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My Aunt let me learn driving her 1975 Buick Regal. Know what? When you're 14 and just see over the top of the door just about a half a foot, the beg center buckle on that state trooper's gunbelt looks like it's about half a foot tall and 4 inches wide. He informed my Aunt I could get a learner's permit but for now she needed to drive cause I was weaving a bit. He saw in the mirror he had gotten behind us and I told her and she did this slight half turn of her body and confirmed indeed he wa right behind us. 20 seconds later I asked if his light (One big red round top bubble-gum light in those days) was on. She told me she wasn't looking again and that's about when we heard the siren go WHOOP!! Yep, it was on. My dad had a big Dodge panel van he used to deliver Antique furniture from a shop he ran for many years and I also learned in that. And our family car was a 1971 Buick Electra Estate Wagon. A land barge if there ever was one. I always sat in the third seat all the way back on vacations so Dad couldn't reach back there to swack at me when he got annoyed at whatever parent mind peace destroying annoyance my siblings and I were instigating on long trips to Georgia from Louisiana in the summers of my kid-hood. Dad was from La. mom was from GA. and he'd promised her he'd bring her back each year so away we'd go. But I also learned to drive in that monster that you could play football on the hood. And I took my driver's test in that thing too. Parallel parking in on a supremely crowded main street. Stopping UNDER a red light because I miscalculated the braking time to stop properly, so under the light was where I stopped so as to not throw the examiner through the windshield. AND when I got stopped I actually had to lean forward & put my chin on the wheel to look UP through that blue thing across the top of the W/S to be able tosee when the light changed. I shot a sideways glance at the exam guy and told myself I'm sunk. I destroyed this. And I wanted that license because I had a job waiting at the local AM-FM radio station if I could get that license. We returned to the State Police office and he got out and went in without a word. I went in and sat down and awaited my fate. He came to me with a grim look on his face: I passed. SO at 14 I got my first DL. (It's 16 now but they were very lenient in those days. You could get a DL at 14. You know, to help out on the farm. I went to the radio station! In 76 I got my first car, a second hand 71 Buick LeSabre 4dr 350 2bbl. A TANK. But it released the station wagon back to my mom because she and i had to trade it back and forth for different purposes. Back in my early days when you get new licenses the people at the DMV were supposed to destroy your old one. In those days before instant picture licenses they could hand you right then, your photo license came in the mail about two weeks after you went in for a renewal or whatever. But they'd chop off the pic part and staple to your new temp lic to use till you got the new one in the mail. I saved each one of those chop jobs and later when I became a Deputy Sheriff the nice ladies at the DMV stopped chopping them up and just let me keep them. SO I have them all ever since 1974 in my photo album. You can watch me grow up get old and less hairy every few years. This one is my first renewal in 1977 after the original I was issued in 74 at 14.. The pic you see is off of that first license, that's me at 14 YOA. Boy I WISH I could go back and tell that kid a few things... Sorry for being long winded, kinda opened up some things I hadn't thought of for a LONG time.. I LOVED the 70's and 80's. Oh, and here is a pic of the exact car I took that under the red light driving test in. It had a 455 but I stupidly tried to make it scratch on a dare by rolling backwards and dropping it into drive and stomping it. All it did was SURGE upwards and forward like a perplexed elephant.. I was lucky I didn't rip out the tranny. If you look closely you can see my 3rd seat redoubt in the very back of that barge! I wrecked it in early 76, slid off the road in a rainstorm and hit a tree. put it in the shop 3 mos. Boy was my dad p- well, you know. I hated driving that monster.

I have many cartons of brand new unbuilt kits going back 40 years. Some hundreds. Then there are my scratchbuilds. In my youth I was also a radio AM/FM DJ and in those days we played 45's and albums. It inspired me to start my own music library. To this day I have like 20,000+ 45's,spanning the 50's to today. Many of them are Not For Sale Promo only radio station copies and that includes around 10,000 albums and 12" singles. I was also a Deputy Sheriff for over 40 years and have a large LE collection of memorabilia. Not to mention my weapons and police gear, uniforms, badges etc. I have only one son but he is developmentally handicapped. All this will mean nothing to him. I have two nieces and one nephew I doubt there will be much interest on their parts. So, I have no doubt once I am gone a large dumpster will appear and it all will be disposed of despite my admonishment to my sisters that many of these things are worth a lot all by themselves. That's the think I've longed marveled about the human experience. As long as you live you have rights, own property and your stuff is yours to do as you wish and is protected by you as best you can. The moment you are gone, it's so much a personal lifelong garbage collection to everyone else around you.

