CorvairJim

I haven't been to the home page in weeks - my "Favorites" link takes me directly to the forums!

I'm sure they have plenty of old annual kit tools that haven't been reissued in decades. How about a '69 Impala SS, for example? Can you say "VEGA"? The '37 Chevy coupe 3-in-1? I always hear people looking for Ford and Dodge pickups from the 70's, and AMT (or MPC, whose tools are in with the same vintage AMT tools) made them back in the day. How about the '70 Ford Police Interceptor? Even some of the promo-like simple kits from the early 60's would be welcome. Speaking for myself, I'd flat-out LOVE to wake up some morning to the news that the '64 Corvair Monza Spyder was available once again!

John, my thoughts and prayers, and those of my wife as well, go out to you and your loved ones in your time of loss. Remember that you WILL see him again when you go to your reward. Keep believing, keep praying, and let The Lord have your sorrow, He's there for you. God Bless You, my friend. Hang in there.

I have that resin kit too. I have no idea who made it, but it's definitely not a one-of-a-kind. I've seen a couple of them built up at CORSA national conventions over the years. Frankly, I'm not too impressed with it. I'm even considering trying my hand at converting an old '61 Corvair sedan promo to a Lakewood usning the roof from the Jo-Han Olds F-85 wagon. GM used the same roof panel, so if they both scale out the same (they're both supposed;ly 1:25), it should go fairly smoothly after I figure out how to do the rear of the car correctly. That's going to take some doing since it's so different from the sedan. As for the louvers, I'd just try to mask 'em out precisely and use a Sharpie! Smoother than paint and easier than making the decals. (I had a 700 Lakewood once, too. I had it for all of a month, and more than tripled my money on the car... Bought it for $300 in mid-1984, sold it for a cool grand!)

A "FoxStang" is a good, low-buck starting point for a race like the "Gumball". Stick a blown small block in it and make a dash for the other coast. (Of course, if you actually want it to LIVE all the way to the other coast, you'll have to make that blown small block a CHEVY! )

Not for me, thank you. I can understand the appeal of the idea, but I have enough on my plate already for me to have to think about something entirely out of my comfort zone. Good luck with your proposal, Alberto. I will be interested in following the progress of the models if this CBP gets off the ground.

It was the similarities to the American "Fuselage" styling of the early 1970's and the Mopar-style rear view mirror that gave me the clue as to what brand it might be. The steering wheel being on the right narrowed down the country of origin. Harry is one of the best guys that I know of as far as manipulating a picture in Photoshop goes, but he plays his games cleanly. He would never flop a photo to put the wheel on the wrong side to intentionally throw us. Good one Harry! It took a ton of searching to get this one. Keep these challenges coming!

Sorry, Dylan. Didn't mean to burst your bubble. Hey, why not jump into the Gumball CBP with your Enzo? While you're at it, check out the "Cannonball" CBP that's going on at the moment too. It's theme is "1962", as in "What would you have run in a no-holds-barred-flat-out-across-the-USA race in 1962"? I'm in that one with a 1960 Plymouth Fury wagon powered by a hemi out of a '57 Chrysler 300. Since yo're in a Ferrari state of mind, how about a 250GT California or maybe even a 250GTO? My "Gumball" car is a mid-engine1966 Corvair powered by a Corvette ZR-1 twincam V-8, with "Vair-ious" other goodies form the 'Vette as well. Great handling, high power-to-weight ratio, room for 2-40 gallon fuel cells, and gearing to make 180-200 mph cruising feasable. I'm out to break the current record of 26 hours, 58 minutes, New York to Los Angeles with this one - hopefully making it in under 24 hours! A 140 mph average will do the trick just fine. An Enzo should be able to manage that kind of speed, but you'd be stopping for gas a lot more often, plus it stands out in a crowd a lot more... watch out for cops!

Mike, that body is nothing short of fabulous!

I have a 1963 Corvair annual that I bought as a glue bomb on eBay that's been sitting on my display shelf until I get around to rebuilding it. The kid who put it together originally glued the little plastic lizard that came with the kit to the front trunk lid of the model. This definitely reminds me of that one!

Hard to say. If I'm counting just the ones that are actively or semi-actively being worked on, it would be about half a dozen. If I include the high-concept ones that I got started and realized that they'd be a lot more work than I envisioned at the start, add in another ten-ish. Now if you REALLY want a bigger number, toss in the Corvair glue bombs that I've disasembled and stripped to prep them for (eventual) rebuilding. Hey, they aren't in the condition they were in when I got them, so I guess they qualify as having been started, right? That would be another THIRTY or so, plus a couple of other glue bombs that I've acquired along the way. Let's say 60 and call it good.

You know what they say, Michael... "THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT"!!! (I'll be sure to save you a plate of barbecue'd "Squirrel Split on a Spit" for when you arrive. It's sure to be very well done by then, even if I have trouble firing up the grill!)

