Longbox55

I see it the other way around. The resto mods all look alike to me. Same mods, same boring crate engines, same boring colors, same boring oversize wheels with rubber band tires. A genuine documented Z/28, which were not as common as one would be led to believe (7199 in 1968), grabs my attention far more than the cookie cutter resto mods.

That comes up on the Chevy/GMC truck forum I belong to. Someone gets a stock truck. wants to know how to make it reliable, and invariably, they are given the whole "you HAVE to put IFS, power brakes, power steering, modern V8, disk brakes, etc, etc" to make them "safe" for todays roads. I say hogwash. My daily is a '55 Chevy 3200, stock brakes with the original single circuit master cylinder, stock manual steering, stock leak spring suspension, it performs just fine on the highway. Granted, I did make a few alterations to improve the performance, radial tires, gas shocks and sway bars, FF code friction, plus a factory optional overdrive trans and a few hop up mods on the original 6 cylinder, but overall, the truck is still basically stock.

I have an issue of Toy Trucker and Contractor from several years ago that has a review of one of the variations of this kit (the snowplow, IIRC). I'm pretty sure the article said the engine is a Ford V200.

No, there's plenty of cars that are bad right out of the gate. The Yugo comes to mind.

Pretty much all of that is gone now. We still have Teepak and Quaker, though. K-Mart is the only one of the stores left, and they haven't had kits for years. We don't even have a good hobby shop locally since Black's hardware quit selling general merchandise, and Wilsons closed up. We had alocal pet and hobby store, but they out out of the hobby business, too. Last decent hobby store of any kind we had was a Hobby Lobby, they pulled out about 4 years ago. It was on the mall where Ayr-Way used to be. It's a Dunham Sports now. The closest hobby shop to Danville now is Slot &Wing over in Champaign.

No offence taken! You were here back when Danville was still a decent place to live. It's gone way downhill since.

The Revell 64/65 Chevy chassis will work. The basic 2wd chassis is the same from '63-'72. You will need to change the rear suspension, GMC used leaf spring suspension on the rear, instead of the trailing arm/coil spring that Chevy used.

That's actually not far from me. I'm not really familiar with Clinton Illinois, I've only been there once, but I do know they have a nuclear power plant there. Too much uranium in the drinking water, perhaps?

Nice thing about batteries, a given group size battery will be approximately the same size regardless of brand. Here's a chart that might help. 4D is pretty common in modern large trucks. http://www.submarineboat.com/bci_battery_group_size_chart.htm

I believe the soft top might have been a dealer install option. I do know that the standard Blazer did not come with a top at all, the fiberglass top was an option, RPO Z58 White and Z59 Black. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/attachment.php?attachmentid=1088474&stc=1&d=1365366793 I came across this while looking for a better tail gate decals pic. Seems there's a glovebox decal that was used with them, too.

I'll agree with the suggestion for the wheels, but think Testors One Coat Inca Gold would be a closer match for the body.

The truck in the front is one called Hawk. As far as I know, nothing is available to replicate it in scale. Which comes back to the idea I was proposing. Casey, I've seen that pic, it came up in my search. However, the tailgate isn't really clear on the Blazer. I'm still going to see if I can find a clear pic of one.

I've had a hard time coming up with a good, preferably factory, pic of what the tailgate decal should look like. I'm going to try to find one, perhaps check with some of the guys over on Stovebolt.com. On the subject of aftermarket decals, tis is a great opportunity for someone to do some of the other Bod Mods/Put Ons decals GM offered at that time, like the Eagle, Flames, and Hawk. Perhaps in truck (if Round 2 reissues it), Blazer, Van, and El Camino versions. All of those have kits in the time range that the decals on the 1:1 were done (1969-1972).

Oh, everything is there for mine, it's just not together. I've had mine since around 1981, got it when my Granpa on my dads side passed away. We had the choice between this one or a 9N with a Sherman overdrive. We took the 8 and let my Grandpa wife sell the 9, along with a loader. One of these days, I'm going to get it back together, then I'm possibly going to get a trailer to hitch up to my '55 Chevy truck so I can take it to the local car/tractor show we have in the summer.

Trust me, Chuck, I know someone's going to try it! If I get my grubby hands on one, I'm planning on it myself. I certainly have plenty of easy access reference material to it, too

The early 9N and 2N were badged as Ford-Fergusons, or to be accurate, Ford-Ferguson System. The Ferguson System badge is located on the grille below the Ford badge, and has a chevron shape. The 8N does not have this. The Ferguson TE20 and TO20 (Tractor England 20 HP and Tractor Overseas 20 HP respectively) are not related to the Fords other than the involvement of Harry Ferguson and the 3 point hitch.

Just to pick it for the engine, it would have to go awful cheap, no more than $17000. Once you hit that price, you can get a crate engine with more power .

I thought they were supposed to be correcting the decal sheet to include the tailgate decal that the 1:1 version of the "Boondocker"/Feathers decal option had? I don't see it on the sheet.

The engine, front and rear wheels, transmission, steering wheel, brake pedals, rear brake backing plates would all have to be changed or modified to make a 9 or 2 N. The grille could be used for an early 9 if it was done up to look like polished aluminum. It would have to be changed to so a late 9 or any 2 N.The 8N could get away with using the transmission and rear wheels, but would also need to have the platforms added to the sides as well as the brake and clutch pedals changed. The later 8N would also need to have the dash modified to have the Proofmeter installed.

Formerly, and ASE certified Master Mechanic for Sears Auto Center, 22 years with the company. Now, unemployed due to store closings.

I don't know about any hobby shops in your area, but the one I go to has a "scratch and dent" section. They have kits that are missing parts, have damaged boxes/parts, or in some cases, were misboxed. I've gotten some really good deals, usually around $3 a kit, for kits to pick parts from.

Well, technically, the Challenger is an import. They're built in Canada.

I suppose I can see you're point. However, I see nothing from Forgiato that would look good on the Challenger, or any car really. HRE has pretty cool wheels, though. Of course, if you're going to get away from classic muscle car type wheels on modern muscle, I'm partial to this one.

Wouldn't the Euro style wheels fit better with that style? Or at least that's what I see on all the cars with giant wings and monster energy drink logos on them. Never see those used with Torque Thrusts.

Do you have an airbrush? If so, try spraying the Testors rust a little on the dry side, then a mist coat of flat black to add some depth. I've done that in the past, turns out very nasty, in a good sense.