Modelmartin

Very cool! I remember that from the cover of Car Craft magazine back in early 70s. I like what you have done very much!

The Gunze kit was the best 250 SWB. It wasn't 100% but much better than all of the others. Funny story - The Aurora Ferrari GTO started out as a 250 SWB but before it hit production a last minute change was ordered to make it a GTO. That is why the proportions of it are so odd It has the SWB chassis!

I did one. I turned it into a pro/mod and Jimmy Flintstone produces copies of them. here is one on Ebay now. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pacer-ProMod-NHRA-Drag-Resin-Body-Kit-1-25-Flintstone-/221009870592?pt=Model_Kit_US&hash=item337536ff00

I hear you, Harry! I love it when people can't differentiate between the three "theres"! "They're leaving their model cars there". There! That there is how they're used!! The " Your, you're, yore" issue is a good one also. And then there is lose and loose! And hear and here. And those cool cars that they make into gassers are Willys, named after John North Willys - NOT Willy's! If anyone is wondering I am a spelling, usage and grammar Nazi! My punctuation is not perfect so I can't claim to be a punctuation Nazi!

Faux Noise!

This is always a popular topic! I had a few clapped out muscle cars in the 70s when the garden variety ones were cheap. I had a 63 Impala SS with a 283, 4 speed, buckets, 66 Chevelle SS 327 and 70 Chevelle SS 396. They were all needing lots of work and who wants to store them for 30-40 years until they become valuable? I had a good friend who had a Boss 429 Mustang which he paid $2000. for. He kept it about 6 months and sold it for the same! He also had a Cougar Eliminator 428 SCJ, 4 spd which he sold to buy a new Ford 4wd pickup! I passed on the 60 Cad Convert beside a gas station for $200. It was complete and worthwhile but it was heavy and slow! I knew one fellow who knew what he was doing. Larry Nicklin of Fort Wayne , IN. over the years bought and sold many collector cars. In the late 50s he bought one of the Ferrari Mexico coupes for $3500. Big coin for that time but the car must have been about $12,000 or so in 1952 when it was new. He kept it about 10 years and sold it for about $4500. In the late 70s one of the other Mexico coupes (only 3 were built) came up for sale in an ad in Road & Track. Larry bought it for $80,000.!!!! It sold at auction last year for over $5,000,000. Larry knew exactly what he was doing and had the means to do it at the time.

Hey Junior, You saw right!! One of our club members from way, way back by the name of Mark Doroff scratchbuilt the garbage truck and someone from AMT bought it off him to use as a display prototype for the kit. Too bad it never came to fruition!

That guy needs to be reported to the ASPCA. American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Automobiles!

I did this when I was 15 back in 1972. I didn't cut or stretch the roof. I just layed the windshield back and shortened the rear window. It isn't the greatest chop but it worked out OK. I won my age group (13-17) at the MPC contest at the St. Paul ISCA show. I still have the model. The candy Jade Green with Pactra Gold flake over it has alligatored.

The steering wheel is the drive sprocket for the manure spreader chains which are on the floor. The body and tail apparatus is the rest of the manure spreader! The taillight housing appears to be a chicken feeder. I don't know if the saw blade dash is DOT approved, though! Love the pitchfork seat backs topped by the horse hitching crossbar. It looks like the rear seat backs are the legs of old treadle sewing machines. If you can't ID the seat bottoms then you must be a bear! The radiator shell is off a Minneapolis Moline tractor which were manufactured in South Minneapolis about 4 miles from where I live. Currently on the same site is a Target store! It looks well screwed together but of course I must ask the perenniel question - WHY?

I have been going to IPMS and various NNL and model contests for over 30 years now. When IPMSers see real workmanship on cars they recognize it. They live in fear of having to apply a gloss paint job! I have seen plenty of stucco paint jobs on F4 and other aircraft. I have seen dioramas that look like grade school class projects. I have seen aircraft so breathtakingly good that I can not believe it. I have later seen the same models at the Smithsonian Air & Space on display!!! The range of quality is massively wide on both sides of the subject wars. Even though the Aircraft, armor, ship, figure builders strive for accuracy they do use a lot of creativity to represent their subjects. I reject the argument that car builders are more creative. I can't think of anything more dull than just applying the same set of parts to a car to make it a pro/street/touring or lead sled, gasser, etc. There are creative types and dullards on both sides! There are some really boring customs and rods out there and some pretty exciting pieces of armor. I think there are tons of goodies available to model car builders. It is an embarassment of riches in my opinion. For those who have been building since the '60s you know what I am talking about. I want to know if there is even one builder out there who has finished all his projects and can't build anymore until new goodies are released!!! One member referred to the fact that car builders need to buy the aftermarket stuff for the market to expand. I have personally experienced the lack of market support for these products. Car builders are tightwads generally. I have had people clamor for a project while in development and then when it is released it totally fails in the market. My Corvette SS was a perfect example of that.

Oh Ya! She's a cutie, that little bug. (In a sing-song Minnesota accent).

Those were my models at Toledo! Guido is in Capetown, South Africa and is completely out of model cars at this point. Here are some pics of my built models anyway Broadspeed and the Countryman wagon. The Minisprint - chopped and sectioned! All three resin conversions together. My next one will be the pickup. I have all of Guido's conversions and hope to finish them all, too! After this is the panel, the Riley Elf, and the smooth side wagon. I didn't get the Clubman. It is too ugly for me!

Something about the U.P. does that to people who stay there too long!

I noticed that issue when I was modifying the chassis. The car is actually sectioned in addition to being chopped! I just sectioned the engine block! I had to do the same thing with the Minisprint body too. Maybe you can grind the head down AND the bottom of the valve cover? How about a hood scoop? Are you interested in some vac-form windows for this car? I made up epoxy putty forms and can run a pair off for you if you can PM me your address.

Hey Curt, I always love your projects. You pick the coolest, offbeat but very interesting projects and then execute them so well. keep up the great work!

Seriously! Who checks the firing order on a model? I built one model years ago with the firing order correct and nobody noticed!

A friend has one of those engines in a firetruck and it is pretty cool. The only unique parts to it are the block, crank, cam, and oilpan. It has two intake manifolds, distributors, air filters, etc.

They could be ordered in any color you wanted. They did have some standrad colors but like any true classic car they were built to order. Your color choice is not only beautiful but it is totally correct then!

There have been huge number of really good looking cars built since 1973. I do miss hardtops but then we all miss touring cars and convertible sedans. I think the market has more to say about that then the manufacturers or government regs.

You dig those little guys, don't ya!

That type of razor-edge styling has been seen in English coachwork since the late 30s usually on Rolls Royces.

Wow! Art spent money!!!

What does a sadist do to a masochist? Nothing.

Harry you need to be pun-ished. But I am afraid you would not be pun-itent.