Here's a small collection of orphan diecasts I've been restoring lately. Typically these are purchased in damaged condition to varying degrees. First up, a Danbury Mint 1932 Cadillac. This one had quite a few missing pieces. I ended up using the windshield frame from a Monogram '32 Cadillac Phaeton. The shape is more accurate than the Danbury Mint piece anyway, plus it includes correctly shaped wind wings. The top boot was made from a Johan 1931 Cadillac piece, widened and modified to fit. Many other missing pieces were taken from a Danbury Mint '32 Phaeton. And lastly, D.B.M. did not include a luggage rack on these models for some reason. Every fullsize '32 Cadillac I've seen has them, so I modified one to fit and added it, color coded to match, in the manner Cadillac originally did them.
Next up, this Neo 1933 Cadillac had "some assembly required" as they say. That's ok though. Actually, when I first bid on it, I lost, but the buyer backed out and I got a second chance. I was SO glad I won the 2nd auction.
I was able to make all the necessary repairs using the pieces that came with the model. (Thank you, Replicarz!) the only exception was the front axle. I ended up using a metal front axle and springs from a Danbury Mint '32 Phaeton. So, I fixed everything, made a new chrome windshield frame, added photo reduced 1933 California license plates and called it good.
Third little orphan is this Danbury Mint 1932 Ford roadster. This one didn't look too bad in the auction, but it arrived with the windshield frame broken in 6 pieces and a few bits knocked off. I could tell it had been damaged and repaired before, and it just didn't travel well.
I was able to piece it back together without too much trouble. I modified the convertible top to make it sit properly on the windshield posts. And, looking at pictures of a fullsize '32, I decided I really didn't like the whitewall tires. The cast in color of the wheels seemed a little off to me too. Plus, the diameter was just a shade too small. So, I mixed up some craft paint in a nice shade of yellow, painted the wheels, and expanded the rims by painting on the whitewall too. Then I painted the rest of the whitewall black, reassembled the wheels and tires and voila! Add another photo reduced '32 license plate and she's ready for the 1/24th scale road......
Final installment this evening is a Danbury Mint 1932 Ford 3-window coupe. This one really didn't have much damage to repair. It's just that I found I liked the roadster so much better with black walls, I decided to paint the tires on this coupe as well. Here are pictures of each style. The first version with white walls isn't the exact car I bought, a little nicer, but very close. The second one is mine, with black walls. See which one you like better.
