MrBuick

Just finished a trade with Mr Mopar. Great trader!

This is from an AMT '70 Corvette kit. As you can see, the head offset leaves significant sized "ledges" at either end of the block...any suggestions to fix this?

I realize that different people have different styling opinions, but I honestly don't understand how anyone could envision this and decide it was a good idea. Still, I suppose the whole "beauty is in the eye of" thing must apply. From a styling perspective, I think slamming the car into the ground and putting bigger wheels on would even out the chop some...it'd still look stupid, but might work better. But, one of strangest things to me is, it seems to have been built to be a driver...maybe not a DD, but something that's going to spend some time on the road...Vintage Air, power windows/locks, idiot buzzers, etc. However, EVERY chopped roof car I've personally spent time driving or riding in (admittedly, that's only 4) don't really lend themselves to comfortable driving. They're [supposed to be] about style, and usually I find that the chop makes it hard to drive, especially over distance...visibility goes out the window (ha! sorta pun), and I always find it hard to find a comfortable riding position. Usually the seats are buried into the floor so your head isn't crammed against the top, so the 'ol "side windows arm rest" becomes too awkward and your legs are crammed somewhere, and if the seats aren't buried into the floor then you're spending the entire time turtling your neck to keep your head from cramming against the top and the limited visibility you have to start with is even worse, and/or you have to have the whole "ghetto lean" thing going to be able to sit, which I just don't find comfortable. And, not to forget, the powered sun roof means that the headliner is probably 3-5" thicker than stock, so that would even further cramp the interior.

Although judging from the opinions of many people I talk to, the '70 Chevelle is the general favorite year for the car, I've always been more partial to the '71-'72, but this just looks terrible...so much work went into making something so ugly. http://einstyn.com/einstyn-chopped.htm

Just finished up a trade with Jordan White...would trade again any time.

That's exactly right. Many hot rods go through many, many changes over years of ownership, whether by the same owner or different ones. Just look and David Freiburger's "Crusher Camaro" that's been featured in Hot Rod Magazine since before I've been alive. The thing has been stock, a full on drag car, pro-touring, back to drag car, and now it's back to pro-touring.

Ooo, very nice. Love the wheels!

Wow, loving both of these...you do some beautiful paint work!

Very cool model, and you did some excellent work on it. Great job Pat!

Had a lot of bad weather yesterday here in the Midwest. Myself and my property came through unscathed. Only a few people I know and have talked to sustained any damage, and it was very minor, which is good considering they were anticipating huge hail and we had a 70% chance of tornado's.

It amazes me too...it seems like common sense. I wonder if they mention that in Drivers Ed? I can't remember if when I took it they said anything about it or not.

I don't even know if I'd agree that someone should have legal basis to sue the railroad if the signals weren't working properly. I'm not really sure if the railroad is legally required to have signals at every crossing or not, but either way, it seems that the driver should still be held at least 70% responsible for not looking/listening/etc for a train...it'd be pretty hard to argue that you were paying attention no matter the case. Tragic? Yes. Lawsuit worthy? Not in my opinion...at least not for more than monitory damages sustained to property.

Looking great so far!

No! They'd NEVER do such things!

Wow, are people just being really impatient waiting on this one to be readily available, or am I missing something? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Revell-83-Hurst-Oldsmobile-Cutlass-1-25-Model-Kit-2016-Release-id-85-4317/121964067819?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D36499%26meid%3Db6fa220bd2544c90ac78cd52c106b3a4%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D131792234475

Well, I wouldn't mind doing the stock Rally's but I don't know if I really want to unless I can find some Buick decals for the center cap. As of now I'm thinking of doing something like this.

Well, there's a big surprise...Politicians holding up progress.

Well, maybe, I'm not all that "up" on solar panels, and although I know there's some pretty harmful stuff expelled during the manufacturing process, I don't know what the long-term impact is. However, speaking in general, some focus needs to be spent on fixing those flaws. Electric cars for instance, are FAR worse for the environment than your average fuel-drinker, because of the dirtiness in both the manufacturing and disposal of the batteries. I'm sure those problems aren't being ignored, and it's not going to happen overnight, but I think it's imperative if you're going to sell alternate energy\fuel\etc to the masses.

They're definitely making a lot of strides in the efficiency of alternate energy. Now if they can just get the manufacturing processes perfected to where the produce less harmful stuff into the atmosphere, we'll be in a win-win situation over coal.

I guess I'm still missing the part where Scott said he walked in front of a train because he was glued to his smart phone. Not even the news articles mention a cell phone. http://www.pe.com/articles/corona-792449-mckinley-street.html

To be fair, the C4 Corvette's were simply terrible. You make some good points, styling is entirely subjective. Unfortunately for me, there are very few modern vehicles I like the looks of enough to actually want one. Whether it's because of styling, or just simply because they're not worth near what you pay for them, I find it very, VERY hard to like most modern cars. Even the retro styling Pony cars that have become so popular...I feel they get one end of it right with each re-design, but not both. A good example would be the brand-new Mustang. The tail looks pretty good, probably the best tail end since the '68 or maybe '70, but the front end almost looks like a Taurus.

I'm a little confused...how was he able to catch the footage but wasn't aware the he had until his wife checked it? And, I thought if there were multiple tracks in an area, short of a train yard where they'd be running very slowly, trains generally ran in opposite directions , meaning if he was looking at the tail end of one he would have seen the other coming? Anyhow, that's how it is in my area, but we don't have many multi-track crossings. Is that not how it is everywhere? Either way, whether it was caused by stupidity or something else, that's very sad to hear, especially since he was so young. But I guess since he wasn't one of their precious celebrities killing themselves with drugs, people'd rather make jokes.

I think this might depend on where you're from...in the US in the 50's Chevrolet marketed towards Americans using the phrase "See the USA in your Chevrolet;" they were encouraging people to just get out and drive, and they did. Family time was spent by simply going for a drive. People cruised around without a specific destination in mind. Sure, that stuff still happens, but I think it's overshadowed now by the general 'hustle' of people's daily routine.

I'm 100% doubtful it's every gonna happen. I agree that a large part of it is due to what the average modern commuter wants...and that's just to commute. They go from A to B, and use an appliance to do so. And, what's happened in the auto industry is it's become so bogged down with Government regulations, many of which make it difficult to make cars that would look as good as those of yesteryear. While those things don't necessarily have as large of an impact today on the overall look of a car, when those regulations hit in the mid 70's, about the only option was huge, protruding bumpers and other ugly designs. Aerodynamics, weight savings, and other fuel economy improving techniques further go against designing a truly beautiful modern car (at least while maintaining general affordability among the masses), and of the vested interest of the auto manufactures to mass produce hundreds of thousands of each model every year. But honestly, I don't know if I'd want it to happen. For me, being someone who loves working on old cars as much as I love looking at them, I feel like it'd take something away...that "tingling" feeling I get as I trace the body lines of a mid 50's Buick Special wouldn't be quite the same. That week-long grin plastered on my face after spending the weekend prepping a 455 short block for a rebuild would dissipate. The thumbs up and gas station conversations that happen when you own a car that's actually worth talking about would subside, and it wouldn't take long for the general public to once again lose interest.