Spex84

This build looks great in metallic red, and on those big-inch wheels. Somehow the size of the wheels/tires helps to bring out the lines of the fenders, makes the car look long, lean, and low. I'd happily drive this if it were 1:1. Nice save!

Beautiful! Clean, well photographed, and era-correct. These days I'm appreciating 70s rods more than I used to, and I'm thinking about building a dramatic Fad T just for fun...and your build is a great example of how good these cars can look. Your extra effort in fixing the bad chrome and mixing the right brown color really made the difference between a good build and an awesome one. Great work!

I don't have any glue bomb "saves" yet, other than the previously-built '37 Ford truck that I've pillaged for a hot rod build. But I do have a few sitting in the wings, waiting their turn. The '57 Ford is actually pretty clean, just slightly painted and the body is broken in 3, with the A and C pillars missing chunks that I'll have to rebuild. Of all of these, I'm most excited about restoring the AMT '28 Tudors. They shouldn't be too hard to pull apart. I actually quite like the paint color on the brown one.

I might have missed a post or 2, but there is also the "spring-behind" setup, as seen on the Doane Spence roadster and the Rolling Bones cars. In this setup, the spring is moved off the top of the axle and set behind it, with the shackles on either end mounted to the radius rods (or the batwings on the hairpins, if it has those). Generally the frame horns have to be cut off for this to work, and often the front crossmember is flattened/cut down with notched frame rails for spring clearance. It's a bit like a suicide front-end, and I guess if the frame rails were cut off completely, if one of the spring shackles failed, the car would nose-dive into the road, so it can carry similar risks.

Killer paint job!

I used not to be a fan of these kinds of cars...but lately, I've just been liking them more and more. They have so much swagger, so much opulent style, such gorgeous craftsmanship, such incredible engines for their day. And this resin body ( a very nice, clean-looking one at that) simply makes the car even more dramatic...can't wait to see where this project goes!

I hadn't thought about the Canadian versions...some Meteors would be awesome! The '49 Meteor grille was used on a number of customs in the 50s, and the '50 Monarch looks like an american merc with a Cadillac grille.

Genius technique for the air cleaners. Wow.

If I was building a real car, I wouldn't turn my nose up at ANY affordable engine, brand be darned. So SBF and Mopar engines would be in the running, too. I don't think I've ever heard a 289 running...I know the Olds rocket can be made to sing, and the Studebaker V8 too...the stude is similar to Cadillac 331, so that engine probably sounds good also. My favorite, though, is the early hemi...those engines have such a full, throaty sound. SBC tends to sound like a bag of loose metal Especially straight-piped.

Beautiful build. I love hot rods, and I spent a while looking at this car with my "hot rodder's eye"...gave up and decided the car needs nothing. What a beast.

I'd second the 51 Mercury and '27 ford roadster. I'd actually love a 27 coupe too.

A friend of mine just blew the engine in his Subaru. A few google searches later and I'm gobsmacked by the cost of replacement parts and engines. If only it had a small block chevy!! If I had a car that needed a V8 swap, I'd find it very difficult to avoid the allure of the cheap, reliable power represented by the SBC. As much as I love the "cool" engines...Olds Rocket, Cadillac 331, early Hemi, Ford flathead V8, Nailhead, and so on...they're pricey to rebuild and just too precious for an amateur like me to tackle. If I ever wrecked a SBC...welp, there's more where that came from.

Greg--those Monogram 1/24 kits are utterly useless now. I'll take 'em off your hands, how does a dollar each sound?

Whoops, by "rear of the roof" I mean the area around the back window. Man I wish I could get the "edit" feature to work!

I would have loved to have seen a stock '30 as well...but I'm more interested in a hot rod kit. I can't wait to have one of these in my hands, or at least a quality build-up preview (hey Tim Boyd!). Right now I'm thinking firewall from the AMT '31 woody or '30 Tudor, or even a modified '32 resin firewall. Heck even the Phantom Vicky '32-style firewall might work. The visor looks like it will need shaping on the outside corners, possibly shortened by a hair, and maybe some bow/curve added. The trim strip between the visor and roof looks very soft in the photos I've seen so far (but that might be paint buildup) and that would be an easy fix with strip stock. Squaring the roof insert to look stock will be pretty easy too with some styrene stock and a chisel-tip knife. The curve of the lower windshield opening might be tricky to adjust, but thanks to the roof being removable, it will be very accessible! The final thing I might want to adjust is the rear of the roof--it appears to have a slightly convex curve to it, somewhat like the '32 5-window, when in reality on an 'A' that area tends to be very flat, at least on the 1:1 examples I've seen. But I won't know what I'm working with until some clear, primered photos are available, or I have the kit in my hands!!

I have a couple '67 GTX kits, a '77 Dodge truck, a 90s corvette...and everything else in my collection is older than '62. In fact, most of them are '30s to 50s. When it comes to buying new kits, I like to get hot rod and classic kits with parts that will kitbash nicely with my existing stash, so that means I shy away from late-models.

Snakeskin Gulf livery? Sure, why not! Cool paint combo and some awesome underhood detailing, I love the oil filter lines. As others have stated, the black stripe is really sharp!

The whole kit is neo-traditional...the top insert, the blown smallblock, the halibrands, the lake pipes, the buick finned brake drums, the 'skeleton' interior, bomber seats...so if they include a whitewall option (I'd guess they're probably going to be decals rather than pad-printed), then it fits the neo-retro styling and that's just fine. Personally I wouldn't use whitewalls on a tire like that. Those whitewall decals can be used on something else. I think the various text blocks are a little crowded and awkwardly spaced, if I'm going to criticize Here's my quick hack version:

Kerry- very interested in seeing those!

It can happen to anyone... http://www.cringely.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/trainwreck.png

I'd recommend separate workspaces. Woodworking creates a colossal amount of dust, and the fine stuff will waft around and be very difficult to remove entirely. More than enough to mess up a model (get in the paint, stick to windows, etc).

Great chop, awesome color. Beautiful!

I remember that mockup well, it's in my reference folder to copy someday The stance, wheel-tire package, and body mods are bang-on. I have a drawing somewhere of a similar truck with LED headlight rings wrapped around turbo inlets where the stock headlights would be. Drew it years before the Hellcat was announced! I had your build in mind when I cut into my '53, but the front arches ended up tilted slightly forward so they're no longer level with the windows...going to have to re-cut and adjust them Oh well. That's what happens when I get chop-happy and don't measure three times before I start slicing!

Cool start, good use of some odd old parts. And nicely done with the front of the transmission tunnel..That's an area I always hate trying to scratchbuild; yours looks great! I think Lindberg must have copied the body from AMT's Ala Kart kit...see the hump in the center of the cowl? A stock '29 doesn't have that, it's a feature specific to the Ala Kart; it faired into a recessed hood scoop on that car.

I have an AMT '53 F100 on the bench as a side-burner custom project. One of the first things I did was move the front wheel openings forward to get rid of the awful overhang the stock truck had. It kind of needs a hood section, but I don't have the heart to cut into the nice curves of the stock hood, worried I'd never get it smooth again. It drives me nuts when 1:1 builders do all the work to street-rod an F100, but leave the awkward stock wheel/arch position untouched. *facepalm* So a Ford f100 kit with pre-adjusted fender arches and sectioned hood?? Sign me UP! If the scale is right, it could be kitbashed with the old AMT F100 to create a very nice 50s/60s-style custom.