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Great weathering on your build. You seem to have a way with this style of finishes.

Like the interior. Did much the same thing on an old custom a couple of years ago and it worked out fine. A little extra effort but the results is well worth it.

I store more models as I build them. I have one that is 40" long by 28" high that has a wood frame with a glass top, sides and two doors that has mostly Diecast on display. The rest are displayed in two 3' by 6' high and a 3' by 4' high that have 5 each adjustable shelves. I'm keeping an eye out for another sale at this time.

Firewall looks good to me.

You paint job on the body is better than anything GM did on the Corvette at that time. Nice to see the Hub Caps as they were not often seen at the time but the give a different look to the Corvette. By the way those things weighed more than 5 lbs. each, try balancing that wheel.

I have found that if you listen and pay attention to the wisdom of elders there is a lot to be learned from them. I have found that since I'm pretty gray of beard no one seems to care since I'm just an "old man" so what do I know ? Mike C. makes a good point about listening to old war stories. For myself I always had a different vision of my father and both of my grandfathers. My father was in the Army during WWII. He never said much about the war or anything else about his service until much later in life. My parents were divorced when I was about eight or nine and growing up I spent time mostly living with my mother but with short 1 or 2 year stays with my grandparents and my father and step mother about the time I started high school. When I was in my twenties my mother opened up about what I would call my fathers adventures as a young man. I had always known him as a very conservative and strict person as I was growing up. My parents still respected one another and never said anything bad about the other that I could ever remember. My mother did start to tell me some about their courtship and early married life and I learned a side of my father I would never think of had she not shared with me. My father was a Supply Sargent when they meet and started dating. I think the best way to describe what she told me was that he was like "Radar" in the MASH TV series. Some of these stories were later confirmed by my father as we became more comfortable with each other. So think about it. You get drafted in a world wide war. You have a brand new '41 Chevrolet that you can't afford any longer so you sell it to your head Sargent with the understanding you can still borrow it for leaves. You would return it with a bottle of the Sargent's favorite Scotch under the font seat and a full tank of gas, which you did another trade with the guys at the Motor Pool who wanted some stamps for cigs. Trust me this is so out of the way I had always viewed him it was hard the believe. Many other stories I could tell about that time and that of my grand fathers. The point is I grew up thinking of them in one way and later finding out these guys were really resourceful and cooler than I ever hoped to be.

Very cleanly detailed looking. Great paint , but the attention to all of the little trim is what I first noticed. I have only owned one Type 1, a '67 with the metal sunroof that I made into a Baja Buggy since the right front tire was almost in the front seat when I bought it. I think you have to have owned one to begin to understand what they are about.

Very nice body conversion. The thing about a PD car is that the paint job can change from one town to the next and even from year to year, so just about anything goes there. I think you got the look of a real one here. I did a '50 Olds CHP car a couple of years ago and it was fun to try something different sometimes.

Great looking paint finish and the color looks like a Metal Flake in the photos. From what I can see the interior looks nice as well. Any engine details ?

Beautiful looking paint and I like the color. Ford did offer a color very close to this. I like the clean chrome trim also.

Great idea for the interior. This should look good with the bright Red exterior.

Sorry to see this. You're almost back to squire one on the paint. Just a thought on painting the interior headliner. Usually I'll paint the interior of the model before the exterior. This will include the lower portions of the body that may be seen after assembly along with the engine compartment and the headliner. You can go ahead and finish your exterior sanding and anything else that will not require painting like a coat of primer. After cleaning the model with soap and water and getting ready to start primers and color coats then I'll mask the inside of the body. This will require a lot of carful masking and plenty of tape. The upside is that it is usually easier to touch up the underside than going back over the bodies finish or even having to strip the whole thing.

I agree, nice looking colors. I like the contrast in the interior.

I just watch the local furniture ads for sales. I'll just pick up a book case every now and then.

Both of them are beautiful looking builds.

Great engine and interior detailing. The color helps this sneak under the radar so it looks like a sleeper. The Firebird 400 was a really hot car in it's day right of the showroom floor. The overall look of your build is very realistic,

Very realistic looking finishes. I think the color looks correct, but remember these were commercial type vehicles and would often be painted to match a companies color scheme so it could be almost any color.

I like the extended cab design but any of these would be a great one to build.

Amazing sometimes how good these old engines would run even if the timing is off by that much. Glad you got that fixed before you had to throw any money at it. I like how your blue pickup looked when you got done with it.

My door handle suggestion ios just what you thought. Something that would be little more of an outline just like the handles on the Tesla. Of course no handles at all with the idea of the old "Popper" style door openers might be a consideration as well.

Some kit tires seem to have a more unnatural look than others. A couple of things to consider since not all will apply in every case. I have often let them sit in the purple pond for a bit. I always sand the tire tread since it will often have a seem around the center of the tread and a shinny tread surface doesn't look correct either. When painting to achieve a particular level of sheen on the sidewalls I'll use semi flat or flat clear to get the desired finish. Be careful not to get to much clear on the sidewalls since it can and will crack if you're having a hard time getting the tires on a wheel. Just some ideas.

Beautiful looking finish on the paint and the color gives it a special look. You got the stance nailed on this and the steel wheels with trim rings and the hob cap still looks good. Very clean looking finsh.

Beautiful looking color and paint finish. Always liked that style hood on these .

Glad to see you got your plug wires out of the way. My suggestion was to bring them upward at a 90 degree angle to the distributer cap like the OEM and then back along the upper edge of the heads.

These were great kits at their time and still can make a great looking '40 still. This should qualify as a barn find since it has been sitting since sometime in the last century based of the selling price.