Art Anderson

Not sure about Ford, but for years, Chevrolet service manuals never referred to the El Camino as that, but rather as the "sedan pickup", FWIW Art

Tuck n roll upholstery? Oh, about the time that carriage builders discovered that leather could be padded, rolled into pleats, stitched together. Open carriages were using rolled and pleated leather, and certainly "diamond tufted" leather for seating by the middle of the 19th Century. Art

OK, I don't think there is an easy answer here, but I will give it a go: As far as simply lowering the roofline of an existing car body, as Andy Martin noted, the legendary Los Angeles coachbuilding firm of Bohmann & Schwartz (these two partners came out of the famed, earlier Walter Murphy Body Company of Pasadena, noted for their very advanced custom body construction for Classic-era cars, most famously their bodies for the superlative Duesenberg Model J). They took a Derham-bodied Duesenberg J Sedan that had rolled off the dock at Santa Catalina Island (car belonged to Philip K. Wrigley, heir to the chewing gum fortune and long-time owner of the Chicago Cubs) into salt water, completely revamping the body shell, and in the process, lowering the height of the top about 4 inches or so, about 1936. But, that would have been an exception for the times. Bearing in mind that serious customizing of production cars depends on the ability to weld sheet metal together (brazing was used, but had serious problems, mostly to do with continuing corrosion of the sheet steel stemming from the impossibility of cleaning away all traces of the flux used, not to mention that a brazed joint isn't as strong as a welded one. Arc and gas (oxyacetylene) welding was known in the years prior to WW-II, but not widely used (not many qualified welders) and in general a distrust of such welding for durability, reliability. Early in WW-II, however, welding of steel became of paramount importance, if US manufacturers and shipyards were to achieve the massive buildup of military equipment and ships needed for the all out defense effort, and the resulting drive to defeat the Axis countries unconditionally and completely. Riveting a ship together took way too long, and riveted steel plates simply split apart way too easily. Along the same lines, the welding of aluminum became a necessity for some aspects of aircraft production, notably large aluminum external fuel tanks (the legendary drop tanks which became bellytank lakesters, for example), again to facilitate mass production. While resistance style spot welding had been used in mass production car body construction as early as 1928 (Model A Ford roadsters, coupes and Tudor sedans pretty much pioneered this starting with the 1928 models), it wasn't until after the war that the skills required for welding the cut edges of 20-gauge mild steel sheet was at all widespread, from all that I have read. This all said, I suspect that the first top chops were the Carson topped customs that came out of the San Fernando Valley custom shops, starting just prior to the war, as those required chopping of just the windshield frames. But it seems to me that chopping a full closed body roof didn't really come into being until perhaps 1947-48, and then only a few customizers did it with any degree of success, especially if the top in question was anything beyond the relatively square, upright coupe bodies of say, a Model A or a '32 Ford. It was almost a "black art" for a few years, until somebody managed to get one right. Probably the first serious sheet metal cutting and welding started with the concept of "channeling" old Ford bodies down over the frame rails, in order to get a lower car for less wind resistance in a car meant for the dry lakes, which is where hot rodding was in the immediate postwar years, spilling over into drag racing as that moved to the forefront by say, 1950 or so. Even then, the welding of cut pieces of sheet steel, if done by a craftsman, was "hammer welded", which is a variation on the old blacksmithing method, hammer and dolly applied to red hot metal to forge the welded joint solidly together (this is how welding actually got its start, a few centuries ago, BTW, before electric arc was discovered, before any gas flames were available to heat steel to the melting point). So, somewhere in the years say, 1945-50 is where customizers and rodders began seriously chopping tops, sectioning body shells, and the like. Art

