spike morelli

Pure Hell....the funny car!

I've just got to get one for my collection. Looking at the box art, I think I'll model the Boss 302 with the front wheels turned as is pictured. The real car was built to boogie around corners , so the turned wheels add to it's credentials.

Thanks vamach1, Cool! Your car is like mine! My Mach has indeed remained darned original throughout my ownership. I have , however, added a trans cooler, shift kit, electric trailer brakes control, and changed the rear end from a 3.00 to 1 open nine inch, to a 3.50 to 1 traction-loc.....all in the interest of better towing and launch ramp traction. My Mach was built sans side stripes, wing, and chin spoiler, but some years ago was used in a movie, and they asked me to add the options as it gave the car more screen presence, and I've just left it all on. I mentioned that I used to tow with a '70 Olds 442 W-30 Ram-Air...….here's that car towing the same hydro. The 455 in that car pulled like nobody's business. Great car.

You know, I've ben towing with that '71 Mach 1 for 29 years.....prior to that car I was using a '70 Olds 442 W-30. People get a kick out of seeing a muscle car tow. They have enough power, and all the trailers have brakes, so everything stops as well.

Well, I'll tell ya, I think your project is very cool and well done. I'm for the most part alone here, but, to my tastes, the 70 to 73(?) Camaro body style looks racier than the 1969 , which everyone seems to feel is the eptome. My wife has always told me that SHE wants a '69 Camaro, and I found a super clean '70-'71 Z-28 in a used car lot, but she didn't want it. So I told her "good luck with that", being as how expensive finding a good '69 can be. I like this next-gen style....next time I see one, I think I'll buy it for ME! I have this exact kit ( in orange )in my wall of unbuilt car kits....seeing this post has renewed my interest in building it.

Love it! I'm always on the lookout for the '39 to '48 Ford Flathead engine and hot rod parts. Your appears to have the Edelbrock finned heads,....what kit(s) did you take that engine and dress up from?

Hey AFX, you asked for boat photos...I own all these, and built the engines as well. Yeah...…..just another sickness...….first 3 are my blown gas hydro,...second 4 are the dual engine unblown fuel flat,..next 2 are a 427 Ford boat I owned and built, followed up with an all polished up Nascar 406 for my present ski boat, and finally, a shot of me in the dragster.

I haven't taken many photos of Cammers I've been fortunate enough to work on, but the first 3 photos here are my work. I've included 3 other photos of carbureted, injected, and blown/injected versions taken off the internet for reference. Now, I was told by one of the engine's owners that the finned cam covers were all magnesium, originally from Ford. Most Cammers you see today have the aftermarket replacement aluminum cam covers ( rocker covers )installed. It makes no difference to me, as an engine builder, but seeing as this is a modeling site, for authenticities sakes, if a person wasn't modeling the polished look, painting the cam covers to replicate magnesium might be a more "from the Factory" look. Note that Ford installed the Holley carbs with the primaries to the rear ( same for wedge 427 8v factory set ups), and note the cannister style fuel filter mounted to the front center of the engine on the chain cover, on the carbed vershion, which came either black painted, or chromed. Now, you might get the impression that I'm a "Ford guy" True, but not completely accurate. Besides building engines for a living, I'm a hot boat guy, and have one boat with a Nascar 406 Ford for power, another with an injected/blown 392 Chrysler Hemi on gas, and yet a third boat powered by two 327 Chevys, "freight trained" inline and Hilborn injected on nitro/methanol. I like them all.

O.K., possibly a bit off-topic, but I thought some of you might like to see what's under the front cover. The last one of these I did for a customer was an all-aluminum aftermarket block and heads. The lower timing chain set was replaced with a gear drive, but the cam drive is chain , as was the factory set-up. Ford did quite a job of engineering, considering they designed it in 90 days. Awesome then, still awesome today.

Drew's article also states that the engines pictured were "flat black". I build engines for a living, and have done quite a few Hi-Po 289s, 406s, and 427s, and a few Cammers for customer's restorations and racers. There is an engine color that Dupli-Color markets, and that I use, which is not a flat, rather, it is labled "Ford Semi-Gloss Black", and has a subtle sheen akin to black powder coating, and I believe it to be closer to a Concourse correct color and finish. Pictured is a Cammer in a boat ( not my build ), however, it is closer to the factory sheen, ( hard to tell from the photo if it's gloss, or semi-gloss ), but it's not flat, and is just plain bitchin'. For a model, you could paint the block with heads flat black, then spray a light overcoat of gloss clear on it to replicate the "Semi-Gloss".

