PeeBee

Friday, on my way home from work, I was behind a '57 BelAir HDTP done just right. Hot-rod black, California rake, emblems shaved and a very crisp-sounding V8; had to have been a small-block. Driver and passenger with elbows out, enjoying the winding country road on a beautiful summer evening. Most "collectible" '57s in this neck of the woods are over-restored trailer queens you only see at shows. How refreshing to see a couple of young dudes enjoying their "driver." Took me right back to high school. My ride (one of them, anyway) was a '64 Impala, 365/327 (out of a wrecked Corvette), M-22, black lacquer, Torque Thrusts, rolled and pleated interior, California rake, etc. Wish I had a time machine. PB.

Even without the corrections made to the belt line, it looks to me that if you want a '57 Chevy convertible in your collection a good clean build of this one with a terrific color scheme should yield a neat model of a cool subject. And, if you must, it's an easy fix. Nothing beyond the norm, really. Model Building 101. I don't think I've ever seen a 100% accurate scale model anyway. From any of the manufacturers. Pretty much an impossibility if you think about it. As for Revell, to my eye they came reasonably close on several subjects; the '69 Camaro, and the '67, '68, C5 and C6 Corvettes come to mind (the rear window on the '68 Corvette coupe is clumsy, however). PB.

Here's my vote. Harry's Packard would be cool, too. PB.

We always got the "...I'll give you something to whine about..." from the parents who grew up during the depression, the male half of that couple having begun his flying career at the age of 19 in the Pacific theater during WWII. There wasn't much whining going on around my house. And, you ate what my mother prepared. A lot of the kids I grew up with had parents like that, too.

I've been after the Monogram '59 Corvette for a couple of years now. When they occasionally pop up on eBay the price is always a bit more than I'm willing to pay for a "contemporary" kit. One was listed the other day with a mangled box but the seller assured that the kit was complete and verified that the hardtop was in there. Buy Now price: $9.95. S&H $4.95. AFAIAC an open kit is always a gamble, but for 15 bucks I took the "plunge" (wooo). The kit arrived. It is complete and unmolested, the decals are perfect, no tire burns, etc. And, the optional "modern day" Torque Thrusts and Goodyears included in the kit will be perfect on the '07 Shelby Mustang I have going. Win-Win.

So it does come with the stock bumper? That's good news. Definitely picking up this kit. Thanks for the clarification.

I suppose if I want a Fuelie convertible w/out the continental kit I will have to purchase another Black Widow along with the convertible, eh?

I thought Eldon had done the Manta Ray, but it was the "Invader" and the "Pink Panther" I was thinking of. I do recall that those kits came with excellent mags (Cragars?) and tires. Or so it seemed when I was twelve, when I thought the IMC '48 Ford and VW Beetle were terrific kits...

Oops! Saw a brand-new Tesla (the 4-door sedan) broken down on the Cross County Parkway in Yonkers this morning. Man, I would be mighty pissed if I just dumped upwards of $100K on a car that leaves me stranded on the highway. This is the 21st century and cars have been around for more than 100 years - there is absolutely no excuse for this sort of thing to happen to any new car today. Regardless of price. "...ridin' with Lady Luck..."

I've seen quite a few Teslas (sedans) running around Manhattan over the past couple of months. They don't really stand out because the styling is derivative (read: safe, styled not to offend), just like everything else today (except perhaps Cadillac. And no, I don't own one). I usually notice it's a Tesla when I'm behind one at a toll, or in traffic, and can make out the logo. I imagine most Tesla owners are buying the cars for the technology and the eco-message thing. There's some Tesli running around my hometown, too, including the Lotus-platformed sports car. Very strange, indeed, to watch one launch from a light in utter silence. The most interesting car I saw over the weekend, though, was a flawless '69 or '70 Nova, not stock, and I don't know if it was an SS, but it had a really straight body with a gorgeous coat of Marina Blue, big 'n littles, nice rake, and a very crisp-sounding small-block. This car trumped all of the usual weekend sightings of Ferraris, Astons and Porsches that the gazillionaires seem to prefer in my area, except for the '57 Testa Rossa I saw being exercised in public a few months ago in the "next town over" from mine. I'm still trying to lift my jaw off the ground...

"...sexiest car in the world..." is subjective and the author is being presumptuous. Obviously he's never seen an Aston R-1, a Maserati 250s, or an XK120, or a C-, D-, or E-Type, or even a 250SWB or a '57 250TR, and so on. And, as for as I'm concerned, spending $60 million bucks on a car is kind of vulgar, really. If I had that kind of dough burning a hole in my pocket I think I'd rather send a few thousand kids to college instead. It may well be that the buyer of this car does that kind of thing, too, but I seriously doubt it. PB.

Yeah, the Cheetahs were pretty crude cars. "Kit" cars, really. But they didn't weigh anything and were brutally fast. All engine.

