Chuck Most

You might look at this careworn old Ford and just see an old junker. But for a 16 year old Michigan kid, it ultimately became the beginning of an automotive career that has so far spanned four decades. Two months before the end of the 1982-83 school season, Scott Kearney celebrated his 16th birthday. That day his father, Frank, handed him the keys to his would-be high school ride, a 1968 Ford F250. Originally a pickup but later fitted with a service body, it absolutely wasn't the raddest ride on the block, or anywhere else, but Scott certainly wasn't going to complain about the price. As Frank put it ... "I got the truck for free and I'm passing the savings along to you." But there was a string attached, if Scott was game. The stipulation was... If Scott could keep the truck on the road and not bang it up (any worse than it already was), there'd be a brand new car waiting for him come graduation time in 1985. Granted, Scott figured he could wreck the F250 next week and just get his own vehicle anyway, but he decided to accept the challenge. Little did Frank realize that Scott would go pretty far above and beyond just "keeping it on the road". But, that's for next time. This is essentially the '68 Ford F250, fitted with the service box from the '67 and the 240/3 speed manual combo from the '66 Flareside, obviously all Moebius kits. For paint I just used Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch Satin Vintage Teal, distressed with powders and acrylics.

Beginning of a '68 F250 service truck. Engine and transmission stolen from the '66 Flareside.

Happy's Camping Grounds has been the primary source of both income and headaches in the Ward family since 1958. Sometimes not everyone is happy at Happy's, and it's the job of third generation owner Dave Ward to see to it that they don't stay unhappy. The bright yellow El Camino was purchased new by Dave's grandfather Irv, though it was white back then. It was originally Irv's own car, but it became the campground business vehicle in 1974, when Irv took delivery of a 1975 GMC Sprint. At some point it got a set of Cragar SS wheels and a boxy topper. Though the trusty old straight six still fires up and runs great, the old two speed Slip And Slide automatic transmission is really beginning to live up to it's nickname. Dave is debating restoring it, but questions if it's still structurally sound enough. Although it looks decent with it's backyard respray, that bright yellow is covering quite a bit of Bondo and chicken wire. And sometimes the doors won't open or close if the car is parked on less-than-level ground. But it's more than solid enough for work around the grounds, even if Dave finds himself using his 2017 F150 most of the time, leaving the El Camino parked by the sign at the end of the driveway. The model is a mashup of the AMT '64 Malibu and '65 El Camino, with the engine and transmission from the '63 Nova wagon. Paint is just some yellow hardware store stuff I had laying around. The wheels came from the El Camino kit, and I used AMT parts pack tires and a Best Model Car Parts 1964 Michigan plate. The model was built for The Straight Six Community Build Rides Again in the community builds section of the forum.

ElCo will be under glass pretty soon...

Love the paint and graphics on this one!

Ever since Seth Gager was a kid, he'd been pestering his dad's friend Jack Hull about the old yellow Ford in the abandoned barn on his old family farm. Jack, who lived a mile and a half east of what had been his childhood home, always declined getting rid of the Ford. Mainly for the same reason he never tore down his dilapidated childhood house or it's various outbuildings on the property where the truck lived... though he looks rough and tumble, Jack was prone to being sentimental. Fast forward to February 2025. Jack, newly retired after 25 years as a corrections officer, finally decided to take an excavator to the old house on an unseasonably warm day. With that task complete, he decided to clear out the barn and sheds. Seth was still interested in the old Ford, but wasn't in the position to take in the project, and so he encouraged Jack to "get whatever he could get for it". Jack dragged out the 1967 Ford F350, which he'd bought in 1985 to haul around his dirt modified, and slapped a sign on it. While he got a few interested lookers and even a few serious offers, none of the guys seemed "the right guy". He was actually surprised how many people were interested in a weird old wedge hauler that hadn't run since 1988 and had only moved 36 feet (the distance from it's spot in the barn to the end of the yard) in that time. In the first week of March, Jack "caught" Seth looking at the truck and surveying the rubble where the old house used to be. After a few minutes of conversation, Jack proposed a deal ... If Seth wanted to help with clearing the house debris, the truck was his. Seth and Jack dug a pit, bulldozed the debris into it, and with the guidance of Jack's friend Gary (who also happened to be the local fire chief), disposed of it with fire. So far, Seth has gotten the truck running and driving, but he says it's still a long way from functional. Eventually he's planning a full restoration, although quite a few people are trying to convince him to keep the patina. Time will tell if Seth caves. And Jack? He's just happy his old hauler ended up with "the right guy". The model is a mostly box stock Moebius kit, with Best Model Car Parts plates, and a little hook and cable detail. The for sale sign came from Spencer1984. For paint, I went with Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch Satin Lemongrass, distressed with Vallejo and Tamiya paints. I also added a little rust damage to the cab, and replicated a missing gas cap with a piece of aluminum tubing.

