MojaveRacer208

Very cool thread, to old Falcon and Ford guys like Keith and me!

Wayyy cool Andy! The only problem I see with where you're going is that the "spare idler pulley" on the left front of the block which you have deleted in favor of the generator...is the left water pump. This will leave the left bank of cylinders running more than a little hot! The idler next to the distributor and the blower snout is pointless with the generator where it is, but the water pump and the generator fight a bit over drive belts. BTW...the double groove pulleys on the water pumps are an old hot rodders trick. Passenger cars only had single groove pulleys on the water pumps, but trucks had double groove pulleys. I suppose they felt this improved the assurance that the water pumps would turn under heavy duty use.

Yes, the coupe and the GT1 seen in the background of the cobra pics. Sweet GT2 though! The original equipment tires for the Cobra are the same as in the 32 Ford kits and the 60s Corvette racers (Owens-Corning, Penske...). They originally had "Goodyear Bluestreak" markings, but Goodyear got stupid and threw away the free advertising. They could have simply sent a letter acknowledging the advertising, but they would rather demand $$ or a cessation of that free advertising. Like cutting off your nose when a little tissue would have fixed it...

I learned that "biscuitbuilder" is Mr. Anderson last nite as I looked through a number of other threads. I'd like to make it up there to the NNL West sometime, just as I suppose you would like to make it down here for an SCTA meet at El Mirage Dry Lake...

Love this roadster Bill! One thing i've been wondering since I 1st saw this thread...Where did you get the 27 roadster shell? Is it by any chance by Tim Boyd? The subject has come up in another thread recently...(like today) The Offy motor is very cool. In 1:1 scale, an old buddy of mine was building a blown Offy for his roadster. It was based on an ex-Indy 1970s Turbo motor he got without the turbo. The cam and other details of the engine should work pretty well with a rootes blower. Unfortunately, he passed away before he finished it. I don't think his son will ever finish it or any of the rest of his dad's projects, but he's definitely NOT parting with any of it. I like the Edmunds nose on there. It suits it well. The front axle looks like an R&D Unique kit.

Lovin' it Cal! Next, Let's see some more of that coupe and the 911 GT1! Or if you already have them posted, could you link us?

You are, of course correct. I had that thought of the Ala Kart as I was typing, but later remembered it was not really correct. Barris cobbled it together. Rather well too, I must say, although I never was a "Kustom" guy. The cab (less the "scoop" shape on the cowl from the hood) looks great and I bought one of the re-issues to use it for a hot rod. A "27 pickup" is what I have in mind, possibly even putting a vacuform rear cab wall together with a 27 touring cowl and front doors...?

Very Cool! The biggest gap in the list of car models never done in kit is the 27 Ford roadster. The touring, pickup (Ala Kart cab) and even a fire engine have been done, but a roadster has not, although intention to make it has been announced a couple times. I think Tim Boyd does one in resin though and someone else does a drag roadster with the fenders, but that one is like a funny car. The coupe hasn't been done either, but it isn't too popular with rodders. I just today saw a cool drawing of a 27 coupe as a rod though.

Oy! It's an Oz-Rod mate! Love it Frank. The T-bird appears to be an early 60s 390 with 3-dueces. My older brother built a 36 coupe kit with the chopped 3-window roof on it in the early 60s. It got crushed beyond repair in a big earthquale in '71. I might have to order one of those Flintstone bodies one of these days.

Well Clay, the AMT 62 Vette kit started out as the annual issue of the 61 Vette, based on the promo tools for GM. Car models weren't so cool then. The Penske Vette is a 66 with independent rear suspension. For a vastly better C1 Corvette chassis, try the AMT 60 Vette which is currently available. It was originally an MPC kit 1st issued in the late 60s. It not only has good detail, it originally came with metal coil springs for the front suspension. I can't guarantee the current issue has them, but.... I intend to pick up one of the current issues to put the chassis under an AMT 62 body to build a replica of the car SCCA raced by a family friend in the early 60s. Richard PS: I DID have to get through trying to figure out what you meant "corvette's body got messed up after being painted, sand storm in the desert with the garage door open"...I am unaware of any desert in the Carolinas where your avatar says you are...Mebbe you were stationed at 29 Palms recently? I DO live in the Mojave Desert and it WAS windy today. I was setting up to start sandblasting my Baja Bug to prep it for paint this morning when the wind kicked up and started sandblasting ME! I decided it might be better another day...LOL

