Bernard Kron

Off the top of my head I came to the same conclusion, even though I'm far from certain there weren't others from prior years (although we're certainly getting back there...). In their old-fashioned, charming way the lyrics really are surprisingly "racy", too! In My Merry Oldsmobile By Gus Edwards and Vincent Bryan First published in 1905 Young Johnny Steele has an Oldsmobile He loves his dear little girl She is the queen of his gas machine She has his heart in a whirl Now when they go for a spin, you know, She tries to learn the auto, so He lets her steer, while he gets her ear And whispers soft and low... They love to "spark" in the dark old park As they go flying along She says she knows why the motor goes The "sparker" is awfully strong Each day they "spoon" to the engine's tune Their honeymoon will happen soon He'll win Lucille with his Oldsmobile And then he'll fondly croon... Chorus Come away with me, Lucille In my merry Oldsmobile Down the road of life we'll fly Automobubbling, you and I To the church we'll swiftly steal Then our wedding bells will peal You can go as far as you like with me In my merry Oldsmobile.

Obviously, this thread has wandered far afield from the original post, but I just wanted to comment that I thought the 3 songs chosen were quite appropriate to the question: Hot Rod Race for having established the genre and provided the seminal structure upon which all future Hot Rod songs would be based. Hot Rod Lincoln as the breakthrough hit that broke the genre onto the mainstream Pop Music charts. Little Deuce Coupe as the mass-appeal iconic classic that transcends all generations past and present and survives to this day. The back stories for each of these songs, who wrote them, when they first appeared, and even how they made their journey into whatever level of popular culture they finally resided, is equally significant. Hot Rod Race, while unquestionably genuine and "pure" as a representation of postwar West Coast hot rod culture (street racing in San Pedro) and the Okies and Arkies of the Depression who created it from the money they earned in wartime factories, is relatively obscure today. To modern ears it is prehistorically primitive proto-rockabilly and much of what it describes has largely been forgotten except by hard-core Hot Rod aficionados. Hot Rod Lincoln owes as much of its notoriety to Commander Cody & The Lost Planet Airmen and the Rock 'n' Roll revivalists of the 1970's as it ever did to its initial success in 1955 or its acceptance as a pop chart hit in 1960. I would dare say that many who vote for it today are doing so because they remember it from the pop music revolt of the 70's and early 80's rather than the emergence of rockabilly and car culture in the 50's and early 60's. Only Little Deuce Coupe can truly be thought of as a pop culture icon, and THE quintessential hot rod song when it comes to mass culture. I'm one of the few who voted for Hot Rod Race, but only because of its seminal nature and because it's such a remarkable document of the early years of hot rodding. But I would be the first to admit that, far more than the other two, Little Deuce Coupe, the product of California Youth Culture in full cry (cars, music, and post war consumerism), has endured and is universally acknowledged for its representation of a pop hot rod ideal.

Thank you once again! The model is now completed. Below is some Photoshop Phun. The basic pics were taken without benefit of a tripod so they’re not real sharp, but with some admittedly heavy handed processing I thought they caught the flavor of the build pretty well. Tomorrow I’ll take more formal presentation photos and post them. In the meantime thanx to all for following along! B.

I think this will be the final update for this project. I managed to destroy a photo-etch grill which required ordering a replacement. Fortunately I found one on eBay for a good price and faster shipment than directly from Model Car Garage. It came today and I was able to complete the front and rear details. As mentioned earlier, the grill shell from MCG is the 4” chop version. The headlights and shocks are from the Revell Rat Roaster version of the Deuce kits. The taillights are from the 5-window Revell Deuce with p/e surrounds from Model Car Garage. The 1959 California license plate is homemade with a p/e license plate surround. This leaves only the windshield, front crossbar and coolant hoses to do. Then some final cleanup and on to the “studio” for the ”beauty shots”. Hoping for completion this weekend… Below are a couple of (somewhat blurry – sorry…) workbench snaps. Thanx for lookin’, B.

In that case put me down for Rhubarb...