From 1974 to 2001, North Star Speedway provided thrills, chills, and spills on it's 2/5 mile dirt track. And off the track? Suffice it to say there was plenty of excitement there too. Although likely not the kind you'd want. Endless, endless legends of disgusting bathrooms, dangerously neglected grandstands, sketchy vendors,drug dealers and scalpers, stolen coolers and other personal effects, and even brawls in the parking lot and in the stands loom large over the now overgrown and abandoned track, which even in its heyday had something of a shady reputation. No police reports back it up, but there's a persistent rumor that at least one person was murdered on the premises, and it's also rumored it might be a makeshift burial ground. In 1982, track owner John Swaggart lost a game of Baccarat, which upset him more than usual because he'd been cheating specifically to screw over the guy who'd ended up beating him. He relieved his frustration by drunkenly crashing the track's 1956 GMC push truck. Despite the GMC barrel rolling six or seven times and bursting into flames, Johnny was unscathed. But he was now in need of a new push truck. After putting out feelers, Johnny Swag landed a decent 1968 Ford F100 for $325... about a grand in modern money. A front bumper from a decommissioned wrecker was fitted to the front and the Effie was put to work pushing dirt cars around when needed. Over the years, the truck got a few modifications. Wide 5 hubs and Hoosier rubber appeared around 1985, along with an amber beacon. In 1988, driver Bill Lewis (known in his push truck driver capacity as Screwy Louie) forgot to make sure the hood was latched, necessitating a mismatched replacement. Originally a solid Holly Green, the lower body was sprayed white and festooned with sponsor stickers. When the track folded in 2001, Screwy Louie basically commandeered the truck, calling it a severance package. Shortly after, he fitted the truck with a vertical straight pipe exhaust fitted with a propane fed flame thrower. To this day, he can be seen at various dirt track races doing his thing. The kit is the Moebius '68 Mercury M100 that donated it's Mercury markings to another project. The bumper is from the wrecker kit, with tread from a Revell Firestone Pro Street tire attached. An old Chimneyville Code 3 MX7000 sits atop the cab. The rear window was converted to a slider, and the propane tank is an old Iceman Collections print. The wheels are old Fred's Resin Workshop pieces, and the tires are MPC Goodyear Blue Streaks with the lettering shaved off and replaced with Hoosier markings. The entire contraption was slung with a liberal amount of Vallejo mud. Screwy Louie himself is a modified Italeri figure, and he's accompanied by some girlie magazines I've had forever, along with a Hot Rod magazine and a V-belt from spencer1984. The project itself was inspired by a Chevrolet push truck built by Clay Kemp years ago.

Back to me griping about the grille... Learn from my mistake and DON'T try opening it up by removing material from the back. It looks like it might be just thick enough for that to work. But it's not. 🤣 And in hindsight, had that been successful I'd have likely shattered it during assembly.