Newspaper on the seat...….very subtle and cool touch!

Richard! Nice photos! When I look at cars like those in the first two photos, I wonder if designers today don't feel simply castrated . I have attended Pebble Beach Concours twice, and noted that the cars that received awards made best use of the colors available to each mark. A black car may be able to convey arrow straight bodywork, but fails to capture the people's hearts. Todays cars, by and large, are devoid of gracefull lines, symmetry, color, and accent chrome. I must admit, today's new cars do everything better than the old ones......quieter, handle better, have more power, get better mileage, stop better.....but nobody cares. Nobody stops and points saying, " Wow, look at that white Corolla, or, Look! A silver Range Rover"...None of today's cars will be shown in a Museum setting with things surrounding it from it's era, I'm sure. Thank God for the past, for we currenty live in an era of disposable and forgettable vehicles. Here's my very first car, bought it in 1973 when I was 18, alongside is my then girlfriend Debbie , kept and drove the car everyday for 11 more years....I went on to own other old cars....still drive one everyday. ( My wife drives the new SUV, and yes, it's white.)

I first started working ( my first job ever )in a Union 76 gas station around '72 or''73. I was working there still during the "gas crunch" with all the "odd and even" gas fill B.S. . Thanks to Henry Kissenger! I was a car guy, really into early cars at age 18. Here are two photos of my cars taken at the 76 Station, for what it's worth. The photo of me standing with my Model A Coupe shows me with "hat hair"( I had just removed my cap ), as we all wore the blue and orange "76" caps that went with the uniform, along with a special "scratchless" belt, that had a protected buckle so as not to scratch a car's paintjob when you'd lean against it, and the pre-requisite "keyback" worn on your hip that had the key to the cashboxes out on the islands. Our shirts had the 76 Union logo patch on the breast pocket, and either a "minute-man service" patch, or an "island service specialist" patch on one of the sleeves . Knapp Shoe company supplied us with black oil resistant shoes. That's the boss, Jim Hooper, smiling in the first photo. Unleaded gas pump gives some indication as to when that picture was taken. The boss told us to take pride in our appearance at all times, and change into a fresh uniform shirt if you got it soiled after servicing a car. Boy......times have changed!

Speaking of Texaco Stations, back in the day those stations had the coolest promotion ever around Christmas time....the Texaco toy gas trucks. Along with maybe, a Lionel Train set, it was always something any young boy would have wanted Santa to bring him. Today. they are collectable as all heck. My neighbor has a half dozen different ones that he displays in his den around the Holidays.

There is an old W.C. Fields movie called "If I Had A Million", which is rich with old cars, like from the 20's/30's, if I remember correctly. The storyline is that Fields and his wife get run off the road by a "roadhog", destroying their car. At the same time, a wealthy man who is dying randomly picks our hero's name from a phone book and Field's inherits a million dollars. With that money, Fields goes and buys handfulls of cars and paid drivers to go out and find "roadhogs", and run them off the roads . The amount of carnage, especially in todays dollars, of these old cars, could make a grown man cry. Back when the movie was shot, they were just old cars. Check this one out.

I'm one of those car guys who wishes the studios would get their movie cars more "era correct" when shooting a period piece. It's sort of like all the rockabilly kids, who weren't around when the era was happening, trying to emulate what they think the fifties looked like. Oh well...… On another note, the movie Mad Max sure made Max's car a star, no one has posted that car yet, but it should likely be included. Having said all this, my own personal car ( a '71 Mach 1 Mustang ) was used some years back in a movie called "Bounty Killer", driven by the lead character "Mary Death". Photos here.....

"......That does not compute...…."

I'm not the final word on this, but I believe, if you start out with the 351W based block, instead of the 289/302 low deck base, you can bore and stroke to achieve 427 inches. The valve covers fit all289/302/351w the same. To the other person's point, he's correct, Ford never offered a 427 Windsor style engine....but you know how hot rodders are!

Oh God yes! While the five window coupes have their place....I have a soft spot for a nice three window hot rod. After I got out of High School, I had this Hemi urged chopped and channeled '34..bought it from a guy who built it and drag raced it too.