One thing to remember, and this goes for nearly all cars produced through at least the middle 1930's, is that with luxury cars, except for Cadillac, where the V8 reigned supreme from 1916 on, the key to power, and the smoothness of the engine in the days before flexible engine-mount setups became common (starting with the 1932 Chrysler line, with "Floating Power") was the inline multicylinder engine, either inline 6 or inline 8. Granted, most inline engines of the day used but one main bearing for each two crank throws, some had a main between each cylinder (Packard, for example, whose straight 8's had NINE main bearings), and when the water pump, crankshaft pulley and fan were added, most straight 8's were at minimum, five feet long. In addition, I-beam front axles, which EVERY carmaker used in one form or another until Cadillac and Mercedes adopted true independent front suspension systems in 1933, precluded mounting the engine over the front crossmember, particularly the rather tall inline engines of the day (a Duesenberg DOHC 420cid straight 8 Model J engine is approximately 40 inches tall from oilpan to cam covers) which all meant that the engine simply had to be mounted aft of the front chassis crossmember. Also, long wheelbases meant smoother riding, in the days before independent suspension, and in order to get a low seating position for a sports type car, that meant moving the driver's seat farther back, with lower seat cushions, making the driver's legs stretch out more flat, thus requiring a longer distance between seat and firewall. A look at any Duesenberg Model J, for example, will show almost 2' of cowling, plus at least 3' of hood, then a radiator and shell nearly 8" deep, and that's just to get to the front frame crossmember. Add to that the rail frame with the rails extended forward at least a foot and a half from the crossmember, for mounting the front ends of the parallel leaf springs, and you should get the idea. I use the Model J, simply because it's perhaps the Classic Car I know and revere the most, but the Model J was designed in 1927-28, to fairly conventional patterns, meaning that other Classics (indeed just about any other car of that time) had similar characteristics. This all lead to a "conventional wisdom" that "long hood, short deck" proportions meant beauty, a seemingly perfect set of proportions, not really forgotten even decades later--look at any of the Pony Cars of the mid-late 60's and beyond, they had similar proportions, abeit not the exaggerated-looking lengths though. Art

The two Monogram metal-bodied Classic Cars (Duesenberg Model J Murphy-bodied boattailed disappearing top coupe (that's what Walter Murphy Body Co. of Pasadena CA called it), and their 1931 Packard Model 745 Dual Cowl Phaeton have EXCELLENT cast metal bodywork actually. There's no comparison between these two kits and the arguably rather crude Hubley kits, which themselves were tooled and engineered in the years 1959-about 1964, for production on the same molding machines, in the same Zamak metal as Hubley Toy Company produced their line of toy cap pistols. Monogram did these kits in the same manner as their plastic 1/24 scale offerings (in fact, the Duesenberg boattail uses exactly the same styrene parts for chassis, engine and other details as their other all-plastic Duesenbergs, with only such minor styrene details unique to this one as were unique to the real car). If there is one inaccuracy to the Monogram Metal Bodied Duesenberg, it is that the tooling for their Duesenbergs is irreversible SJ tooling, meaning the supercharged engine, while the boattail is done from the famous Murphy LWB (153.5") 1929 Murphy car, which was one of a series of 4 boattails Murphy Body Company did, the others being on the shorter 141.5" wheelbase. So, Monogram had to compromise, give this car the screen-sided hood panels, outside exhausts and supercharger of the SJ, but other than that, it's a great kit. The Packard, on the other hand, was done from the tabletop up as a new kit, shares nothing other than tires (perhaps wheels) with the two 1930 Model 734 Speedster series (boattail and phaeton), and again, it's very typical Monogram Classic Car--NICE indeed. Of course, as with any cast metal model (that series of Monogram metal bodied kits included the Packard, the Duesenberg, a '48 Jaguar XK-120, '48 MGTC, and '53 Corvette), there is some prep work to be done, flash is minimal, but the edges of all the metal body parts will need a bit of file and sandpaper work--there is, however, NO "miniscus" cracking in the surfaces, just a bit of sanding with 400-grit, clean, prime with self-etch primer, and paint. Hope this helps! Art

Those early steel disc wheels were done entirely from pressed steel, probably about 1/8" thick on light cars (like a Chevrolet) perhaps a bit heavier on a large car such as the Packard. I'd be pretty sure that the outer edge of the center disc was pressed backwards in "tabs" which themselves were hot-riveted into the rim, much like all steelies since then (steel disc wheels were riveted until the advent--and trust developed--of welding. The deeper "dish" look of the wheel on Packards (as opposed to the nearly flat discs first used on this type of wheel earlier in the 20's was almost assuredly meant to provide greater resistance to being bent upon receiving blows from the side (Dad told me once that a '27 Chevy steel wheel could be bent noticeably upon getting caught in a frozen rut on a dirt country road in winter--he had a neighbor who had one, had to replace several wheels [even a rear axle shaft once] on a '27 Chevrolet Coach). On a model you may well have to turn a set of brake drums to make this sort of wheel really happen, but then I've not tried it. Bob Hoover, up in Chicago, sold me a set of white metal steel disc wheels he'd mastered perhaps 35 yrs ago for the Monogram Packard Boattail, but they fasten up to the stock kit brake drum, which makes the center hub way too fat, stick out too far as well. Art