This sounds very similar to the current "Gumball Rally" CBP...

If you go the Pro Mod route, you won't need to find new headlights and taillights. Just fab up some blanking plates and call it good. I think I might just steal the injected straight-6 idea for a fuel altered '66 Nova SS I have in the works. The six-in-a-row injector stacks and six-pack set of zoomies sounds different enough to be a real blast to build... I like off-the-wall stuff like that!

The 1960 Monza was a mid-year introduction, unveiled in February of 1960. It was only available as a Club Coupe at first. Until that time, ALL Corvairs were sedans. The base-model 500 and mid-level 700 got coupes at thaty time too. In 1961, the Monza expanded into the sedan lineup, but the new-for 1961 Lakewood station wagons were available only as 500s and 700s. In 1962, the wagons lost the Lakewood name and their 500s, buit the Monza was now available. The slow-selling wagon was discontinued mid-year to allow room on the production line for the new convertibles. 1960 Monza Club Coupe: 1961 Monza Club Coupe: 1962 Monza Spyder Club Coupe:

To me, restoring a glue bomb is like restoring a 1:1 car, but in my workroom instead of in the garage that I don't have! I find a lot of satisfaction in bringing a rare kit back from the dead. Eventually I'd like to have at least one of every year Corvair annual on my shelf, but the price of the original kits is astronomical. If I can get my hands on a rebuildable glue bomb, even if I have to sacrifice a reissue kit for some of the parts, to put that year annual Corvair on my shelf, I'd much rather do it that way... AMT 1965 Corvair Corsa annual - BEFORE: AMT 1965 Corvair Corsa (converted to a Monza, a replica of my first Corvair ) - AFTER:

Great job! One of my all-time favorite movies, and one of my all-time favorite movie cars... and a terrible waste of a gorgeous '73 Trans Am! Now for a challenge: Find an MPC '73 Caprice annual, convert it to a Bel Air sedan (is there a resin body for this???), and duplicate that car AFTER it's multiple barrel roll on the beach!

Michael, the whole point of this CBP is to build YOUR vision of the car from the song, not what everybody else thinks it should be. You hear "Low Rider" on the radio, you see a '62 T-Bird slammed into the weeds, Fine with me! That's what you build! The idea of this CBP is to share YOUR vision of the song, no matter what anyone else says. By the way, I like the Baby Moons and Gangster Whites too.

I'll have to think about this one. I have a couple of barely started projects that would fit the criteria, but I don't know when I'll be able to get to them with all the other CBP's I'm already committed to...

Closing in on it...

I was a huge fan of "The Rockford Files" back when the show was in it's initial run in the 1970's. As a result, I built my own version of the "Rockford Files" Firebird Esprit several years ago from the AMT kit. Someone came across some pictures I posted of it online late last year and asked if I would sell it to her. It seems she had been looking for a model of a '77 Esprit for a couple of years to give her dad who had one in high school. I didn't want to sell that model but offered to build her a replica of her dad's car basically at cost. This time around I used the Revellogram kit. I found it was easier to convert the AMT kit because of the seperate parts for thew wheel spats and rear spoiler. She liked the result so much that she sent me $50 over what I quoted her!

Christian, you are THE MAN!!! I'll take a case of each of 'em, please. (... But you ought to talk to your inside man at AMT about that '62 Monza coupe kit, since the artwork is of a 1960 model. I've seen typos on kit boxes before, so it wouldn't be the first time! )

Welcome aboard, Richard! You'll like it here. Look around at the various forums, make lots of posts, get to know the regulars, and just basically enjoy the heck out of an extremely fun and educational website. I look forward to seeing your Firebird in the "On The Workbench" forum soon.

Foghat's "Slow Ride" is a tricky one. If you don't pay attention to the lyrics it's easy to assume it's about cruising with your girl but if you actually LISTEN, it's pretty much saying how he wants to get into her pants! ("I'm in the mood - The rhythm is right - Move to the music - We can roll all night") If that brings a car to mind for you, fine and dandy. Hey, maybe you're making out in a car, right? Give me a good reason why you want to do it and I guess I can allow it. Basically, does it bring a certain car solidly to your mind, something you can envision in it's completed form right from the start? "Camaro" by Cyrkle was a promotional record commissioned by General Motors back in 1967 when the Camaro debuted. The General was big on that type of thing in the mid 60's. They would send the disks out to radio stations as promotionals hoping they's get on the air. The most famous of the bunch was "SS-396" by Paul Revere and the Raiders, which got a fair amount of airplay. I have several copies of that 45, since it's flip side is "Corvair Baby"! "SS-396", by Paul Revere and The Raiders: "Corvair Baby", by Paul Revere and the Raiders: [media=]

Hmmm... Roadkill, huh? I guess I'd better reinforce the airdam and put a nice strong screen on the radiator intake!