kennb

About 3 months ago I got an e-mail from someone that saw me on FB. He mentioned that he had some information that I might like. Guess it is getting around that I like one old cars. The name did not ring and immediate bells so I read on and followed up with an email. His grandfather was a designer for Grahm-Paige /Humpmobile/Cord-Auburn. Huh?????yes they are all related and their designs in the 40's could all be called generic across lines designs. I did not understand this until i started doing more research on the net and looking at the products from all those companies. These where all cars that were far ahead of their time in design and construction and where, by my thoughts, some of the most interesting and beautiful cars made during that time period. Not opposed to going out on a limb and pushing the envelope of art deco design. If you have any interest just do some image searches for that time period. The Grahm-Paige with its shark nose design the looked just plain mean and tough, don't mess with me attitude. Then the Hollywood convertible which could be classed as a sports car produced in the US before the Corvette or T-Bird. But I have gone off the track of this post. The e-mail was from Hamilton Paige, grandson of the Paige from the car maker. He had a few sketches he thought I might be able to transfer to a scale model of a car that Grahm-Paige had in the fire before the war but never was able to transfer to a prototype. I looked at the sketches he had and was amazed at what I saw. Long,low, fluid in design with all the meanness and bulk of the shark nose sedans. This was no ordinary sedan though, It was more European in design. The lights neatly concealed in the bodywork,,,,no running boards or any hint of them. The overall design was smooth, slick,and looked like it was moving standing still. Chrome was dripping off the front grill work and side moldings tied the entire seamless body into one coherent bulbous form the spoke only one word. SPEED. the entire body was one piece and was to be aluminum, far from the norm of the day. There were other notes that Hamilton passed on to me about the mechanics. Under the long smooth hood a V-16 dbl overhead valve engine driven by 8 carbs and a blower like used on the Cord, this was to be linked to the then experimental 6 gear box and,,,,, a two speed end. The rear end provides for an addition six gears for what reason I have no clue. He projected the top speed to be approaching 180 MPH. Hamilton and I have exchanged dozens of e-mails in the past few months and with his help I have something that is getting close to the designs on the page from his first e-mail. He keeps making adjustments here and there like he has the car sitting in front of him,,,,,,I have a model started for this car and a few photos are below. This is a new master.

i have never cast anything of this size before and misjudged the amount of material I needed and came up sort so had to punt...but I did get a working mold,,,,,If i can get more material I will do a new one but this will do for right now. this is the first pull....since the master was solid i have to make a slush mold. I like how it came out. it is a little thin along the bottom but I knew that when I pulled it....more interested in how it came out at this point.

thank you

I have the body pretty much done,,,,,need to work on the grille and the drivers side and add the moldings yet.

have the 46 roughed out now,,,,,,,,getting close to be Bondoed and finished.

I am starting a series of 16th scale Mercury's for my niece and her hubby. Since they do not make one I and building them from scratch. I glued up some rigid foam to the rough shape and the started cutting and sanding, this is going to be the plug that will be covered in bondo and then finished off. I will rough out the entire shape and then with the bondo do the final shaping will be done and painted. Then I will do a mold and resin casting, This will provide the basis for 3 bodies, the coupe, the convertible and the sportsman.

the window frames had no work done on them. they are left as they came from the manufacturer, I will strip it all down and redo it then.

a of of them have been converted to an automatic with a Detroit Diesel. HERE IS MORE ON THE BUS the olds is 24th scale to compare size

I am modifying an engine from a Kenny w-900

you just had to pick up on that ......i have to take the lens off and refit it to the bezel,so it points out and not down,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,

I build in 16th scale and I build my wish list. Mostly 50"s GM, Ford, and Dodge........I also have amassed a collection of molds to build any engine I need for them, I have made 57 and 55 Chevy's into Buick's, Oldsmobile's, Fords ect..... I find it very satisfying to build what I like instead of just what it there. Most of the conversions are really simple and believable......something most people that have modified any kit can do.

lol

My niece is into 46 Mercs and has several of them,,,,,she asked me to build the series of 6 body styles,,,,,this is the start of the first one,,,,a coupe. They will be totally scratch built. This the chassis on the chassis bench Start of roughing out the body

it is built from a Brad Leisure drawing.......little different take

Some years ago I took a trip over to Flint Michigan chasing down some stories I heard and wanted to see how true they were. I went to see an old guy that used to work in Fords design department in the middle fifties. His name was Frank Osborn.The have a exploritiry group that worked on possible new cars that hopefully were going to be incuded in the 1957 lineup for Mercury, Know we know that Mercury was just a few years behind Ford in coming up with new models like the Cougar that took off after Muatang and based on the same platform. Luckily I did find who I was looking for and he invited me in for coffee and reminessing about his days at Ford. Frank was there from 1949 to 1964 and had worked in the designs for the Thunderbird and Mustang. His many stroies about how they worked on the cars and the mock-ups were a great insight as to how it worked in his department, He talked about how Henry the II ,,,,better known to them as Hank the Duece,,,,,would come in and rant and rave over this project or that. One of Hanks pet projects had the code name of Zeuss, with in the Mercury division of Ford. The had taken a look at how well Thunderbird was doing and thought that a Mercury of that size would do well also. This was early 1956 when they started working on drawing and mockups of what they w could do with the same platform and sub body framing. This ment to make it economical and could be run on the same line but with different sheet metal. A common practice back then. Hank would come in everyday and see the work being done and then make comments on haw to fix this or change that driving them all into a frenzie the rest of the day, Frank then went to the other room and came back with a folder filled with photos of what they were doing. If he had these in the fifties he would have been fired but he saved them from destruction just before he left Ford and retired in 1964. He opened it up and showed me some amazing cars that were never released to the public in any way, Some were very far fetched and very strange even for that time period. My eyes fell on one photo,,,,,handwritten on the back was "project Zeuss". below that was the signature of Henry II. I took out a notebook and made some fast sketches and notes about this car. It was the same size and proportions of the 57 Thunderbird but looked very oddly like the Mercury Turnpike Cruiser,Frank explained that this was to be part of the new lineup for 57 but at the last minute Hank said it would be delayed for a while. It was too much of a risk and did not want to hurt the Thunderbird sales. The new market that was emerging in the late fifties was changing and with the 58 Edsel on the way they wanted to push the new brand name. Hank canned it and all the work was boxed up and the mock-ups were destroyed. Frank was able to locate and salvage the only known photo of the Zeuss but he would not let me have it.

modified 55 Nomad..............scratch built bumpers,grille, trim, taillights, ect

update with some interior work

this is an easy one except I am not 100% on the year...........................

Dan...i have just loved looking at your work for years....totally gorgeous.......your skill in the medium is top notch.

additional photo update