Chuck Most

For a while I've had this idea for a '60's-style show rod based on a Willys MB, and just recently finished it up. The body is a modified MPC jeep piece, set up on a Barris Ice Cream Truck chassis. The wheels and tires came from a Revell Thunderbolt, and the engine is a supercharged Ford Y-Block from the Revell '57 Ford stock car. I used the Edelbrock valve covers from the drag version of the wagon, and modified Rat Roaster exhaust. The Jerry can now serves as the fuel tank and the spare tire is from a Jeepster Commando.

All I know is, someone saw a Blastolene Bros. car. And did it all wrong.

No, it has the Freightliner chassis. All of the Italeri Ford and Western Star kits have it- I think the Mack Superliner lookalike (US Power Truck?) has it as well.

This started with the AMT '77 wagon. I used the hood and grille from the MPC '78 to fit an AMC V8 cobbled together from spare Gremlin and Matador stock car kits. Most of the junk in the bed was found in a clearance bin at a hobby shop.

Their Jeep Grand Cherokee kit had it as well. So does their 2CV, come to think of it.

Well... the JK is designed for Jeep's core buyers. Boomers. There. I said it. It has to be softer and less hard-edged than previous Wranglers because older guys are the biggest group of people buying them. They like the idea of being able to go off road if they want, but they don't want something that'll beat the hell out of them on rickety pavement the way their beloved old CJ-5 would have. Sure it has solid axles at both ends, and it certainly has better off-road capability than a Buick Encore, but for the most part it pays only token homage to earlier Jeeps. Wranglers in particular have become like Corvettes, or Harleys, or John Deeres... something people buy more for the name and imagery than for the product itself. That's also why the four-door variant exists. The average owner of a four-door Wrangler would probably be better off with a Liberty, Patriot, or Cherokee, but they bought the Wrangler because it's the Wrangler. Many times, they'll even admit to that. "I looked at a Liberty, but I wanted a 'real' Jeep", whatever that means. Sure, government regulations have a lot to do with it, but so does a drastically changing market. I wonder if Meng would try a classic subject like an old Dodge? With all the activity Meng has shown in the light-truck sector it might be worth considering for them, but I also hope they'll stick with late model stuff. Could a Ram 2500 Power Wagon be a possibility? Now, as far as the kit itself. I'm extremely interested... though I dare say I'm not sure what to think about functioning suspension. That kind of thing always seemed gimmicky to me, but I could see that being put to use in a couple of interesting ways so I'll hold off judgement until I have the kit myself and/or have seen a few built up and detailed. I'm happy that a hard top will be included (and I think it would be safe to assume full doors to go with it), and I have every intention of getting a couple initially. I'm not even worried about the price- when reissues of golden oldies from the '60's are going for low $30's, typical Meng prices seem about right for a state-of-the art kit of a current subject. And aside from the exhaust mess-up with the F350 kit, Meng seems more than willing to do the legwork to make their kits accurate... I'm willing to pay for that.

Anyone who can get a gloss black paint job to come out that nicely has my respect.

Here are a few detail shots of the stock Chris Craft engine- the kit engine is a little on the simplified side but it seems like all the major doodads are present and accounted for- http://mccallboatworks.com/chris-craft-hercules-mbl-6-cyl-1958/ The Chris Craft engine was built by Hercules, but I'm not sure which "non-marine" Hercules model it was based from. RXC series, maybe?

Consider it done.

I don't remember all that went into this, so let's just call it a hodge-podge of cast off parts on a scratchbuilt frame, a front-mounted VW engine, a cut down Ferguson grille, and some Cranky decals. It's similar to one I built 8 or 9 years back- I'd originally planned to stick the supercharged engine into that, but decided to build a new model around the new engine instead.

You're a mad man. A MAD MAN, I SAY!!!!

Well, I saw it *from* the road...

Love this one.

Love this. Suicide-door Connies were the height of "modern" American luxury.

Love it, love it, love it! Was NOT expecting to see that engine in it! I have a '67 T-Bird to restore one of these days, but mine isn't a kit- it's the promo with the built-in Philco AM radio.

Thanks guys! That's aluminum mesh screen from Chesapeake Model Designs.

Thanks guys! Just finished another one with a V8 swap and another done as a drag car... and I'm thinking of doing one more as a mild period custom, though a buddy is trying to convince me to start with the S600 version just to mix it up a little.

Thanks guys! The stock version of this kit has the correct (and fascinatingly weird) chain drive that the street version would have had, this one started as the racing version, which has a slick little solid axle/trailing arm/coilover setup, which I retained for this model. Not sure how that little axle would hold up behind a 5.0, but I'll just pretend it's a narrowed 8.8" under there. I had to cut out a crossmember and move the firewall back to fit the V8. I also did a little filing to the inner fenders but in hindsight I'm not convinced that was necessary. Yeah, the wheels wouldn't turn like that 1:1 unless you had air springs, but I figured "It's a model and it's not like it'll ever have to make a turn." As far as the intake clearing the hood... well, looks can be deceiving. Before I cut the hole the hood would float above the opening at the cowl by about twice the thickness of the hood itself. Right on both counts. The headers come out right about where the occupant's heels would have rested on the floor. The beginning of the side pipes line up with the ends of the headers. Hood clearance is one reason why the air filter is angled to the rear- and also because the factory Honda hood has some ventilation slots there anyway. Solid rod bent to a 90 degree angle. Once everything was glued, the ends were drilled out.

This started out with a Tamiya Honda S800, an AMT Parts Pack 392 Hemi, and several other doodads from other kits, along with a few trinkets from the parts box. I have no idea what class such an animal would race in, or if it would even pass NHRA muster, but it looks decent enough on the shelf and that's all I'm worried about.

I figured if the Shelby Formula of a Ford V8 in a small British sports car worked pretty well, it might work equally well in a small Japanese car. I'd originally planned to do it as a period-correct "what-if", but eventually decided on an up-to-date style in a similar spirit. To that end, I started with the Tamiya Honda S800 Racing version, installed an engine from the Revell '90 Mustang drag car, wheels from the Revell '50 Ford F-1 with Toyo tires from one of the tuner kits, and converted the dash to LHD. I also added a mesh grille and added a hood scoop to clear the Edelbrock plenum. The car is painted Testors Bronze because I wanted it to look nice but not overly flashy. The side pipes were made from plastic rod in two diameters.

Do you know for a fact that it was from a truck? Might be from an industrial application. That's an oddball pattern for an 8-bolt truck axle for sure.

This is the AMT Beetle Bus, converted into a pickup and repowered with a turbo Corvair flat six.The bed is littered with VW cast-offs and eventually it will be pulling a trailer with a rundown-looking buggy project.

The truck itself is done- eventually it will be pulling a trailer loaded with an abandoned dune-buggy project.

This is a mostly box stock buildup of the Tamiya kit. Mostly. There are two versions of this kit, I started with the stock version, but added the carbs and air cleaner from the racing version, wired the engine, and used the smooth baby Moon hub caps from an AMT '57 Ford Fairlane, it's out-of-box. Other than the gap at the back edge of the optional hard top, and the fact that the Honda metal transfer letters for the trunk lid absolutely refused to stick (that could be due to the fact it's a 22 year old kit) it's a pretty nice little kit. Freshly finished and there's already dust in the interior...

I'll be keeping an eye on this one- this is a kit I'd love to see AMT reissue sometime soon! The yellow one of yours is my all-time favorite finished example of this kit. After seeing that one I set aside a set of those wheels for a Scirocco I may get around to building some day.