restoman

The hacks on the tv show "Car Masters: Rust to Riches" did a replica... but awesome is one of the words that I would NOT use...

Tom Clayton loved living in the Hill country of Texas. Long stretches of un-patrolled, little-used highway, with lots and lots of twists and turns. Others liked those roads, too. One summer eve, Tom tried to show a Ferrari driver how well his '70 Torino could navigate those turns. It didn't go as Tom had planned. Tom's Uncle Fred had a derelict '57 T Bird with a pooched engine sitting out in the back forty. Tom thought "With a little work, I can shoehorn the wrecked Torino's 428 and four speed in there", so out came the holed 312 and the torches were lit... A few custom touches were needed to replace the damaged windshield and taillights on the 'Bird, and lot and lots and lots of suspension work and ballasting were needed to get the FE powered 'Bird going down the road and not ploughing through the ditches like his Torino did. The Halibrands helped keep the new boots on the ground. The roll bar helped keep Tom's head off of his shoulders. Once it was sorted out, Tom was happy. The Ferrari owner wasn't. Comments always welcome.

Very nice work!

If I had a nickel for every time we repaired some hack job - mechanical or body/structure, I'd be a fairly wealthy man... The funniest story that I can remember is one of the concrete contractor employees working next door to my shop, brought his '95ish Cavalier in on a Friday afternoon. Local PD ticketed him for leaking fuel. Bud says he needs it fixed, he can't afford to miss work, doesn't have much money, yadda, yadda, yadda. We look at it, sure enough, main fuel line is leaking. But, a new line comes as an assembly, and it's pricey. (We NEVER spliced in repair sections). All the lines were rusty... Bud near poops himself when I give him the quote. Leaves, saying he'll have to borrow some money to get it fixed. We move the Cavalier outside, and lock it up. Bud calls right at 5PM and says he needs to pick it up, he found someone cheaper. No harm, no foul. Monday morning, guess what arrives on the hook...yup, Bud's Cavalier. Still has a fuel leak and now the brakes are BAD. REAL BAD. Seems his Uncle had spliced in a piece of rubber hose (fuel injected car - that's a no no!) and "Only" charged him $50. Problem is... Uncle had cut the brake line and put the rubber hose on it... and didn't see the leaking fuel line. I'm pretty sure a lot of alcohol was consumed before and while this was going on. Oh, and Bud got ANOTHER ticket that morning for a leaking fuel line, which prompted the tow to my shop. He whined long and hard about forking over the $$$, but I had no sympathy for him. Up here in Beautiful Ontario, we face almost the same issues as NYS when it comes to mechanics not being able to pull plates for unsafe vehicles. But... we CAN call the MTO, who usually show up promptly to do a detailed inspection. Their word is final., and they take the phoning shop's word seriously.

First sit-down at the bench in almost a month! Have my hands - and time - filled with some serious structural repair on our Beetle lately, nice to work on smaller scale for a bit. This 'Bird is closer to completion than the Beetle!

Here, the land between the side walk and street - we Canadians call it a boulevard - belongs to the city/municipality...

I was left handed up till Grade 1, when a bad arm break and complications left me in a cast most of the year. I learned to write with the right. Funny, I can still write with both hands, but the right is much more legible. The left hand still writes like a Grade 1 student. I paint with both hands, but am better with the left, hammer with both, but better with the right, slightly better motor skills with the right, but much stronger with the left. I pick my nose with my left hand... but put my glasses on with the right.

I'm liking this...

The 1mm pen i bought two years ago does the same thing: silver instead of chrome. It was great for a coupe months, but I didn't really use it a lot. I've soaked the tip in alcohol till it looked new, shook the ever-loving life out of the pen's contents, and it still comes out silver. The refill I bought, however, still gives a very nice chrome-like finish, both through the air brush and with a good old airless-on-a-stick. Not as nice as Alclad, but it does have it's place. A buddy has gone through several pens, all stayed chrome-looking right till the end. ???

As-found condition... Thick, thick, brush painted body. side pipes and truck spare tire held on with so much cement that chunks of styrene broke away when I tried to remove them. Same with the interior tub, and hardtop. The engine was pretty much un-usable. I wondered if it was worth keeping, till I saw the Halibrands, just waiting for a forever home.

The original windshield had so much glue on it, there was nothing to be done with it. The frame cracked as I was trying to separate them, but it is still usable if needed. I found a cut down windscreen that fits rather well, so that's the plan.

I bought these nice Halibrands from Replicas & Miniatures, and needed somewhere to use them. Found a place... I'll see if I can dig up a before pic, but this 'Bird was a sad sight. Destined to be a canyon carver with a FE big block, it's been lowered a bit, shaved of most trim, and finished in Scale Finishes Jadestone. Loving the Halibrands! Comments always welcome.

I think you did a great job on it!

Very nice work!!! I bought the Revell Trans Am, hoping to do the same with it. I hope my build turns out as good as yours. One of my all-time favourite TV shows

Very nice work!

Awesome job!

Nice job!!!

I've been using my mini HVLP guns for years. Old habits and all that... 30+ years of 1:1 car painting makes it much more comfortable in my hand and mind than an airbrush. My favourite is an ooooolllllld MAC tools copy of a SATA mini, with both a .6 and a ,8 tip. Air pressure? Just enough to get the paint out of the gun with a droplet small enough to flatten out quickly. I've used it for enamels, single layer urethanes, bases, clears (all automotive paints), latexes, acrylics, & water borne finishes. I use my airbrush for smaller stuff like chassis work, engines, interiors... where the need to keep it all wet and not worry so much about melt-in isn't as great.

That is some very nice work!!!!

What a car!!! And that sound!!!

I love it! Looks like something me or some of my buddies would have dragged home in the 80s. The pliers for the door handle makes me wonder if you hung around with us back then... ?

Nice work!

Yeah, a few more from the seventies would be very welcome!

I owned a '76 Charger (same basic car) with a 360 two barrel, and it,too, would spin 'em no problem.

It's 1/25 scale. I used the '71 Charger for the chassis and suspension stuff.