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No Deposit required, once we catch up on CV and Nova orders this will probably be the next release. Just earmark this this thread and check back. We'll announce it here when it's ready. You're decals look great, BTW! Thanks!!

I'll have a look at my reference materials. If I can find those proper angles I'll see what I can do. I'm just going by the late 70's mentality in that 2dr or 4dr the front windshield and pillars were in most cases the same. I looked at Pics of a couple of 68 (?) Chevy Station wagon models posted on page one of this thread and I think I see what you speak of, the A pillar seems to stand a bit straighter but it makes me wonder: was there a 68 Chevy kit that was a donor for those and did they change the molds? I dunno for sure but I'll look.

Dang, sorry Chris. And thanks! That IS the PLAN. It's part of why I built it, I want a couple myself. When We do I will let you know.. Thanks again..

Thank you for letting us know, Greg. Greg is also doing extensive upgrades to his work area for mold and parts storage to help streamline to kit creation process. I know it's been a wait but do hang on, 'more betters' stuff coming too. (redneck said that to me one time?) That looks like some tough, hard to bend RTA in that pic too...

That's very kind of you Greg, Thank you.. Your cast work is superlative. I feel the same in return.

Looks great! *sniff* My baby's growin' up!! Nah, a new set of molds was finally needed and Mike Schnur gave the 'ol girl a little love and attention around the wheel wells. Added a different kind of wheelip molding too as seen. As always many thanks to Mike for his support and help in so many ways, and especially to Greg on the casting. The solid, REAL artistry in that work there. Welcome too to Mr. Marty for giving Greg a much needed extra set of hands and energy to the project. My thanks to all, as always. And thank you to any and all above who expressed kind views on my original work, in case I missed anyone. Although it's next to impossible to make everyone happy, I hope most are if that is at all possible. As the words of wisdom printed above the urinal once said: We aim to please, your aim will help! Words I try to live by! ..hmm ..wait a sec..

I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille...

Nice Ron! the first one I've seen close to builtup. I'm working on one myself o so slowly.. I had thought I might actually be the first to come out of the gate with one. But I'm not and glad to be beaten! (In that one way anyway) Nice work again, and thanks for sharing..

I messed up on this (Above earlier message) I should have also said you can contact me at ntvypr@msn.com and I will add your name to a list I forward to Greg every four or five names or so. Please send to us how many kits you want, ($110.00 ea and that includes shipping CONUS) your mailing address and Paypal address. Nothing will be charged until the kit(s) are ready, you are contacted and confirmation received that you still want (XX) number of kits. We are all still coming out of winter hibernation, but hopefully, we will be back up to speed soon. Thanks!! DL

You can send requests to Greg by em directly at mastercaster1@cox,net. Thanks guys! Dwayne..

Hopefully all three versions will be done by end of year. As mentioned before I bought and sold late model used police cars from 1982 to well, now, really. But in total earnest until 2005. I had a partner in Denham Springs near Baton Rouge and he could sell as many as quick as I could get them to him. As a result, I bought and sold personally several in each of those years and the Ford Crown Vic or LTD was my fav of the lot though I bought all of the Big 3's police offerings at one time or other. The following are the thre main differences in the grilles that occurred from 1979-1987 until the version represented by our current 88-91 LTD Crown Victoria kit. The first single headlight grille one is 75% complete, the second header is identical from 1979-87 with only a change in grille marked by the year seperations (and two different versions of Tailights as well) The last one shown the 83 LTD CVPI was my fav of about six i bought and sold into mostly taxi slavery. I really loved that body-style and color keyed rims as well. First The 1979-1982 LTD-S and base LTD.. Next the 79-82 Quad Lamp LTD Crown Victoria with the small crosshatch grille. And finally the last version the 83-87 LTD Crown Victoria with the larger open square grille. I'm sure there's a technical name I just don't know it. Ford-Junkie that I am. This was my favorite of the 83-87 versions, an 83 from the LSP I got in 1986 with 80K miles. I could cry for wishin' I still had it. I had some of the 82 versions in pic 2 as well, but the 83's were 'fancier' and just looked better IMHO.

