Lizard Racing

Just watch out for Auntie Grizelda. Peter was the creative one. He had a Masters degree as I remember.

This is Strider the Dog. He's in doggy heaven now. I still miss him.

The quickest way to find something is to look for something else. I'm always finding things I lost some time ago.

This looks like the old MPC Lola from the 1970s. You have made a good start. Keep us posted.

In the '80s (when i was a man) I raced Karts in California and Utah under the team name Lizard Racing. Even further back than that, I was a substitute teacher. I would report to the school office to pick up lesson plans and would ask to be pointed to the teachers' lounge; I would find the classroom later. So I was a lounge lizard. So that's where the team name came from.

I built one of these some years ago. I call it: " A New York Yankee in NASCAR Land." Yours looks good. Where did you get the decals?

I like the color combination and the license plate. Gremlins and Pacers have always been a favorite.

I can certainly identify with some of the problems you had. This is a well-detailed kit, not like the AMT Vettes of '63-'67. I rebuilt mine from the Delmo Johnson car (#3) to the Chaparral version (#67) at Road America in '64. As an historical note, GS 005 in the hands of Roger Penske was the only one to win a major international race (Nassau '64). Your build looks great.

Yesterday I bought a Visio 40" TV on sale. I hooked it up today in time to watch the start of the Daytona 24.

That's why, for the last 40 years I have done all my own work. I had crash damage repaired by a "professional" place once. They replaced the front brake hose with the wrong one. Instead of exiting the caliper vertically, it came out horizontally and was resting on the CV boot. It was a race to see which one would wear out and fail first: the CV boot or the brake hose. I happened to see it when I was doing the next oil change. DIY forever!

To get back to the original subject, I just finished this kit. I made a short track racecar out of it (see NASCAR) forum. I liked the separate seats and exhaust (not molded in). It saved a lot of time. The kit comes with a small and big block engine, hi-rise manifold and competition hood to contain it all. I like the separate front fenders. Rally wheels are also included, which I always liked on the 1:1. Detail could be a bit better, but the kit allows a lot of leeway for customizing.

Mr. dwc43: Thanks for your comments. I thought about removing the inner fender panels and closing the scoop. I may do so at a later date, but it was more work than I wanted to do now. This is about the first race car I built that did not conform to a specific set of rules.

Just finished a short-track Chevy Nova. I made an effort to use parts bin items where possible. The donor is the AMT Beverly Hills Cop kit. It has separate interior parts and exhaust, which made it a lot easier to make a race car. I modified a pre-fab roll cage, so it doesn't fit exactly because I didn't want to modify the dash. Tires and window net are from PPP. Exhaust is from an AMT NASCAR chassis. I cut down the air box on the optional kit hood to allow the air cleaner. Seat, air filter and master cylinder are from Big Donkey. I fabricated a new firewall so I wouldn't have to cut off the street equipment. All decals are a mixture of what was left over from other projects.

I have seen 409s with red, silver and chrome valve covers. Depending on the application, any of these would be correct. However, the 1963 Z-11 427 was a race-only engine. The valve covers were silver (brushed aluminum?) to match the hi-rise intake manifold. I hope this helps.

I have about 80 on the shelf or in the stash, plus another 20 I left with my son when I moved (that's part of his inheritance). Like most people on this forum, there have been several incarnations of my model activity over the years. I built my first car model in 1960 with aircraft for a couple of years before that. I sure wish I had back some of those kits and projects that are now long lost.

I would recommend everyone read her book My Mother Was Nuts. Insights into one of the most enjoyable directors in Hollywood.

I've been building AMT '63 Vettes since '63. I agree the older releases are a bit primitive by today's standards and the newer ones are parts bonanzas. Here are a couple of survivors: Doug Hooper won the Riverside 3 hour race in late 1962 for the Stingray's first win. Mickey Thompson put the '63 Mystery Motor in a Vette for the American Challenge race at Daytona. Primitive as they are, a lot can be done with them.

That's an interesting diorama in the background. Good looking builds.

My uncle, Don Schmid owned a Dodge dealership in Wichita, Kansas during the 1960s. He embodied the American Dream, rebuilding a junker after WWII, selling it and buying another. Over time his dealership sold Studebaker, Dodge, Renault, Peugeot and Fiat. This project is a sort-of tribute, depicting a Super Stock he might have raced in 1964. It is an early '64 using the 426 Max Wedge. Later that year the wedge was outclassed when the 426 Hemi was introduced. The kit is the AMT Color Me Gone. Pie crust slicks are from the AMT Parts Pack. Decals are a combination of kit, homemade and Gopher. The chrome trim is my first effort of using air conditioning tape instead of painting or BMF. I need more practice. Also pictured is the Ramchargers Hemi in A/FX. The old man would never have sprung for one of these, even if he could have got one.

What a great collection!! Cool cars that tell a story. That's good modelling!!

I've been retired over three years now. I thought I would have all the time in the world for building. But it seems like other things creep in and now I seem to have less time than when I was working. Sometimes I go for a week without touching a project. I have to keep in mind this is not a production job. At least for me I can only work on a project when I feel like it and no interruptions. A friend of mine who retired some years before me had several 1:1 projects going. He said that the urgency was gone. You had to get a car running to get to work. Now, there's always tomorrow.

Police officers are always telling us: "I've never unbuckled a dead person."

All my favorites have already been mentioned, but here are my thoughts: Gumball Rally was the most enjoyable. I thought the producers really knew about cars from the one that didn't make it out of the garage (XKE) and the one that broke in two (Corvette). Grand Prix was the most artistic, although slightly inaccurate. I remember reading about the making of the movie in 1966. The first really first-class racing movie made. Le Mans was probably the best racing movie. Made by a racer for racers. The hero didn't win the race, tore up his car and didn't get the girl. Rush is a close second, more of a study of two diametrically opposite personalities. I also remember the F1 season of 1976. Ron Howard produced it, which explains why the movie is so good. I have DVDs of The Crowd Roars and Big Wheel (with Mickey Rooney). They send chills to see guys racing in coveralls over shirt and tie, slacks and polo shirt and cardboard helmets. But good films. One film I did not see mentioned is The Love Bug. A real hoot and the top grossing movie of 1969. My first car was a VW, just like Herbie.

What a topic!! With a model at least you know how it will turn out. If it's screwed up, you know what's screwed up and how it got screwed up. You know what it will look like in 20 years. A model doesn't complain where I scratch myself. But having said that, I don't think I would trade my 45 year human relationship, even though the model relationship has 10 years seniority.

I remember the original Hurst ad for this car. There was a napkin sketch of the car with the caption: "Put a Hemi back here … and run like hell." Nobody thought it would be popular as a wheelstander. OBTW, did you see Jay Leno's Garage when the current owner of the car crashed it trying to turn a corner? leno was in the passenger seat with all the cameras attached. You have a good start saving an old build.