Looks to be very much like a shallow salad bowl, flat bottom (center of the wheel) with a defined angle where the outward "flare" begins. That "flare" (like the sides of a bowl) appears in both pics up here now, to have a slight outward curve, not a flat angle as in a cone-shape. Perhaps if you were to save the two pics, run them through whatever photo-editing software you have (for pics off the web, I really like Irfanview--"enhance colors", under the "image" icon on the Irfanview picture toolbar), you should be able to alter the contrast, change the gamma correction, adjust the color intensity to make the pic show up the shapes and contours better. Looks like it should be an easy project on the lathe! Art

Dave, Did some Googling for ya, went back a year to 1929, just to make sure I found a few examples with disc wheels, and here's what I found: http://www.tomlaferriere.com/CarsForSale/1929Packard626coupe/1929Packard-626Coupe%20004.jpg This coupe with disc wheels clearly shows the wheel mounting/demounting for you--8 lugs, hub is EXACTLY the same as for wood-spoke artillery wheels for the same year Packard. The disc is "dished in" (easily seen in this pic) a distance equal to the thickness of the wooden artillery wheel, and like the '29 artillery wheel, is demounted by removing the 8 lug bolts. The tire size appears to be the same as for use with wire wheels (and I would use the kit tires for that reason), the rim is a split-ring design (same as older steel HD truck rims or farm tractor rear wheels. Note that for the spare wheel, a plain chrome hubcap is used, which is the same diameter as the wheel hub (which is fixed in this type of wheel installation) and is apparently some sort of press-on attachment to the spare tire mount after the spare is bolted securely there. The flange of the hub looks to be perhaps 8" in diameter, the body of the hub no more than 3" diameter, and appears to extend out from the flange about 6". Note that the outer end of the hub is larger in diameter than the body, by a good inch to inch and a half, looking almost like the head of a nail. The red Packard Hexagon is recessed slightly into the hubcap, which was polished aluminum, not chrome plated, and was removable only for the purpose of accessing the castelated retainer nut for hub and brake drum removal. Here's a '29 Packard with wood spoke artillery wheels for comparison, perhaps even easier to see my description: http://files.conceptcarz.com/img/Packard/29_Packard_640_Runbt_Rdstr_DV_06-AI_01.jpg Art

An Andy, JL Elbert's book shows far more "old, used, Duesenbergs" than new ones, as he wrote that book in the years immediately after WW-II, when most people thought of Duesenbergs, yes any car considered for membership in CCCA today, as just "used cars". It's pretty hard to tell from the pics in his book just what the wheels were done as, or whether they'd been subsequently painted. However, AJ Roe's book, along with a wide angle pic I have in a book somewhere of the Duesenberg Factory in Indianapolis, which clearly shows a large production run of Model J's, WITH plated wheels (but blackwall tires). One of the possible reasons for this may well have been ease of maintenance (cleaning). Painted wire wheels (ask anyone who's ever owned a Model A Ford with painted wire wheels!) not only does dust and dirt show up severely, but the inevitable stone chips in the paint make for rust stains oh-so-quickly. Now, not all luxury car makers pushed the chrome plated wheel--Packard is one, Duesenberg is another, both companies showing plated laced wire wheels in just about all their advertising, even in builder's photo's (which Roe's book is full of, BTW) of newly finished cars taken by their coachbuilders. But yes, there are some very significant Model J's which were equipped with painted wire wheels from the factory, but those, I believe, are exceptions. Another thing to consider here: Not all the great Classics had laced wire wheels. Chrysler, for example, used the welded steel spoke technology for their wire wheels from about 1930 onward, on Chryslers and Chrysler Imperials, and those of course, were painted. The same was true of the Reo Royale, I believe, in addition to the junior series of Packards. Stutz was pretty well known for painting their wire wheels as well, even though they were using either Rudge or Dayton wheels. As for wheels in general, it seems to me that Packard, by about 1928, was producing far more cars with steel disc wheels, even offering wood-spoke artillery wheels out to about 1933-34 for tradition-minded customers, and by 1933, steel artillery spoked wheels were very much in vogue. Wire wheels, plated, became outmoded, save for cars such as Duesenberg which were never engineered for anything but wires (even the few Model J's which show "disc" wheels were in fact wire wheels, with spun metal wheel covers of various styles fastened over the outside. Art Art