Succinctly put courtesy of Wikipedia, here's the scoop about Charlie Ryan's "Hot Rod Lincoln": "Hot Rod Lincoln" was recorded in 1955 as an answer song to "Hot Rod Race", a 1951 hit for Arkie Shibley and his Mountain Dew Boys. Hot Rod Race tells the story of a late-model Ford and Mercury who end up racing along the highway, neither driver gaining an advantage, and staying "neck and neck" until they are both overtaken (to their amazement) by a kid in "a hopped-up Model A". ... "Hot Rod Lincoln" was written by Charlie Ryan, who had also recorded a version of "Hot Rod Race". It begins with a direct reference to Shibley's earlier ballad, stating "You heard the story of the hot rod race that fatal day, when the Ford and the Mercury went out to play. Well, this is the inside story and I'm here to say, I'm the kid that was a-drivin' that Model A." ... Ryan owned a real hot rod that was built from a 1948 12-cylinder Lincoln chassis shortened two feet and with a 1930 Ford Model A body fitted to it. Thus the song explains how in "Hot Rod Race" a kid in a Model A could have outrun late-model Ford and Mercury sedans.... In the interests of equal time, here are the lyrics: HOT ROD LINCOLN (written by Charlie Ryan) Charlie Ryan and The Livingston Brothers First released in 1955 on Souvenir Records My pappy said, "Son, you're gonna' drive me to drinkin' If you don't stop drivin' that Hot Rod Lincoln" Have you heard this story of the Hot Rod Race When Fords and Lincolns was settin' the pace That story is true, I'm here to say I was drivin' that Model A It's got a Lincoln motor and it's really souped up That Model A body makes it look like a pup It's got eight cylinders, uses them all It's got overdrive, just won't stall With a 4-barrel carb and a dual exhaust With 4.11 gears you can really get lost It's got safety tubes, but I ain't scared The brakes are good, tires fair Pulled out of San Pedro late one night The moon and the stars was shinin' bright We was drivin' up Grapevine Hill Passing cars like they was standing still All of a sudden in a wink of an eye A Cadillac sedan passed us by I said, "Boys, that's a mark for me" By then the tail light was all you could see Now the fellas was ribbin' me for bein' behind So I thought I'd make the Lincoln unwind Took my foot off the gas and man alive I shoved it on down into overdrive Wound it up to a hundred-and-ten My speedometer said that I hit top end My foot was glued like lead to the floor That's all there is and there ain't no more Now the boys all thought I'd lost my sense And telephone poles looked like a picket fence They said, "Slow down! I see spots! The lines on the road just look like dots" Took a corner, sideswiped a truck Crossed my fingers just for luck My fenders was clickin' the guardrail posts The guy beside me was white as a ghost Smoke was comin' from out of the back When I started to gain on that Cadillac Knew I could catch him, I thought I could pass Don't you know by then we'd be low on gas We had flames comin' from out of the side Feel the tension, man, what a ride! I said, "Look out, boys, I've got a license to fly" And that Caddy pulled over and let us by Now all of a sudden she started to knockin' And down in the dips she started to rockin' I looked in my mirror; a red light was blinkin' The cops was after my Hot Rod Lincoln They arrested me and they put me in jail And called my pappy to throw my bail And he said, "Son, you're gonna' drive me to drinkin' If you don't stop drivin' that Hot Rod Lincoln!"

Even 'though Little Deuce Coupe is most likely the best known of the choices, I'll argue on behalf of Jesse Lee "Arkie" Shibley whose "Hot Rod Race (No.1)" (he did no less that 4 sequels about the various characters in the song), this was the original Hot Rod song and the lyrics set the model for all Hot Rod songs to come. The drop dead period atmosphere this Arkansas transplant establishes is remarkable and a veritable time capsule, right down to the "kid in a hopped up Model-A" who beats them both. Hot Rod Lincoln was an "answer song" to Shibley's series of releases. Shibley garnered a No.5 on the C&W charts in 1951 while Tiny Hill eventually crossed over with his cover to No. 29 on the Pop charts. Hill also covered Hot Rod Race No. 2. For convenience, here are the lyrics from the link above: HOT ROD RACE (written by George Wilson - thought to be Arkie Shibley under pseudonym) Arkie Shibley & His Mountain Dew Boys First released in 1950 on Sibley's own Mountain Dew Records Now me and my wife and my brother Joe, took off in my Ford from San Pedro. We hadn't much gas 'n' the tires was low, but the doggone Ford could really go. Now along about the middle of the night, we were rippin' along like white folks might, when a Mercury behind he blinked his lights, and he honked his horn and he flew outside. We had twin pipes and a Columbia butt, you people may think that I'm in a rut, but to you folks who don't dig the jive, that's two carburetors and an overdrive. We made grease spots outta many good town, and left the cops heads spinnin' round 'n' round. They wouldn't chase, they'd run and hide, but me and that Mercury stayed side by side. Now we were Ford men and we likely knew, that we would race until somethin' blew, and we thought it over, now, wouldn't you? I looked down at my lovely bride, her face was blue, I thought she'd died. We left streaks through towns about forty feet wide, but me and that Mercury stayed side by side. My brother was pale, he said he was sick, he said he was just a nervous wreck. But why should I worry, for what the heck, me and that Mercury was still neck-and-neck. Now on through the deserts we did glide, a-flyin' low and a-flyin' wide, me an' that Mercury was a-takin' a ride, and we stayed exactly side by side. Now I looked in my mirror and I saw somethin' comin', I thought it was a plane by the way it was a-runnin'. It was a-hummin' along at a terrible pace, and I knew right then it was the end of the race. When it flew by us, I turned the other way, the guy in the Mercury had nothin' to say, for it was a kid, in a hopped up Model-A.

