kennb

been spending a lot of time on the motorama cars but did find time to finish the rear end,,,,just needs final touch up and assembly......that will be done later

first colour check,,,,,,,,sanded and ready for final paint and clear

Here is the prototype next to a casting finished......the rest of the kit is going to the caster this week so it will be done soon......very little work other than clean up from casting was needed,,,,,,a coat of primer and colour and clear coat and the body was done.

getting close................fender wells inside from 58 chevy,,,firewall from 57 corvette hood is scratch built,,chassis(not shown yet) is 2 57 corvettes modified and front suspension is from 69 chevelle, seats from 57 corvettes modified.

updates

got this one going again ,,,started over totally and much happier with it,,,,I used 2 56 Impalas for the base.....I would like to try to find a few 55 or 56 excel Pontiacs in any condition to go with it in the motorama display.

for the front yes.....the back can accept 58 impala glass or make your own,,,it is easy to do

PM me for further information

n 1956 Chevy had this car for the motorama,,,,a dream car. This body is complete now and with a 57 corvette donor and some work be finished,,,,,,,shortly there will be the chassis, interior and chrome package to go with it,,,,,,, This is my first car I had cast.....I have a thread on the construction of this car which will be added to as I finalize the interior before it is cast.. You can see the chassis on that thread,,,,,,,you will still need the donor car for the door handles, headlights, engine and any other goodies you want to add,

just received the body castings,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,the blue one,,sorry it is a little fuzzy,,,,little clean up,,warm water wash,,,,1 coat primer with 1 coat color over wet primer,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,totally wrong way to paint,,,,,,,,,,,

Just a great job on this,,,,,looks like the real thing and had me going until I saw the chassis with the car on its side,,,,,,,dont think you would do that to a real one,,,

Finally got some time and inspiration to get back to the Bently and get some colour on it......still have a long ways to go but getting there,,,,,,,,,,,The body, hood, and fenders are final colour,,,,still have the doors to sand and recoat,,,and the chassis,..more coming.

more of the chassis done and the roll cage in,,,,,,,,a different wheel choice too

very nice build,,,,great graphics

body work on the rear quarters is done for now,,,,needs to have final sanding and blocking yet.............

rear suspension is getting close,,,,,the parts need a lot of clean up and detailing ,,,of course. the last one is little fuzzy,,,,,sorry

test assembly of the rear traction rod.................. maybe they will work and maybe not..

the frame work has been done on the back to get the rear suspension to be built,,,,I have included a photo from another build of what I am going to work off,

Went to Hobby Lobby today and picked up a 1/16 scale Dukes Charger to put together before the end of the year,,,,,,of course I will be tricking it out,,,,,,,I need some nice heavy slicks for it tho...I will be dropping it into the weeds and beefing up the engine The biggest problem is the car is too narrow,,,,I have to widen the rear and front fenders out for a total of 1/2" I sliced this pristine body on top of the fenders and inserted a sliver of .40 styrene. That in turn raised the backlight and trunk some,,,I will use some filler to adjust the outside of the fender to level it out. This will permit me to use wide slicks and reduce the frame mods, and it looks tuffer this way

you can print a totally working motor in 1/24th scale if you have the right drawings....................

The location of the car right now is under wraps as too there would be too may wanting to see it.. It is obvious from first glance, this new concept car was something like never seen before from the design studios of Pontiac. It was a large four-place sedan of totally unfamiliar styling. Some say it was “European” in design, and while there is a hint of Ghia styling in the front treatment, that is where the European theme ends. The overall look seems to hint more to an advancement of the Hudson look from years before with the addition of yet-to-be-seen Cadillac Eldorado sloping rear fenders and a ‘58 GM slanted rear roof pillar design. And, what’s with the ‘57 Oldsmobile rear quarter windows? Obviously, this Strato Streak was the amalgamation of a lot of design ideas of what the most futuristic car, viewed in 1954, would entail. Most striking of all, however, were the pillarless doors with the rear ones opening in “suicide” fashion. This was a throwback to at least 1940 with sedan rear opening doors, but updated with the now popular hardtop style. The structural support required by the elimination of the center pillar was made up by frame reinforcement. Weight was reduced by using fiberglass for the body, something still pretty new at this time, only recently gaining fame with the Corvette. This new medium sure sped up the body creation process for the design studios who used to have to hammer metal for entire new concept bodies. This new body stood only 54.5-inches tall and was slightly longer than the new ‘54 Star Chief at 214.3-inches. more later

Arther rented a trailed and loaded the car up and took it to his home outside of Milwaukee. For 2 years he spent time trying to figure out what this car was and researching it. He mailed off pictures to everyone he could think of and finially in 2000 he got a hit from a letter he sent to Hemmings Motor News. They told him it was a motorama car from 1954 called the Pontiac Strato Streak. Suposedly it was reworked and painted red for a later motorama but apparently this was not the case. It was supposedly destroyed in 1958 but that could not be documented. There was also pictures of the same car painted blue. Was there actually 2 different cars then? They told him it was most likely sent to a junk yard to be destroyed but it was known for them to save a lot of these old motorama cars. They sent a copy of the motorama information they had and wished him luck with the car. He now had some confirmation on what the car was since the pictures from the 54 motorama were identical to the car he had in the garage. Did he now have a unknown second car that matched the first one that was reworked and painted red? There is no documentation to this second car but he did have it in his position so that had to be the case, unless the reworked car was actually built from the ground up and a different car altogether. Arther started to carefully photograph the car and the details as he slowly started to restore this relic from GM's hayday. The years slide by as he did more research, now on the internet, and slowey brought this car to a new life. He took his time and the car was slowly reassembled and restored to its former glory. Today we can see the pictures of the restored car next to the original photos he got from the net and the letter from Hemmings Motor News. I will take some time to post a few selected photos from the collection of the restoration process that Arther had of the car. The frame was a built up tube frame with a Pontiac straight eight under the hood which was period correct. This is a fully functioning car unlike some others that were made for shows but not unusual,

Photos are coming forthwith,,,patience

I have come into some files last month from a life long friend in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He said the files were from his cousin that passed away in 2012. The following information was gotten from those files. I will be posting more information from those files in the coming weeks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In 1998 Arther Billings was invited to a relations house in Gary Indiana to look over one of his distant relatives belongings after the old gentleman passed away. The main concern of the family was what to do with an old unidentified car that was in the basement garage. They asked Arther because he was into old cars and they knew Arther would be able to identify it so they could sell it, Arther arrived on a cold February day and went to the house where the car was located. The took him downstairs to the dimly lit garage and uncovered a faded metallic green bodied car, the likes of what Arther had never seen before. The fiberglass body looked like something he had seen before but the trimmings and chrome work defied anything he had knowledge of. It had suicide doors on the back and regular doors on the front. The interior had leather and cloth combination swivel bucket seats like he had on his 76 Monte Carlo. Very strange indeed. It almost looked homemade. The top looked like it was from a 57 Buick or Olds, the front looked like a turned upside down 56 Caddy and had taillights from a 58 Biscayne. The overall look was oddly shaped and the grill looked very weird and awkward. The family showed Arther the information they had which was minimal at best, Nothing more that a handwritten paper that the old man had bought the car at a junkyard in August of 1960 for the sum of $50 for a "fiberglass bodied car from 1954". The junkyard was in the outskirts of Detroit. Arther said he would take the car and determine what it was and pay the family a few hundred dollars for it. They were just delighted just to have the thing out of the house so they could finish getting the estate settled.