Jairus

I also drove a 77 Toyota Corolla for a number of years. Great milage but the road noise was awful loud even for the loud stereo I installed. Had the little 3KC motor (slated to the left) with 5 speed and I went through two transmissions, 3 clutches, 4 waterpumps, 6 batteries and 4 sets of tires just to drive it 230,000 miles. Oh... and one head gasket! Never had to replace the alternator thankfully because it was buried under the intake and exhaust manifold. I also had two snow tires mounted on rims in the trunk during the winter months. I got so that I could swap the wheels with the stock jack in less than 20 minutes! Fun car, but like Bill said, not real powerful and an adequate handling car. Really could have used a turbo, chopped springs, and wider tires. Unfortunately it got so hard finding parts toward the end that I was considering swapping out the whole engine and tranny for something more current like a 86 Corolla GSX twin cam with fuel injection. Sold it at a garage sale for $250. (Got more for the Yamaha dirt bike! )

Oh, born on a military base? You didn't tell me that!

Yup, and cannot run for president either. Welcome to the crazy house B! P.S. the Chevelle is very well done.

Unbuilt and unopened Slot car kits from AMT, MPC, Revell, BZ and Classic can go anywhere from 500 to three grand depending who sees it. I know they are not "models" in the strictest sense.... but they were sold to the same kids as static kits and many of us played with them back in the day. Not to mention, many of the kits shared molded bodies with their static counterparts. Here is a recent auction for a K&B AuroraBatmobile auction for instance. This example is an RTR (Ready to run)when sold and the car is actually over priced for it's condition... but better quality versions of this sell for sixgrand most of the time!

Well, I thought that was what Rants and Raves was suppose to be.... so... yes! I am all for it. Unfortunately, when someone clicks the "View New Posts" link they will have to see any new post regardless of the section. That was the complaint in the first place... unless I miss my guess. Yes, I can be civil and it is the freedom to discuss anything that keeps my interest here. Incidentally, I wouldn't leave because of hurt feelings but I could lose interest if all we can talk about is plastic cars....

Yeah, I figured there would be a few that would liken that suggestion to an abolishment of the 2nd amendment. But there are a lot of hot rodders putting modern engines in vintage cars! Let's face it, a modern engine starts every time, runs clean and is way more efficient and has greater h.p. than an old wheezy 302 with a two barrel. Most old engines leak oil, spit fumes and have vacuum leaks. Not everybody can afford to have an engine correctly overhauled or can replace gaskets or find flaws. The logical solution is to retrofit a vintage car with a modern power-plant be it a DOHC Cobra motor or a turbo hybrid 3 liter four. We saw the same articles in Hot Rod Magazine all through 1973 and 1974. History has a habit of repeating it-self.....

Here is an idea for stretching your brain. With the sudden increase in fuel costs, large vehicles are no longer selling. GM has stopped building the Hummer and it doesn't look good for the Lincoln Navigator or Ford Expedition. Now is the time to pick up that used 8 year old Eddy Bauer Explorer with the heated leather seats!!! Wow, saw one for two grand yesterday! However, sales of tiny economy cars and even electric cars has boomed! The industry is working full tilt to produce existing small economy cars while developing more economical hybrid power plants for future models. So, the V8 is probably going to go the way of the Duesenberg and we are going to seeing more V6 Mustangs now than ever before. (Wonder if the Camaro will still be built?) I suspect that we are going to see more four cylinder hybrid power trains being installed into vehicles. The large behemoth SUV's we are so accustomed to seeing on the highways and byways will be relegated to government and commercial use almost exclusively. Use of aluminum and plastics will increase but safety concerns will keep the applications to non structural. Hoods will rarely open as engines become completely non-tinker-able. Red light neutral engine will become the norm and some cars will completely shut off at the red light inorder to conserve. I also suspect that a wire controlled throttle will become accepted across the board so that the computer will control acceleration thus eliminating completely the dreaded "jack rabbit" start. Liberal minds in city government, with altruistic motives, will choose weekends when entire downtowns are closed to all automobile traffic forcing the public to do their shopping by public transportation. Some technical innovators will try to build electric VW Beetles and someone will create a retro-fit Hybrid power train for classic cars. (It might not burn rubber anymore but it can still be driven to the coast with the top down!) These are just a few of the ideas I am pretty sure will happen and I am betting some of you have more.....

Rob, where do you think a Carburetor sits? On TOP of a HOT engine! Heck, fuel can drip on a hot manifold and not catch fire. It takes a flame or a spark to ignite gasoline vapor not just heat.... My two cents on the material is that this is just funky tech material and most manufacturers will ignore the use of it. Something like the headlights is easy to apply to existing frame works but a car completely covered with a space age material... most manufacturers are not set up for the process. Repairable panels... however might be interesting. But remember the short lived use of plastic body panels by Pontiac on the Trans Van and Fiero. Now that went far.... huh? We are back building cars with the same basic materials we were a hundred years ago and I don't foresee much change for the future especially if cars are going to get smaller... because they still need to be safe!

The stuff at the bottom is the pigment and the stuff at the top is the carrier. When the carrier has evaporated and the pigment solidified the paint is bad! But when there is plenty of carrier in the bottle, lacquer, acrylic or enamel then mix it up with the end of a paintbrush and shake for a few min's. Should be just fine. Paint in a sealed bottle will, and could last past the apocalypse. The trick is getting it mixed back up again. If it is too thick... add some thinner and shake, shake, shake!!!