Nice work so far. I dig the re-Imagineering of the front suspension and the shorter hairpins. The latter are an improvement over the overly long kit versions. I'm assuming you'll level out that well-detailed motor come final assembly time.

Looking forward to seeing you work your way through it. My tip is don't be afraid to undo things your dissatisfied with. I'm always surprised at how glad I am I did by the time I get to the end. And yeah, I agree, the Roadster Pickup is the better looking of the two.

In the 1:1 world it depends on the T. A "Bucket T" tends to be a '23-'25. If there's a traditional T on Deuce rails it's the '27. The earlier "buckets", not so much... But I was curious if one could be done successfully. This one's a work in progress I found on the H.A.M.B. but it shows that a well proportion T-Bucket on Deuce rails is very much doable and would actually be pretty tasty:

Sanitary execution. The basic metallic red you chose and those VRM decals take this build to another level. Very nice indeed!

That's a '25 T. The body is quite different with the bucket portion sharply defined and separate from the turtle deck. The result is a car with a significantly different look to it, with less potential for a sleek, streamli9ned look as seen on some of the track nose examples illustrated above.

I have no answer to that question. Yes Wayne, that's a '27T roadster, the ultimate hot rod IMHO. Slugging my way through my Highboy model as I am right now, based on the ubiquitous resin body that's out there, it's a real challenge scratchin' and adaptin' my way to completion. This is my second '27 T roadster model and I could sure do with a kit to start from! I have had a few conversations with a very reputable resin caster and quite possibly he may be able to come up with a few key parts for us (windshield frame, interior bits, etc.). Fingers crossed!

Thanks for another great review. Having missed the majority of Model Kit History when I opted out of model building as an adult, I love this stuff. While these sorts of cars may not be my thing the history of model kit developments and the efforts these companies made over the years to bring us quality kits is something well worth reading about. Thanx For Filling In The Blanx! Looking forward to the next one, B.

Merci beaucoup, M. Curt Raitz!

Thanks for all the interest and kind words. It’s been almost 2 weeks since an update on this car, so I thought it was time to show some progress shots. When it comes to modeling projects, I follow the 80-20 rule: 80% of the difficulties and flaws come during the last 20% of the build, especially during final assembly. This has been especially true of this one, particularly because so much of it is scratch built or kit-bashed. Therefore, I’m proceeding carefully and slowly to minimize the damage! The interior is completed and the dashboard and side panels glue in place. I still have some adjusting to do to the side panels so I haven’t glued the seat into place, but the steering wheel, a Corvette-style piece from an AMT ’37 Chevy coupe kit finished in transparent blue wash over chrome, in similar fashion to the wheels, is installed as are the various other bits. The chassis is completed and the suspension installed. The “donor kit” for the majority of this .project has been a Revell ’32 Ford roadster and most of the suspension is adapted from it. The hairpins were stolen from the recent Stacey David’s Rat Roaster variant. The rear radius rods were shortened to accommodate the shorter chassis, but since the chassis is stock length from the center crossmember forwards no mods were required to the front end components other than removing 3 leaves from the front spring to adjust the stance. The chassis is body color and the floor pan is finished in Duplicolor Oxford White. The major change has been to the exhaust system The motor sits well back in the frame, and while the fit is near perfect, requiring no adjustments to the fan placement or radiator mounting, the result is that the motor sits nestled back against the recessed firewall, just as it would on a standard Revell Deuce. For this reason I was unable to use the set of side exhaust pipes that Dale Verts had so generously contributed. Instead I pinched a set of block hugger tubular exhausts from a Revell ’57 Chevy Nomad kit and adapted the exhaust system to fit. Below is a summary photo of the car in the process of assembly. Still to go are installation of the lighting system and front shocks, the windshield, grille shell and wheels. Seemingly straightforward stuff, but this is the point where things can go terribly wrong! Hopefully my next post will ,announce a completed car and that it will be clean and straight. Thanx for lookin’, B.

