Tom Geiger

I understand that Johan was pretty much a side business for John H. His main business was contract runs of injected molded parts for the auto industry. Perhaps that explains some of the odd color plastic runs on kits.. pellets left over from a run of arm rests? I also heard that in later years that they Johan line wasn't a full time thing. When things got slow in the main business, he'd ferry a group over to the Johan plant to do busy work.

Yup! OSHA didn't exist until 1971. In the previous 100 years it was 'anything goes'! I've worked mainly for large pharmaceutical companies that go way overboard on procedure and safety, and that's a good thing. Some of the stuff I've seen outside of it is just crazy unsafe!

There's one hobby shop in NJ where each time I go there, the model car section has shrunk again. So I asked the owner why and he said, "Fewer and fewer people are building models anymore!" Guess he hasn't seen the relationship between his shelf shrinking and sales? Yea, nobody builds models anymore, and he's doing his part to make it true!

That's why I avoid Boston Market!

I remember people buying IBM PCs in the $5000-7500 range. I paid $800 for my first digital camera, a Sony Mavica FD83. I just bought a new Canon digital that is light years ahead of that for $60. Time and technology march on.

Hey John, since you mentioned it, mine was the Trail Dust Steakhouse in Denver. Here's the rest of the model. I built this before computer printed graphics. I did the logo on clear decal stock I ran through a Xerox machine.

Darn, we're getting a used storm?

No, the charity had a local used car lot as the drop off center. They put the cars right out on their lot for sale. I drove by a few weeks later and saw it sitting on the front row. You can get some interesting cars and good deals from that lot. My brother in law bought a 1995 Corolla with 60,000 miles on it for $1500. Looked like a little ole lady car.

Here in Eastern PA we are in the calm before the storm. It's just cloudy out and currently 37 degrees. I understand this will drop dramatically and we'll be getting enough snow to stay home from work tomorrow. Argh!

Carl, I just finished BMFing a Chevette. What tiny little lines of foil! Are you cutting the BMF by holding the knife in the air and moving it along the trim? There's a few things I've learned to do to make it steadier. First you want to rest your cutting hand against something for steadiness. A guy in our club who hand painted lettering on models showed us how he steadied his painting hand. He used either a bean bag or a bag of M&Ms as a hand rest. I tried it and it worked like magic since it contours itself to your hand. Second, with the hand steadied on a rest as described above, hold the knife steady and with your left hand move the model body across the knife. I do this one a lot. Also for steadiness and so I can see the blasted thing, sometimes I'm BMFing with the model body against my chest. This all works for me, and I'm pretty good at BMF. Hope it helps! Good luck buddy!

Very cool. I just love builds with a purpose!

I believe it's a 1966. Johan didn't update the body when doing the SC/Rambler kit.

NNL East used to be at the end of March. We always managed to dodge the bullet of snow storm, but there were major blizzards both the weekend before one year, and the weekend after another year. And after the storm, it would be 60 degrees on snow day. When we moved the show to April to work with the new hall, that was one of the positives, we didn't have to worry about that anymore! That one year that there was a blizzard the weekend before us, the local IPMS show got the direct hit. It was being held 15 minutes from my house and I didn't even venture out with 4WD. The hall gave them a free date in the fall and they got to hold the show, with the plaques all with the original date on them. Someone did a figure of a hand coming out snow holding up a model car to commemorate the event.

Very interesting and it doesn't look all that hard to create. I especially like the way the stake pockets are visible in the bed. I have one that I built but didn't know this issue with the kit, but I'll be looking to fix the next one. Casey- look at the bright side of buying multiple copies. Now you have a supply of that great Chevy six!

Old Man: (feebly) I'm not dead! Cart-master: (suprised) What? Old Man: I'm not dead! Cart-master: 'Ere! 'E says 'e's not dead! Man: Yes he is. Old Man: I'm not! Cart-master: 'E isn't? Man: Well... he will be soon-- he's very ill... Old Man: I'm getting better! Man: No you're not, you'll be stone dead in a moment. Cart-master: I can't take 'im like that! It's against regulations! Old Man: I don't want to go on the cart.... Man: Oh, don't be such a baby. Cart-master: I can't take 'im.... Old Man: I feel fine! Man: Well, do us a favor... Cart-master: I can't! Man: Can you hang around a couple of minutes? He won't be long... Cart-master: No, gotta get to Robinson's, they lost nine today. Man: Well, when's your next round? Cart-master: Thursday. Old Man: I think I'll go for a walk.... Man: You're not fooling anyone, you know-- Old Man: I feel happy! I feel happy!