Chad, Are you the same Chad I used to pick up at his home in Edwardsburg, take to St Joe Valley Modelers in Motion meetings back 7-8 years ago? Art

Actually, Andy..... Chromed wire wheels on luxury cars were very popular in those years, particularly in the West and Southwest. Painted wire wheels on high end cars seem to have been fairly uncommon, except in the case of very conservative, ofteh "old money" families, particularly in the East, and New England. But be that as it may, lots of contemporary news photo's from the 30's show very glitzy town cars, with their darker, formal paintjobs, but with glittering chrome wire wheels. Cadillac and a couple others took the wheel treatment a step farther: Chromed spokes with painted hubs and rims (now try that in 1/25 scale!) Art

Much depended on the body style, and the region where the car was owned. Darker, conservative colors were pretty much the rule in the eastern US, even the midwest, but once one got to the Southwest and West Coast, all bets seemed to be off. Lighter, brighter colors seemed to be the rule rather than the exception in say, Los Angeles. Of course, even with lacquer replacing the old hand-brushed enamels and varnishes, some colors were far from stable in UV light, most notably any color using red pigments--those faded rapidly. Although metallic lacquers became available by 1927-28, even those wore very poorly, as the lacquer carrier oxidized away, exposing the powdered metal flake, resulting in a dull finish that could only be restored by repainting the car. Not to be overlooked are the more primitive camera's and the type of black & white film used until the early 30's--those made for very stark pictures, even fairly light colors such as yellow showing up very darkly in B&W pics. In any case, a perusal of paint chips from the late 20's into the early 30's will show that in many ways, cars were just as colorful then as in the 50's, albeit not having quite the brilliant shades. And with luxury cars, the sky was often the limit--the customer paying $5000 and up for a car back then could have it painted by the factory in just about any color they wanted. Of course, the Great Depression wore some of this down--"conspicuous consumption" became, overnight, very un-PC, people who bought new cars (except in flashy places such as Hollywood) tended toward more somber, less attention-grabbing colors--and those didn't really reappear until about 1939-40, from my readings. Art The hood on this one is an easy lift-off part. Art

Aaron, The black (or in the case of a Duesenberg, "apple green") porcelain stayed pretty clean and bright for years, of course after a couple of decades discoloring, and perhaps even becoming chipped in places. Art

Packard engines of the day were very highly finished all over: Block (note that the crankcase was a separate aluminum casting, as was the oil pan, and thus were unpainted), head, crankshaft pulley were a very glossy olive green color, not unlike that used on US Army stateside staff cars. The fan should have a black center hub (looks like a spider) with bright silver blades. Intake and exhaust manifolds were black porcelain over cast iron, so gloss black should get the call there, as with the distributor body (the cap would have been a very dark brown as it was bakelite), carburetor should be gloss black, as would be the fuel vacuum tank on the firewall, the ignition coil, and the horns. Fanbelts and hoses back in those days were red rubber, so use a dull flat red. Plug wires of the day were generally covered in linen, which would have been a golden tan color, as the tan linen was sealed with varnish. Crankcase, bell housing, transmission and oil pan should be painted to look like cast aluminum. As for body colors, not much is known today as to the colors used on the very few Boattail Speedsters, but perhaps the most striking restoration was that done by Harrah's Automobile Collection about 1970: Bright orange body, with chocolate brown body moldings and fenders, black rubber running boards, brown undersides of the fenders and the entire chassis. To be period correct, the tires need either to be blackwalled, or if whitewalls, whitewalls on both sides of each tire (that's how white wall tires were made from their inception to the end of civilian tire production from latex rubber in early 1942). Interior of the Harrah's car was natural cowhide. Art

