Carmak

When I was a wee young lad (in the 70's) full size 60's cars were what I was into. The adult car people said the 60's stuff was just used up junk and not a real car like a 32-33-36-40 Ford and that I should not waste my time. The same age group of people though very little of the 62 T-bird I got when I was 14 and even less of the 65 Pontiac 2+2 I got a few years later. Now I am the adult with a collection of 50's and 60's cars (57 Cadillac Coupe DeVille, 65 Pontiac GP, 66 Chrysler, 69 Bonneville convertible). My mid 20's daughter's boyfriend has a 96 Ford SHO that he is fixing up. Why is he fixing up that used up junk? He is just wasting his time...........

I have a 20 year old son that is very involved in a local car culture. He has rebuilt multiple engines. He helps his friends swap engine/trans/rear ends on a regular basis. Two years ago he brought a 62 GMC 1/2 ton back to life after it had sat since the 90's and then drove it 250 miles round trip to a Good Guys car show. Most of his friends would love to own a 60's mid size 2dr but they don't cost $1,000 like they used to. Most of them are into 80's Camaros, G body GM and Fox body Mustangs because that is what you CAN buy for $1,000. My son sold the GMC and now has a 81 Mercury RS T-top car with a swapped in 5.0/5spd. The drivetrain is built from mostly used parts and the car runs low 14's on pump gas. My son does live in the basement - he pays rent. He is a 2nd year electricians apprentice, he has a 401k and is saving over 1/2 of his income towards a down payment. But I digress. Carmak

I am going to on vacation this spring In the San Francisco area (San Francisco, Sacramento, Fresno, Paso Robles, Modesto, Monterey and San Jose). I am into 60’s vintage models (built, un-built, promo). Are there any good antique shops, vintage toy shops, antiquate malls that I should go to? Thanks!!

If I swing by you place in my 71 can I talk you out of your promo Carmak

So that is where those crazy side pipes in my parts box come from! Since I am not much of a Corvette guy I've never had any original early third gen Vette models.

Wow. I built that! That is a wagon conversion I did back in late 80's (when I was 17 or 18). What is funny is that I used a modified stocker tail light panel from the parts box because I thought it looked better than the messed up stock that came with the "restored" 86 issue kit.

Snake, Here is one I built in the late 80's using a 64 GTO as a chassis donor (looks like you may be doing the same thing). Some of the bodywork is not holding well 30+ years later.

Nice build and good call on the wheels! Looks great!

Jada just released a diecast 1:24 scale 58 Series 62 convertible as a Freddy Kruger star car. I found one at Walmart. It's not perfect (the dutchman panel is shaped all wrong) but it could be a good starting point. Way better than the Fleetwood based resins I have seen.

That is cool! All it needs are white doily seat covers.

Tim, Great pics. Everyone should look at the pics on your link! Some of the best pics are all the way at the end. The MPC 69 Coronet R/T Street Freak reminds me of a local car back in the 80's. Very cool!

That is a very nice build! One very unique detail for CHP squad cars was that California required the steering wheel to be white.This is true even for car where a white steering wheel was not an option, the CHP contract was so large that a batch of white wheels would be made just for the California squad cars.

There are a few people on E-pay selling a resin 67/68 grille that has some extra "metal" around the edge so that it fits into the 72 C10 grille opening. Has anyone tried one?

My brother has the black 61 Lincoln my father had when we were growing up along with a 62 Lincoln convertible he got about 15 years ago. To make the window seals work the convertible back window has to drop a few inches and move rearward) when it is opened. Google a video of it. Over the years I have seen a few custom Lincolns without B pillars built with convertible glass and mechanisms. The look is impressive. Carmak

I need to recant my statement about the 69 GTX convertible interior. I spent a few minutes and dug out one of my kits and it actually has very accurate rear interior panels - it is the boot that is nasty. Therefore the 69 GTX would make a great source for rear interior panels. All of the 68-70 B-body convertibles used the same rear interior panel pieces except for a small section of upholstery that matched the front door panels of the particular model. You could trim down the rear section of the Revel Charger interior panels and fit them into the GTX pieces to duplicate this look. I will try to get you some pics of my interior for reference. I enjoyed your story about your families muscle Mopars. My father drove a 62 Dodge Dart /6 all the way into the late 70's - the opposite of Mopar muscle I look forward to seeing the progress on your Charger ! Carmak

Very cool build! I like that you noticed the windshield is not the same. It is not because they use sedan glass. Since the convertibles and wagons sold in low volumes they "carried over" the green house from the 66-67 B-bodies. Since the other 68 B-bodies got a mild top cop the wagons and convertibles look tall by comparison. For the rear interior panels you should google what they look like as none of the kits do it correctly. The panels are one piece plastic and the upper portion blends from the back of the front door into the pocket area for the top frame. Under the upper portion is a small oddly shaped arm rest pocket. It looks nothing like how Ford and GM did it in the 60's. I have a 68 Coronet 500 convertible with the 68 only green top. I think 69 also had a special top color - possibly dark blue?? Carmak Iowa

Nice build!! Did you add the B pillar? If so very nice! The half a dozen or so 61 sedans I have or have seen did not have B pillars (they added them to the 62"s).

Sorry for the poor picture, it was taken in 2007 before I packed most of my collection to escape the flood of 2008 in Iowa. These were saved but are still mostly packed away. On the shelf on the left in the picture below is a 54 Pontiac (yellow top shelf) and a 54 Ford (red third from top) that are part of an AMT "Assembly Kit" from 1954. There were 3 cars in the kit (the third car, a 54 Buick is not shown in this pick). They were essentially un-assembled promos with different wheels and decals. They made them in 53 and 54.

Great Idea! looks like it all fits together well.

I wonder if most of the automakers got a complete pass on the 72MY fornts and 73 MY rears. Even some cars in 73 had non reinforced front bumpers (Camaro & Firebird specifically). Carmak

I have a 1:1 69 Bonneville and I have a built 69 Bonneville model (found at a swap meet painted the same colors as my 1:1) that looks great on the shelf with spot on body proportions. The only thing I would change on a build would be to use the bench seat (and air cleaner) from the common AMT 70 Impala. I think the pleats in the seats are very close.

I can't get past the funky front fenders on the Revell 70 Cuda. I have a couple original MPC kits missing bumpers and I would also like 70-72 bumpers to improve the looks of a 74 I have. Craig P.S. An MPC 70 Cuda grille/bumper fits the JoHan Sox and Martin car rather well.

Is anyone casting MPC 70-72 Cuda bumpers and/or the MPC 70 Cuda front bumper/grille? Thanks. Carmak

Very nice build! More accurate than the black 1:1 64 convertible sold by Mecum last weekend, all of the tail panel detail was missing on that one.

I was sorting through so kits this week. I have two lightly started MPC Petty (73/74) Charger kits. Only one is in it's original box. Both are molded in Petty Blue. The one in it's original box has all of the marker lights, door handles, rocker trim and emblems removed and it has a bulge hood. The without a box has all of the marker lights, door handles, rocker trim and emblems intact and it has a flat hood. It also has the score line inside the body to cut out the bed for the custom wagon version of the stock 73/74 kit. I have to assume that MPC wanted to sell a Petty Charger in 73 but did not want to cut up the body tooling since the they would need it for the 74 model year so they dropped a stone stock body in the kit in 73 and them modified the body tool after the run of stock 74 Chargers was done. Has anyone else seen one of these kits with the stock body?