FASTBACK340

Aside from the New York tags (which are current…) it has an Emissions inspection sticker, which means it's in the 5 boroughs of the city. I live in Queens County, one of the five boroughs….. and that means it may be way too close. BTW: Great response Chris…. that's a funny avatar!

Cool!!!!

Thank you everyone, I appreciate the encouraging replies. Back in `06 when the actual car was being reassembled after the bodywork was completed I chronicled the build on-line. Back then I was a Moderator over at For A Body's Only, obviously an A body specific Mopar site. I had a running thread called `Cuda Capers that went on for over 2 years…… Everything I did to that car was posted on-line and documented in my Fotki album: http://public.fotki.com/FASTBACK340/barracuda_stuff/ Now the pressure is on…. and I thrive on a challenge. I had some down time due to not feeling well and long hours at the new job (which absolutely rocks!) and I backed-off on the build. Now we get cracking on this puppy.

That's going to be beautiful. I love that color on the Camaro.

Nice start Stan! I love those mid-60's Impalas. What color? What kit is the chassis from? It's go attitude written all over it !

Looks like a good plan there! I have one of those conversion kits from Perry's Resin and haven't had the chance to try it. If you go with the Dart chassis, the level of detail is lights years ahead of that lump that came under the car, but you will have to hack off a section of the front of the interior bucket and leave the rear seat folded down to hide the generous grinding away of the tail of the bucket to fit the equally ground-down chassis to make it all fit. Care must be taken with the rear wheel wells on the chassis when grinding. It's a game of fractions and a slice here, and a shave there and it all goes together. Slice out the engine compartment pieces from the Dart body and it just drops….in….place. And as for the RG resin engine, spend extra care filing everything flush. The castings are crude to be polite. The detail is amazing, but the unfinished side is horrible. Shade the surface with a Sharpie to see where you have to sand and GO EASY! I use a piece of sandpaper on a smooth surface to level it. You know I'd love to see another `68 go together. I'm back on mine now too. Let's go!

I had strained my neck and I've been a bit uncomfortable recently. I have been seeing a Chiropractor and it's been helping. I've had 2 visits in the last 2 weeks and the difference is amazing….. so much so, I spent the evening at the bench last night. I finished up all the scribing and panel mods and figured I'd share what I did. A pet peeve of mine is seeing a car with a mile-deep paint job with no panel definition or trim crispness. I've seen cover-cars that were door-slammers with no door lines!!!!! C`mon…. we can do better. I start by re-scribing every panel on the body, including adding the ones omitted in the initial mastering of the production molds. If the panel opens, I cut through the edge, as if I was cutting the panel free. I use the very base of the Xacto blade itself near the handle. It's incredibly sharp, yet broad enough to leave a delicate slice. Here's a view of the trunk lid opening and the trim & tail light bezels. This will all be foiled later, so by gently scribing now two things happen: I back-wash the seems for definition before paint, and it gives a nice, crisp channel to slide a blade when trimming bare metal foil. And if you roach-it, it's easier to fix BEFORE paint. Don't forget those front fenders bold on…. cut a gap, but leave the trim as it bridges the rocker panel and fender on the 1:1. Obviously I know first hand every intimate detail of this particular car, but it's these little details that bring it to the next level, but are just a little more work in the prep. If your going to foil, why not cut a groove now, before paint… that will make it easier once it IS painted. Plus the back-wash will give just a hint of a shadow in that narrow space. Those rocker panel trim pieces will look like separate pieces when it's done. And don't forget the window trim. On this particular application, there is a thick rubber gasket on either side of the window trim. If you scribe a deep, but slightly wider channel and apply the backwash after paint, it will look like the rubber seal. Take a black Sharpie to the inside edge of the window opening and you now have in-scale windshield trim with proper gasket shadowing on both sides. One last thing. Look at this wheel opening, the thickness of the fender itself. In real-world dimensions that's about 3". I take the back edge of an Xacto and gently scrape the edge off and roll it around. Don't go too far or you'll ruin the opening. Hit it with a Sharpie so it's easier to see what your scraping off. This is what you'd want it to look like. I've also decided to drill out the marker lights and use aluminum tubing and plastic lenses. It'll look more realistic. It should be in paint by Sunday. ​To be continued…..

Your absolutely correct Ace. If you look closely there's no oil feed line either, which means this is pure "wow" and not very fast. When your cruising the swap meet it's just profiling.... but it is cool .

Funny this should pop up; I was almost ready to post a question if anyone sat through this movie yet? I heard the buzz before it came out when it was released boom…… *crickets* <sigh….> I wish a better director did it, such as Ron Howard.

One of my co-workers brought in his mini bike to finish welding his exhaust he made. That's a VW GTI turbo blowing into the engine. Carbon Fiber underwear optional.

Congratulations!!! Switching to a position your not only familiar with, but comfortable doing, is a blessing. I'm living it now, so I know how you feel. Good luck with the proposed budget approval and your new job.