Actually, the active ingredient in both Easy-Off Oven Cleaner, and the active ingredient in SuperClean or Purple Power is exactly the same: Sodium Hydroxide, a/k/a lye (your grandmother knew what that stuff is!). Lye can be had in crystalline form, as Lewis Red Devil Lye, comes in a white plastic can with red labeling, including the requisite warning information as well. Basically, you add lye crystals to lukewarm water, a teaspoon or so at a time, to get the strength of solution you want (never, EVER add water to lye crystals as the rapid chemical reaction can splatter the stuff on you). Whenever I've used the stuff (and I've used it for right at 60 years or so with GREAT results!) I mix the stuff quite strong, generally 5 tsp of lye crystals to 8 oz of lukewarm water (do not use hot water at all, as the chemical reaction of the lye dissolving will bring it to near boiling, but lukewarm, or about 70F is just fine in my experience. At all times when working with lye (the same caution should be a watchword with Oven Cleaners, CSC or Purple Power!!) be sure to wear both eye and hand protection, in the form of a safety eye shield (lye, whether the straight stuff or as Easy Off, Purple Power or CSC is very caustic, and will cause irreparable burns to the eyes--and I don't want to hear of any modeler being blinded for the sake of the hobby!), I bought my eye shield at Harbor Freight for the princely sum of a Dollar (looks just like those Nuclear Waste sunglasses elderly people wear over their eyeglasses, only in cystal clear). Hand protection is also very much advised, as lye will dissolve skin--my recommendation here is Nitrile Examimation Gloves (the same gloves that EMT's and Police officers use at accident and crime scenes--these are waterborne chemical proof (I use them daily when dealing with fairly strong acid solutions at work, nary even a sting because of those--Nitrile gloves also work to keep paint and thinners off your fingers when painting!). The lye solution I have described begins stripping "chrome" from plastic parts in just a couple of seconds--I've even seen the chrome float off the plastic THEN dissolve in the lye solution, and in about 10 minutes the clear lacquer basecoat used in the vacuum plating process will lift off, and if necessary, a light scrubbing with an old toothbrush does the trick, washes that clear coating away completely. I do this under warm running water so any debris is flushed away, then be sure to completely rinse the parts, individually, under running clear water to flush away any and all lye residue. It's amazing the level of detail that is under model car kit chrome sometimes! But, the best thing about Lewis Red Devil Lye Crystals is: It's dirt cheap! The last can I got set me back the princely sum of $2.50 about 3 years ago. As a side-benefit, straight lye is a green chemical--it's made by soaking wood ashes in water, and is completely biodegradable as well--helps keep your drains open (Yup, the key ingredient in Drano (in every drain) stuff. But, as with any of the solutions I have mentioned, take the precautions, be safe, and of course, enjoy the results you see on your model parts. Art