NEED... no. Want.... YES!

Holy Cow Marshall, what kind of camera are you using? This shot is pretty cool!!!!

Way back in the mid 70’s I went to the Portland Roadster Show. My Brother had taken 1st place here in Salem’s Soap Box Derby race and then managed a 3rd overall in the finals held in Akron Ohio. The local Derby Association was quite proud of this local boy done good (and rightly so) and so we were setting up a display for the Soap Box Derby at the Roadster show at move-in night. Two things I will always remember that warm spring evening was the noise of the hot rods being driving through the door of the Coliseum there in Portland Oregon. Back then the show was held in an underground concrete bunker like show room located under the parking lot of a huge basketball coliseum. The engine sounds, sights and smells were intoxicating to a seventeen-year-old artist/modelcar builder. But, what really caught my attention and the second thing I will always remember was the model car contest….!!! Short of the local department store held contests, this was the biggest I had ever seen and the number of models already on the tables that move-in night still managed to blow my mind! That was the night I first met Bob Paeth! (Not to mention Bob Robinson and Ron Martinolich) Of course, I didn’t know ol’painted thumb back then… (Must have been 1976 since Frank won the SBD in ’75) and there were no current model car magazines being published. Anyway, I thought myself quite a model builder back then having accomplished basic wiring, plumbing and electrical details. Even did a fair bit of scratch building too… So, the next night I brought three of my best my models to the show and of course wandered around the show some oogling the chrome, sparkly paint and use of angle hair. But it was the model car contest that really held my attention! The night of the awards ceremony, Bob stood up on a chair and announced who had won Best Paint, Best Engine, Class awards and such. His voice was quite commanding then as it is now and needed no amplification! Bob waxed eloquent about each entry which had won and why…. The ceremony took maybe 45 minutes to an hour overall and the crowd was enthralled. Of course I won nothing…. As I picked up my models, I flagged Bob down and he in a very grandfatherly way explained, NOT what was wrong with my 3 model cars… but what I could do to make them better!!! He also explained the points judging system they used and suggested I attend next year. Well, I attended the next 10 or 15 contests actually, concentrating on building one car a year just for the show! The next year I think I managed a Judges Choice award and during the next 10 years even managed a couple of Best of Show awards! I cite Bob Paeth’s suggestions given to a snot nosed, nearsighted 17 year old as a major turning point in my model career. Then one show couple of years later…Bob, Bob and Ron gathered around me and asked if I would like to join their new model car club. I couldn’t believe they wanted ME… and that fall I became the youngest member of SABA. 1980 I think… the mind is not what it used to be anymore. I now count Bob Paeth and his wife Jan two of my greatest friends and I have very much enjoyed our friendship these past 28 years. Since 1980 I have now learned a few of Mr. Paeth’s accomplishments working for the industry at Revell, writing how-to articles for Model Car Science, Model Car and most notably for starting and maintaining the oldest continuous model car contest in North America at the Portland Roadster Show! Thank you Bob! Oh, and if you are reading this, I hope you made it home safe! See you next meeting! Jairus

The engine is actually a Pontiac overhead cam straight 6. A great choice, if you part this out, is to put it into a 1968 Firebird and make a Sprint model.

I wonder if GINA can get stretchmarks?

As cars get lighter, this may be an option for the extremities such as the front and rear.... or for flaring in poor styling features for better aerodynamics at speed. Maybe even covered wheel openings that can flex as the front wheels steer. However, the taught surface covering the whole car becomes one BIG drum and how could it not? I would venture to bet that it makes a lot of noise going down the road. Not to mention the pressure of the air-stream vibrating the skin like a strap or tarp over a flatbed trucks load. No, we won't see a whole car covered in such "moveable" surfaces like GINA anytime soon. But the technology will undoubtedly show up somewhere on some car pretty quick. Actually, I can see Nissan swiping those headlights!

What'chu talk'n 'bout Willis? I post here at least twice a day!

Your better off Gregg.

Gregg, someone COULD if there were any MODERATORS on this forum.....

Bill, your my hero!

I had better UP my medication. Zeb actually made sense with this post and I find myself agreeing...

Just be sure you COOK the tomatos first Andy....

Yes, Ken that was very funny. The two words are both spelled correctly and spell check didn't catch it, nor did my slight dyslexia. Thanks for the help!

Excellent post! Well written and actually fun to read. Wish a lot of my professors in college taught like that. Agree Joe, it belongs here and proves that our Founding Fathers knew what they were doing when they drafted the "rules for being an American"!

One other thing Bill..... Bill are you listening? The bumper guards need to be shortened on the rear bumper. The reason is the tailgate needs to drop so the Stationwagon was the only vehicle to have the shortened bumper guards on the rear. I modified the guards on my car and had them re-chromed by Chrome Tech along with the grill and front bumper after removing the mold lines. SOMEDAY I hope to finish this project.....

You use the kit hood. The chassis needs no modification unless you want to be absolutely correct. (Spare tire should be horizontal rather than vertical) There is no cargo space and the kit interior panels need be modified to match the 4 door, door lines. Other than that.....