sjordan2

Fabulous

One thing I've found about the 1/16 classics is that, being very accurate, the suspensions are quite fragile and could use some kind of reinforcement, maybe metal rods.

I believe the show car color was ice blue. A tiny tinge of blue is there.

In my research for the kit, I noted that the bottom horizontal strip of the door interior uses carpet material. Not important, but any plans for that?

Spectacular. Best I've seen.

I have lots of reference on this car for this kit. Let me know if there's something you can't find.

Wow. The best hand-painted wood pattern I'ver ever seen.

Just a miscellaneous detail -- here's a wheel cover from an F&W PIII

You are correct that the first interiors I posted were from a 1936 model. Here are some 1937 F&W interiors.

The canvas roof cover isn't really supposed to be roll-back. I've read that cars of the day had that feature because molding a slightly curved metal roof of that size was technologically difficult at the time, so there was a hole in the roof, supported underneath with wood beams, then covered inside with a headliner. As for the wood, wouldn't the original version have a mush glossier shine?

F&W interior

Interiors from a PIII sales piece.

One of my thoughts on the research I've done on classic cars was to use a laser print (not a typical home printer -- they bleed) to scale of the type of wood trim I wanted to use, and there are plenty of examples online, like this.

Brighter minds than mine may be able to discern what's going on here, but this might help.

PM me with your e-mail address or contact me at sjordan47@comcast.net

I have lots of interior, mechanical diagrams and other images of other PIII cars, which I'd be glad to share. I don't know how far you want to go in detail, but you could add things like the slide-out ashtrays in the rear armrests, lighted rear vanity mirrors on the back pillars, intercom between passenger and driver seats when the division window is rolled up, etc.

There's certainly an American influence on the car. According to a book on the PII and PIII by Whitaker and Stuckey, "it was owned for many years by the San Antonio aircraft designer and manufacturer Ed Swearingen." On another note, I have never been able to find interior shots of the car except for this fuzzy one, which shows brown leather. (It's possible that typical of a saloon with division, the back seat could be covered in cloth of a different color.

The kit was based on this 1937 Freestone and Webb PIII currently in the hands of the Toyota museum in Japan.

I have lots of reference, including a multitude of photos for building this car. Contact me if you need anything.

A spectacular job on a terribly inaccurate kit. You really turned it into a silk purse.

I'm a bit confused by the photo. The dashboard looks like it came from a 300SLR or prototype. Not used in production cars.

The curved "gooseneck" shift lever was used only on the first 50 examples of the Gullwing.

Very nice. You've turned a funky old Pyro kit into a big success.

Great job. I'd like to see more interior and engine detail.

It was about the registration number, the original one now owned by Ralph Lauren. One of the executives at Airfix, a Bentley owner, had them change the number to the one he had. They didn't spend the money to make other changes.