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Everything posted by ea0863
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Oh to be back in August 1986, and reading the new issue of HRM! On the cover, the new breed of 4 cylinder engines putting out V8 kind of horsepower - and looking good in their own right.
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And as promised, HRM kicked off the scale model series with a wonderful article from Pat Ganahl. I did not know Mr. Ganahl, however it is obvious from the posts regarding his recent passing that he was beloved by Hot Rodders, scale modelers, and writers alike. For those of you who have felt his passing, my sincerest condolences. A good place to share seems to have developed with the following thread (among others):
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An article on the changing shape of the Hot Rod landscape had lots of great lead sleds, including what we would probably refer to as a "tribute" to the Hirohata '51 Mercury. HRM June 1986
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HRM June 1986 did a spread on kit cars, and one blurb was about a company called Kougar America The car on the left was obviously cool, but check out the one on the right!
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Okay, I lied - - -I went down the rabbit hole Here is what I'm assuming is only a partial coverage of the Hot Rod Magazine Series of scale models. There seems to have been various scales, three-packs, re-issues, and maybe even an MPC model besides the Revells (?)
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Thanks Richard! I had found the Fujimi model rather uninspiring with no engine or undercarriage detail, however the Bandai Piazza in 1:20 scale will definitely do the trick!
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HRM April 1986 did an article showcasing the new cars that were hitting the market. So many of them brought back memories for me, and reminded me of the cool stuff that was coming from overseas. The Porsche 944 may have looked like just a 924 update, but an all aluminum one-piece body, together with 50/50 weight distribution made it a track star. Still a beautiful car in my humble opinion, and worthy of building in scale. Mine would have to be aluminum colored... Funky even then, Subaru brought the XT Turbo coupe to the US. Its claim to fame of course was AWD fun. Totally flying under the radar, Ford of Europe brought their German Sierra to the US as the Merkur XR4Ti and sold it through their Mercury dealers (which turned out to be a total misfire). I remember driving one of these and being very impressed by its handling, if not its styling. Done up as a rally racer, this car would still be fun one to commemorate in plastic. If the XR4Ti flew under the radar, one literally needed sonar to pick up the signature of the Isuzu Impulse . It was actually designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro to be the successor to his first generation Scirocco, but when VW decided to do a redesign in-house, his rendition went to Isuzu (and its cozy American relative - General Motors). For those who like JDM builds (myself included), this one is a fun bit of history. The only question is; does anyone make it in scale? Another JDM that didn't get a ton of airtime was the Mitsubishi Starion. It was actually a wonderfully emotion-inducing car - from its widebody stance, to its engine and suspension, and even its "bad boy" reputation. What it seemed to suffer from, as with many imports of that era, was an identity crisis that came with attempting to market foreign cars in makeshift dealer networks. In this case, Chrysler shoppers did not want to buy a Mitsubishi, and Mitsubishi enthusiasts did not like going to a Chrysler dealership. All that having been said, it was an awesome looking car! And speaking of cool stuff coming from overseas, the Ford Mustang SVO! Lest you think I'm totally crazy, you have to know that this bad boy may have been all American on the outside, but it was all Teutonic techno-wizardry under the hood. When most of us were chasing after the rock band character of the 5.0, it turns out there was also a symphony orchestra to be had in the SVO.
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By March 1986, there seemed to be this full-on battle over "Pro Street" cars and "real racing cars", etc. in Hot Rod Magazine. The arguments kind of went over my head, and it was more than a little surprising to find animus toward one segment in a magazine that seemed to always embrace all comers. But, in any case, in the midst of all that, I saw this small blurb about an artist named Stanley Wanlass who was doing bronze sculptures of hot rods. A little bit of searching, and it turns out he did some really beautiful work. Not only that, but his incorporation of outside elements into his art gave me some ideas for my future builds. This one was called "First Love".
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Announcing the Hot Rod National Model Car Contest! HRM January 1986 Apparently, they started out with 18 cars in the series...
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Oh, and as @Scott Colmer forecast, HRM October 1985 had this announcement: The natural question of course is, "what was the list of cars in this series?". Others on this forum broached this topic in years past, and it would appear there is no definitive list to be found. This is one rabbit-hole I am NOT going down, because I get the distinct impression, I will never come out! For some prior discussions, check out;
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HRM May 1985 had the distinction what I believe was the first Japanese car on their cover (and one of only a couple foreign cars period). It showed a Datsun 240z getting an American V8 engine swap. After a few months of updates, HRM September 1985 showed the finished product. Very tastefully done!
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The cover of HRM July 1985 had yet another name that was apparently there when God created man, woman, and hot rod . This name was Pete Chapouris (as in the creator of the "California Kid" and numerous other seminal builds). The article related to the cover suggested Chapouris saw a stagnancy in the hot rod scene, and decided to reinvigorate a long ignored segment of the hot rod world - that of the fat-fendered 20's and 30's cars. I was particularly smitten with the blue car in the foreground.
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On the heels of my Jeffries revelation (forgive me, I'm new to the hot rod scene ), I noticed this really clean '64 Nova called "Novette". Even though it had been built in 1985, it absolutely looked like it would be at home in any car show in 2022. I thought the two-tone colors, stance, lack of chrome, smoothed out panels, and clean engine compartment were really speaking to the future. Then I read that it was built by Chris Buttera - the son of Li'l John Buttera. If you ever Google "Li'l John Buttera", be prepared to get drawn into at least a few hours of fascinating reading! Suffice it to say, I learned more about the hot rodding community, all the famous designers and fabricators who trace their roots back to Li'l John, and the fact that his son Chris can build a mean car all his own. The "Novette" will definitely be a car I will build in scale.
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It was a small article with this little picture, but the car in the background is what got my attention! I never did find out what it was, the article only said it was built for a TV pilot of the time. But, looking up the name Dean Jeffries was incredible! Wow, this guy was every bit as creative, prolific, and colorful as George Barris. I can literally collect another dozen scale models just of his creations...
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I'm digging both drawings in "Sketchpad", but the Larry Wood '34 Ford Coupe with transverse mounted engine over the rear axle is particularly interesting.
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I'm looking forward to it, and will definitely post them here! Thanks for following along
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Of course the sale ads never disappoint, as HRM December 1984 had this little gem I'd never heard of it before, so I looked it up and it turns out to be a part of the Petersen Museum now. It does not appear to have been mass produced as a scale model, although a couple of builders have adapted other models to make it work. One builder in particular did a great job documenting his efforts at http://www.showrods.com/gallery_pages/stage_fright.html
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Rounding out 1984 was the return of artist's renderings - one of my favorite segments in HRM to be sure. A modernized '53 Studebaker by Steve Swaja (think '63 XR-6 Experimenal Roadster) was cool. Darrell Mayabb went with a '57 Edsel meets '84 Corvette Sedan Delivery. Dave Bell went with a caricaturish approach. And Tom Daniel ("Son of Troublemaker") did my favorite; an '82 Camaro UTE. The same Camaro can be seen in another of Daniels' drawings as well; Just WOW, this guy's stuff is amazing! http://www.tomdaniel.com/
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And just to keep the red car theme going, from the same issue comes a '70 Cuda hemi convertible <sigh>. I wonder how many million this changed hands for last go-around?