Dennis Lacy

This Fiat Altered was built as part of a community project on a Facebook group for drag racing. It started life as the veneriable Double Dragster kit with some personal touches added. I really enjoyed this one, the DD kit is just too much fun! - Small Block Chevy engine from the FED in the Double Dragster kit. - B&M Hydro transmission and shifter linkage from Revell's parts pack 283 Chevy. - Finned timing cover, valve covers and oil pan from AMT's parts pack 283 Chevy. - Scratchbuilt injector pipes, fuel block and fuel hose added to Double Dragster's otherwise boring Hilborn fuel injection. - Kit magneto wired. - Cut the kit header tubes off their flanges and made new header tubes from styrene tubing so they're not only free of mold lines and beefier, they're actually round too! - Gauge face decals and photo-etched bezels added to gauge bracket on steering mount. - Modelhaus T110 front tires and vintage AMT Firestone slicks. - Tamiya "Mica Silver' with a mixture of Double Dragster decals.

I think this set is definitely worth getting at least one of. There are some very nice competition engine parts, much nicer than Revell's parts pack Chevy and Pontiac engines. Here's an example of the supercharged Pontiac engine I put together earlier this year: And, the altered roadster body is definitely in this set because I used it, also earlier this year, to make this: The roadster body includes a parts tree with a radiator shell, roll bar parts, seat, steering wheel, dashboard, parachute and a helmet. These parts drop onto the Fiat chassis from the Double Dragster kit.

I've had projects that started out to be one thing and ended up being something different, but not that many times! It's an interesting evolution this car has taken but where it's headed now is relly cool. The deep dish rear wheels look killer!

Sand, Fill, Primer. There, the stupid things on the hood are gone. Pretty simple, yeah?

My pleasure, Bill!

Are you still in need of Riley 4 Port reference pictures? I just realised I have a bunch of close-ups that I took at our local Antique Nationals this past June.

I have to agree with this 100%. While it's true there's going to be a lot of people who don't care for the look of this car as it comes (I don't), the content can't be ignored as an incredible source of new hot rod parts. If it turns out this stuff will interchange with the existing line of Revell '32 Ford kits then we are going to have one hell of a winner on our hands. Imagine having a ready-to-go small block Chevy that will drop right into the other kits! A streetable super charger setup (water pump, alternator) for a Chevy is long overdue and if a person doesn't like the blower then can it and add the top end components of your choice. Some proof here that this kit may be a continuation of the current line of 32's is that there's some obvious carry-overs from the most recent 5-Window version. The Moon auxillary fuel tank, hairpin radius rods and '50 Pontiac taillights. It looks like the same front suspension is in place too simply with painted shock brackets and headlight buckets. Are there any pictures of the parts trees laid out like the other models are??? I'm in disbelief that Revell came through on the tires. Early reports indicated that they were not going to do them and simply use something that already exists from their tire bins. Can you guys imagine how stupid this car would look with those wide Goodyear tires or those lowrider Dunlops the other '32 Roadster kit has???

He's not the only one. As I type this I am looking out my back window at a rear 3/4 view of my 1:1 '88 Mustang Coupe and to say I'm excited is an understatement. The great thing about this new kit being 1:25 is that there's a fistfull of awesome donors out there to modify this car. Like the Vortech super charged engine from Revell's '98 Saleen Mustang. The nicely done FMS GT40 intake found in Revells '32 Ford Speedwagon street rod. The Cobra intake from AMT's '95 Cobra Mustang. Mod-motor swaps. Not to mention all the wheels from the '94 and newer Mustang kits. Everything the 1:1 guys ar doing we can now do! The possibilities are endless! Now I gotta get on Ebay and step up for a Tamiya '95 Cobra R kit so I can harvest the wheels for a replica of my own car.

I'm sure my customers appreciate it that I obsess over every year-to-year detail. LOL!

Well, I gotta throw my 2c in here too. It was 1938 when the 24-stud engine appeared. Some very early 38's did receive the previous year 21-stud engine as supplies were used up but the majority of vehicles received the 24-stud. B (4cyl) / 18- (V8) = 1932, 40- = 1933/1934, 48- = 1935, 68- =1936, 78- = 1937, 81A = 1938, 91A = 1939, 01A = 1940... The 1937 engine is kind of a bastard design since it still has 21 head studs but has the water pumps down on the front of the block and center water outlets on the heads like '38 - '48 24 stud versions. The cool thing is that the '32-'36 21-stud heads will install and Ford issued factory block-off plates to cover the water pump impeller holes in the front of the block so that this engine could be retro-fitted into the earlier years when an engine replacement was necessary. I have a '37 crack-free engine waiting to be rebuilt one of these days. I plan to run the early heads on it as I have a pair of '34 aluminum heads that have been polished. However, I will keep the water pumps on the block and fabricate elbows to come off of the heads as the block mounted pumps are a way more effecient design since they push the coolant through the block rather than pull it. Much less prone to cavitation and steam pockets. Oh, and the 8BA engine was first available in 1948, in trucks only. Passenger cars then received it in 1949.

