for muscle cars like Trans Ams. Year One is offering a series of cars that are built using original Trans Ams as their starting point. A fully updated version with supercar performance, the Burt Reynolds Edition BAN II and BAN III, which was shown to the Bandit Run group, still retains much of the exterior look of the original cars. Engines are available up to a 650-horsepower 8.8-liter aluminum block. Fully restored and heavily modified, prices for the BAN II start at $129,900. On the trip home, I wondered if the owner of a BAN II would have 12 times the fun that I had in my admittedly slower $10,000 original that was so prone to breakdowns. Somehow, I don’t think that is possible.

A few weeks ago I picked up 5 vans that are "Native" to Japan. You have seen the Elgrand that I started awhile ago. The box cover. Now here are the others. Toyota Alphard MS/AS I started this one last night and have it painted in Testors Auto lacquer 64 Chevy Silver blue. Honda Odyssey Absolute This one does not look like the Odessy's in America! Plans for this one include Ford Purple. Toyota Hiace How about TS-53 Dark blue for this one? Toyota Estima I'm thinking this one will be either 65 Chevy Evening orchard or a flip-flop silver & green. I'm not sure yet. So, what do ya all think of these? Thanks for looking

According to what I just read on allmopar.com http://www.allpar.com/model/roadrunner.html Plymouth dropped the 440 in 74 You can try putting in a 340 or 360

or My quest for models of small cars. My fascination with small cars began innocently enough. I bought a model of the Morris Mini at a LHS. As a companion piece I picked up the Fiat 500D. Then it snowballed in fast order. I got the Renault 4CV, and the Citroen 2CV. I then stumbled upon the nirvana of small car nations, Japan. Back in the early 50’s the Japan government set up a micro class for cars. Originally these cars could not be any larger than 9.2 feet long, and 3.3 feet wide! Engine size was limited to 150 cc(9.2 CI) for 4 strokes and 100 cc (6.1 CI) for 2 stroke engines. Compare this to the original Morris Mini, which was 10 feet long, 4.9 feet wide, and had a 4 cylinder engine of 848 cc (51.8 CI). Keijidousha Cars or K-cars as they are known (also yellow plate cars) are cars built for the Japan Domestic Market (JDM) and Europe. The current specifications for these cars are a length of 11.2 FT (3.4m) long, 4.8 FT (1.48m) wide and an engine size of no larger than 660 cc (40.3 CI). They also have a restriction of only being able to create a maximum of 64 horsepower. This regulation was put in place because some of these micro cars were developing more power than larger Corollas and Civics. This was accomplished by the use of turbo-charges or superchargers on these micro engines. These micro cars are very popular in Japan today because they have tax advantages, parking advantages, are really cheap to own & operate, easy to drive and get really good gas milage (around 40 mpg in the city). There is a company in Canada that is doing some “gray market†http://www.japanoid.com/ importing of these K cars. Restrictions in Canada allow these cars to be imported if they are at least 15 years old. In America though, the cars have to be at least 25 years old and a lot of times the government wants to see crash tests on them. The only other car that meets the classification of a K car is the Mercedes Bemz Smart ForTwo. It will be interesting to see how that sells in America. If it is a success then perhaps we may be able to get some of these K cars for ourselves. As for my collection of small models of small cars, I have a few, here are the pictures of the kits I have to build. Thanks for reading!

This is the closest I've came to getting the real paint color to show up in a photo. I still need to put the interior together then the body details and this one will be done

Started this at the beginning of the year. I repainted it and shot some clear over it. Color is Tamiaya TS-51. Pics don't show it well. Thanks for looking

It was a great show and I enjoyed seeing all those great models there. I'll see you there next year

http://carmodelingcorner.com/NNL2007/NNL2007Page1.htm Click on the link above to go to first page of my 15 page spread of all the great models I saw at the NNL mid-Atlantic in Towsen MD held the 12th of May, 2007 Thanks

Testors Auto Lacq Platium with clear. Basic Black interior with black flockng for carpet.

This was a fun little build, painted with Testors Auto Lacq turquoise. The wheels are from the Tamiya Moris Minor kit.

Painted Tamiya TS-50 Mica Blue with gloss black interior. This was a fun little quick build. The others I'd like to get sometime.

Do I have to say it? Testors Auto Lacq Italian Red/Clear. Semi-Gloss interior. Not a bad build but I could have done better with the side black strip. I'll make sure it's perfect on the Fujimi EM kit I have.

Painted Testors auto lacq Italian red with testors auto lacq clear, interior has black flocking on floor, and native black pastic for the rest of it. I'm not really liking the black seam markings.

One of my favorite Ferraris, this one is finished in Testors Auto Lacq Italian Red with Testors Auto Lacq Clear. Interior carpet area was flocked in brown. Rest of the interior was painted with Tamiya Wooden Deck tan spray. I then flocked the top of the door panels & roof with light tan flocking. The bottom of the door panels was flocked in brown.

It was a fun challenge to get people to build something. The guy that started it all made a 60 Falcon Ranchero in 5 hrs just to see what he could get done in that time.

so far this year listed in the under glass section. I'll be posting more tomorrow so that you all on this board can see what I've been up to Thanks for looking at 'em!

Pre-painted kit (sparkling silver is the name) from Aoshima. Charcoal flocking and some detail painting is all I did to this one. The wheels came from the factory bronze, all I did was add the decals to them. Thanks for looking.

Very Very Cool