Sport Suburban

Thanks guys, I really like doing these type of kit bashes but this is were I get stuck. I get all of the engineering done but stop at picking the colors and final finishes. Don't be afraid of kit bashing. Start with simple engine swaps then go from their. So far I have put the 68 AMT roadrunner chassis in a resin 68 Coronet RT, resin 69 Coronet RT, and a Jo-Han 69 Roadrunner. I have used AMT 71 Duster 340 chassis in a resin 71 Demon 340, 69 Barracuda, and a 68 Barracuda Formula S. AMT 71 Charger chassis in a MPC 72 Roadrunner, AMT 73 Roadrunner GTX, MPC 73 Charger Ralley, and a 72 Charger Ralley. I have put the AMT 70 Challenger chassis under a resin MPC 71 Challenger RT, 72 and 73 Challenger Ralleys. I have also used the AMT 69 olds 442 chassis under a few Jo-Han 70 Olds 442s. Some of those I need to finish also. I have also started putting one of those AMT 69 Olds chassis under a MPC 72 GTO project.

Here is everything fitting together.

Now that the mods to the tub are done and the chassis now fits. I still have a few issues that need to be addressed. One of my pet peeves is their is no support in back for either the stock chassis or the Torino's chassis. So I glued these styrene rods to the chassis. They set up under the trunk and hold it square. Just like the screw chassis does but no screws. I have glued these to the body on other projects instead of the chassis. It just depends on how easy they are to get to for sanding down for the final height adjustment. Also the rear wheel wells still don't quite line up with the bodies wheel wells. First I heated them up with a lighter to move them forward just a tad. I still was not happy with them. So I pulled out the dremmel and thinned them in the blacked out area. This gave me the look I wanted. I also sanded off the Revell cast in lettering that is also marked. The axle still needs to be moved forward about 1/8 inch. I will have to shorten the drive shaft that same amount and make sure the exhaust clears.

Also in the tub picture. You may notice that I cut two larger opening that will be behind the dash. Those are to clear the Torino's hood hinges so the hood will close. I'm glad I also put the dash in place as it also needing to be clearance for the hinges. The resin dash is from Missing Link and is cast with the back filled in. The black marks are were I need to make room. The kit dash is below and had no issues with the hinges. This is after I got the dremmel out. If you look closely at the two tubs pictured above you may have noticed that I removed the cast in pedals the MPC kit has. The MPC kit was also an automatic and the Torino is a 4 speed. So I cut the pedals and glued them to the resin dash. This still clears the console but I have not decided if I will use that or not.

Now let us move on to the interior mods. I decided that I wanted to use as much of the MPC interior as possible. I will call this option A. I also considered using the floor of the Torino kit and the seats and door panels from the MPC kit. I will call this option B. That was only if I could not get away with option A. I have also read of other builds that used most of the Torino's interior. I will call this option C, but since I want to be as factory stock as possible option C will not do for me. Here are two MPC Cyclone interior tubs. One is fresh from an unbuilt kit and the other is my modified tub. My modified tub also has its package tray glued in place. I glued it back in place for mock ups and to see if everything would be covered by the back seat. Also I cut out the rear support area as I thought it was hitting the chassis but it was not. The interference was some place else and on the chassis itself. Here is an upside down shot of the modified chassis. I cut these two squares in the floor to clearance the chassis and allow it to sit down. They clear the spring pockets. Here is the chassis sitting under the tub. It now sits flush and allows the chassis to meet the engine comp. Here is the Torino's chassis. It needs some mods too. I marked these with a black sharpie. The back of the trans tunnel has a lip at the rear axle that was hitting the tub. This is one of two areas that pushed the tub forward. I trimmed it away and then noticed the step just forward on both sides also hit a step in the tub. I trimmed this back a little also and the tub now sat were I wanted it to.

That is just beautiful!!

That is very nice!! I love it!!

Speaking of the hood. I had removed the molded in legs that the MPC hood had. I was going to leave this alone but decided to use the Torino's hinges with the engine compartment. While this part was easier to do that I expected it does have some issues that come with it. These hinges reach back and hit the interior tub. That is why we do some mock ups. Once I clearance the tub and checked again. I found the hinges also hitting the back of my resin dash from Missing Link. The kit dash is hollow and should be fine but my resin dash is solid.

Thanks everyone. This will be a factory stock build. I'll start with the body mods. First I had to remove the molded in cowl from the MPC body. This was pretty strait forward but I did flatten out the underside of the fenders to get as level of a gluing surface as possible. This helps when gluing in the new engine compartment. I also cut out the engine compartment from the 70 Torino body by scribing the top of the inner fender with the exacto knife. I cut it horizontally to keep as much of the gluing surface as possible. Once free I glued the firewall and core support to it before setting it in place. Here is a nice shot of the unmodified body next to the finished transformation. This is the original engine compartment next to the kit bashed body. After lots of mock ups I found that the new engine compartment lines up best with the core support butted right up to the molded in stops on the inner side of the fenders. I did do some sanding to narrow the Torino core support to make sure the grill still fits and the hood gaps are OK. The hood could fit better but I was more concerned with the front bumper and grill fitting. I will adjust the hood gaps more later.

First, the starting point. I picked up this somewhat glue bomb as my starting point. I prefer to start with a build up over an unbuilt kit but I will start either way. It just depends on what I find at what price. This was an unpainted glue bomb with some seriously tire melted wheels. Just look at all the glue under that chassis and the wad of glue between the engine and trans. The rear axle was the worst. Multiple layers of glue and a wire ring holding it on. The good news is that nothing was painted or sanded. Some glue sink marks on the body and a bent A pillar. Most of the glue is epoxy and was pulled apart. This is what I had after disassembly. It's hard to believe that this is the same build up. Also in this pic is an extra front bumper I picked up and a resin dash with the gauges from Missing Link.