I can understand the frustration that can come from seeing superdetailed model cars that appear to have been magically recreated by some incredible shrinking ray, and the "wonder" that many must experience at seeing them. Detailing a model kit of any sort does mean a ton of extra work, and finding the references for those details can seem like a wild goose chase to those who've seemingly not had any success at it. Your mention of "internet searching" however, leads me to ask--is the internet the only place you look for references for detailing a model? If so, I've got some news for you, some of which you may not want to hear: For all it's value as a tool, the internet has yet to completely supplant old-technology print media, and certainly it will never likely replace "in person" studying of the real subject. Why? Well for the simple reason that most folks who take pictures of cars aren't doing it for "model building reference", rather to capture the overall beauty or uniqueness of the particular car (sorta like being a real car magazine cover car photographer it seems at times!). Just as gorgeous pics in glossy paper magazines don't often tell the story in terms of pics of the "greasy, grimy parts", the same of course is more often than not true of pics on websites, even in such places as Fotki or other photo-sharing websites. So, what's a body to do? Most of us who do either scratchbuilding, or replicating actual cars seriously take as much, if not more time looking for the real thing whenever possible, with camera and notepad in hand. Even if the car you are doing is say, a '59 Chevy, under the hood of a '60 you will find pretty much the same exact things, for example (because the '60 was a facelift of the '59, not a completely new car. This is but one example. Some magazines can be veritable gold mines, if you take the time to search them out, read them, perhaps catalog their contents (MS Excel is a marvelous tool for that!). Of course, a few of us have a huge head start on other builders--I, for example, have every issue of Collectible Automobile Magazine, all the way back to Vol 1, Number 1, in the summer of 1984, along with perhaps 95% of the issues of Special Interest Autos (now Hemmings Classic Cars), and from my Indy car building days, every single issue of whatever was printed as an Indianapolis 500 Yearbook (my collection there starts with Floyd Clymer's "History of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race" which covered, in 1946, every race from 1911-1941, then all his annual yearbooks until he passed away in 1973--I then followed on by collecting each of the Carl Hungness 500 yearbooks until I finally burned out on building models of such racecars in the early 80's. I've got selected back issues of mags such as Antique Automoble (the monthly publication of Antique Automobile Club of America--AACA), and several other similar publications. Over the past 45 years or so, I've accumulated perhaps 2000lbs of hardback and soft-cover books on cars, cars of the kinds that interest me. Along the way, I've collected more dealer brochures, service manuals and factory assembly manuals that I care to admit as well. But, today the best tool I have is first, my memory--I've sorta learned that if I see something that intrigues me, I commit it to memory (which bugs a lot of people, sometimes gets me in dutch with others, but oh well!), second, my digital camera--now on my 3rd one in 10 years, try to have it with me when I go to a car show or museum (where they may or may not allow me to take pics--some car museums are very touchy, others are happy to let you take pics to your heart's content--ask first to be sure). The neat thing about a digicamera is, the pics are virtually cost-free, put them on a memory stick, they can be pulled up nearly instantly, my printer can print off whatever I have, as I might need it. A good carpenter's rule is another tool I have, cost me relatively little, folds up so it's easy to tote around, and a Magic Marker to black out every other inch gives me a ruler that I or a friend can hold up in the area I want to photograph to give me instant dimensions whenever I look at a particular reference pic (incidently, this is how nearly every model car kit, certainly prior to CAD) got referenced, and even today, older cars get this very reference treatment--above all, ASK permission first, and NEVER lay that carpenter's rule on a restored, highly finished car!) With all the above I have mentioned, books about cars, particularly those covering a certain marque and perhaps a particular model, or era of the marque in question have text, many have lots of text: Take the time to read it, and just for grins, read up on the stuff that comes BEFORE the car you are researching, and read on after you have found what you were looking for--often times there are literal gems of information there that explain not only how that particular car came to be, but also may well help you downroad on a future model car project of the same marque. The same is true of magazine articles; in short, get to know more about the project at hand than just where a certain plug wire ran from distributor to plug--it's that sort of attention to learning that pays me dividends down the road, perhaps even years later. I maintain that a modeler can never know too much about the subject, the car on the bench--you never know where that knowledge will lead you, and over time, those who do that wind up often surprising themselves more than they who view the finished model. Of course, while I've touted the value of sources other than websites, online searches can have their value--just take the time to experiment with keywords, key phrases to ask Google to search for you--and like a dedicated Chicago voter, be sure to do it early and often! Art

No pics available for public viewing yet--that is Dave Metzner's and Moebius' decision to make, not mine. But, unless I miss my guess, Dave will post up pics once the mockups of the Hudson and Chrysler are through the entire final approval (to go to steel tooling) stage. Art

Yeah. But if you want to be prototypically correct, use your razor saw to cut in that seam I mentioned, to just where the sheet metal curves downward, to create the visible seam I spoke about. Incidently, it is the same with the '59 in this area. Art

