62rebel

i've lowered a couple by removing the rear spring frame mounts. the latest one i did i put a shortened '49 Merc chassis under. had to add lift to the frame to mount the cab, and raise the bed floor a bit.

never said it was stablemate to the Excalibur. just that the Excalibur is clunky looking despite Brooks Stevens' best efforts. not so awful as the ubiquitous Gazelle "SSK" "replica" (i just puked a little there) cars, but not up to the hype surrounding it then or now. it speaks well of the original Fiero design (itself heavily derived from the X-series GM line) that the source car can be embellished so well and remain pretty well balanced despite changes in wheelbase, body length, etc... and here I am, a devoted anti-GM guy praising them yet again.

a box full of carp? i bet that smelled after a couple of days.

what's ugly here? it's definitely an improvement over it's stablemate. cleaner lines and execution than the clumsy Excalibur. it looks like something Cadillac SHOULD have been building instead of catering to rap stars.

try to smooth those lumps down instead of leaving them proud like that. too much solvent gasses out over too long a time as it cures, and it will shrink regardless. looking forward to more progress!

nothing added but the six-spoke wheel covers and deletion of the Goodyear wide oval tires. same kit as always. great kit, just nothing remarkable. better decals than the "Loss Arc Welding" stuff from the blue truck era. fuss has been made that the tampo-printed tires will only work with the stock rims; not entirely true. by careful modification of the wheel backs to the moon capped chrome reverse wheels, they can be properly narrowed.

"LIKE"

marvelous job.

diversify!

got to agree with Harry.

ab-so-lutely awesome. i used to sneak my Mom's camera to take pictures of models and wait for the ... fallout, later on... sometimes the pictures came long after the model was toast. (impatient kid, i was)... come to think of it, i have a picture of some of my builds from around 1978 or 79.... gotta dig em up.

the smell of Testor's cement in the orange tube and their enamel paint....... reminds me of sitting at the coffee table after Christmas with Mom and Dad, no cell phones, no cable TV, no video games, using up the rest of the Christmas break submerged in models and family.

aren't we glad that sometimes the box art isn't 100% accurate.

those 4-color registration marks show attention to detail that went by the wayside in later years... i've seen those marks off by several 16'ths in some instances.

what did they consider "spare parts", i wonder?

i think it's with the 65 buick wildcat, i traded that stuff to somebody here a while back.

any theory on why they put those parts boxes in the cars? ballast to simulate passenger weight?

the multiple-pane windshield threw me. i wasn't sure the shocks were a period item, and it seems that Oldsmobile copied the design of the Crane rather blatantly.... not that it wasn't fairly common practice at the time. they sure didn't make many of them, and it looks like most of them still exist. the search might have gone better if the people archiving information were more careful about their key words; i (mistakenly) searched "1919 Oldsmobile" and got every year and model of Olds, Model T's, a few Buicks, loads of loathesome rat-rods, even the Beverly Hillbillies Oldsmobile..... of course, not one Crane-Simplex...... although, with THOSE results, it SHOULD have popped up, just due to probability. good choice, Harry. keep us jumping!

they responded with every object with 4 wheels possible. some dancing girls, a gun, and i quit asking after that. Google is getting pretty lame considering how fast i was able to find a remarkably similar car improperly identified (admittedly, not Google's fault) but once i had the make i was almost completely unable to find an exact match... Collectible Automobile used to be my default source for old American cars but even THEY have become nearly incoherent. i gave Harry my guess, and we'll see Friday how close i got.

re: these sharing parts with the Aspen/Volare, not much except engine/trans and rear axle. the front suspension is radically different. i built one about four or five years ago that i managed to snap up at a show for too much money.... only to find it being reissued. it has problems that are NOT evident until the chassis plate is assembled to the body. i'll get another and do it right.

well; DON'T ask Google. they have NO idea what it is. I'm not even sure they think it's even a car. it might be a microwave oven for all they know.

stockings.

no picture coming up.....

if you really want to portray the typical F-series rust issues, drop the front of the cab a bit, just behind the front wheels. the cab mounts rust out like used Charmin there. it means having to arch the front fenders upward and that will give a reason for the usual poor hood fit on these kits. the rear spring hangers are weak as well and many an F-series owner has the right rear leaf spring slamming against the bottom of the bed, if there's any metal left there to slam against. grind some nice big holes in the bottom of the cab corners just behind the doors as well. i've even seen some crusty ones with rustout all the way across the header above the windshield and above the door tops. that's what the Atlantic salt air does to trucks around here.

Jerry Seinfeld would buy it from you. maybe trade you one of his Porsches.