Joe Handley

Different angle of the Widebody ZL1 Firebird build I just started, it’s a mashup of the Monogram Classic Cruiser ‘79 Firebird Street Machine and Revell 2013 ZL1 Camaro, still in the finding out stage and will need to change the wheel openings some.

Had to use the factory interior tub with a few clearance mods in the rear footwell, May cut the back seats out, but it’s still to early in the build to decide right now. That said, here’s the mock up of the car with the ZL1 kit’s rolling stock. I’m going to need to play with the wheels openings since the the 5th Gen kit’s wheelbase appears to be a little longer than the 2nd Gen kit’s body. The engine bay will require some work and filling between the engine and firewall.

I have one that I bought through the club raffle a year or two ago that was an 80’s issue, but may buy another too.

Got started on the cutting, engine bay is out but……. there are issues that can be resolved by cutting up the interior tub for the Firebird, but my rechargeable Dremel kept stalling and needed a charge, so being 11pm, I decided I needed to as well and will try and pick up again after work tomorrow.

I had seen pics of the converted cars and read that they just reskinned Coronets convertibles for the Charger Convertibles that are out there now, that’s where I got the idea to use the resin repop boot from the MPC ‘68 Coronet annual for this!

It should at least be very interesting!

Thanks, planning on going up to chop things up after dinner?

Well, I picked up one of those Monogram Widebody Firebird Street Machines at Ollie’s and decided I really needed to do something different with it, so I dug out one of the Revell 2013 ZL1 Camaro kits to kitbash the two. Turns out they’re pretty close and if I cut out the engine bay from the Firebird body, I should be able to fit the ZL1 Camaro chassis and interior under it! I posted these pics on Reddit’s R/ModelCars and the first response was as follows. “Why Tho?” To which I responded “Why Not?!” the reply to that was “Fair” ?

It’s funny how when I started this build 5 years ago, I had to get resin repops of those parts and now the Coronet is back on the shelves and the Barracuda will be soon too.

Thanks! Know how that goes too, just got rid of a bunch of kits that I came to the conclusion of that they won’t get done. Funny thing with the Dually kit, a friend of mine just bought a 1:1 ‘96 Extended Cab Dually Chevy in white with a big block and a topper a couple weeks after I started this thread! It looked exceptionally nice, especially for a Michigan truck too, and he thinks it may have been a tow rig for a race car and was garaged when not towing. He’s planning on a similar build to what this one will represent, just more of a 4/6 drop vs a 4/4 drop like I prefer and will be used to tow his and his family’s vehicles.

Got a little more time out into the OBS trucks tonight, the front bumper for the RCSB doesn’t fit too great, kinda too flat so I may need to at least try to glue or cement it to the cab before painting it.

Thanks! I found someone who was repopping the boot from the original issue of the MPC ’68 Coronet R/T when I first started this build and bought that, same with the Recall Wheels, they’re repops from the MPC ‘68 Barracuda kit that were bought about the same time.

Just saw this, oddly enough, also on Elana Scherr’s IG as well.

I saw some posts from Elana Scherr on her Instagram (@challengeher) account about this yesterday. She had been good friends with him and is with Don Prudhomme, TBH.

Thanks! Dad and I were looking at it after I had it in primer and both came to the conclusion that this looked like it would have looked great in full sized and would have sold well. I’m just wondering that since Chrysler and AMC were the smaller of the 4 domestic companies then, if they would afford to engineer then produce this as a drop top, as well as the Coronet and Satellite/RoadRunner/GTX all at the same time. That said, this could have stolen a lot of sales from the other B-Body convertibles had they actually built it, maybe even some of the bigger C-Body convertibles too.

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Thanks everyone, I appreciate it!

Got the door handles mounted tonight and it is now done!

After nearly 5 long years, the car is finally done! I was concerned that the blue was going to overpower everything with the bumpers being body color, but after painting the grill and tail light panel then adding the bright work, that concern was unfounded.

Just need to mount the door handles!

Wanna bet that there’s all 12v lead acid batteries behind the steps and in the back!??

Lol, yup, he does and was even more approving of my Traxxas Factory Five ‘33 Five Window Coupe that was fenderless with a VXL swap?

Getting ready to prime the Dually and shoot its interior, the RCSB interior is in color, but need to paint the black areas as well as get interior flocking for the floors. The RCSB has more bodywork that needs to be done before I do more primer and move onto paint. The Dually won’t be as heavily modified or as low, so it should be quicker to finish so long as the weather holds out.

Getting closer, just need to reassemble for the last time and mount the door handles.

That amphibious Jeep looks like it would be built using modern plastic stock without too much effort!