MrObsessive

Honda Del Sol! Back when those were new, I NEVER saw a guy driving one of those! Of course these days, you never see them at all!

Well, I 've got a vintage pic for you, since we're sharing family car pics............ Here's my sister and I standing in front of my Mom's then new '68 Javelin. Hmmm......not sure where the tan mark on the photo came from. There was another pic of my sister and I standing in front of my Dad's car that same day------he had at that time a 1960 Valiant, but no one seems to know what happened to the picture. On this particular street we lived on (this was taken in 1968), all the families owned just one car. I do remember a neighbor at the end of the block who had a '58 Chevy, and he also owned a Yamaha motorcycle in which he was quite proud of.

Thanks so much for the info Jeff! I saved a lot of those pics in the links and they'll come in quite handy in the future! I can scratchbuild the needed structures in the engine compartment for the early cars, and yes, it would probably be easier to modify the existing chassis than to modify the '65-69 one. I was literally surrounded by Corvairs as a kid growing up in the '60's and '70's as I had relatives that either owned one, or they had friends that had them. Thanks again!

I swear by Tamiya Tape! I was able to do the stripes on this '05 Mustang without any bleed-through whatsoever!

Question for you Corvair experts: Would the floorpan (save for the rear suspension) be the same for the earlier '60-'64 Corvairs? Someday I'd like to redo some older Corvair models that I have, but I hate the molded in stuff that's in those kits. Did Chevrolet simply put a new bodyshell on the existing Corvair frame, or were there new floor stampings as well? I know the rear suspension was totally changed with U-joints at each end of the driveshafts for better handling, I'm just wondering about the floorpan itself. Thanks guys!

I remember back in the late '70's when the automotive press was all abuzz about this car (actually the whole "X-Body" line), and I was really hoping for something exciting given the X-body designation that was given. IIRC, the car was intro'd sometime in early 1979, and I was quite disappointed in the whole lineup! Mundane styling, wheezy performance, and really nothing to get too excited over at all. The X-11 Citation while not IMO too bad of a car, was no worse than the rest of the junk that the auto industry was pumping out in those days. I just look at that period as the really dark days of Detroit, which wouldn't really see any bright spots till the late '80's into the '90's. As far as the model's concerned, for some weird reason I do like it------in fact I like the notchback better than the hatchback as it just plain looks better to me. Who knows, I may just go out and buy a kit because of this thread! EDIT: Adam, I just read your review and was bursting out laughing!! Great writeup of this sad yet memorable car!

As far as I know he is. I got decals from him as recently as maybe three or four months ago. Have you tried emailing him? He's at Mofobow@hotmail.com

Interesting project! I learned something new as I have this kit (never touched), and never paid attention to the body being too short. Now if Revell can only whip up a NEW tool '57 Ranchero.........all may be right with the world!

Double ?????????

Beautiful 1:1 '60 you got there Niko! I'll be following this one as well from time to time. I really get into '59-'60 Chevies as they were very common on the streets back when I was a kid in the '60's. Yeah, you're right about the '60's engine (as well as the '59's), sitting too far back. It's something I was going to fix on my '59 build, but it would have required more work than I was willling to do than just moving the engine forward. ..............and yes, those wheels do NOT belong on a '60 Chevy anytime!

I wouldn't know about 1957------but in 1967 I was in grade school at that point, and I don't remember any of my neighbors having a 2nd car even then. Funny I can still remember what most of my neighbors drove way back when! By the time I was in high school in the mid '70's, second car families were quite commonplace as most of the neighbors I knew at the time, had a second car. Nowadays, because of the economy, it's a nearly a MUST that there be at least two cars in a family. My how times have changed!

Yeah, I really miss the sound of a nice running straight six. I had an '80 Mercedes 250 S sedan (European Model) years ago with a straight six and four speed. I REALLY loved the sound of that as opposed to a V6, which to me some of them sound like tearing paper at full throttle.

You ain't kiddin'! I have a good friend that's got a '12 Hyundai Sonata Turbo 4 that will give practically any V8 Mustang a real run for its money! ...........And keep you pinned to the seat to boot!

Tommy, you can always size down the top if it's a bit too big......better than trying to "stretch" it if it's too small being resin. You can also check with Don or Carol------------they may be able to fill you in on whether it may or may not fit without some major surgery. Edit: The '58 uptop would be all wrong for the '64. Sail panel shape isn't quite right and the windshield header has quite a "crown" to it.

He looks a lot like my Kitkat that I lost a few years ago..........great looking kitty!

Modelhaus sells an uptop for the '62 Buick Electra 225. You can click here to check it out. This should be pretty close for what you need as the 225's were C-Bodies as is that '64 Caddy convertible you have.

Chris, you're correct about the drip rail contour in Revell's Z-16 kit. That's another one of those "must fix" items for me if I ever decide to build it. Otherwise, it's a very nice kit which lends itself to some pretty nice detail.

Saw this outside of Cincinnati, OH in Blue Ash just a few hours ago! First I've EVER seen one of these on the road------and in the rain yet! It's nice to have your iPhone handy at times like this!

Thanks for the well wishes George! Yeah, I'm actually out of town until the end of next week, so this has been a nice birthday present for me. Some friends treated me to lunch at a very nice restaurant, and I plan to visit a local hobby shop to get a couple things over the weekend. I was really into collecting old late '60's/early '70's Hot Wheels redlines years ago, and I have a bunch of that orange track. I'm watching a couple Hot Wheels items on eBay as a matter of fact, but I'm not sure though if I'll bid on 'em.

Gotta love this stop motion video of Hot Wheels on the orange track!

Carl, you can try here, and here. Those are the only two place I know of that show what Norm has.........hope this helps you out!

I can distinctly remember a babysitter I had at the time this song was out (1966?) playing it over, and over and over again! Good song though!

Thanks Tommy! On a side note about the Impala..........I was playing around with Micro-Marks vacuform machine the other day as I wanted to make new glass for the car. It didn't look half bad! The windshield had one little "bubble" on it I didn't like, but no terrible distortion that plagues the kit glass. I just need to practice with a few more PETG sheets, and I hope to have it down pat. That was the main thing holding up progress on it. Down the road, I'd like to compose a how-to and video here on how the machine works, and the pros and cons of it. Once the Mustang is done, I'll be right back building 'er.

Not much of A Hudson guy, but I DO like that black and white one!

Rusty, thanks for the nice compliment! I've had this kit ever since it was intro'd back in '94, and while I wasn't a loud complainer over the inaccurate details (hadn't paid much attention to them back then), I knew there was always something not quite right about it. Nevertheless, I like to try to make this as complete as possible, although I'm sure I'll miss a few details here and there------such is model building. There won't be any more updates for this one until probably closer to the end of the month. I'll be leaving to head out of town in the next couple days, and won't be back home until the end of next week. After traveling so long, I may not be in the mood to build anything until a couple days after I get back. I did manage to make an emergency brake cable setup for it (some soldering was needed), and the levers and such that go with it. Thanks for following along, and I'm glad that I can be informative!