Lyle Simpson is a car salesman's worst nightmare, because if he likes a vehicle, he keeps it forever. And his 25th birthday present to himself has been a gift that keeps on giving. On a sunny but brisk spring Monday, Lyle strolled into Jones & Sons Motors in Rockwood, Ontario, and placed an order for a new truck. By the time summer was getting started, Lyle was the proud new owner of a 1967 Mercury M100 Custom Cab 4x4, with an 8' bed, a 390 fed by a four barrel, and a C6 transmission, and finished in Pure White and Rangoon Red The truck served many uses over the years, from the expected farm duties, to things like pulling a parade float in 1971 (back when it still has the "big ugly hitch" on it), and rushing his wife Mary to hospital during a 1974 blizzard, after she'd unexpectedly gone into labor with their first daughter. Mom, Dad, little Denise and the truck all made it through just fine. By that time, Lyle had "updated" the truck with a 1972 Ford grille, Ranger XLT tailgate trim with a hand painted Mercury script, and during the summer months it wore white Jackman wheels, reverting to the factory white steelies during the winter. Lyle says the 1972 grille and Ranger XLT tailgate trim combined with the Mercury markings get some strange looks from people familiar with classic FoMoCo trucks, and he likes it that way. It's been entirely repainted at least twice, with what Lyle claims are enough touchups over the years to count as about five or six complete repaints. It still wears the Jackman wheels in summer, but as you can see, the original wheels haven't gotten a new coat of paint. Yet. And Lyle says he's had the seat recovered a couple of times. But other than regular maintenance and repair work, not to mention accounting for decades of wear and tear, the truck has been so reliable Lyle has never seen a need to trade up for something newer. Though he was tempted in 1980, just because he liked the look of the new "bullnose" F-Series. But that itch was scratched when Mary traded in her 1976 Granada for a 1982 Bronco... a vehicle she owned all the way to 2000, when she traded up to a Lincoln Navigator. Currently, the family car is a 2020 Lincoln Nautilus. Neighbors think the swanky crossover and boxy old truck are quite the odd couple in the Simpson driveway. While numerous cars have come and gone in the Simpson family since Lyle and Mary got hitched in 1972, the M100 has been a mainstay, always at the ready when some good old fashioned truck duties need to happen. Even if it's just being used a prop for a granddaughter's senior pictures, as it was recently. Granddaughter Cassidy Mallory is depicted in her senior yearbook photo smiling behind the wheel of the old Mercury. Even though he doesn't drive much these days, Lyle says that today, at age 83, he's glad he opted for an automatic transmission way back when. "My left knee and hip would have killed me by now.", he says. After 58 years and 200-odd thousand miles, Lyle never imagined he or the truck would still be around this long. The kit started as the Moebius 1970 Ford F100 4x4, treated to the hood and side emblems from the '68 Mercury M100, and a tailgate from the '72 F250 4x4. The tires came from a Revell first generation Bronco. I lifted the rear suspension a little (about two scale inches) and gave it a little grunge and a few blemishes. I was going for a "used but definitely cared for" look.

I suppose. But if that dainty little first generation Bronco grille can be molded open I'm not sure why this couldn't have been.

Somebody's been busy! They all look fantastic.

Just what the title says. I know Kris Morgan used to cast one, and so did VGC back when Craig owned it, but neither is available now. Not too worried about condition of the chrome as long as it's in something resembling usable condition. Thanks!

I didn't think the grille would be as much of a turn off for me as it was once I actually got one in my hands. We're a quarter of the way into the 21st century and they can't mold it open? I want to find out who made that decision and (redacted)... 🤣 I mean, some of my favorite kits have far more questionable things going on, but that closed off grille is bothering me. Maybe I'm just not that into the subject matter, and the rest of the kit looks more or less up to snuff. Not sure why they pooped in the punchbowl with the solid grille.

