Dave Darby

A Swinger 340 would be pretty sweet. Lower hanging fruit wise, a new grille, hood scoop and hood decal would net you a 72 Demon. Not sure what the ROI/demand would turn up for that one, but it would be cool.

Actually, the Sunliner was re-issued around 1967-ish. I have a box for it. But, chances are that tool was scrapped during the great tool purge of 1973.

I'd love to see a 64 Elky. Along with a tudor wagon.

All of the subtle modifications add up to a very nice build that stands heads and shoulders above box stock. I like it alot!

Not quite true. The 427 engine block, headers, the custom headlight bezels, large hood scoop one custom fender skirt, and a number of other parts have been unblocked.

I hadn't read the whole thread when I posted. ?

At least in the case of the trucks, it's because a rear exiting left hand exhaust manifold would dump straight into the steering box. That's why the rare ram horn manifolds (from Y block powered C Series cabover trucks) are a popular swap for guys who want duals.

Looks great! I had a 72 Demon in that same color combo. Mine had a 318 with a posi rear end though. I still miss that car.

Actually, looking at the ebay photos, it appears the scoop for the second issue (contrary to the box art) is molded in place.

Stella finally found her groove! Looks great! That reminds me that I have a stripped down AMT 32 roadster I built in 73-74 (at 12-13 years old) that went through a couple of iterations. I should decide which one, and restore it one day.

I found a sold one in completed auctions on ebay, and it looked a bit de-contented. Looks like they omitted the custom skirts and a few other custom parts. The current issue has one of the custom skirts back in. The other custom skirt got displaced by some wheel backs, probably for the Modern Classics issue.

Is that the end cap to this one? So the stock hardtop appeared sooner than I thought.

The Wonder Bird was part of the Elegance series, and was the first of the glue kits to have the stock hardtop. The Trophy Jr/Craftsman kit has the better hardtop, and Drag City casting offers both stock and porthole versions mastered from it. I seem to remember reading in an old review of the Ertl reissue that there were two promo tools. The Ertl reissue mentions that the kit was made from a promo tool, and comparing the front and rear bumpers, and interior construction seems to bear that out. We will be exploring the 57 T-bird in a future edition of the Vintage Workbench.

There's another cool period build. I like the extended front end, and 58 Chevy taillights. Great use of the AMT Willys interior - going to put that one in my recipe book. The paint color is icing on the cake.

Reissues, except for the Green Hornet, which is an all new tool.

Seems like the tool for the 61 Galaxie was misslabeled as the 60 Starliner.

Nice job on both!

The only thing I'd change is the zip code. Really nice work. What paint did you end up using?

Very cool build, Tim. Love all the changes. Especially the rear wheel wells. I like the chromed rocker covers too. Color and everything is spot on. Perfect early 60s vibe. Could have been in a 1964 issue of Hot Rod magazine.

The one and same tool used for the Yankee Challenge. But the stock version. Not bad if you want a convertible. Not ideal for a hardtop.

I think most of us know what this consists of.

We covered these roofs in the current (221) issue of Model Cars magazine, but we didn't have room to tell you why these are are better than the kit pieces. AMT did two versions of the 57 T-bird. The glue kit, and the Trophy Jr/Craftsman kit. The hardtop in the latter kit is more accurate than the one supplied in the glue kit. The Craftsman roof is wider in front, allowing it to cradle the windshield like the real car. The rear window is also more realistically shaped. (The DCC parts are the lighter colored parts on the left of the stock parts in the photos.) Here's the porthole roof. Like the non-porthole Craftsman roof it was mastered from, it's wide enough to wrap around the windshield frame, and presents a more level (and accurate) window line. For contrast, below is the glue kit roof. Note how the window line runs uphill, and comes up too high on the windshield. The difference in the rear window opening is readily apparent here. The Craftsman style roof has a more trapezoidal shape that matches the full size car. Both Drag City Casting roofs (Porthole and non port hole) share this feature. Ed also provided this cool teardrop hood that makes me want to build a period 60's 427 Drag Bird. So whether your preference is plain or port hole, these parts from Drag City Castings will help you build a better 57 T-bird. You can get these parts at http://Facebook.com/dragcitycasting

It does have a nice chassis. The floor pan would probably have to be narrowed down to fit though. The 56 (kit) body is a little wider than the 57. I actually used a number of 57 Engine parts on my 56.

X2 Tim. Makes me want to hunt one down and build it.

I think the AMT/Ertl issue had the stock coupe roof as well.