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I agree with RandyC on this build and the suggestion on the foil work. Nice to see a model of a car that just doesn't get the love it should.

Amazing condition considering the age of the build. Your model looks like it was built recently and is built to a very high standard for sure.

Great looking build. I also like your paint treatment. When this model Of Ford was current many would personalize their cars with something very similar to what you have done. The area of the body around the wheel openings are raised and would often be painted the secondary body color, in your case the white color. The rear wheel openings only were the most popular treatment. Your paint work looks nice and smooth. The opening doors are difficult to get to operate properly using only the kit's parts.

I remember seeing a '61 Pontiac Ventura hardtop at a local car show that was this color with a white painted roof. The interior was original and was a combination of shades of the body color. This is one of those colors that actually looks better in person than in a photograph. An amazing side story on this car. The car was sold new in San Luis Obispo California at Kimball Motors. Neither I or the present owned know how it got to the Kansas City area. I have tried to reconnect with the owner to give him something that I think should be with the car. He still had the Kimball Motors license plate frames on the car. In 1980 I happened to be the sales manager at Kimball Motors. As it so happens I found a dealer advertising Key Fob that we would put the customers car keys on when we sold a car. I have wanted to give it to him as I think that would be a better place than at the bottom of my deck drawer.

Great idea on making the door handles. I'll be using that when building something with this type of door handle, would also work well for a custom style build also.

I like how you have done the chassis and interior.

Most hobby shops that carry Plastruct products will also offer sheets of thin clear plastic that you could cut to size. Next time you go shopping look closely at the packaging used. The clear plastic on these packages are often thin enough to be used with a little heating and bending. My personal favorite is the thin plastic that is used around the neck of men's dress shirts. This stuff bends easily and doesn't kink and get the line in the plastic where it's bent.

Good idea. I'll have to remember that if I ever come across a discarded boom box. I find it interesting how as a modeler you look at things in a different light as to how you can use that item in a model in someway. My wife doesn't through out anything without asking me first if I can use it. I have even gone into partially complete houses (with permission) After the electricians are thru looking for scraps of wire. Amazing how much wire these guys leave laying around on the floor that will be swept up and thrown away.

This is a great use of an otherwise useless body part. Very realistic especially when hooked up to the pick up. I have seen 1:1 rigs like this in camp grounds before.

I like the look of the bed.

Besides the firewall addition I notice a convertible boot on one of the trees. This would open up another way to build this kit as a convertible.

GM offered some tone on tone color shades for their interiors at that time. Maybe use the body color and a slightly darker or lighter shade of green. While black interiors were pretty common then as now it just doesn't look as interesting.

I have always wondered what that color would look like, not enough to buy it but now I might.

Looks great with a well detailed engine room. Would be nice if the pictures could be resized to better appreciate your build.

Very impressive looking build. Did you have any issues with this ? I have one also and would like to get to it someday soon.

This is going to be fun to watch.

We moved to Kansas in the summer of '96. I think it is safe to say this is area not the hot bed of automotive manufacture testing. Prior to that I lived in both southern and northern California for over 30 years. You soon forget just how different the automotive landscape really is between the two different areas.

I like it a lot. I didn't even notice the wheel base issue until I read the suggestion, and they a right about the proportions. TarheelRick suggested narrowing the C pillar. Doing that would not be that involved compared to the work you have already done. Looking at the top this may even solve the appearance of the wheel base. You could reduce the length of the deck between the open bed and the rear window. Just need to leave enough room in the cab area for a 1/25th driver not to hit the back of their head on the rear window. Maybe a look at how Ford did the Ranchero and Chevrolet did the El Camino to give you a good idea of the proportions. Please stick with this as it looks very much like something Ford could have done. The only thing I see as an issue might be the bed floor. Not a lot you can do about the differential kick up in the floor since it has to do with the thinness of the body and you do have to clear the differential. Maybe a stepped bed, lower behind the differential an then level going forward from there. Very cool looking conversion.

Another good source for the OEM wheels would be the Charger kits. I built a model of a '10 Charger RT AWD that we used to own. That car and the kit wheels appear correct of an 18" wheel. The spokes look just like your wheels except for one area on the spoke. Your OEM wheels look to have a notch on the side of the spoke that isn't on the real or model Charger.

The kit's tires could be cleaned up and then use BFG decals to get the same effect.

I didn't even notice the license plate, my bad. Your correct this could very well be a future model undergoing testing. With some of the testing facilities that most manufactures have in the western part of the country does make one wonder why this is out in the public. unless they're wanting some attention for their product, it's not like this wouldn't kind of stand out in traffic.

We have a local auto window tint place that also does wraps to change colors or add logos from company vehicles. This wouldn't be hard for them to do. As you pointed out this cars is in the showrooms now. Could just be someone feeding their ego since most of the manufactures prefer to do their testing in more remote areas away from preying eyes.

You should have left them a note saying your sorry you missed them but, and here is were you insert the name of another Donut Shop near by, They were able to get you how ever many dozen donuts sounds good to you to make them feel bad.

I like the '50's style custom. The body work is seamless and all of the body lines flow smoothly. Great paint work. I also like how you resisted going wild with the channel and chop.