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I watched this build and it turned out fantastic. As for side view mirrors some people may not realize that they were not required until 1966. They were optional equipment before that. New cars usually don't have license plates until they are registered, and you have MS ? Man I hope my build looks this good and I've only been told I'm nuts.

The "nose" still looks a little high. This is a common problem with this kit. The grill surround sits to high and needs to be trimmed where it meets the front fenders. I fought this on both of the ones I built even using the stock grill.

A thought on the white painted inserts, This was a common tutone paint treatment on the 210 model Chevrolet. I owned a 210 hardtop many many years ago, the side trim that the Bel Airs had was a brushed aluminum with the gold Bel Air wording. The 210 did not have the brushed aluminum trim and was usually painted to match the top color. If you wanted to change your model to depict a 210 you could sand the ribbing in the insert smooth and use chrome trim instead of gold on all other trim like the grill and front fender "gills" and hood and trunk trim. One other trim change if you want to make it a 210 is the chrome spear on top of the rear fins are shorter on the 210 than on the Bel Air. For your dash trim you might try some aluminum silver paint. On the 1:1 the dash trim was brushed aluminum with a black wash to show the bow tie emblems that were embossed in the aluminum trim.

Great looking subject, as others have pointed out there are several items you're going to want to address. One thought on the front suspension, since you already raided the SSR kit for the engine you might think about using the front suspension also. If you have any other coil spring suspension system in you spare parts box you could use that also. Just as the Pro Touring trucks in 1:1 use independent front suspension it is the easiest way to go. The window fitment is a real problem for the windshield. I fought it for a while until I saw where others here were making a small molding around the opening to fill the gaps. This will give you something for the windshield to rest upon and looks very realistic. The side window openings are just wrong. Not hard to correct though. I really like the picture of the truck your using for your inspiration, if I had the ware with all that's what I would do. I look forward to your build on this.

You might check out Scale Motorsports products. I've used their interior decals and have been very pleased with them. They also offer Carbon Fiber decals, although I have not tried those yet.

What a fantastic model. After looking at the links I wish I could read German. It's hard to fully appreciate the design effort that went into this. This is truly a scale model in every way. Now if you could just get the ignition to work and the engine to fire up you really could drive away in this.

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.