Sport Suburban

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!

The 69 Charger 500 uses the same interior as the Daytona kit. If you start with the 69 Charger RT kit. You will need the Interior base with the longer package tray and rear window. If you start with the Daytona kit you would need the Charger hood and front valance. I think it would be easier to cast the hood and valance as stated above and start with the Daytona kit as a donor.

I have the 68 Charger bumper and an extra MPC grill. My thoughts are to trim it down and fit it inside the 68 Charger grill. The other bumper is the Revell 69 with the grill cut off. The MPC grill is wide enough but somewhat narrow. As far as sales go. How well did the Missing Link 70 Charger conversion sell? I think that kit would sell better than a 69 Charger 500. That is just my opinion thou.

I have one that I have been playing with for a few years now. I was not very serious about a 69 Charger 500 when I started. I had an extra Daytona body and decided to cut off the front fenders and swap nose's. It came out nice. Now that the bodywork in 95% done I'm working on the grill. Here is my progress photos.

Yes, This is true but if The model company's thought this way we would not have Revells awesome 69 Camaros, 32 Fords, and the tri 5 Chevys. AMT did it with the 70 Camaro Z28. When they had a vintage tool 70 Z28.

I have a project going of a 69 Charger 500 using Revell kits. Modelhaus does sell the MPC grill in resin. I would love to see Revell use this tooling for 68/69 Coronet R/T or Super Bees. How about Roadrunners?

Very nice! I have one of these to build still.

So, did the paint strip off the example a few pages back? What stripped it? I am interested in this kit but will wait for a non painted kit.