One thing to watch out for is the perspective of the photo you are using. In the example you show, the dashboard was not photographed straight on, but rather at an angle with the right side closer to the camera than the left. In this case the difference isn't much and you could use a known dimension, such as one of the gauges, to judge how much to reduce it if you wanted an accurate scale reproduction. But you would have to distort the image to pull the left side forward slightly. You can do that in most of the photo editors mentioned above.

Thanks Frank for taking the time to follow up with Revell and posting this update. The appeal of the kit to me is the same as several other Monogram-era re-releases of classic kits, the excellent depiction of period correct parts. From this perspective the lack of Cadillac script on the valve covers is a real setback, although the kit has plenty of other things to work with. I really think that obtaining licensing is worth the effort on both the part of the license owners (the car companies, tire companies, etc.) and the model companies. It is mutually beneficial in that it helps promote a sense of tradition and history and adds value to the brand, which both increases the potential market value to the brand's owner and enhances the model company's function as a supplier of replicas and model history. Round2 appears to be coming around to this point of view and is gradually introducing branded parts into its lineup. We have yet to see this from Revell and it continues to be a disappointment. The Blue Beetle name is less important to me, personally, than branded tires, valve covers, etc. but I can fully understand the frustration that some collectors might feel over such an imperfect re-issue.

60's era '36 Ford gassers historically speaking are extremely uncommon as the body was already in high demand for rod and custom work and not particularly light, either. I did an image search on them and even now they are almost non-existant. Your best bet will be contemporary versions in the retro genre of similar body styles such as the '37 Chevy. Colors are quite often simple metallics and tire wheel combos tend towards either contempoprary-retro wide white slicks and period 60's wheels such as Cragars or real gasser era setups with small front blackwalls and 10" slicks with Halibrands.

This is an early-era altered inspired by the car in my avatar. Rough and ready, almost jalopy-like, the highlight here for your purposes might be the wheels, which are the stock items, and have bags of attitude. They should not be overlooked when considering various design options!

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Thanks! That does the trick. Looks like his eBay lineup is almost everything that was on the old MAS website.

This project continues to offer up the kind of challenges I expect when I tackle a build largely outside the bounds of any one kit. While the core of the model is based on the Altered States resin ’27 T roadster and a Revell ’32 Ford chassis the radically more compact body shell and the early 60’s show car style I’ve chosen to depict demand a constant flow of adaptation and fabrication of various parts. But that was why I chose to do this subject and I’m very much enjoying the process. The main chassis fabrication is completed and the chassis painted to match the body work. In addition I’ve selected the wheels. They’re chrome reversed rims from the AMT ’51 Chevy hardtop kit. I made a wash using Testors Acryl Ford Engine Blue and isopropyl alcohol and painted the recessed areas to achieve a Barris Kolor Krome look. I will be using the chromed Corvette style steering wheel from the same kit and plan to give the rim the same finish. The tires are from Modelhaus, T120’s at the front and (I think…) T193’s at the rear. The interior panels are now painted in a two-tone combination of Duplicolor Oxford White with Duplicolor Wimbledon White highlights. The piping is .075” blue insulated hookup wire. The floor is finished in Wimbledon White. I’m still up in the air as to whether I will stick with the tuck ‘n’ roll dash or try something else. And last but far from least, thanks to the generosity of Bill Engwer (Ace-Garageguy), I have an exact-fit windshield from an AMT ‘27T Touring Car which I have cut down to the lower panel. Thanks so much Bill! Here are some pics of the progress I’ve made. I also fabricated an exhaust system and installed it. Once I have the suspension pieces sorted out I’ll take some pictures of the completed undercarriage. That’s next up on my list. Final assembly can’t be too far away… Thanx for lookin’, B.

Keep us posted!

Oh yeah, I forgot to say that the California Kid looks just right! Nice work. Also, great to know that the car is 1/25th which many of us tend to focus on.