oldcarfan

I've been browsing the type of cars raced in 1975. Group 5 in Europe and IMSA were getting pretty wild and wide. NASCAR went to LeMans. As for Cannonballers, gas prices had gone down a little, so even a 4 door Dually with a 454 could be an option!

The world changes around us no matter how much we wish it wouldn't. Hot Rod, Car&Driver, Automobile, SAE, and so many of the other publications that made up my youth are gone. Some are still around in online limbo, but it's sad.

That's been me for most of my life. I have a touch of ADHD that likes to appear periodically. Usually about 3/4s of the way through a project I'll see a shiny object and off I'll go.

I'm having trouble deciding. I've got a lot of ideas floating around, so I'll have to narrow my focus. I'd like to do a Trans Am, or a Mustang, but I'm really partial to small foreign cars. The BMW 320i, the VW Golf, and the Ferrari 308 all debuted in 1975 so I guess these would be admissible?

In the 60s Revell experimented with Parts Pack featuring engines, or frames or as in this case motorcycles. They did a Harley, a Triumph, a BSA, a Honda, and I think that's all. They reappeared occasionally but the last time I know of was in the 80s when they came out as Grease 2 movie tie-ins. I heard the tooling was lost, so I'm guessing this new release is a retool.

I found one of these in a hobby shop last year for $40. It looks to me like the same kit as the Johan one.

I'd love that too, but from what I've heard, Parts Packs don't sell well on their own. But you stuff them in with another kit and they get bought up.

I'm down for pretty much any topic for the next race. Since it's been mentioned, I've already been reading up on the 1975 event. Being a research nerd, I've included a picture of the contestants from the Car & Driver magazine cover from 1975. They ran a wide array of vehicles. Note the 1974-ish Chevy truck in the back with the camper shell and the Chevy van. The van was entered by the Polish Racing Drivers of America. According to reports they burned around 350 gallons of gas carried in 55 gallon barrels. Good thing it didn't crash! It also looks like there's also a Ford Gran Torino wagon back there as well. There were the usual Porsches and as well as Brock Yates' very own Dodge Challenger. Just out of curiosity, can anyone identify the other station wagon? It's behind the red 911 in the first picture, and in front of the white Porsche in the last picture. I think it might be a brown Datsun or Mazda. If you're looking for something different, one team drove a Travco motor home filled with Italian food, wine and beer. Also if we are going back in time to 1975, don't forget your shopping list. You'll need folded paper maps, a massive gas tank, oversize lights, police scanner, CB radio, and FuzzBuster! Maybe pack a cooler with peanut butter sandwiches, candy bars, caffeine pills, and Thermoses filled with coffee. This article might be of interest. https://www.cannonballdino.com/post/the-amelia-founder-and-the-cannonball-run

Thanks for the details! I'm kind of a nerd for the backstories and the history of whatever I'm currently interested in.

Sounds good to me!

The Monogram 1/24 truck might be combined with this one?

If the pine tree is garlic scented as well, then you have the safest truck around!

Looks good and when the first spy pictures started popping up, I told my wife I wanted to make that our next new car. Then they announced it would be electric only, no hybrid option. No Hybrid no sale. I'm more than happy with the Lexus we got instead. Can't wait for someone to put an LS into one of these!

You're not wrong! I still have a couple of previous releases unbuilt, but I'll probably get a couple more for the bike.

Nice truck and a really cool kit bash!

This might be a more general question, but does anyone know how many tools for a kit are usually made? For instance did AMT only cut one set of tools for their kits, or did they make duplicates? They've reissued both the 3n1 Torino Cobra kit and the modified stocker kit. Did they have two sets of tooling that they modified one to get the modified stocker? I'd think they would have made more than one set in case a tool is damaged or in order to produce the kits more quickly, but I don't know.

That would make a fun Cannonball entry!

I enjoyed the chance to participate and thanks to you for moderating so well! Maybe we can do something special to commemorate the 50th anniversary this year. Also, I'd like to mention that Jean Lindamood Jennings passed yesterday from Alzheimers at 70. If you read Car and Driver or Automobile Magazine in the 80s and 90s, you will remember her fondly. It feels like all my heroes are passing away. Here she is in glasses and hat in the 1984 One Lap Of America competing in a Dodge Van with her friends, Walker Evans, and Parnelli Jones.

We had a high temp of 71 today so I took a walk around the neighborhood and found this. Not sure of the year but it's a 2 door coupe Plymouth Valiant. I saw it on the road last month and it's nicely patina'd but clean! We live in the no-rust belt of central Texas and it's not uncommon to find such jewels. It has standard steel wheels on the front and wider cop wheels on the back with a slight rake. The best touch to me is a pair of small Vise Grips he uses to pull out and turn the light switch.

Thanks for the tips, ideas, and help, and maybe it'll help others as well!

Congratulations, Anton. You did some excellent work!

I know new releases are what we all want, but I'd be happy with a series of updated kits. How about turning the 55-57 Chevy truck into the GMC equivalents. The 1960 Ford truck would be welcome as a shortbed, which could then lead to a step bed variant. MPCs kits are being reissued at a rapid rate, how about backdating them to their earlier versions? For that matter, I could do with variations on the Dodge van based on the old kit. We could have both original 71 version and the end of the road 2003 version.

I'm going to start one of these soon and see how it goes. If nothing else, they might provide a good base for a diorama.

It's not in the budget right now for a digital camera, and my old Navy Pentax 35mm is kind of out of date, but I'm going to work on my backdrop and start looking for some good lighting sources. If I can't improve my camera, I'll improve the other parts of the problem. That's a start.

Sorry, still around, just got our first grandchild and got distracted.