Jay Whittaker

Those that know me know that I love nothing more than cutting up a perfectly good car to make it something (I feel) it should've been. One of my Brothers of the Sprue, Tony Matthews, got hold of a '57 Chrysler 300 kit and reached out for some guidance on how I do custom work on these little styrene wonders we love so much, which I was happy to do. As luck would have it, I also had one of these (albeit a different issue) sitting in the cabinet above my work bench and figured what better thing to use as the example. So we unofficially happened into an unintentional dual build, and I wanted to share it with y'all... Plans for mine are eliminating that time-honored aircraft intake opening grille, adding ‘57 DeSoto side trim, ‘56 Packard taillights ordered from R&M of MD, a beautiful long ram 413 gotten from Texas 3D, along with the Kelsey Hayes wires copped from a '56 300 kit replicating the Inman car. This is not a build of that car, but rather a build inspired by it, as the title implies….

I love watching a master at work!

That is one gorgeous 442!

That is a really sweet build!

Beautifully done Jim!

Excellent work!

This is one GORGEOUS save!! It's hard to believe it's the same car. The best day of it's life is when it landed on your bench! Just beautiful!!

Kickin' color and she sits JUST right!! Awesome job!

Absolutely LOVING the fade work on this!! Your paint has always been stunning to say the least! BEAUTIFULLY done!

Great looking Merc!

THAT, is GORGEOUS!!

Beautifully Done Len!!

This is coming together so naturally you'd think it was 1) actually made by Ford and 2) that there was a kit made of it! Seeing this at ACME was amazing enough, but seeing the construction of the body, the drive train, interior construction AND finish just sends this into a class all it's own..... Tell me buddy, exactly WHAT brand of paint chips did you munch on as a youngster?? Was it PPG, Ditzler, S-W?.....I need to go get me some !! AWESOME work!!!

Fantastic attention to detail!! The paint is outta this world too!

Lord knows I got enough of these!....

These shoeboxes are addictive aren't they?? So many choices for mods, grilles, bumpers.... You could build these a hundred times and have no two alike. It's been fun watching the progress on this, it's coming together swell and I'm looking forward to it coming to completion. I agree with you wholeheartedly about lengthening the roof line into the Tudor configuration to get the Merc look. I recently (OK, about 4 years ago) stretched the roof on mine for the very same reason. I need to get my butt in gear and finish it. Shoebox Central's mascot car was the inspiration for mine, so I'm keeping the stock '50 grille. I finally got it in paint a couple months ago: 1956 Ford Sunset Coral. I can't find the pics to it ATM, but when I do I'd like to share them with your permission. I may have missed it, but what color are you going with on this one?

WOW, that is a really nice piece! You did an outstanding job!

The '50 Ford convertible & coupe, both the Revell Merc and the AMT Merc were always favorites, along with the Henry J.... The Henry's pictured here were built nearly 40 years ago, but I still have them.... Haven't built any since, but I'm fixing to start on a brand-new one.

I'm loving everything about this! You did a knock-out job of mastering the body, and the chassis/engine compartment weathering is the icing on the cake. Fully appreciating the realism on the washer fluid/radiator puke tank as well. A home-run build!

Simply stunning. Crisp in every way. Just plain gorgeous!

This came out fantastic! Nice-n-clean!

Perfection! Enzo would be proud!

Stunning build(s) and photography!!

Superb replication!

Neat as a pin! Loving everything about it!