jas1957

I've been a school bus mechanic in northern Ohio for 30 + years, yes the idea was for them to be cooler in the warmer months. We tried the white roof thing years ago, didn't seem to make any difference. I suspect in the south where it is warmer for much longer periods of time it might pay off. On an 80+ degree sunny day those things are like a sauna. In this area at least few if any busses have AC, in Ohio school budgets are VERY tight. AC is viewed as a luxury, teachers wages & buying books are seen as more important. Hard to disagree with that. For the 15 or 20 minutes most kids spend on a bus they can survive. For the drivers it's a bit rougher, 2-3 hours each morning & afternoon. As far as the visibility thing you would not believe the number of people over the years that have run into a bus & said with a straight face " I didn't see it ". Just nuts.

I've never been burned buying anything model related. Did get ripped buying a graphing calculator for my daughter to use in school. I filed with paypal & with in a few weeks had all my money back. As others have said, if you were taken file a claim with paypal they did good by me.

Well no day off for me, I'm at work reading this.

I have to admit to owning a Neon, a 1995 I bought in 2000. Was just looking for a car to drive to work & around town. It was clean with 70,000 miles & priced right. Two years & 12,000 miles later I traded it for $700 on a new Saturn. Can't even count the things I had to fix in 2 years plus what was bad when I unloaded it. My wife still won't let me even look at a Mopar because of it. The only really bad car I've ever owned.

My first car in 1975 was a 1956 Chevy & it was a year older than me. Most people thought of it as a REALLY old car ! I have the same trouble concerning "old" cars, when I go to a cruize in or show & see a car newer than about 1970 I think that's just a used car. But I remember 1970 was 40 + years ago, so it is old. A car from 1994 is almost 20 years, so I guess that is "old" too.

Finish something !

A 2 door would be great, seeing what original ones go for.

Some months ago there was a link to a video with Jay Leno showing a 3D scanner reading a part & then printing out a nearly perfect plastic copy. A very interesting technology. Is it possible to take your super rare original AMT '59 Pontiac kit & copy the whole thing ? If so the possiblities boggle the mind. While the hardware is not inexpensive, I looked on line & found the whole system under $50,000. WAY out of my reach, but maybe not others.

Magazine for sure, over the years I've had a couple of my builds appear in magazines. Very cool feeling.

My sister-in-law had a Chevette Diesel when my brother met her. Nothing to look at & slow as sin, but it ran FOREVER & got great fuel milage. She was very sad when it finally died.

I remember in the '70s seeing Volare/Aspins less than 2 years old with the front fenders almost completely rusted off. I purchased a '95 Neon in 2000 with about 70,000 on it when I got rid of it 2 years later with 82,000. The AC didn't work, fuel tank was leaking, & it had a wrist pin knocking. That doesn't count the long list of things I fixed in that 2 years. Such a bad memory that my wife won't let me even look at a Mopar today.

I'm sure Revell did pay for their space at the Toledo show. I'm also sure it was a SMALL fraction of what it would have cost to set up at ihobby. Plus probably 90% of the visitors at Toledo were interested in what Revell had to show as compared to a much smaller percenage at ihobby. The ihobby show is dominated by the RC industry, which is fine if that's your interest. Most of us are not so much into that part of the hobby business.

School Bus mechanic for a suburban Cleveland district, 33 years.

Tim Boyd posted the cult theme a couple weeks ago as '46-'48 Fords.

I had not heard about this ether. I was a subscriber to National Speed Sport News for many years. That man knew everything & everybody in racing from the '40s on. A great loss to anyone who cared about auto racing.

Only one week until the NNL Nationals. Looking forward to seeing you there. Check the calendar section for all the details. Remember this years theme is 100 Years of Chevrolet !

I think you have it about covered. There are a couple other guys doing Indy cars but most of the stuff is older front engine cars.

Call Me Mr. 500 is a great read, if half of what he says in there is true he lead an amazing life. It was originally published in 1969 & was reprinted 10-15 years ago. Might be hard to find.

You hate hearing this about another company. I've only bought from him at shows & his stuff is nice quality.

Just finishing up Newton and the Counterfeiter by Thomas Levenson. A true story about Isaac Newton working to save England's monetary system in the 1690's.

I believe R&R has done a full size Mopar from that time. Don't know exactly which model it is though & don't know if he is still casting it.

That's one I've been waiting for.

It is Ron's widow selling those on ebay, I along with Glenn Marek helped her clean, photograph, & write the descriptions. I am not 100% sure but believe that is not a resin body but one that Ron modified on his own. While cleaning those models I was astounded by the quality of the body work & paint. Some of them are 30-40 + years old & still look like new. Also I do not believe it was ever featured in a magazine.

Back in the day midgets ran all kinds of different engines, outboard boat , whatever. A 2 or 3 rotor wankle is a pretty small engine, I say go for it.

The tribute car that R&R did was I think a '40 Zepher. It was to honor Bill Atchsen, as he did the master before he died. The one for Ron Cash was a custom '40 Ford that Ron mastered. I very much agree we NEED a '37 Zepher. My skills are not up to the task, wish some one would master & cast one.