OK, let's list the Monogram Classic Cars: 1934 Duesenberg Model J Weymann Torpedo Phaeton 1934 Duesenberg Model J Rollston Disappearing Top Coupe (convertible if you will) 1930 Duesenberg Model J Walter Murphy Town Car (Monogram called it a '34) 1930 Duesenberg Model J Walter Murphy Disappearing Top Coupe w/ boattail body (kit has metal body, fenders and hood) 1930 Packard Model 734 Boattail Speedster 1930 Packard Model 734 Speedster Phaeton 1931 Packard Super 8 Dual Cowl Phaeton (metal body, fenders, hood) 1931 Rolls-Royce Of America Phantom II Henley Roadster 1931 Rolls Royce Of America Phantom II Sport Phaeton (built in Springfield MA, with coachwork by Brewster--a R-R subsidiary in those years) 1932 Cadillac Model 452 Fleetwood Dual Cowl Phaeton (V-16 engine) 1927 Bugatti Type 35B 1937 Cord 812 Supercharged Convertible Phaeton 1941 Lincoln Continental Convertible (seeing as the Continental began in 1939, this one qualifies as a 30's car, IMO) From others: MPC 1927 Lincoln V8 Roadster 1928 Lincoln V8 Locke Sport Phaeton 1931 Chrylser Roadster 1932 Chrylser Imperial Convertible Sedan JoHan 1931 Cadillac Model 452 Fleetwood Cabriolet 1931 Cadillac Model 452 Fleetwood Sport Phaeton 1931 Cadillac Model 452 Fleetwood canework Town Car (Model 452 denoted the use of the 452cid V-16 engine) 1935 Mercedes Benz 500K Sindelfingen Cabriolet 1935 Mercedes Benz 500K Special Coupe (purportedly custom built for race driver Rudolph Carrachiola) Lindberg (these are their two fairly decent 1/24th scale offerings) 1929 Mercedes SSK roadster 1931 Bugatti Type 41 Royale Convertible Victoria Heller and Italeri made a whole gaggle of 1930's luxury cars in 1/24th scale as well. Art

How's come?

I just got done perusing the pics of the revised '55 Chrysler C300, and Whoa Mary! Lotta stuff to like in it! They have for sure nailed all the greasy mechanicsl stuff, both under the hood and on the chassis. A few tweaks are needed with the body shell, and I can aready see that this is gonna be one of those kits that will shout out "Yer gonna buy me today!". Art

Not quite! PL's Ecto 1 is just that, the vehicle from the first movie, AMT/Ertl's is the Ecto 1a, from the second movie, and there are differences. Art

Well, since the original styling of the Step Down Hudsons began in 1943-44, at the height of WW-II, and what became the '49 Mercury styling wasn't begun until sometime in 1945, I think it may be the other way around! In either case, futuristic designers such as Norman Bel Geddes were depicting large, very "Jelly Bean" cars, trucks, airliners, even ocean liners in their futuristic artworks "predicting" life in Postwar America once Victory over the Axis Powers was achieved (Bel Geddes' paintings of future scenes in the US in 1960 were frequently published in LIFE Magazine 1943-45). Even Chuck Jordanm, the VP of GM Design in the years when the '92 Chevy Caprice was being designed built, as a young college student, a model car for the 1947 Fisher Body Craftsmen's Guild National Design Competition, a "jelly bean car" having the lower body lines very much like the Step Down Hudsons, but with virtually the same smooth flowing roofline of the Cadillac Silhouette Concept car of the late 80's, AND which appeared on the 92 Caprice, right down to the side window shapes. In short, those wartime futurist concepts were at least experimented with by virtually every automaker in the US, some (the Hudson that is our topic here, the '49 Mercury and Lincoln, the '48 Futuramic Oldsmobile, '48 Cadillac Fleetwood 60 Special, 1949 and 1950 Buicks, the "Pregnant Whale '48-'51 Packards, and the '49-'51 "Bathtub" Nash's.

Just to make your life a little bit easier here: The Hudson is being mastered in both Club Coupe and CONVERTIBLE form with correct convertible interiors and a top boot)! (In real life, Hudson, when faced with an order for a convertible, simply diverted a club coupe off to the side, and the top was cut away!) In addition, a grille, interior and trim parts are being done, so that the cars can be built as either 1952 or 1953. A full detail NASCAR Fabulous Hudson Hornet is in the works as well. Art Art

Actually, there should be a separation line (recessed,not raised) on the underside of the fins back at the rear corners. This is where the rear panel of the car was welded to the quarter panels and the rear deck surround sheet metal. The seam was approximately at a 45-degree angle, and ran from the corner point of the fin inward, then down through that curved "cove" and back out to just inboard of the outermost taillight. Fisher body leaded in the part of the seam that you would see standing in the showroom, or at the curb, looking at the car, so it had a finished appearance. However, while body solder was flowed into the seam on the very underside of the horizontal fin, it was not filled and smoothed off, just had a transition at the point where the sheetmetal curved outward underneath the fin. (59's were done the very same way). Art