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I now have cabin envy not to mention the sweet little '57 Bel Air.

As I mentioned before, this is the cleansing of the gene pool at work.

That's just the cleansing of the gene pool there. You can't fix stupid, but sometimes stupid can fix it's self.

That would be another good idea when trying to make a model as realistic as possible, in fact I'm going to try and remember that idea.

I guess so. I don't think I ever saw that one.

Oh no ! You did lay down some masking I hope.

Could be some people don't enjoy yard maintenance especially racking leaves. The tree trimming around power lines is understandable. I love trees, you could even call me a "tree hugger" and I would not he offended at all. But why people plant trees where they will obviously grow and interfere with power lines escapes my understanding. Clear cutting a stand of beautiful old growth trees is a sin in my mind. Beyond the beauty of the trees themselves and the birds that they support, just think about the purification of the very air we breath. The cooling benefits from the shade in the summers and the deflection of the winds around your home are just a bonus to the beauty that they bring to any setting. I would be in contact with the city officials that control things that home owners can and can't do with their property. I don't know that there is any rules concerning how many tree you can remove from your yard, but many cities do require that you have what they often call a "City Tree". This is usually a planting between your home and the street. Most cities realize the importance and benefits of having trees in and around a city. Most cities consider a persons back yard to do with as they please even if includes alienating the neighborhood. I would be calling about the noise every time they are disturbing the peace. Maybe even an empty adult beverage container or two in their front yard wouldn't be out of the question, but then you become no better than them.

I'm a recovering Little Debbie aholic so I guess that answers that.

Kurt, I think you already know how I feel about this build, I can't say enough. Anyone who looks at this has to go to the build site to fully appreciate this build.

007, really ? I don't think "Jimmy B" would be found dead in a Ford.

Great looking Mercury kit plus the Barn Find. My Mercury story has to do with a customer who had a new '65. He was a customer in a station I worked at for a short time. He was a partner in a Dry Cleaning company close by. Every now and then he would come in for gas and be driving a different car for a few weeks. I never thought about it to much since I thought he would have other cars to drive. After a couple of these times I started to notice the while always looking clean the sides of the car started to look wavy to me. Then I noticed under the hood he had primer and body color overspray. The sides started to show obvious signs of body filler and fresh paint. I never asked but this thing was getting repaired about ones a month.

The paint turned out great. I like the way you trimmed this with the black accents.

Beautiful looking color and finish, hope you didn't leave any over spray in dear old Dad's garage. Nicely done engine. I think this model of Mustang looks better the way you did it without any stripes and such to take away from the body lines.

Even with all the problems you described the finished model looks great.

Welcome to the Forum. You have an impressive collection going here. Nice shelving units also.

I really like the color and even remember seeing several like this when new. Great looking showroom model.

Great looking paint and finish. You can see every florescent light you used reflected in the finish. The engine area looks dead on. Very nice interior.

This is so beautiful on so many levels. The attention to the absolutely showroom appearance is perfect.

I like the rear suspension on this . Your body looks nice and straight.

Your front seats already look 100% better than the kit's. Your mentioned a Tri Power setup. A few years ago I built an AMT '62 Catalina and wanted a Tri Power. I used the setup from the AMT '64 GTO Hardtop and it looked the part and fit just fine. This even gave me the three small chrome air cleaners. From your picture it looks like the Chassis just drops in except for the front frame horns.

I would leave them as is in the photo. this will draw attention to the changes you have done, plus driver and passenger head rests are usually set at different heights anyway.

The top engine option for the '55 Chevrolet was the 265 cu.in. V8 with a single 4 barrel carb. The 3 speed manual was standard and Overdrive was an option. Beyond that you could get the 2 speed Power Glide automatic. The back seat delete car you're thinking of would have been a 150 series model with no bodyside trim, a fixed rear side windows, a passenger side fold down sun visor would have been an extra cost option along with a heater or a radio. The Bell Telephone Company along with many other fleets used these and they were not as uncommon as you might think. Most were equipped with the base 6 cylinder and a 3 speed. As to how the normal gearhead would order a new '55? First, just what is normal ? Many people had many different ideas and wants and this also varied widely depending on not just where you were living but sometimes what part of town where you were living. If it fit the budget most would opt for the Bel Air in a hardtop, but convertibles were also very popular. Many that I remember seeing were the 210 model 2 door sedans. The exterior had the rear portion of the Bel Air trim minus the front fender trim. Basic interior with a rubber floor covering. There was an optional Del Ray interior that in my mind actually looked better than the Bel Air, but that's just my opinion. Any of the drive trains were available in this and the Bel Air models. As for the "Day Two options" the duel quads didn't appear until the '56 model year, but I'm sure there were a few that ordered "dealer kits" to retro fit by late '55. The Mag Wheels of the day were usually just that, Magnesium and not suitable for street use and extremely expensive and found mostly on race cars. Chrome Wheels were just starting to be used but again there was a cost factor. Most had had black, and some red, painted wheels and hub caps were ware you would make your styling statement for wheels. Headers were not as common nor readily available as today. The most common exhaust upgrade would start with the Corvette "Rams Horn" exhaust manifolds that offered far better flow than whit was used on the '55 and '56 Chevrolet 265 engine. Even adding duel exhaust was an improvement and seemed to be the first thing to do. There were exhaust shops every wear you looked. Most were just a center post lift out of an old gas station and a guy with a torch and a pipe bender. Vic Edelbrock Sr. started offering 3 - 2 setups and hotter Cams almost from the start. There were other Cam Grinders that were also offering many options and a Cam Swap was a good way to spend the day. Tires? Mostly a larger size on the rear and white walls were pretty common. Some recappers were using spacers in their molds to create a wider recapped tires. Casler and Ingelwood being a names I remember the most. The slicks of the day for a street car usually had to have a couple of groves in the tread to satisfy local laws regarding tire tread. Later some offered recaps with an "Indy" tread pattern. These were popular since the tread made them look like the tires used on Indy Cars of the day. As for your prototype Business Coupe, I'm sure you could get the 180 hp. 265 cu.in. 4 barrel V8 with a 3 speed and 4:11 gears from the factory. I would add the OD to make up for the 411's if I wanted to go any distance and get any gas mileage at all, but then again this is plastic so that isn't as big of a concern.

I like your mods. on this. I have the exact same kit and did much the same as you did here some time ago. I used some Mothers wax on the body and foil on the trim. Painted the six pack gold like Coors of old and the hard hat. The Camper Shell is a little clunky looking but that was the way they were. This one still makes a great looking shelf sitter.

Great idea for the body damage. The interior mods look just like the real thing. I still shudder to think how many perfectly good Chargers were sacrificed for the TV series.

I understand about the Honey Do Lists. Since my wife has been working from home , like you the list just keeps growing. She sees me trying to work on my models and asks if this is what I do all day ? I'm retired so I do have an advantage with that, but women in general can't stand to see a man not doing their bidding.