Looks excellent! I have one of the clear body versions of this kit, but haven't started it yet (I would be happy to trade it for an opaque-body version). What problems did you have in applying the Tamiya paint? Did you prime 1st? I hate painting gloss-type silver too! I have a couple of Porsche 904s which have frustrated me to the point of setting them aside for quite a while. Flat silvers seem to go on beautifully though. Richard

Ummm...yeah Dave, I acknowledged Darin's correction of that mistake at 7:30 this morning in post #25... And Ron...would you care to demonstrate your CPR techniques? ;~)>

And Darin...I would LOVE that Track Roadster. My older brotherr who has the 55 currently drives an S2000. A buddy of mine has an off road buggy with a 370hp Acura NSX engine. It's very hard on gearboxes.

Darin, you are right about the ZR-1...oops, but thank you European, not Japanese, but basically the same point. And that point Dirk (and all), is that while it is fine and good to be proud of what you and yours produce, it is also good to be realistic about where things actually come from. In the modern world of automobiles, the "Domestic vs. Import" view is totally unrealistic. I am poud to be an American and I love American Muscle cars. But I am aware that America is a part of the world, and I love "foreign" cars as well. My father raced Hot Rods, track roadsters, dry lakes, Midgets and stock cars in the late 40s. In 1952, he had a new VW Bug with an modified engine which made nearly as much horsepower as a new full size Chevy of the day, in a car which weighed less than 1/2. My parents met at and I grew up around sports car road racing. I was in company with people like Carroll Shelby and Dick Guldstrand. But my older brother drag raced a 64 Plymouth Max Wedge, then had a 55 Chevy 210 with a Corvette 327 (which he still has) that would carry the front wheels, and a 68 Nova with a similar engine. I was born right off of and lived near the famous cruise spot Van Nuys Blvd. In 1970 when NASCAR decided that the supercars Detroit was producing in limited numbers were not really production cars, there were 2 Superbirds, 3 Daytonas, 2 Talledegas and a Cyclone Spoiler within 1 mile of my home and daily driven. I lived within earshot of San Fernando Dragstrip. We had a GT350 then a Tiger road race cars in our garage next to the 55. My dad's daily driver then was a 50 Belair "Sleeper" with a 62 Corvette fuelie drivetrain and suspension. Later I worked nights at a gas station in a wealthy area near one end of the world famous Mulholland Drive. People who raced there would stop in for gas and to meet up before racing. The guys with modified high-dollar Ferraris and Porsches all complained of a car they couldn't beat on that twisty section of mountain road. Then one night while a group was in the station talking, this famous car showed up...it was a 68 Bug with a 2180cc, dual Webers and wide tires! I had turned down the guy's offer to sell it to me 2 weeks before...for $1,500! I already had built my own VW Baja Bug with an 1835 engine and a single Weber. My co-worker had a sweet 65 Mustang with a built 289, which he drag raced regularly. He ran about 14.1 as he drove it on the street. He constantly made fun of my VW which he felt had NO chance racing against his Mustang. One night we raced after work. I didn't beat him, but stayed nose to nose...no winner. He never made fun of my Bug again. And Dirk, long before Duntov worked on Corvettes, he worked for Ford, including a stint with Ford of England. He then went out on his own and developed an overhead valve Hemi head conversion for the Ford Flathead V8 known as the Ardun (ARkus DUNtov). He then went to work for Chrysler and developed the Chrysler Hemi before going to Chevy. All of this education helped me understand that fast cars are fast cars, no matter who made them. And cars which the factory never intended to be fast could very well be turned into little rocket ships. I have brand preferences in cars, but don't write off any other.

