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Great save. Shows how much building styles have changed thru the years.

You have a great start here and very accurate looking. Just a word of warning, you may find it moved the NASCAR section of the Forum.

The red windows would have to be your call. I like the Mercury grill and front roll pan on the light blue El Camino. The Fuel Injection small block looks good in the white one. I little known fact on the Fuel Injection was that Chevrolet did in fact offer that engine as an option in both '58 and '59. The cost of the option was greater than the top of the line 3x2 348 cu in engine so the record of how many were built is very few. Were any ever put in an El Camino ? I don't think so but it would have been possible, so maybe this could be a showroom F.I. El Camino ?

I really like the theme of your build. You mention the "tread" on the Good Year tires, and I think that at that time the SCCA racers were required to have some sort of "tread" on their tires but nothing like what a street car would have had. I noticed what looks like some Minilight wheels in the back ground and they were also somewhat common in that era. The five spoke Americans like the ones you are using and appear in the picture of the Kaplan car were the most common. In the late '60's I worked for the Union Oil Company in southern California and one of my duties was to help at the fuel station at the old Riverside Raceway. This put me up close to many of these cars. The thing that always struck me was the purely low dollar racers that were racing their personal cars with the added safety equipment. I remember guys showing up with showroom fresh '68 and '69 Z28 Camaros with full interiors and listening to the radio. They didn't stand a chance with the big teams but they were enjoying themselves. Nice to see you paying tribute to the SCCA style of racing.

I was just getting to like the gritty look of the red oxide primer, and then you come along with a timely tutone color combo. Nice colors, are you going to have exhaust stains on the exterior or stay with the clean look ?

Going the new direction on the front suspension is a far better idea. Great job on the inner fenders and bed.

I'd be putting a Ford small block in it just like they did years ago when they were just inexpensive used cars.

Amazing save . If you didn't know much about the details of the early Corvair you might not even notice the nonstock parts. The rear bumper actually looks better than the original to my eye. I see what you mean about the headlights being slightly out of proportion, but with the suggested black wash I think you would hardly notice. The paint work looks great also.

This really turned out great. I like the color, what is that anyway ? Too bad there is no way to display an engine in the back. The wheels also look perfect on this.

Very sinister looking, and I like that. The 3x2 carb swap was fairly common in the late '60's and early '70's. In 1970 I bought a used 3x2 carb. setup to replace the ailing 4 barrel on my '67 396 El Camino. The local speed shop had 4 setups to choose from. Paid less for the intake to air cleaner incl. linkage than what a new 4 barrel would of cost. The Corvette guys were all going to one very large Holly 4 barrel and these setups were everywhere cheap. As an aside if it should matter to you, think about swapping your license plates front to back. California put the renewal stickers only on the rear license plate. Great looking build.

I used to live in Sacramento Ca. There is a very interesting Rail Road Museum in the Old Sac. portion of the city. They have an indoor display with many different engines and passenger cars plus an old Postal Car that you can walk thru. If anyone has any interest in trains and is in the area it would be well worth the visit. The area also has some great restaurants and is along the Sacramento River. There are many aspects of living in California that I miss, but I'm still glad we moved years ago.

Very clean looking build.

Looks perfect. I was going to mention the optional wheels as you pointed out. I remember when these were a common sight on the road and I think the color was called Firethorn or something like that. Take real good care of your 1:1 as these were good cars.

Beautiful looking Caddy. If you hadn't pointed out this was a coupe to begin with you would never know it. All of the trim and the interior looks just like the 1:1.

You're off to a good start on this build. A thought on the front suspension challenges. Look at how the 1:1 Ford trucks with the twin I beams where lowered.. The ends of the spindles were extended in much the same manor as the early I beam front axels.

I think your conversion looks great. I like the bucket seat interior. Sorry, I'm allergic to cats so no photo here.

Very clean looking build and I like the theme. I don't remember anyone using the Canadian grill for a long time. The '56 always looked good with the Mercury tail lights. Great job on the engine, I wouldn't worry about the headers. As for the column shift, Fords didn't have the linkage issues that Chevrolet experienced at that time and they could be "power shifted" with no problems.

I like the 6 cylinder engine. Are you thinking of using the side draft carbs. from the early Corvette kits or maybe even the cross flow head and injectors from the AMT '51 Chevy kit ?

I see your point about the value. I was looking at the pictures of the kit and thinking purely from a building aspect with no particular attachment to the subject. I can understand if the subject was something that had a great deal of meaning to someone.

You are not alone with your FedEx problems. Mine was many years ago and since the way they handled the problem back then I still don't use them for anything even today.

A couple of months ago I heard that they had some great sale prices on their kits. I got a few kits that I could use for parts and such in the $14.00 to $17.00 range. On some of them they even would take the 40% off coupon. The few that I have seen lately are back in the $28.00 plus range. They are sort of putting themselves out of the model business with their pricing policies.

Depending on which online seller you use they will often have a relationship with a local tire store where they will have the tires delivered and the tire store will mouint and balance the new tires at a set rate. I have done this using The Tire Rack before and it worked well. The fact that your tires were still on your door step is amazing no matter where you live anymore. Just a side thought on that, the local PD's in my area have been using decoy packages to catch "Porch Pirates" around here.

I like the kit's subject, but for what it is it seems very pricey. I guess it all depends on how much you like this body style. The kit it's self remind me of a '50's era AMT kit in it's design.

A roof design that never has been seen on a model that I know of. This design was very practical. The large rear window allowed a good un obstructive view to the rear and the roof overhang kept the hot sun off of the rear seat passengers.

If you want to be a little different in the theme department, maybe a delivery vehicle for a business. I would go with a Speed Shop for the livery but that's just me.