I bought mine from Omni Models off of e-Bay. It was $8.29 + $1.99 shipping in the US. Here's a current auction you can contact about shipping. http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Trumpeter-Panel-Engraver-Tool-Blister-Carded-09912-NIB-/331146099451?pt=US_Hand_Tools&hash=item4d19d87afb

As a kid I can remember the bus home from high school passing a straight axle `62 Lancer that had a small block Chevy in it. Neighborhood car that rarely was seen running…. BTW: The owner of the Charger stopped by yesterday. I just finished the lighting wiring and he drops off a set of digital LED tail light assemblies he wants to install….. this project will never end.

LOL!!! Great analogy! While the seats do indeed look to need some re-shaping, I think as far as pictures show, it looks really nice. Pricey, but nice. Aside from the already mentioned seats, which should be beaten to death by noon this afternoon, I think it's a great new entry into our hobby. Please folks, encourage this manufacturer! Don't split hairs over trim thickness or valve cover engraving. I'd love to see what off-beat topic is next!

Bruce & Jeremy, thank you. I was fully immersed with this project and I changed jobs, which unknowingly ate into my spare time. Some nights we're finishing dinner at 8:30, by the time you get cleaned up and prepare for the next morning, the night is shot….. I'm hoping to get some noteworthy progress done today. I want to wrap this up soon, as NNL East was to be it's debut.

The ergonomics of the handle and curved THIN blade is a pleasure to use. That's why I'm re-scribing all the trim so I can bare metal and have a crisp line. It's very accurate.

OK…. I've been as busy as a one-armed wallpaper hanger. Work has become late nights on a daily basis. Fun late nights, but my spare time has been totally shot. I went in today for 9 hours…… but that's just not reason enough for slacking off on this build. I'm doing exactly what I hate seeing on forums: Projects dropping dead in mid-build. I apologize ….. Tonight I spent the night in the recliner, but I was scribing all the panels and trim on the body. A few more details and we block it out and drop on some primer. I'm not leaving the house tomorrow and will get some progress. NNL East is weeks away…… BTW: Trumpeter sells a VERY nice panel scriber for about $8. Money well-spent. I was able to scribe bare-metal channels next to the trunk trim on the `Cuda's deck lid. The actual piece on my 1:1 car is about 5/8". In scale it's SMALL and this tool made the scribing a breeze. I highly recommend it!

I just found out this car was underwater…. literally. But the guy is nuts-in-love with this car. He had the engine & trans out when Storm Sandy hit. That's why the harness and every electrical item is being replaced. The car was put back together just to get the engine stored afterwards. This project has morphed from a re-wire for lights & drivability, to re-setting the motor plates to get the pinion angle right, I just fabricated an aluminum dash (I'm in love with a fully equipped shop that can make almost anything) and all new Autometer gauges, and now we're getting into the extras: I'm installing a set of Hurst Lightning Rods shifter, a 250 nitrous kit, MSD 6AL-Plus ignition system, etc…. It grows with every phone call. The car is a rat, but it was his old bracket car he built from his first car. It's pure emotions at this point. He KNOWS he's spending good money after bad….. but he hands us money and requests, and we're trying to deliver. So far, he's happy.

The hair stands on the back of my neck thinking about this. I hate all those shows!

Beautiful GTO you built and Congratulations on the photo feature! I got a page feature in Mopar Enthusiast and I was amped for a week. Stunning Poncho. One question: What seats are those?

The Barracuda just had a date-coded turn signal switch installed. I joked about having a case of date-coded washer solvent I'd sell him. The Falcon is I think a Mustang II front suspension clip. I can get details if you need it. I know the rear axles fit in a shoebox it's so narrowed. Here's a link to the shop's projects page: http://paulsrestos.com/photo/1961-falcon/

When I got this one I thought it was "interesting".

I had asked about that and I was told we are ALL going to be INVOLVED. At first I thought the same thing, I'm the new guy. Instead it looks like it could be "interesting…" to say the least! And as for doing ugly work, I'm the new guy. I understand, but at least I'm not being ridden like a pony. It was waaaaay worst, believe it or not.

`50 Pontiac Starchief drop-top. Big block Chevy, air ride, Billet Specialties Billet wheels Pro Street `61 Falcon. This is one of the owners toys he's trying to get done for this summer. 1969 Mercury Cougar drop-top undergoing a full ground-up resto. And the last one is a legit V-code 440-6Bbl. Barracuda done to concours standard.

It's like hanging out with your car buddies and wrenching with huge budgets. Almost every car I work on is clean and tidy. No greasy, disgusting messes. Unless it's just rolling in for a resto, in that case we usually gut all wear items. We ordered over $11,000 in parts last week alone….. and more cars are being dropped off. I know I should be quiet, but everyone actually KNEW what a rat-hole I was at. Just because we sold high-end luxury cars doesn't mean we had a high end operation. One Infiniti dealership I was at asked me how many T shirts I wanted for the summer. I asked for six shirts. When they came in I was informed they were $6 each…. I bought plain black t shirts at a flea market for $4 and worn those instead. They were mad too I didn't pay to wear THEIR shirts! Last week one of our office staff apologized for not having everything for me yet, but gave me 2 long sleeved T shirts in my size, a wool stocking cap, and a beautiful Medium hooded sweatshirt for my Wife. We have short sleeve shirts, button down shirts, and more T shirts for me AND MY WIFE coming in. And it's all nice stuff. Yeah… I actually look forward to going to work. It's a gearhead's playground.