I am. The 79-87 version is one of about four I work on in rotation. I had used an existing resin copy of the 91 CVPI and already made the trunk and rear valance modifications, and I have started on the front header panel. The first one being the 79-82 one headlight LTD-S version. When that's done I'll do the 83-79 version. That one is the version used in the MIB shows I recall. And also in Dan Aykroyd's version of Dragnet in 1987 as well. The one he drove so slow he tikked off Tom Hanks Strebeck character.

He IS... and I was gratified to receive a call from him yesterday sounding in good spirits. I hope you keep feeling more betters, Greg..

A question for the knowledgable Nova modeling enthusiasts in residence: What happened to the MPC Squad Rod? When I obtained a kit early last year to build the 4dr Nova they were everywhere and very economical. So much so the conversion kit here was created as a trans-kit for economy to the buyer and allow them to choose what version of chassis they wished to use. Now they have almost vanished from eBay and the ones that remain are steadily rising in price. Was this a limited run/time offering? I really thought it would be more readily available. Very dismaying... UPDATE: Well it seems it is a discontinued model and pretty much out of stock in many locations. Some places have even begun to charge the 'silly prices' for the kit. I believe this was re-popped by Round 2, so I'm a bit surprised it was only a limited time offering. Oh, well...

Geez Greg, Sorry to hear that. I went to ER a year ago with bad stomach pain and an x-ray caught the edge of 'something' on my kidney at that time. Turned out to be a abscess on my R kidney. Had surgery to remove last January. This last thing was a 3+ week bout with bronchial pneumonia. And as I used to say when I was a radio DJ in high school; the hits just keep coming. But enuff of me. I hope it goes well and you bounce back well and quickly. We'll talk soon.

I am, thanks for saying so. I sat around praying for winter and relief from upper 90's & high humidity levels all summer. The old adage of being careful what you ask for came to play. Thing is we had virtually no fall here. One day it was the above and in the course of a week we got miserable, wet, freezing temps. Just threw a switch from summer to winter. I generally don't get sick (nt like THAT, anyway) in the summer.. They are. After putting out a call to those in the know and determining that no kit I know of ever had the proper button caps (first set pic) I moved on to the scouring the net and eBay to see what other kits HC's offered that could be close, modded or altered. Absolute closest I could find after some searching was the second set/pic. The actual Nova cap has an inset ring at the edge, the closest I could find had a small ridge but otherwise was perfect in size, shape and dimension. Hope that helps you.

Well, it was an illness, and I'll just say I've probably been worse off at some point earlier but i really don't remember when. And, it WAS a lovely development! The wonderful GM casting elves(GregMike) have put to good use their time and effort on this one as well. Another beautiful edition to the catalogue.

Oye Como Va! lovely to return to the land of the living (don't ask don't tell) and find this one moving along nicely! I too add my regrets on the outcome of your parent's estate Greg, I also dealt with much the same when my father passed. As always when I build one I find that the final resin cast incorporates all the sometimes delicate aspects of the original styrene donor plus the fabricated conversion into one strong solid unit that makes it solid, whole, strong and final. I too can't wait to attack this one. I know that due to oil crunches of the 70'sthe LSP's Fleet Research here experimented with almost every form of mid-size replacement to take the place of full-sized units, but their only foray under that was with about five of these at HQ. Something of a pink dinosaur. Thanks as always to Greg & Mike for all their hard work, and to all others for the compliments of our efforts so far.

Thanks Jef! And thanks to you OCG, believe me I am not done with that front bumper by a longshot. Getting that center cut/bump-out just right.. well, ...it's been a journey to get it to this point. I've got pics from 17 different directions an it just defies description to me to get it just right so far. But I'm not done yet...?

And a bit more for the front fascia.. Getting all those mods and that cutout just so is a bit of a headache. Now what remains is to build the hl/grille assy and another project is mostly done!

A little more progress on the 71. Das Butt. :-) I used the wrong compare pic. I used an LTD instead of the Custom 500 but you can see the bumper details. The backup lights will be done in clear resin. I know my cruddy camera is not being crystal clear but I was able to put the 'Galaxey500" script where it belonged, in the trunk valence panel.