Danno

Exceptional fleet! ??

or shake bootys

Ooooh! That's pretty! ??

Most excellent! ??

Who's on first? ??

You be a weathering genius, my friend! ??

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Gotcha. Well, good luck with it - no matter which way you end up going. Looks like a great product. ??

Maybe. But, you gets whats you pays for. As fewer choices are out there, the cost of what's left will likely not drop. ??

More importantly, how many prawns go in there for dinner? ? [Rimshot.] ??

Stalling and stumbling. Didn't matter if you warmed it up or not. No doubt something that could have been corrected, but interesting that the condition existed/lasted 20 years. And, yes. For a sexy Hollywood star, it drove like an old lumber truck. ??‍?

I'll go a bit further. There was a stunt double, but there was only one actual Squad 51. As Greg mentions, they used mock-ups for the couple of scenes where the Squad was supposedly damaged. The actual Squad 51 lives at the Los Angeles County Fire Department Museum (not the same as LAFD) as Steve mentions. At one time, it made a coast-to-coast tour as a fund-raiser and promotion of the then-unveiled Emergency! exhibit at the Smithsonian. Both Mantooth and Kevin Tighe autographed the door panels of the actual Squad 51. That's one way to differentiate it from any imposters. Even more interesting (at least around here) is that the actual Squad 51 came to Phoenix and lived temporarily at the National Hall of Flame Museum of Fire Fighting for a year while reconstruction work was being done at the Los Angeles County Fire Museum. I worked at the Hall of Flame at the time and had the privilege of taking care of Squad 51. I even drove it once. There are some stories, but we won't tie up the bandwidth. Interestingly, a recent interview with Randolph Mantooth (Johnny Gage) in Vintage Fire Truck & Equipment magazine included a recollection of his about how Squad 51 was to drive. I had to laugh. I had the very same experience and impression of it as he recounted! ??‍?

Snow? What's that? Okay, okay, before anybody gets twisted up, take into account I've done my time in the snowbelt and icebelt and colder-than-all-hockeysticks belt. I put in my time. It took me three years of living in Arizona before my bone marrow thawed out. So, yeah. I tease. But I also empathize with y'all. Funny story about being snowed in: We lived in the country when we were in Colorado. The Lovely and Gracious Mrs. B worked for the county, downtown. It was a 35 mile trip for her, one way. One weekend we got pounded by a particularly prolific storm with very heavy, wet snow. Tons of it. Monday morning, she couldn't get out of the driveway (.125 miles long to the road), and her department head said to stay home whenever it snowed half that much. So she called in. Her immediate supervisor didn't buy it and went on a rampage. However, the department head was married to the county's department of transportation superintendent and they lived about 3 miles from us. They couldn't get out, either. Things went kind of badly for the snarky supervisor. We were snowed in for three days. The first county snowplow that tried to clear the road in front of our house got stuck in the deep snow. The next day they came back with a grader and the biggest plow the county had. Stuck. The third day we heard a calamitous commotion out front, and looked out to see a huge US Air Force runway snow blower working its way through the accumulations. It finally made a 12' trench in the snow, freed the snowplows, and opened our driveway. We had pictures, and the Lovely and Gracious Mrs. B was never challenged again if she had to call out from work. ❄️?

Tom, The caster is charging you to cast the body?? Most good casters are happy to cast a finely mastered body - with necessary widgets and gadgets like bumpers, grilles, seats, interiors, dashboards where necessary, etc. - supplying you an agreed-upon number of the product and reserving your authorization (read that "license") to sell them to the public. ??

Tru-Color is huge in the model railroading and military modeling genres. They are moving into a line of automotive paints, but their basic colors are excellent across all "lines" of hobbies. ??

What do they call a magneto? A maggie or a neatie or a sparky? ??

I don't have an answer for you, Mark, as I am not that familiar with the Model T engine. However, don't lose sight of the fact that the examples you are looking at here are different configurations. The museum engine is clearly a competition set up and doesn't have all the same accessories as a stock engine would have. The engine in the lime green car does not appear to be a Ford and it has a front-mounted chain drive. As such it is configured much differently than a stock Ford T. The other one (in the dark car with the red steering column) appears to be much more consistent with a Ford T. I'd tend to go along that line, of the three examples you show. On another note this thread brought to life, the "high" hood speedster. While all the conjecture about why the hood is so high is interesting, I have a totally different take on it. Yes, it's a tall, narrow hood and radiator, but I don't think it is unusually tall at all. The "driver" is a kid. Not a full-grown adult. His diminutive size (due to being a kid) gives the illusion of the car being unusually tall -- if you are viewing the driver as an average-sized adult. He is not. So, I don't think it's all that unusually tall after all. Just my 1-cents worth (after inflation). ??

Mark (known as MSG) sent me a personal note saying it's still on for this year. How should I take that? Think he wants me to miss 2022 er 2023? {LOL.} [Before anybody gets revved up, I AM JUST KIDDING! It's the old joke . . . ] ??

Wow! Really? Jeez, Kurt, you dig up a 9 year old post to bust my chops? Sheee. ? But, you're right. Building models is a big change. I used to date models. ??

Or, new Norm? ??

Oh, my. Count me in as one of the many all-time Chaparral fans! Going to enjoy this! There can never be enough Chappies built . . . and when they are well detailed! . . . Oh, my! ??

Thank you, each and every one; Mark, Steve, Misha, Kurt, Karl, and Alyn. We appreciate your enthusiasm and compliments. It tells us we hit the mark! We hope this year will be even greater than last! Spread the word, everyone is welcome at DSC! And, we're open for award sponsorships, event sponsorships, and virtual vendors! Website has everything. Come one, come all . . . let's Do It Again! ??

I think HobbyTown USA was about the first "large" national hobby shop chain to be decimated by the online purchasing trend. They adhered to Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Pricing (or more) long after the internet and other local shops offered the same products for less $. We once had five or six HobbyTown USA stores here (the Phoenix metro area), but it dwindled to nothing in a few short years. And we're the 4th or 5th largest city in the USA (depending on whose stats you accept). ??

Hey, if that's all it takes to keep the Karens off Round2's back so they can release kits like this, more power to 'em. I wouldn't even object if it said "Intended for Adults 51+." ? ??

Verrry nice! ??