When Bill Peters of Deerwood, Manitoba passed away in 2017, his material possessions scattered. For one, his trusty '68 Mercury wrecker ended up with his grandson Hugh Martin of Minnedosa. But there was another Peters family truck that got passed down. Tucked away among the too-far-gone hulks on Bill's property there was a pretty decent 1967 Mercury M100 short bed pickup that Bill had bought in 1990. The truck had been sold new to a man named Bruce Collins in Watson Lake, Yukon. The Collins family had later relocated to Manitoba and Bill caught word of the green and white truck when it came up on an estate sale. He and his second (and last) wife Abby had owned a similar truck when they'd first gotten married. Bill had always planned to "put another one back in the road". Numerous things, including Bill's deteriorating health and Abby's passing in 1999, led to the '67 seeing only sporadic tinkering over the years. He did get it running and close to drivable. But "putting another green and white '67 Mercury short box back on the road" was ultimately up to Bill's nephew, Trent Giles of Ironwood, Michigan. Trent had a Boss 429 he'd gotten for a fire sale price in the late '80's, and it had been in three of Trent's vehicles up to the time he got the M100. Most recently in a '71 Mustang he'd augered into a guard rail at a drag race in Wisconsin. Trent transplanted the heads and intake onto a modified 460 block, stroked and poked to 501 cubic inches. This much power obviously necessitated a few other changes, like a narrowed Ford 9" axle and a four link rear suspension. Rather than traditional tubs, Trent opted to simply widen the factory wheel wells, hiding the surgery with a little fauxtina to hide it. His aim was to keep the truck looking as close to stock as possible, so aside from the gigantic Mickeys out back, the hole in the hood, and the lower stance, he kept the truck pretty much as he got it. Eventually it will get a cosmetic restoration in the factory colors, but for now, Trent is having too much fun with Uncle Bill's old project to give that much thought. The model is mostly a Moebius'67 F100 Service Truck I got from a friend, minus the service box. The bed is from a stalled pro street project I started back when the Model King '69 Custom Cab came out. The engine is a hodge podge of various AMT parts. And it was Mercury-ified with a tailgate and decals from the Moebius '68 M100 that I had left over from Bill's wrecker. I managed to squeeze three Mercury trucks from that one '68 kit (The plastic chrome emblems emblems went on the Plowboy '63.). 🤣

There was a Yugo sitting on an abandoned farmstead a few miles from my aunt's place, always wondered what the story was. Then one day it was gone, until I saw it moving under it's own power about a year after it vanished. I guess the trick is to let it hibernate.

That's only a 17 hour drive 😁

Bill Peters of Deerwood, Manitoba was a little bit of everything. A Mason. A mechanic. A municipal truck driver by trade and a tinkerer and junk collector by habit. A highly skilled welder and machinist, and he was even a halfway decent carpenter. And he was the go-to guy whenever somebody local needed something fixed or improved. Some time around 1987, Bill found himself needing a hook. His wife Abby politely reminded him about "that old orange wrecker parked on top of the sheet metal pile". He'd gotten the 1968 Mercury M350 two years earlier as a partial payment for some work he'd done on a friend's Cockshutt 2655 tractor. He used the wrecker for various odd jobs over the next thirty years, and when he passed away, the wrecker was one of only two vehicles on the property that weren't hauled off for scrap. Don't feel bad, nothing good got scrapped. And the other vehicle? Maybe some other time... His grandson Hugh Martin is the wrecker's current caretaker. Huey has been spending much of the 2024-25 season getting the old hook back up and running, seeing as how it had mostly just sat since 2012. Bill, when asked about the truck's origin, would usually say- "It was a wrecker when I got it. I've no idea what the hell it was prior." In his repair and maintenance tasks in the old Mercury, Huey has had to get creative a few times to accommodate earlier modifications. Nothing on the truck matches the FoMoCo and Holmes manuals he has. He's also working on tracking the truck's history. Huey has no plans to restore the wrecker, just preserve it, use it for odd jobs around his property, and occasionally take it to shows. The model is just me throwing together a bunch of spare Moebius F-Series kits. The main bulk is the '68 Mercury M100, with the Holmes wrecker unit from the '72 F350. The heavy duty front cross member and radius arms are included as spares in the wrecker kit, along with the 2WD front wheels. I cut down the sides of the wrecker body and attached the extra wrecker kit hooks to chain and hung them up in back. The Manitoba plates are Gopher Racing decals. The issue of Hemmings on the dash came from @spencer1984's eBay store.

