Modelmartin

What I really noticed is that the interior was not compromised on the 09. Everything was shoved into the interior on the 59 and don't you love how the A pillar went away. I am sure the engine and trans were pushed in there too. For transportation purposes I would never drive one of those old crocks. As an automobile the 2009 is better in every measurable way. The subjective ( styling) is a different story. I think it is a decent looking car. It is an apples and oranges thing, though. Collecting and restoring one of those old crocks is something else entirely. I always liked '59 Chevs. I would love a '59 Camino or an Impala HT!! And I wouldn't mind commuting in the '09!

That is really cool looking. I love the wheels. VW has been doing stuff like that for a while. The SMVW (super mileage) got something like 1200 MPG with a 90 pound woman driving it with basically a deisel big enough for an R/C plane! The ARVW (aerodynamic research) was a little more serious. It went well over 200 MPH and got something like 25 MPG at the time, It got crazy good mileage under 150 MPH!

Yup!

HMMMMM.

Ringo took over all of the ITC tooling and kits. If you look under ITC you wll have better luck.

Touchy are we? The car Aaron posted is not a FIAT. I stated that and I was right so I guess I know something, dude! In fact I do know a lot. Certainly not everything, but I do have a broad range of knowledge of automotive history. FIATs have been around forever and were not always a small car. They built some awesome LSR cars back around 1910 give or take a few years. It doesn't surprise me that some have been street-rodded. Aaron says I have it almost right. Is it a Willys-Knight? It also resembles some late 20s Hudson-Essex cars but the moldings around the windows are different.

I have no idea if my guess is right but some of you guys are way off!!! Jaguar didn't exist back then. Well they did but they were called Swallow and just made motorcycle sidecars. Ford or Lincoln -NO! Dodge- No! Nash - not! Fiat -hardly. Aaron?...........Aaron?

The Stude-benz is very appropriate because Studebaker was the Mercedes distributor for a bit in the 50s!! I like the droop-nose Matador. Were you thinking NASCAR Homolgation special?

Late 20s -early 30s Willys? The radiator shell and hood look like it. The headlights don't match the car. They look like teens or early 20s.

HUH! The car in the article I posted IS a 500K Special Roadster. The webpage you gave the link for says right on it that it is a 500K Cabriolet A. Those are Mercedes built coachwork and designations. Jo-han did 2 versions of the 500K. One was a Special Roadster (exactly like the one in the article) and the other was a Special Coupe. Again those are both Mercedes coachwork and designations. The well known Monogram kit is a later model Cabriolet A. The Testors/Italieri kit is a Cabriolet B. The Heller is a later model Special Roadster. There were quite a number of non-Mercedes coachbuilt cars made too. There were even a couple of 4 door 540K built in England - one by Freestone and Webb. For the Germans, limousine is just their word for the English word sedan or enclosed car. It is used on everything from Beetles to 4-door sedans and coupes. By the way Mercedes used the Cabriolet designation all the way to letter F on the 770K "Grosser" Limousines. Some of those were 7 passenger convertible sedans. They are quite spectacular....and really, really heavy. What also leads to much confusion is the many kinds of hood sides that were used on the 500 and 540K cars. Some were simple louvered ones, some were elaborate with grilles on them. Fenders were quite variable too. The depth of skirting, moldings around edges, and huge variations in running boards. Even though Mercedes built many of these cars, they were still a custom order type deal and people ordered all kinds of changes on them from the factory. Interiors, bumpers, spare tires and covers, etc. etc. It took me a little bit to get a handle on all of these designations and make a little sense of all the variations.

Polishing is just reworking the surface of the paint and does not leave any residue after you wash it off. It is probably better to decal over a polished surface. There is less chance of silvering under the clear film. I never wax my models. I am satisfied with my polished finishes.

Well, I looked through all my stuff and I had everything but the 500K special coupe in my files!! However here is a good article on the 500k special roadster that Jo-han also produced. This particular car is in the Mercedes Benz Museum near Stuttgart. One tip on the Jo-han kits - cut down the rear springs to lower the ride height. It sits up much too high to look right. Otherwise it is an amazing quality kit. Try to get an older release with the "Gold Cup" on the box-art. The molds were in much better shape then. If you want better scans just PM me with your e-mail and I will send them your way. I have a lot of other reference for 500 and 540K Including the Italieri/Testors Cabriolet B and the Heller 540K Special roadster. If I do find anything on the 500K coupe I will post it here.

That's not it. That's a Cabriolet A. The Jo-Han is a Spezial Coupe. I will go through my refernce and post some pics tomorrow.

I have admired your work for some time and this is no exception. Bravissimo!!! Thank you for sharing it with us.

Theoretically, sure, but tell dumb Ol Me how to make hydrogen without buying it or some expensive equipment to make it, that needs power to make it, and likely will need servicing and repair. If hydrogen does become the fuel of choice you KNOW that someone will make a pile of dough off of it. I'm just saying.

Be careful because "Big Oil" might transform into "Big Hydrogen" or " Big Water"

Honda has a fuel cell powered car in production NOW. They are leasing them in LA area because that is the only place that does have hydrogen filling stations. They are taking a hit on each car but are planning on the cost going down as the technology and manufacturing is refined and economies of scale kick in. Hydrogen is the fuel and water is the engine's by product. You can't run it on water any more than you could with a gas engine. Art is right that this is just a bunch of rhetoric (in other words BS). Like any of us on this forum will impact the future!!

But who was lobbying for deregulation for years and spending hundreds of millions of dollars made off of your money(deposits and fees) to get their industry deregulated? You make it sound like the Government was an irresponsible parent who wasn't minding the kids when they went and robbed a liquor store! There is a bit of truth in that but it was more like 70 year old parents and 50 year old kids!! I agree that the banking industry(and many others, too) should not have been deregulated. Historically, greed has always done in people no matter when, where and how and the greater the potential pile of loot the more audacious the scope and plan. We sure went on a tangent on this one! As far as the tailgate goes, I would say ask first and respect the wishes of the owner of the clunker whether it is still in the owner's or dealer's hands. As someone said, it does not belong to the "Gummint".

I'm with you on this one. It seems that the banks were plenty willing to make shaky deals with anyone who walked in the door and whispered sweet little nothings in their ear without having been"forced"by the "Gummint"!!

It is easier to control pollution at one large site than hundreds of thousands of small sites(i.e. cars). That is the advantage from electric and fuel cell vehicles.

Huh! GM paid the bill for the EV1. They likely cancelled it because they beat the clean air regs in court. That happened during Bush administration. They did build a CNG version, too.

I would point out two things here. 1) The oil industries only "proves" reserves out for a certain number of years. That is why there are always "only" 30 years of proven reserves. It would not make any sense to prove out reserves any further. The tar sands in Canada are estimated (not proven) to have 500 years of oil but at a greater costs than the light sweet crude that practically jumps out of the ground in the mideast. 2) We have bases in Kuwait. They , the U.A.E. and Iraq are officially our allies. Even Saddam was our boy in the 80s. Friend or foe is a highly changeable thing in this world.

Dude! I'm not even on your lawn!!

You must be so proud!!

I didn't like the cash for clunkers for many reasons. It rewarded previous "anti-social" behaviour i.e. buying a gas guzzler. My biggest objection is that it rewarded people who can afford a new car anyway. I can't! I subsidised someone better off than myself to buy a new car!! That is rotten. There was no option to trade for a used car!!! The program also removed a lot of affordable if still gas-guzzling vehicles from the used car market further penalising less affluent people. As far as Foreign makes being the most popular makes traded for, there are a lot of American workers, vendors and suppliers that are happy about that!