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Thanks for the convertible top info. That's a lot of work but it looks great.

Looks like some great kits. Your Christmas Briefs made me laugh. In the states one of the big under ware manufactures has a TV ad about who you should and who you shouldn't give Briefs to for Christmas. I guess you would have to see it to understand.

My wife and I just got back from seeing the new Ron Howard movie about Moby Dick, Into The Middle of the Sea or something like that. Very amazing, what can you say, it's Ron Howard so you know it will be good.

Thank you for the info on the wheels. I just happen to have two of those kits sitting next to my work bench. Good thing they don't bite. I actually like the color of the primer you're using. I'm interested in how the "flip flop" paint turns out.

That is a great kit and you should have a fun build. Can you tell me where you sourced the dished slot mags ? I need a set of staggered off set slots for a model I'm working on right now. I'm building a model of the '67 El Camino I bought new and added this style of wheel and Good Year Polyglass tires.

Your modifications really bring this model to life. You mentioned needing a back drop of some sand dunes. I used to live in Pismo Beach California. The area has a lot of beach recreation including a larger sand dune area. You might try and Google that area and it might lead you to something that you could use.

Great looking builds. A question on the '58 Impala. Is it based on the Revell or AMT kit, and the convertible top source ? I have always wanted to build a model of one of my old friends '58 Impala convertible but have been unable to find a convertible top.

My experience with Bare Metal Foil is that the "New and Improved" would look very close. Since it's not right up against the kit's chrome I don't think you would notice any difference. If you have some foil you might try some on a scrape and hold it next to the side molding and see what you think.

Great interior, looking forward to seeing the rest of your build.

Very nice and it looks like you found a one of the early kits with opening doors.

In the mid '60's Buick dealers were in need of a compact car and they sold the Opel GT which in deed looked somewhat like a Corvette on a dark night, and about a block away. They also offered a compact coupe and a two door wagon for a time.

Very cool build. I went back and reviewed everything you did with this build. I learned many new build techniques that I can see using in the future. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

I stand corrected ! As Bill pointed out on the matter of the rear bumper on the A/G car, I now believe it did in fact have the license plate mounted on the trunk lid and had bumper guards. I did a Google search on the cars of American Graffiti and using only the clips from the movie and not all of the other photos shown. It seems that there have been many clones of this car and it is easy to get lost in it all. It was an interesting search all the same. There is even a YouTube clip of a person who now claims ownership of the TLB car and it now has a very glossy Black paint job. The point I was trying to make to Greg ( remember the guy wanting to build the model?) was that the kit would need some modifications to the front gravel pan if he was not going to have a front bumper and that the kit also had the option of smooth bumpers if that was a direction he was thinking. Now that we've dug all the fly s@#% out of the pepper maybe we should all let Greg get on with his own vision of this '55.

you're right about the Camaro for your son. Be sure to look for rust in all the usual places and under the front and rear window especially as that seems to be one of the first places they go even in dry climates. The Edsel looks like it might be in good shape, if someone would just show it some love. The 4X4 looks like it could be a '58 or later. If the hood has a big dip thru the center and you have four headlights then it would be a '58 or newer body. This all looks like a great find for someone looking for a real project to work on. Is that a square eyed Jeep behind the Camaro ? It looks nice and shiny anyway. It looks like a Mercury Cougar next to the Jeep, if you like Fords that might be another thought for your son.

If you're going to go with the hood only opening, you might look at the A/G movie cars. while I'm not 100% sure on this I think that one of the changes from A/G too TLB was the tilt front end and the A/G car didn't have a hood scoop either. The engine and transmission look great.

The '69 C-10 and the "55 Apache 4x4 sound interesting. The Edsel is definitely an acquired taste for sure. I would check with as many reliable sources as you can on the Camaro. As I understand it there are many people that are very good at recreating a Motion Camaros out of a standard old Camaro.

Sounds like that could be a good idea.

A lot of great ideas here. For myself I purchased two book shelve units several years ago. They were inexpensive real wood cabinets that a furniture store had on sale. They are 6 ft. high and 3 ft. wide and 1 ft. deep with five adjustable shelves. I use the bottom two shelves for reference materials. I painted the shelves and the back a light off white to not make it so dark when displaying my models.

As mike mentioned, the AMT Street Machine would make your best starting point. In addition to the removal of the body side moldings you will need to create new rear wheel openings. You could use the tires you are using as a guide as to how big an opening you want. Also on the front flip nose you could look at different hinges used in other models or see what you can create on your own. If you notice the front gravel pan (between the grill and the front bumper) on the 1:1 is the way it would look without the bumper. On this kit AMT has a rather large drop that would not be on a real car. I think they were thinking that that would help support the front bumper on the model. You might want to trim it to match the photos of the real car. This model offers two bumper options and provides the '55 station wagon style rear bumper without the bumper guards. This is what I believe is on the model you're trying to create. This way you can have the trunk lid smooth and the license plate mounted on the bumper, a common modification at the time. You might try and look at the movie American Graffiti. This '55 was the one driven by Harrison Ford in that movie. As I understand the only major change was to install a big block Chevy in place of the small block used in Tow Lane Blacktop.

I have not been able to look inside the box, but what I noticed was they were showing that they were including some new style Wide Whites and some new Blue Streaks. That should solve any tire issues.

The last time I saw these on the shelf at the hobby store they were like $30.00 plus. You got the deal of the century.

Like just about everyone else on the forum I'll follow your build. Still laughing about the spoons. What a great idea.

In this episode they use a numbers matching (which means it still has the "born with" drive train) '68 Corvette. It is a T-Top 435 h p 427 cu in 4 speed that is black on black and would be very easy to restore. In stead of finding even a base 350 automatic to make their Hot Wheels car, they destroy, no they commit a sacrilege, on the afore mentioned Corvette. What they do is cool and the car becomes everything they said it would be, it just seems unexplainable why they would spend $35k on this car instead of finding a basic car for around $10k - $12k since they were replacing almost everything any way. As time has gone by this program has started to go the way of so many good programs that start out with a basic good story line that each season has moved further and further into the absurd. While I still watch it, only if there is nothing else on or I'll wait for the reruns. The car does look great and I may even buy the Hot Wheel went it comes out just because.

Slicing up the body seems like a lot of extra work and it also opens up the possibility of the lose of structural integrity of the body. I know others have done similar body modes, but with the tops minimal attachment points it will need all the support you can give it. Maybe just chop the top on the new donor and then modify the body as needed.

The interior turned out perfect.