Carmak

That bed will look great on the new Ford! It's funny how the fire truck bed looks nothing like the MPC tow truck bed Humor aside I would love to see picks of the fire truck unique pieces like the hose real and the straight sections of fire hose.

I have a crazy thought. One thing that jumped out to me about these tires is that the “tiger paw” is all lower case. I wonder if “TIGER PAW” was only trademarked in all caps? It could be possible this was a service station house brand. Take a look at your tire and see if it has any other branding on it.

For 212 - Johan and the later X-el made promos of the 55/56 Desoto 4dr sedan. Keep your eyes open for a busted or badly warped one (you just need the roof and side window frames). Combine that roof section with a Moebius 55/56 Chrysler and you will have what you need to start.

Mark's answer is spot on. I would add that some larger dealers would order zero-option slant 6 Chargers simply for advertising "The new 68 Charger starting at the low low price of $xxx)" Also - Mopar would build almost anything if you ordered enough of them. I remember an article in a Mopar mag years ago about a fleet buyer that ordered a batch of Slant 6/auto Chargers with column shift and front bench seats.

212 looks like a 55-56 Chrysler or Desoto. Lucky 13 looks like a 75-77 Cutlass.

You are just down the road from Benton, IL. Love the Garage Museum!

I appreciate that there was a significant design change between the 61-63 Tempest an the 64-65 Tempest/GTO. This includes the engine halves as the 63 326 engine does not include a transmission (rope drive with transaxle) VS the 64 326/389 engine that has a Muncie molded to it. I remember some of the engine parts looked like they could be from the same tooling or at a minimum the same tooling design. I will take a closer look tonight at my 63 Tempest kit and my 64/65 LeMans/GTO kits.

IF (and this is a big if) the Tempest AWB body tool section is still part of the original 63 Tempest kit tooling (everything else except the body) then it could be cost effective to restore or re-tool the body to a stock wheelbase. This is what happened with the 64 Cutlass kit. If the Tempest AWB body tool section has been separated from the rest of the original 63 Tempest kit tooling, then the next best option would be to straight up clone a 63 Tempest promo to yield a curbside. I have very casually compared some of the engine parts from a 63 Tempest with engine parts from the AMT 65 GTO and they COULD be from the same tooling. If they are then I would suspect the 63 Tempest AWB body was separated from the rest of the 63 Tempest tooling and some of that 63 Tempest tooling was used in the 64/65 Tempest/GTO kits.

The IPMS National Convention is in Madison, WI. I am heading there tomorrow

I have been with a small medical device company for over 30 years. Our end customers are doctors. Every doctor thinks their need for a new product is universally shared by all doctors in their field. Sometimes they are correct and sometimes they are wrong. Often the most insistent doctors have the most individual need. All of this is fairly similar to the model car hobby. My company spends a great deal of time determining what products to release. I would consider the totality of methods we use to be a trade secret. I suspect the same is true for all model kit companies.

Very nice clean build! What method did you use for the tail light bezel chrome?

Random thoughts on why the FE was not available in light duty F series trucks in the early 60’s. Twist: The 57-60 F series and 61-64 F series trucks used a similar frame design that is prone to twist. The failure of the Uni-cab in the marketplace was partially the result of frames twisting enough under the stiff cab-box units that the front cab mounts would tear out. The FE series of engines are not necessarily known for their HP but they are known for their torque. It is POSSIBLE that Ford felt the high torque FE series was a bad match in a vehicle with a frame that was prone to twist. Supply: It is POSSIBLE Ford could sell all the FE’s it could make in high profit margin cars like Galaxies. The F series trucks were a good way to get more use out of the Y-block tooling.

Nice looking builds! Get those cars behind some glass. Hot rods are the hardest to dust.

How would you define what a "best kit" is? There are multiple 70 Challenger kits out there and each has strengths and weaknesses. Are you looking for most detailed engine, most detailed chassis, body with best proportions, kit that builds most easily out of the box? Also does it matter which body style or version of 70 Challenger it is?

Nice build! The color has a good MOPAR vibe - great choice. Nice stance, good wheels and tires. Like the custom intake. Overall, very nice!

Very cool custom van!! The "vibe" is right on man!

Have you had a chance to see how the Black Widow air brush worked?

Very nice conversion! A few years back my son bought a 62 GMC half ton long box the still had the original 305 V6 and 4spd trans. He then bought a 62 Chevy half ton as a parts truck only to discover how different the two trucks are. He ended up putting both trucks back on the road and then selling them to get a really nice first gen Cummins 12 valve. As part of working on them we discovered the modern (5+ years ago) Dodge Durango V8 radiators are tall and narrow and fit perfectly in the trucks. The hose arrangement is perfect for a SBC. An aluminum radiator for $30 .

I really like the look of the tail lights/trunk trim panel. Really makes the car.

You really nailed the look of the cloth from that era!!! Wow!

I have a couple display cases that I have to move slightly to open and close. My survivor models roll with very little effort and move whenever I open or close the case. I have used small spot adhesive tapes with limited success. I am looking for 2'-4' long clear strips of material with adhesive to attach to the shelves to keep my survivors in line. I have not had any luck finding anything like this. Also open to other ideas. Thanks. Carmak

Dan, That looks more like a Brazilian built F-100. Ford of Brazil got the tooling for the 67-72 Ford light trucks and built them up until at least 1990. In 1990 the University of Iowa engineering department imported a brand new 1990 Brazilian F-100 with a straight 6. At the time Brazill was trying to fuel all car with 100% ethanol and the engineering department had a group of students investigating ethanol as a fuel. I was in engineering school at this time, and I got to see the truck up close and talk to the students on the project. The straight 6 had 14 to 1 compression and the carb was jetted with a fuel ratio of 9 to 1. A unique feature the truck had was a very small fuel tank under the hood that could be used to prime the engine was gas to start it when the engine was cold. Other than the grille the truck was essentially unchanged externally from the 67-72 Fords.

Other options to share some existing tooling: * 65 Comet * 65 Belvedere I know drag racing versions of a particular kit really get people interested so I found a couple A friend in high school had a really nice 63 Lakewood. Very cool and quirky car, drove like nothing I had ever driven before.

Sure do wish you would make this one

I would agree that the 65-66 Chrysler were the pinnacle of post war design! This is my 66 Newport.