Ron Altenberg earns his living farming, and enjoys himself with car projects and drag racing. His 1960 Ford F100 borrows from these three aspects of his life. The first new truck his grandfather ever bought was a 1960 Ford F100 Custom Cab. By the time Ron was born in 1990, the '60 was mostly relegated to off-road duties around the farm, before his grandfather finally got rid of it in 1997. This is not the same '60 F100, but rather one that Ron bought in 2023. It was a stalled restoration project and Ron got it for a little bit of nothing, a little incomplete but just perfect for what Ron had in mind. Combining an old farm truck with his interest in drag racing, Ron built the truck in a "gasser" style. The factory leaf spring suspension was retained at both ends, with lift blocks to achieve the desired stance. The truck came with a fitted Dana 44 and a T-5 transmission, and these "freebies" were retained, and Ron welded up his own set of ladder bars. Weld S80 wheels and Mickey Thompson tires support the chassis. He bought the Lincoln 430 from his buddy Jerry, who'd used it to power his old pig roaster truck. The engine was fully rebuilt and fitted with a supercharger. As with the ladder bars, Ron made his own headers. Ron also built his own four point roll cage, and aside from that, new gauges, and a set of bucket seats that had previously lived in his dad's friend's Willys, it's largely stock. Speaking of largely stock, Ron did absolutely nothing to the body, other than open up the hood to clear the big catcher. The truck was a hodgepodge of original, salvage, and reproduction parts when he got it, but he made it all work. The majority of the body modifications actually took place in the engine bay, with the inner fenders opened up and the firewall recessed slightly. The entire body was done in a bright metallic red, with a darker shade used for the interior and engine. Ron got the project wrapped up in January of 2025. Despite the Michigan car show season still being several months away, he managed a couple shakedown runs and is looking forward to what it's capable of on the strip. The AMT '60 F100 was treated to wheels and tires from the Jay's Resin Wheels 2024 Advent Calendar, a modified 430 MEL from an AMT 1925 Model T, and a bunch of cutting of the chassis. The main body is Tamiya Mica Red with the engine and interior done in Testors Mythical Maroon.

Since 2009, Bubba's BBQ has been serving customers in central Michigan at the restaurant, and around the Great Lakes region with their mobile catering services. David Michaels started the business after being encouraged by several people who'd tried, in particular, his grilled chicken, and told him he was wasting his talent managing an injection molding plant and not letting the world find out about his skill at the grill. After being let go from said plant, he gave his professional BBQ career a go, first as a mobile caterer, and then with the fixed location restaurant in 2015. Despite being the founder, owner, and face of the company, Dave himself is not Bubba... that was the nickname of his Uncle Frank, the guy who got Dave interested in BBQ in the first place. This is the "company truck", a 1963 Ford F100 found on central Michigan craigslist. Dave's mission was simple... He was going to buy the first truck he saw from his birth year, 1963, for under $5000. It could have been a Ford, a GM, or a Dodge. Could have been a Studebaker or (like he had hoped) an Intentional. As it turned out, he found this clean but non-running 1963 F100. It had been treated to a small block Chevrolet swap at some point in the past. It even had a weird period camper top. Upon getting it home, it seemed that the "major engine issue" the seller described was more like "there's some scrap cast iron where the engine should be". One of his cooks suggested a diesel swap, and mentioned the ability to run on biodiesel. Dave was intrigued enough to call a couple guys he heard were experts. Enter Dan and Jason Pierce of Pierce Brothers Fabrication. Known around the world for their Cummins 6BT swaps, a little synchronicity happened when it occurred to them they'd never done a 4BT swap. "Jason and I were talking about how we really ought to try a 4BT one of these days. That was on a Wednesday. Early Friday morning we got the call from Dave with a project he had in mind." Says Dan. The truck was treated to a Cummins 4BT, mated to the truck's existing four speed manual transmission. Dan says the 4BT is a much easier swap, seeing as how the 4BT is a third shorter than the 6BT with which they're so familiar. The fuel tank was also moved to the rear of the truck, along with the set of dual batteries. The brothers say, relatively speaking, it was probably the most straightforward Cummins swap they've done to date. After a brief shakedown, the truck got a new set of shocks, and was fitted with four wheel discs. The steelies with wide whites gave way to Ridler 610 wheels and BF Goodrich radials, 20" in front and 21" in back. The Pierce Brothers and Dave were both impressed by how little the truck needed to be a dependable driver, aside from the obvious engine swap. Dave himself did the door graphics, over the existing matte green paint job. "It's an odd shade, but I like it." Dave says. Since Bubba's frequently helps injured veterans, he also added the flags to the "loft" above the cab. In addition to his talent with BBQ, Dave isn't a bad graphic artist either. Though in the interest of full disclosure, it was his granddaughter Amanda who drew the pig mascot. Other than filling out the camper with all the utensils and supplies a traveling BBQ truck might need, Dave spends a lot of time driving the F100 in his off time, too. Eventually it will be fitted with a hitch for towing around a BBQ trailer. But, that's a project for late spring/early summer. The AMT 1963 F100 was built mostly out of the box, with the obvious exceptions of the Ridler 610 wheels and tires from Jay's Resin Wheels, the 4BT from Lazy Custom Models, and some Moebius West Coast mirrors. The graphics are from Gofer Racing (at this point I feel like I should be the Great Lakes Region Sales Agent for Gofer Racing 🤣). The odd but pleasant shade of green is Rust-Oleum Satin Leafy Green.

