Tom Geiger

agreed! Ford was ahead of it's time in 1956 by promoting safety as their campaign. The public just wasn't ready for that and sales were poor. Then management noticed that one zone was doing well. That's how Lee got noticed with his "56 for '56" campaign. That was the start of his climb to the top!

and long noses

eBay is full of people who don't realize they aren't making any money!

I had a big bowl of mussels Belgian style at Ron's Original Tavern! One of my favorite dishes at one of my favorite watering holes!

Thanks Bill! I anxiously await my order! I believe I can do the wheel cover scripts with decals.

Betcha the Lego version is more reliable!

Yea Bill! You know I'm dying for that Aussie Valiant!

Back in the 1970s Mother Earth News had plans to convert an Opel GT to an electric car. It used a jet engine starter as the power plant.

Agreed. Houses this old would have cloth covered wiring and tube and knob connections.

I did mine for the 24 Hour Build. I started with a kit a buddy was selling at our club meeting for $5. Pretty much just built it, but added 6 lug wheels. I have a few more of this kit, would like to do the Mitsubishi version too. PLUS, this chassis is nicely detailed and would make a very cool street rod chassis.

babybacks are tasty!

Agreeing with Mike! Take out the old plaster. Even if you get it to look good now, it will continue to crumble. Drywall is the way to go. For the historic aspect, save the original molding and use it over the drywall.

Good to see you back on the board! Though we've never lost touch between Facebook and face to face at shows! Note that there was a lot of the mortgage fraud going on. Google the parties involved, you may find class action suits, or attorneys who have won against them.

Call them up to set up terms. We received a bill higher than that when my wife had heart surgery. Tell them whatever you can afford. Whether it's $50, $100 etc a month. They pretty much will accept it. Then just don't miss a payment. I set ours up for $100 a month and just set it up to pay automatically in my Bill Pay. You can also negotiate for cash. When I was in charge of my mother's bills I settled for half.

Living in New Jersey beach towns the joke was to send someone to the hardware store for "100 feet of shore line".

This one is just great! The paint just pops!

A few other options... it’s very easy to cut a windshield from clear plastic or skip the glass and use some screen instead. I did that on my Valiant stocker

to carry beer

That may be tough to get produced. It's not only the injection molded parts, but a motor, gears, shafts, wiring etc. I don't have this exact kit, but I was going through my Revell large slant six kit and saw all the various bits of hardware that comprised the kit. Major undertaking.

I remember reading that the interest period of casual modelers was something like 18 months in the hobby. So they can reissue kits every two years and they are brand new to the majority of their buyers. As James called us the "rabid 10%ers ", I think we actually are less than 10% . We are the crazies who show up at Star Trek conventions dressed as Mr Spock. The fact that I watch the model shelves in my local Hobby Lobby change over every visit, BUT I don't know a single model person in my area is all telling. And most of those models die cruel deaths at the hands of amateurs! (and that's a good thing, they pay our freight!) Just check out some of the model boards on Facebook and watch them give each other modeling tips... my favorite this week was on paint removal. Some clown's advise was that any of our methods would melt a model car body and the ONLY way was to sand it off! Oh yea!

We live in interesting times. I can see all sides of this discussion. I'm a died in the wool old car guy. I love the feel, the sounds and everything about old cars. But time does march on, and sometimes our opinions of the future are based on the existing within our experience. For instance, for many years people swore that electric vehicles would never trump the internal combustion engine! The cars were small, slow and had a range of less than 100 miles. Tesla enters the market! Suddenly we have an electric sedan that's FASTER than nearly any muscle car! Game changed! I was a naysayer until I actually got to drive a Tesla. My cousin is an early adapter, and had one of the first ones. He put me behind the wheel at a local restaurant. I drove through the 25mph road around the restaurant.... ok, no big deal. Then he told me to go up on the highway. I stopped at the first light and he told me to floor it. OMG! Pinned back in the seats. I hadn't felt that since I drove my buddy's '68 GTO! I was suddenly a convert. I'd like to put all of you guys in that drivers seat and see your take on it. As far as the shortcomings of range, Tesla is working feverishly at improving the batteries. In the meantime, their onboard computer calculates your range and tells you where the charging stations are along your route. My cousin has taken a Tesla from Florida to Michigan, and said the computer found them places to eat meals and the charges took no longer than that. He said there was no inconvenience. Tesla constantly improves their software and updates everything out to the cars overnight. I remember back to when my buddy and I got our first PCs. He was rather stuck in the present. As I talked about streaming whole movies, he held up a phone wire and told me there was only so much room inside that wire. I told him they would find a way to transmit greater data. Guess what happened? He was also quite impressed with his 100 CD changer. I told him that someday the device would download all those CDs to a single hard drive. He couldn't conceive that large a hard drive! Guess what? So my point is, they will figure out shortcomings of our technologies! A couple of years ago I went to a tour of the company PJM Interconnection, who runs the eastern power grid in the USA. They showed their futures, and it involved cars that would automatically charge themselves both by solar and electric transmitted through air waves. They also talked about how all of these cars would be used as small electrical reserves that they could tap during peak times. The system would know your schedule and wouldn't tap your car during your usage periods, only when idle. And ya know, I believe them!

My favorite T-Bird. I'm the original owner too! I've always been a fan of the 55-57 Birds. I'd say the '57 is my favorite year. Let's crowd source a set of three.... IF we were wanting to build all three years in 1/25 scale. Are the bodies and unique features acceptable on all three kits? What would be the best chassis / drivetrain to fit under all of them?

I was told they were working their way into Hobby Lobby..

We had dinner last evening at our new favorite restaurant! Aside from having amazing food they have a really cool theme and decor! They have the most amazing Fish & Chips. This is a meal that's either done very well or very poorly, there is no in between! After getting poor versions of this British classic meal I was Jonesing for a good one! And this place answered that call. Three HUGE pieces of fish with crispy batter. I even told the owner he only needed to give two pieces to satisfy most humans! My wife always orders salmon and she was very happy with her meals. This time we changed it up (which is odd for us!) and we ordered from the daily specials. She had crab cakes and I ordered the shrimp tacos. Both meals were very good! This restaurant is in survival mode due to the archaic Pennsylvania liquor license practices. It seems it takes over a year to do a simple license transfer. This restaurant opened in January without a license. They promised they'd have the credentials and could start serving by April and that hasn't happened. Now they have no idea. So what to do? They can't sell beer and wine, so they give it away! That's right, free beer with your meal! Can't beat that!

My foggy memory... the inserts on interiors were a rayon woven type fabric that didn't wear well at all. It was common for low mile cars to have interiors in tatters. That's why Rayco seat covers were popular!