I have been up next to the 1/1 cars several times. What always struck me was how small they were. The 917s were small cars, too. Also note that the bodywork was changed on these cars as Porsche developed the aerodynamics and tailored the cars for different circuits, etc. PB

Great job on a great old kit. I have one going right now, black over a B&W interior.

Just my 2 cents regarding spare tires (or the lack thereof) in new cars: I live in the northeast. You all may have heard about the long, horrific winter we had this year. This, combined with vanishing infrastructure funding (bridge and highway repair and maintenance in particular), and voila! I drive into Manhattan 3-4 days a week from my house in Connecticut and I can tell you that this spring flat tires, and flying hubcaps, were epidemic. Luckily, I avoided such misfortune (I probably look like a drunk going down the road, avoiding all the potholes and piles of asphalt patches), but I certainly would not travel around this part of the country without a spare. Our roads and bridges are rapidly deteriorating, and you all may know what history says is a sure sign of a country in decline... PB.

I guess my biggest disaster was in 2009 when a fire gutted my cave, to which it was confined, fortunately. About 500 kits, all my tools, supplies, benches, cabinets, books, magazines, etc., were immolated. My airbrush compressor, which had been on the floor, survived. Kits included 10 MFH Ferraris (irreplaceable now), a bunch of Tamiya and Fujimi kits, Heller, Etzel's, miscellaneous resin (HRM, Lemans Miniatures) and white metal (Wills Finecast), and a bunch of 1/25 American muscle, annuals, hot rods and on and on. Nobody got hurt, and it's just stuff, but still a really lousy thing to come home to after work. Oh, well.

In the caption from Doug Boyce's book paired with the first photo (taken at Dover Drag Strip), in Brett's post above, the town "Richfield, Connecticut" is referenced. No such town in CT. That's Ridgefield. And, I don't recall that "Jack Clifford and Motorsports" was a business that ever existed in my town (I lived in Ridgefield from 1957 thru 1976, and then returned in 1992). My friends and I were rabid gearheads and we should have known about this enterprise. Ridgefield is a small town. I did notice from what was lettered on the side of the Hudson that Matty was a member of the "Fairfield Timing Association." Fairfield, CT, and Monroe, CT, are within spitting distance of Ridgefield. And we're all in Fairfield County. So, maybe there was a cool speed shop in Ridgefield headed up by a legendary hot-rodder that we didn't know about. Too bad for us! PB.

If you're really serious about reference for this car, pop in to the Whitney next time you're in NYC. The car is parked downstairs just outside the museum's café. And yeah, give Cheap Thrills a spin and you're reminded of what an original Janis Joplin was in her day. And today. Think of what female performers were recording back then, when Janis hit the scene. Wow!

Great movie and an inspiring story. There's a couple of photos of Burt Munro (with his Indian) competing at Bonneville in the 1964 Popular Hot Rodding Yearbook.

Thanks, Lee.

Thanks for the review, Tim. I built the fastback, which was molded in yellow and fought me all the way, so I was on the fence about getting this kit; although I always wished they'd done the convertible. I will definately pick this one up. At least I'll know what to watch out for this time. And, it looks like I won't need a PE sheet to compensate for the "soft" body emblems! A friend of mine had one of these (red w/white top & interior) just after high school. Instead of going to college, he started a commercial painting business that did very well, obviously (these cars were expensive in 1975, as they are now). Unfortunately, this guy also aquired a huge cocaine habit, demolished the Shelby, and ran his business into the ground. Maybe he should've gone to college and been broke for awhile, eh? C'est la vie! PB.

Thanks guys. I guess I'll give the regular old 1/1 carnuba a try. I have some out in the garage, as a matter of fact...

Hey Tim, where did you get "The Treatment?" I used that stuff for years and now I can't find it, unless I buy some kind of polishing kit the makers of the product are marketing now. I'd just like to get another jar of the wax like you have there. Thanks. PB.

This kit is indeed 1/24. Lace up your own wires. This kit was re-released recently as a double kit which includes the old Merit Alfa Romeo Alfetta GP car (with engine and same level of detail as the Talbot Lago) by a company called Atlantis. It is still available from all the major on-line hobby retailers, although limited to a production run of 500. If you crave a model of the same car (in 1/24) with more detail and higher parts count, Heller released a kit of this car several times over the years. You can find them on eBay, and they came with two-piece wire wheels with individually moldeded spokes and vinyl tires, although the Heller kit tires were slightly crude, and generic.

A tip from "back in the old days:" In addition to the various paint techniques mentioned above, rubbing a flat finish (of paint) with your fingers produces a very convincing leather-like sheen on model car upholstry. Simple, quick and effective. Detail (seams, piping and stitching) and scale fidelity is not compromised.