I don't think she needs to worry about you tellin' how young she is Thomas. Many of us have wives who lie that they are nearly as young as your wife actually is! My wife Pat has been fairly supportive of my hobbies through our 25 years of marriage. My hobbies include involvement in 1:1 scale motorsports as well as models. On our second date, she looked at the photos in my wallet. The front picture I explained as being my "1st wife". It showed not a woman, but my off road race buggy. I told her then of my passion for motorsports and that while she may some day drag me away from motorsports, she could never take motorsports out of me, and if our relationship was going any further, she would have to accept this. Later that year, she offered cash to pay to repair my broken race car. I was beginning to suspect she was a keeper. The year after we married, I won a championship with her in the pits helping out. I got my wife started on making porcelain dolls so she would have her own hobby. She took that to several ribbons in competitions, including a Blue Ribbon at the LA County Fair, and the pleasure of seeing a young girl tell her mom to get that poor real baby out of the display case with the dolls (pointing at my wife's doll)! While I have around 1,200 unbuilt model car kits, they cost around $10 each. My wife has quite a few unpainted and unfired porcelain dolls ("greenware") which cost from $100 to $400 each. I haven't raced my own car for many years now, though I have raced recently in someone else's Baja this past year. I have made a living on and off for the last 22 years building race cars and Hot Rods for others. I also attend many race events each year of a few different types. At off road races I sometimes work as an official, for which I get paid. Building model cars has also paid me wages before and gotten me jobs in the plastics industry including at Mattel. I recently consulted for the developers of a model kit (non-car) which will soon hit distribution. So my hobbies have also been my career. Pat doesn't attend as many events as she used to, but she still goes sometimes. There have been times she has told me to get rid of the models I "don't do anything with", but I remind her of her inventory...and such noises quiet down...She has half the hobby room anyway, and stuff all over the living room and dining room as well, which are areas my activities never venture into. Her overflow occupies substantial space in the garage as well, and these days, the poor "1st Wife" lives outdoors under a cover. All in all...I'm keepin her.

I was distracted while writing this previous post and upon returning the 1st thought which had come to mind got missed. Maybe you think of fast American cars like a 96 Corvette ZR-1, built in Kentucky (not far from the Toyota plant which had already built my Toyota truck). It came with one of the most powerful V8s Chevrolet ever put in Corvettes. It had an aluminum block and dual overhead cams...all designed and built by... Yamaha!!! And since you are from a state which is heavy into farming...you might want to check out some of that traditional American farm equipment like...say...Massey Ferguson tractors... A British company... There is a guy I see occasionally in the morning who has a late-model Chevy truck pasted all over with pro-American and pro-union stickers. One big sign across the back window of his cab says "Buy American". He obviously doesn't know that his truck was built in Mexico by a company founded by and bearing the name of a French-Swiss immigrant. I would love to tell him all of this sometime. Like Mr Metallic, I'm not trying to start a fight...just pointing out some information which might help you and others see the big picture.

I guess you are just a little short on education in that regard then...so maybe we can shed a little friendly light on it for you. 1st, the term "import": Do you mean like a Chevy Pickup truck with a "USA1" license plate on the front? The Chevy which was assembled in Mexico out of parts made all over the world (including China) by the company General Motors which made trucks (Opel) for the Nazi army during World War 2? Or maybe you mean my Toyota pickup which was built in Kentucky by American union workers out of parts over 85% made in America by American union worlers (This is because of US federal automobile import regulations) using quality standards and policies taught to them by Ford Motor Co.? "Import" and "domestic" are terms which have LONG outlived their usefulness. 2nd, "Tuners": Maybe you have confused "tuners" with "lowriders"? Tuners by definition are shops which modify production cars to make them faster. The term started in Europe with shops that specialised in BMWs and Porsches, fast cars to start with. Lowriders are lowered for looks and rarely modified to improve speed. For true lowriders, slow is better than fast. If you don't think "tuners" are fast cars, try racing that 5.7 liter Chevy Monte Carlo SS in your avatar against a local 1.8 liter tuner Honda Civic sometime. My old next door neighbor several years ago raced his drag race modified Monte SS against the Pizza delivery kid's Civic and got his doors blown off. As a guy who likes Fords, the Nissan motor in the Mustang bothered me. But so does a 32 Ford with a small blob Chevy. But a 32 Ford with a 4 liter Hemi V8 out of a Toyota Crown Limo...that's a Hot Rod! The bottom line is going fast by whatever means are at your disposal!