True Jim, there are pros and cons with refinancing. One of the factors is that we don't know how long we will hold onto this house so it's unclear if that will be long enough to realize enough savings to make it worthwhile. I've been reading up, and found that this company doesn't own the loan, they are just the servicing company. And they have a Better Business Bureau rating of "F". The sites I'm reading say that if I can determine who the actual lienholder is, I can request a change in processors. The big risk in a refi is that I could wind up with them as the servicer again. So I'm hoping to get past this bump in the road, set my on-line banking to pay them every 14th and be done with it. And the big laugh.. as I researched them I found out who their parent company is, and it is one that contacted me about a Facility Manager position last summer. Guess I dodged that bullet!

Wow Roger! Thanks for pointing that out. For as many Rancheros as I own I didn't realize the body was that oversized. I know the nose is way too large for the AMT original Falcons.

and my irk of the day... dealing with a specific mortgage company! I usually pay my mortgage through my on-line banking. In December, I decided to pay it on the mortgage company's website. Big mistake. My January statement showed the payment made on time. My February statement showed my January payment made on time. Suddenly I get a letter from them stating that my bank reversed the payment because "I refused it". I call their toll free number and get some screaming Indian woman yelling at me "You no pay your bills!" I go to my bank and they have no record of this transaction at all. My banker and I call the mortgage company together and they admit that they were changing over their computer systems and it was their error, and I should make the missing payment again as soon as I could. So I did. At the same time I notice that they've started to add a $14.95 a month charge under "additional products". I ask and I'm told that I signed up for some bogus homeowner referral service (sounds like an Angie's List type thing). I tell them I didn't sign up to buy anything from them and they give me no satisfaction other than they'll stop the charge that month, but only if I request it in writing. I go to the Internet and there are two full pages on Google links of complaints about this and other consumer fraud caused by this company. I get my March statement and it's full of late fees and interest charges. Then to add to ticking me off, today I get a certified letter from them stating that they are going to foreclose! So they are getting one heck of a letter complete with all the exhibits. I am going to copy the banking regulatory authorities since they have no business in handling government backed mortgages. I'm sure they already have thousands of complaints. Argh! It ticks me off because I've never even had a late payment with them. The stupid stuff that aggravates you and takes up your time for no freekin reason!

Ah, I see Casey just moved one of my posts from a current thread to a year old thread just to illustrate his point.

Back when I was young there was a photo of my sister holding up our family dog so that he was in view. I remember my grandmother exclaiming, "You can see his essentials!" We laughed and my sister and I referred to it as his "essentials" from that day forward.

I can picture some nasty cop ticketing them for improper display of license plate...

I was going to post that the EXP would have been much cooler and sold better as a convertible, but then I realized that Ford did just that selling it as the Mercury Capri, which was an Aussie assembled Escort. Another car that I thought was pretty cool but didn't sell all that well here.

Here's our 1993 Geo Storm. I bought it as my older daughter's first car figuring it would last a year until either she wrecked it or it just died. Good practice car for $1800. Well, it kinda lasted a bit longer. It also became my younger daughter's first car four years later. She drove it a long while too. Then it ran so well that we kept it as a spare car. I'd drive it to work once a week to keep it limber, and anyone who was having their car in the shop would drive it. We wound up keeping it 15 years and I can say, nothing ever went wrong with it, just doing routine maintenance, the heaviest repairs being brakes, an exhaust, struts and a timing belt. In the end, we donated it to charity when we moved to Pennsylvania, as a good running car. We only got rid of it because of the move. I'm actually sorry we did since it was a good little runner and fun to drive. My older daughter with car dressed up for high school graduation in 2002 Same shot with my younger daughter. High school graduation in 2006. We kept the car until 2012.

The bed bottom actually comes out quite easy. Just score the line with the back of your eXacto blade. The fact that it's got four rigid sides makes it easier, since it holds shape well as you work. Then you can just clean up the edges and pop the bottom in higher (for a shallow bed look) to clear any suspension issues. BTW, I will also endorse the '67 Mustang chassis. Remember the Mustang is basically a Falcon, so it should be as near correct as we need. I especially like the under hood structure etc.

My bro-in-law briefly sold cars. He invited some of the salesmen to a barbeque we attended. After they had a few beers they started telling stories about the things they did to people. One guy said that they can confuse a customer and in some cases actually get the trade in for free, There is little markup on new cars these days with everyone knowing the bottom line. But they can make thousands on used cars. There's simply no way a consumer knows what a dealer paid for a used car. I know I've bought cars, shaving thousands off the asking price, and I'm sure they still made money on me!