UPDATE And now, for a total change in direction! Sometimes it happens that what you set out to builds ends up very different when all is said and done. I liked the roadster idea but I wasn't in love with it. I probably could have made it work out okay, but I wasn't motivated to. So, I got to playing around with mocking up different bodies and I stumbled onto something that really got me excited... Here's the chassis up on its wheels, which are the wheels and tires from the Ala Kart. I loved the Halibrand combo, but it just wasn't right for the new sheet metal. To get the front end down low I cut the air springs in half. I got to thinking about the way the belt & pulleys were set up out of the AMT '41 Woody and it was bugging me. I scrounged and came up with the belt / pulleys and fan from an AMT '53 Ford Pickup. A little tweaking and it fits. There's also enough room to squeeze an alternator in before the front carburetor. The chrome pieces are out of the box - no fan or generator / alternator provisions. Drum roll..... Here's where it's going now. Earlier this year I was given a bunch of old model stuff from my Dad. Amongst it was an AMT '34 Pickup missing the chassis so I thought I would put it to good use. Cleaned all the junk off of the firewall, chopped the top 1/4", shortened the bed 3/4" and gave it a mild channel. The bed floor got pitched and a new mounting structure installed. A new bed floor will follow.

I'm glad you took my comment the right way, Doc, cause it wasn't meant to be insulting... ...just really honest! Hahaha.

I can't deny Cranky his abilitiy, it's obvious he has a ton, but... While it's easy to see this model and make all the "looks great" comments (because it's only a model), how many of you people that commented would want to be seen driving a car painted like this? I sure wouldn't. If I was at a car show and came upon this I would stop at it long to shake my head and ask myself, "what in the hell was this guy thinking?".

Thanks for the positive responses. You suffer from this too???

Beautiful! You're right, those fadeaways look a bunch better sloping down lower to the rear fender. Looks great with the chopped Carson top too!

UPDATE: Lots accompished with the frame. Added some material to the top/forward part of the "Z" then angle cut it. Angle cut the lower part of the "Z" to match the angle of the upper/rear part of the frame. Added corner gussets to the rear cross member. Modified the front motor mounts by adding some risers. Made a simple but effective and strong center frame member. The cross pieces have been drilled for exhaust pipes. Here's how the engine will sit in the frame. I cut the molded distributor off and carefully drilled the tube to take a Parts By Parks distributor. I also decided to use this Model Car Garage resin Offenhauser intake because it's much more detailed than the dual intake from the AMT '34 Coupe. Because of the shape of the frame and that the driveshaft will need to go through the body I had to remove the torque tube and radius rods from the Ala Kart axle. I was able to modify the trailing arms from the Corvette suspension in AMT's '34 Coupe. As it turned out, the "S" offset in the arms was exactly right to come off of the axle and line up with the frame rails. I also added a snout to the axle center housing for the future driveshaft to connect to. Here the suspensions are mocked up. The front is untouched Ala Kart. Here I'm considering changing the front shell to a '32...

I love it! The exterior would have been enough but the interior is a knock-out. You should be very proud of this model. I could just see this little guy chugging along in a train of circus vehicles. (I'd hate to roll over in the morning and nail that counter edge with my forehead, haha.)

Happy to see it didn't stay black and must say the blue looks better than the red. Sweet!

Rat Rod is a style typically based on extreme visuals. It does not automatically mean that the car is of poor, unsafe construction. I have seen just as many safely built Rat Rods as I have poor ones. I have also seen PLENTY of shiney Hot Rods or Street Rods that when you look close it appears as though they were engineered by a kindergartner with a blindfold on. Poor, unsafe construction is present in every segment of the automotive hobby.

That's because 90% of people who build hobby cars with engines making stupid HP numbers are posers and have never opened the trottle more than 50%. Which is a good thing because your average person has below average skills behind the wheel. We all want to think we are a "wheelman", but lets face, we're not. Most of the people you talk to with stupid HP making engines don't even understand what it took to get there, and especially why. They just write a check to the engine guy. These are the same guys you see videos of on You Tube getting pressured into showing off by a crowd of people while leaving a car show. It's obvious they have no clue behind the wheel because the car gets away from them instantaneously as their foot hits the floor. It's like anything else, it's bragging rights for the car shows and magazine articles.

I can appreciate seeing some oil stains or radiator water stains (or whatever) on a feature vehicle because it shows me that the car gets used. If I were prepairing a car for a shoot I would spend a reasonable amount of time cleaning but not to the point that it looks like the car has never been driven. I am definitely NOT the guy at a car show that gets out of his lawn chair every 5 minutes to wipe down his car, haha.

Nice looking '50 but I'm really digging the Buick powered '40 Pickup in back ground. Can't wait to see that one done!

If not a fan of the red, I'd have found another color I liked better because the way you two-toned it looked really period correct. The conversion gets a little lost in a plain black wrapper. It's still way cool, though.

Did you announce on a social site like Facebook that you and your family would be gone for the weekend? Theives out there specifically target those who share such things. Even if this is not the case in your situation it's something to consider. I tell me fiancee everytime we're going somewhere to tell the world about it AFTER we get home.

Not really. It's supposed to represent a small block bored & stroked to 396 ci. Considering Chevy had a 400 ci. small block from the factory it's not unrealistic, although those had a specific engine block. The crankshaft from 400 ci. engines are used to produce the very common 383 ci. stroker engines.