At the request of Steve.... https://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/196956-two-in-honor-of-roger-plowboy-hayes/

I was excited and a little sad when the '60 and '63 kits dropped. Excited that they existed, sad that Roger wasn't around to partake in the fun. Both subjects seemed right up his alley.

King Equipment Sales is a farm equipment dealer on the outskirts of Sickles, Michigan. Today they're known for their inventory of well-used equipment and fire sale prices. In the past they've sold new equipment with little luck. Current owner Alex Anderson has joked "Since 1952, King Equipment has sold every brand of farm equipment to go out of business, usually a few months after we started selling them." David Bradley, Gibson, Leyland, David Brown, Roths Industries, Long Agribusiness, Gold Star, and numerous others have been sold new by King Equipment over the years. But for a few glorious months in 1955, King tried to get into manufacturing their own equipment. Sort of. Due to some convoluted horse trading, Alfred King was able to procure components to build the Fendt F20 Dieselross. Communication with Fendt to import their tractors outright fell through, but Alfred was able to rent a decommissioned aircraft hangar and build these "knock down kits" under his own name. Wearing a combination of pale blue and bright red, the King E20 Baby Diesel was announced, built, and discontinued within a 90 day period. Al had hoped to sell at least 150 a year. In the end, he built five and sold three. There were numerous reasons why Al's venture flopped, perhaps mostly his own slightly sketchy reputation and his penchant for exaggerated claims. This is the only known remaining example of the E20 Baby Diesel. It was the fourth unit built and the only one with the optional sickle bar mower. It was one of the two not sold ... It was gifted to the Sickles Village DPW as a promotion, and was used by the village until 1988, by which time Sickles had grown into a city and the King was getting worn out. Not feeling like ordering obsolete Fendt parts from Germany in a pre-eBay world, it was sold at auction to it's current owner, Steve Barnes. Steve used a friend he made while he was stationed in Germany as a connection to obtain parts and has used the King on his farm ever since. Eventually he plans to do a full restoration. And he occasionally shows it, even though it's not looking it's greatest these days. King Equipment has tried to buy it back quite a few times, but so far Steve won't budge. The model is the Revell Fendt F20 Dieselross painted in non-Fendt colors. I deleted the passenger seat and ROPS bar, and all lamps except the headlights. The hood is hand lettered and I made a little crown emblem for the nose. The whole reason for the color scheme and backstory? I wasn't a fan of the Fendt color and I wanted to put an American spin on this German tractor.

We may well be in the grip of another long Michigan winter, but your friends at Green Toes Lawn Care Service still stand ready to help. With our fleet of snow plows, and our legendary low prices, Green Toes is ready to make your winter travels go much more smoothly. We offer a full winter package, where we show up and plow your driveway with every major accumulation, or you can call us when needed. That's Green Toes Lawn Care Service, on Murphy Road in Sickles, proudly serving the area for over two decades! The model is a combination of the MPC '78 D100 and Warlock kits, with a Moebius snowplow. For now it has no engine until I decide on a 360, a diesel swap, or leave it curbside. The light bar came from the AMT '92 Flareside.

I stuck some evergreen strip between the bed and chassis to level things out. I didn't use the lens decals simply because I didn't think they looked great on the backer. Maybe they look okay but the paint over foil trick never fails so I wasn't tempted to try them.