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I used Calnaga's complete conversion with the Jet Drive. One of the finest set of castings I've ever used. The colors are based on a ski boat I had years ago and I did a matching '66 Chevelle Wagon to tow the boat. The deck is as found in the kit. The deck has a slight rise going toward the cockpit and has a slight crease on both sides as if it could be used as an anchor for one a black smoked wind deflectors. I was going to try and build one but went on to something else and left it as is. The kits trailer wench is out of scale and doesn't go together well. I did add some diamond plate steps on the trailer since the steps in the kit didn't look good to me.

Well when you get to it please post your build. I personally like the bright Orange color, but not the whole kit in Orange plastic. I would think to change color or do something with the interior your going to need a lot of primer there.

Nothing wrong with rattle cans in my mind, I use them on more than 50 % of my builds. Usually with good prep work and heating the cans a little I have been happy with the outcome.

I worked at Home Motors Chevrolet in Santa Maria from '74 till '80 when I went to Kimball Chevrolet & Mercedes in SLO City for a short time. I went to Toyota of Santa Maria after the owner of Home Motors bought that store. In '83 I went to the Monterey Auto Plaza in Monterey. I sure miss the great food and all the other fun things to do in that area.

He has some beautiful looking boat builds. This is one I built a few years ago based on the same kit.

Interesting how they're now mixing the numbers and letters around. The cost doesn't look like any more than what I was paying for my personalized plates years ago.

Any additions or changes to the kit ?

I have watched you massage this body for a time, and it really looks great. The fade Paint job is beautiful. Love the Chromed Engine room.

Major body work. and it looks beautiful. I agree with the others on the method that you used on chopping the top.

Very nice paint work.

I like the scoop, looks very close to the windshield. What are your plans for the orange Camaro in the back ground ?

Great looking paint finish.

Ya !! Kansas is open for business. I'm printing my 40 % coupons for Monday.

I didn't pickup on the Pathfinder connection until others pointed out the tail lights which aren't visible in the first picture. You also mention the California license plates. I'm not sure of the time frame of when you were a resident there but you mention the blue plates with the yellow numbers. My personal residency was from '53 to '57 and '62 till '96. You are correct about the plates staying with the vehicle as it changed owners, the interesting part there is that the new owner didn't have to pay renewal fees or Property Taxes as it is called in many other states until they were due again. One of the main reasons for the blue plates was based on the number of cars and trucks on the road. The old three letter and three number system was reaching its limit. In the past when the color changed the old plates were removed and you would get a new number for your car with the new color scheme. When they started issuing the blue plates it was with the idea that they would start the numbering all over again but with the intent to start using 7 digits as the number of vehicles increased and save the cost of a complete plate change. When they went to the white plates with the sunrise on the top and red California lettering they just kept issuing new numbers and the old blue plates stayed in circulation. Some time in the '80's they dropped the sunrise and started just plan red California across the top, much like some US Government license plate. Then they started the theme plates with palm trees and whales and such. I had already left by the time they started letting people reregister old yellow or black license plates with a little tag mounted on the top. I understand that at one time they were even going to issue new black or yellow plates for older collector type vehicles, I'm sure at a premium price.

The paint job and color look real nice. When I built my White one to replicate the SS we had I cheated. Since the kits plastic is Black I just masked off the parts that would be Black and then painted the body White Primer and then White gloss. Just a reminder when it comes to installing the rear quarter glass. This is when GM started to transition to flush mounted windows. All of the windows except the quarter windows mount from the inside in the normal manor and the other two you want to mount from the outside of the body.

Great looking paint and colors.

This would be the base model Pontiac. As for year model the grill is the give away. The '54 Pontiac grill would show up on almost any Ford or Mercury Kustom back in the day. That style of California License Plate was used from 1956 until the Black Plates were issued in 1963. So this has to be a photo taken before 1963. At that time everyone just turned in their old plates when the new colored plates were issued.

I built several of these back when I was still in school. I always thought that the engine was based on the old flathead Chrysler engine for some reason. The V8 engine was just sort of the top end perched on a pedestal on the inside of the haul. You couldn't see anything below anyway.

I used the AMT kit to make a model of my convertible many years ago. The hardest part removing the roof for me was supporting the windshield frame while cutting. I folded a piece of light weight card board to support the frame. The C pillar is just a straight forward cut with know issues. I would suggest leaving that for the last cut as it will add a little support to keep the roof section from moving around so much when you are cutting the front portion of the roof away from the windshield frame. The rear seat already has the filler on the sides for where the folding top arms would go. I had an old cover from I think the '65 AMT GTO that I made work for the folded top. As an aside I saved the top that I removed, and over twenty years later made a Mainliner Hardtop out of the Revell tudoor kit. That's another story for another time. I hope this information can be of some help with your build.

I just got back from my regular hobby shop and was informed that the Model Master paints are now discontinued and all he had was maybe a dozen cans of different colors left and that would be the end of it.

Very nice looking engine. Did that come out of the AMT 3 in 1 Boat kit or the Lindberg Century ?

That has a shock absorber mounted above the control arms. The front suspension from one of the late model Mustang kits with the McPherson Strut suspension might be a good option and also would give you a newer engine to work with. Besides the cost one of the reasons Ford used that style of front suspension was the lack of space. With the way the inner fenders are designed this might be the easiest way to upgrade the front suspension. The change to unequal length upper and lower control arms with a coil spring and a shock absorber in-between you start running out of room quickly.

Very realistic looking hinges.

My all time favorite was a few years ago. I needed some Tamiya Finish compound and there was non to be found around here. I went to Amazon and they showed they had a few and I think it was around ten dollar or less with no shipping to me. I said send it. As the first week went by it turned out the polish wasn't in the US, it was in Japan but it was on the way. The next update had it in Singapore but it was still on it's way. I don't even remember the next two stops, but when it showed up here in my mail box it had close to twenty dollars in stamps on the front. Then Amazon apologized for the wait and credited my account back for the purchase and gave my 20 % off my next purchase. I don't understand how they can make any money on small sales unless they pick it up on volume. I.E. loose money on every transaction.

This kit was reissued earlier this year. I haven't actually seen the parts, and held off buying it but only because of some here who Po Po'd it. I would like to also build this or some other later model Chris Craft. While living on the west coast for many years I had gone to an event at Lake Tahoe that is for wooden boats. Anyone with any interest at all and is anywhere near their when they hold the show should attend. That said I have also seen several some good coverages on YouTube also and that wouldn't cost you anything.