Dave Darby

That's incorrect, and easily borne out by your photos. The 5 window coupe door length is correct for Roadsters. This was discussed many years ago on the old Hobby Heaven Message Board. But compare the distance between the door and rear fenders in your photos, and you can see for yourself. The longer three window coupe door length is more in common with the Cabriolet. The actual lengths, according to a post on the HAMB are: 35 & 36 ford 3 window, 2dr sedan , cabriolet & club cabriolet have the long doors 40 inches at the belt line with short quarter panel. The roadster, 5 window have 34 1/4 inch doors with the long quarters. Four door sedan doors fronts are 34 inches & rears 28 1/4

I kinda liked the Moon disks, but you certainly frosted the cake nicely. Nice preservation. I like it.

Gor-Geous

I'm Dave Darby and I approve this Falcon. Nice job!

This is the coolest. Ed Roth would love it.

Cool build, even the tires look weathered. I like the Y block, and the crossover pipe feeding into the single stock exhaust. I see also that you used an original (or pre 1970's issue) coupe body. The rear window opening on those is much nicer than the newer ones.

I Like it! Cool build Steve.

I've been telling you this for years, Paul. You do super nice work.

Very cool concept.

I can tell you from experience those headers are a bear! Using the header flange does help a bit though. I have that same engine in my 57 Flip Nose Chevy gasser. Nice job on your Vette.

Very nice build. Lots of added detail add to the appeal. Is that the Bell 4 spoke steering wheel from the AMT 57 Chevy?

Cool stuff, Tom! I'll concur with you that that roof is from the 57 T Bird, along with a custom grille and taillights from the AMT 50 Ford Convertible. For you guys interested in anything to do with vintage model cars, history, box art, and even vintage tools, paint and glue, Scale Survivors is a fun group. Scale Survivors

Some of you regulars know that I used to build box art models for AMT back during the Ertl days. I built display models ranging from mostly cars to even Star Wars from 1990 to 1995. The last three cars I did were for the Chevrolet Classics set shown below. Once they were built, as always I would hand them over to the Ertl Company and I might occasionally see them on the box, in the catalogs, or in the Blueprinter. When Ertl was finished with them, they would raffle or auction them off at model car events, then donate the proceeds to the Model Car Museum in Salt Lake City, Utah. I have no idea where most of them went after their box art days, but one day, while perusing Spotlight Hobby's predecessor, the Hobby Heaven Message Board, I saw a post by the late "Viper" Dave McGaughey showing the 1958 Chevy Impala I built for the box. I contacted Dave a few times over the years, inquiring about purchasing it, but his reply was always "it's in a good home". Sadly, David McGaughey passed away in 2018. I reached out to one of his sons asking about the model, but never got a reply. Then I reached out to mutual friend Ted "Chopper" Lear, who informed me that Dave had sold much of his collection to Richard Geis. So I messaged Richard in 2018 and asked if he knew of the model in question. Two years later, I got a Facebook message from Richard, apologizing for the delayed response, as he had recently just got back on Facebook. He had the model all along, having won a raffle for it, and that he would be happy to sell it back to me for what he had in it, plus shipping. Needless to say, the deal was consummated, and I am happy to report that one of my very favorite builds has returned, and Richard had indeed given it a very good home over these past two decades. And so here it is! You are probably wondering where the glass is. Most box art builds for Ertl were done sans glass, as it induced glare and distortion. Instead, the retouchers airbrushed (and later Photoshopped) the glass in. Box art models can lead rather rough lives during their travels. A sharp eye will reveal that during Ertl's ownership, it had been damaged, and the front hood and grille trim rather crudely glued back on. (It didn't leave my house with those big glue smudges on the hood!) Fortunately that old Krylon Teal paint is pretty robust, and I was able to polish a lot of that out after this photo was taken. At some point I'll be fixing the trim, along with the now glued solid steering. And the missing wind splits will be replaced on the fenders. The radiator hose and oil filler were there when it was delivered to Ertl. They will be replaced. Given the tight time constraints, these were no contest models. I built all three in about a week. So things that didn't show, like drive shafts, shocks, and on this one, even the exhaust were left off. In retrospect, I probably should have added the exhaust. And who knows, that could still happen. I've got a few extra 58 Impalas in the stash. it was a very different world a quarter of a century ago in 1995 when I built this model. My oldest two kids, now in their mid 30s were 8 and 9 years old, my mom and dad were both still alive, and I was a long haired guy going to college for an Engineering degree. Looking at this 58 Impala brings me right back to those days... I want to thank Tom Carter for the creating Hobby Heaven, and now Spotlight Hobbies Message Board for making this reunion possible, Ted Lear for hooking me up with Richard Geis, and especially Richard, for not only taking such great care of it, but being kind enough to reunite me with this bit of my history, one that I will be able to pass on to my son. And I want to thank anyone who took the time to let me share this story with them.

Never mind the wheels. Fix those bug eyed headlights.

They closed off the gates for the dropped axle and mag wheels? Darn.

The box art build for this is built mostly from the old Aurora 34 Ford. At least the body is.

I believe it shared many components with the 23 T kit, hence its awful proportions. Then Revell copied AMTs mistake with Buttera 27 T based 34 Ford kit.

That's the first thought that entered my mind when I saw this thread.

That's a gorgeous 36. Love that bright red paint. You mentioned it was Duplicolor. Do you recall the paint number? I want to get some.

I'm in, too. One caveat though. This thread will likely get moved eithet to On The Bench, or Tips and Tricks.

Very cool also that it has the 50 Mercury hubcaps, which were very popular for hot rods in the 1950s. Those were also included in the 62 or 63 Lincoln kits.

While it's more Faux-vivor than survivor. Its definitely way cool. Love the paint.

I wonder if Dean Jeffries knew how bad they mangled his last name on that sheet?

Very true, and retailers purchasing fewer and fewer units, the necessary price increases may hit that tipping point where some hobbyists will balk. Last time I brought this up, several people brow beat me. I wasn't complaining. Only putting forth reasoned conjecture and hoping we don't see a death spiral.

I always love seeing your work. Your builds are to hot rods what Steve Boutte's builds are to customs. Almost inhumanly good!