Sweet! Both James and Cal. James, the black roll bar suggests you are building a race car. Are you using the windscreen or the full windshield? But then you flocked the floor, so maybe not? The wash on the engine really brings out the details. I notice from your shots that the flange on the valve covers looks awful thick. I hadn't noticed that on mine. Now I need to dig them out to check if they are the same. Easy to fix with a file tho'. Is there some particular reason you are not using the airbox around the carb? The hood scoop is worthless without the airbox to keep high pressure air around the carb. "Aluminum" heads too huh? The tonneau snaps look great up close. Cal, which way are you building yours? Street or race? I see the tonneau cover on it. Like the touch on the passenger floor. These brought up a memory of the mid 70s when a friend was kicking himself for having decided to NOT buy a 427 Cobra when he came home from 'Nam in '67. He was at the dealer with his wife with the cash (somewhere a little over $6,000) to buy one, but decided that a Cobra would be a poor investment and they should be practical. He and his wife had bought a house for $25,000 just before he got drafted. At the time in the 70s, they had just sold the house for just over $50,000 and bought another for $60,000. We were looking at a magazine article which talked of Cobras being worth somewhere over $50,000 at the time. The Cobra turned out to be a much better investment!

Here is another couple of shots in these links from the IMSA race at Road America 1981. http://www.pbase.com/mwphoto/image/58639012 and... http://www.pbase.com/mwphoto/image/23799331 Richard

By the way, I have one of those rare MGB racer kits in my inventory. Plan is to build an American style road racer of the late 60s to early 70s, such as that raced by Kas Kastner, Jim Dittemore and Lee Mueller or Joe Huffaker. It will have a low plexi windscreen replacing the windshield, wider rims on the Minilites with wider tires, roll bar, racing seat, chin spoiler, engine under the hood (no curbside for me), and may have fender flares. I need competition for my Porsche 356 and BRE Datsuns. Richard

The best use for an MGB, Midget, Sprite, Spitfire, XKE, TR3, 4, etc.... is to build a race car out of them! If you want to have trouble on the road, if you want to break down all the time, if you want hydraulic fluid on your shoes, if you want oil on your driveway and garage floor, if you like dealing with constant electrical problems, if you like to pay exhorbitant prices for common replacemet parts....then by all means, drive a British sports car on the road! When my parents met at a sports car race, my dad was driving a Singer Mk9. They belonged to the Singer Owners Club until it disbanded. I grew up around road racing and sports cars. When I was a kid, we had a slot car track next to the Singer 1500 race car in the garage. The 1st race car I ever worked on was a pair of brand new Lotus 11s getting their electricals completely replaced by my father. I spent my time cleaning and polishing wire wheels. As I look out my window right now from my desk, I see a rubber bumper Midget sitting in the yard across the way, forlorn and not driven for close to 20 years. I have a friend who has a Midget in his living room, prepped for racing with roll bar, racing seat, flares, Minilites, racing tires, race engine, dual Webers ... but unused other than as a curio. I think an MGB with all running gear from a Toyota Celica would be a nice car! Or a Midget with running gear from a Corolla GTS AE86...of course, one would need to replace the hydraulics and electrics as well. Richard

Orale Man! you may not be from East LA, but you sure seem to understand these low riders. Are the white (?) patterns on gold in the center Hawaiian characters? Awesome hand work in all those lines and shapes. I am into racers, not low rider cars, but in San Fernando where I grew up, they were all around me and I have helped some friends work on theirs, so I can appreciate the effort that goes into them. Also a couple of my friends, Armando Flores and Josue Gonzales were at the forefront of bringing low riders to the mainstream of model cars with models which won Model of the Year Championships and features in SA Contest Annuals in the 90s.

Cool. Group 5 racers rate high in my book. I have one of these kits on the shelf waiting its turn. It looks good. But which paint did you use? Looks like Tamiya white primer. Did you use the TS-12 Orange? Richard