Super cool subject matter, and a job very well executed! This jogged my memory...….didn't one of the model companies offer a four-jet set of the Blue Angels in the early sixties? I seem to remember the kit as having a clear plastic four-pointed "star"-like component to hold the four jets in formation on a stand. Anyone besides me ( I'm 64 ) remember seeing this kit, or build it? Maybe 1/72 scale, or so.

I have had similar thoughts about "movie "cars not being up to par. By-and-large, the Deuce coupe in American Grafitti seemed fairly on the mark....but the dragster from More AG that Milner drove was way improperly incorrect for Dec of '65. Then, I watch Gone In Sixty Seconds ( the original movie ) and wonder why the film maker didn't dress up the movie car to emulate the Mach 1, or Boss 351 ( '71 only ), instead of a garden variety sportsroof. I mean, if your clientel is going to pay you to steal a Mustang, why wouldn't the mark be for the top of the breed? The studios did it again in the remake with Nicholas Cage, using an over-customized fastback ( my opinion ), instead of a valuable top-of-the-line '67 Shelby. Heck, even Maxwell Smart eventually drove a Sunbeam Tiger, and Keanu Reeves character as John Wick drove a Cowl Induction Chevelle and a Mach 1. I kinda dig the Plymouth Fury used in "Christine", the engine shot used in the movie shows a 392 style powerplant, which didn't come in those cars, but I suppose is more sinister . Likely, in the late "fifties", a kid couldn't afford a new '57 Chevy, and would have an older model whatever to drive. I think the '48 Ford used in Grease fits o.k., but scallops would be more realistic to the era, instead of those garish lightning bolts painted on it. I do understand it's just Hollywood, but there are people who get the clothing correct, the script correct, the locations correct......I guess there aren't as many real "car people" working these movies as could be. Well there I go....trying to find reality that's not there in Hollywood.

Snake, The orientation of which end of the engine goes forward, usually depends on the boat's useage. Drag boats, by and large, have the driveline taken off of the flywheel end, which is also the heaviest duty mounting for a driveline adaptor. However, in the early days of drag boats, the popular engines being used, like the 394 Olds or 354/392 Chrysler hemi, had very large, heavy duty crank snouts which could handle the tremendous amounts of torque. So, for the most part, the engines are mounted backwards on the majority of Drag boats and ski boats, with the exception of the earliest ones, BUT...…..Boats that require turning at high speed, like circle race or endure style boats will most often take the driveline off of the crank snout on the timing cover end. In this way, the engine's torque actually "helps" the boat to turn. The Weber-carbed small block Chevy photo that AFX posted is a circle race boat....as was the original Revell kit "Varooom", an SK class circle boat, so driving off the crank snout on those two is proper . Yes, this style of drive generally requires a left-hand turning prop, as opposed to a right-handed prop used on flywheel-forward boats. The overwhelmingly appropriate side to place the driver is , like your car, on the left side. Some Jet boats and outboards will put the driver on the right, likely more due to the hand throttles mounted on the right gunwale ( the inside edge of the passenger compartment).

I have a "still-in-the-plastic-sealed-wrapper" '71 Mach 1 kit, not sure when and if I'll get to building it. There's also the real thing sitting in the driveway.....a Medium Yellow-Gold one.

Not to talk down the model being built, but , and I'm sure some of you see this, the engine components used on the movie car don't really reflect a SBC as would be seen in 1964-5. Back then, such things as breather vent hoses and starter drive cages on the blower pulley weren't de-riguer ( did I spell that phrase right?) Aluminum heads? Magnesium blower case? How about those Moroso tin valve covers and the yellow silicone plug wires? Then again, the Enderle "hat" would more likely have had the two "showerhead" style nozzles going in the left side back then, rather than the stainless hard line kit used on the movie car. I really should go look up when these manufacturers' components made it into everyday service. Don't get me wrong, I like the movie, if for nothing else than the Milner/dragstrip scenes ( They could have made an entire movie around John Milner and his struggles to best the big money teams like the Hunt Bros) and I dig the modeling being done to replicate the movie car. Sometimes I wish the studios would hire someone with more knowledge of the technical stuff. P.S., I just Googled Moroso…..that company didn't start until 1968, so there's that movie mistake. I think "Daddyfink's" ( here on the site) version looks more era correct than the real car used in the movie!

I have a soft spot for the '71 bodystyle Blue Max.