I have not done a work in progress thread in some time now and decided that I would do one. I have many projects going and I have a hard time staying focused on one. This is one I have had planned for some time and with all the talk of the restored kit coming out I figured I would get back to this one. I have planned a kit bash of the MPC 71 Cyclone and the Revell 70 Torino. I plan to give step by step photos of the mods I make to help anyone who wants to give this a try. I don't have a color combo planned yet, so we will see what happens. Here are the two kits involved. Work on this may be slow as I shift to other projects and since I now have a few MPC Cyclones. I will have some comparison shots of kit issued parts and modified parts.

My condolences also, he was a good guy. He had found one of my builds online were I said some really nice things about his engine kit that I used. He contacted me privately, complemented my build and thanked me for what I had posted. We had talked off and on for awhile about projects and he sent me some resin items that he cast but did not sell commercially. I wish I had met him personally as he seamed to really care about this hobby.

Here is my findings on the use of the Suburban name by Plymouth. It is a interesting to note that I learned a few things in this also as I went year to year looking at scanned brochures online. Plymouth did use the name with gaps. The name was used from 49-61 with no gaps during that time. From 62-67 Suburban was not used and 65-67 Fury was used on wagons. 68-73 Suburban was reintroduced and the Fury name did not appear on wagons. 74-77 both Fury and Suburban appeared on wagons. My personal interest in the use of Sport Suburban was more interesting. It was the top model and first appeared in 57 and stayed until 61. These models did not have wood siding on them. When Suburban was reintroduced in 68, Sport Suburban appeared as the top model. This is the first year for the wood siding. All Sport Suburbans had wood siding from 68-77. There is less info on Custom Suburban as the mid level. That seems to be 68-73 and disappears when the Fury name gets mixed in from 74 and later. I hope that helps clear up the confusion and also helped me understand why the confusion existed. My apologies go out to anyone that I may have offended with my previous posts. I will admit that my earlier research was geared more for the 69-73 wagons since that is what interchanges with my cars. Also this build is turning into one of the best Plymouth Suburban builds I have seen!

Jim, I just wanted to clearify that the name of the wagon was Suburban, Custom Suburban, or Sport Suburban. That was the name Plymouth gave them. The industry named the body type is station wagon as we all know them as. Much like we say it is a "hardtop" or "convertible". Those are names of body types and not specific vehicles. To me that is like naming your boy "Boy". Also I can tell you the GM did not have any more claim to the name Suburban than Chrysler did. Did you know that Nash, Studebaker, and Desoto also used the name? GM did not get the rights to the name until 88. Interestingly all of them were on wagon body styles.

If it had the 383 Super Comando it had dual exhaust. If it came with the standard 383 it had single exhaust.

I will say that many people call them Fury wagons because that is what they are based on but Plymouth did not. Here is a shot of the correct fender emblem that would go on the 68 model Dan is building here. It goes in the same spot on the fender that Fury I is on a car.

Dan, this is a very nice built but I have to pipe in on this one. Jim, The wagons were in fact named Suburban by Plymouth. The name was used from 49 to 77. I currently own two of them. Hence my avatar name and picture. Here is a picture of my 70 tailgate that has the name plate still on it. I can tell you I spent years looking for replacement nameplates for my Sport Suburban as they were easily broken. I have a set of Custom Suburban emblems also.

Very nice. I too recently picked up a 59 Edsel conv and was thinking the same color combo but not sure yet. Mine has the continental kit but I don't know if I will use it. I have the chrome out getting redone now and will start it soon. Great scores BTW!

I must say that I am building the Model King Police version and am enjoying it. This wagon version really excites me and I will buy one for sure and maybe a second. Also I must ask. Does the Model King issue count as a Revell issue? Don't they buy base kits from manufacturers ( Revell in this case). Add new decals, instructions, new box and maybe a few extra parts. Police parts in this issue. Does Model King own the police parts tooling or does Revell? To me that is like saying a Lingenfelter Corvette is made by Chevy. When they take a Chevy Corvette and add Lingenfelter parts to make it what it is. But I know GM does not make those parts. If Revell made the police parts then why sell it to Model King and limit its sales and distribution?

The Revell 60 Corvette that has the multi piece body has no tops at all. The Revell 58 Corvette has a convertible soft up top in the kit. The Revell 59 Corvette has a hard top in the kit.

Modelhaus also offered a resin copy of the MPC 70 Charger, I think it is still available. I have built one of them. Missing Link also offered a 70 Charger based on the much nicer Revell tool and it looked awesome. I don't know if it is still availible.

Deffinatly start with the Revell 59 Corvette. It is a nice kit and would pass as a 60 as is. The only difference between a 59 and a 60 is the bucket seat upholstery pattern is different. I have also built the multi piece Revell 60 Corvette. It can be built real nice too but takes a lot more effort. It says it is a 60 but has 59 seats also.

These are nice!! I too love to restore old builds!! Some are glue bombs and some are nice but old builds. Here is a AMT 59 Thunderbird. Before: After: AMT 64 Thunderbird Promo. Before: After: Johan 69 Javelin: Before: ebay pic of what I started with. After:

Thanks guys! The coils are mounted lower by the frame and have wires running up to the dual distributors. It's funny but I dusted this off and took it to last nights model meeting!

This came out real nice! I would love to have it!