Ace-Garageguy

OK, here's something a contemporary hot-rodder could put together himself from an old '90s 240SX shell and junkyard goodies, plus some effort to develop the skills to make the body panels, flares and pull the whole concept together. This thing just screams "HOT ROD" to me. I'd sure as hell drive it. Definitely in the original hot-rod spirit of tossing the bits you don't need (like bumpers) and getting more of the bits that DO something...at the same time ditching the old-beater appearance and making the looks reflect the performance. Yes, I KNOW tuners already build 240s, and I KNOW this is a body kit, but the point IS...somebody COULD build something like this without buying the kit. It COULD be built cheap (as cheaply as a fast 50's hot rod was back in the '50s, adjusted for inflation). And a lot of it could be built from junk. It has camber that looks like it actually works correctly to make the car corner better, and isn't an ignorant fashion-statement. It looks fast. I like it. A lot.

LOVE IT !!

Actually, Allison engines were built as both RH and LH rotation, depending on the intended aircraft installation, and they were designed to be assembled to run either way (with only minor parts differences). The engines in a P-38 rotate in opposite directions, for example, and an installation in a "pusher" configuration (prop in rear) usually requires reverse-rotation. Here's two more street-driven examples...

Even on 1:1 cars, I'll often use a line of masking tape to protect a raised edge or sharp corner. If you tape really really carefully on a model, you can get right up close to something like a chrome spear. It also works well for me to fold the sandpaper to a sharp crease. Makes the edge stiffer, and allows you to get close in, again, to the raised detail...and see where you're sanding. You have to keep making a new "edge" though, because it will clog fairly quickly.

The cat would like to know the answer to that, too. Engine's out, because whoever built it put a high-lift cam in the thing, with stiff valve springs. Took the teeth right off the stock aluminum timing gear. Have to split the case to do timing gears, went for straight-cut steel (makes a nice whine too), and one thing led to another...as it usually does. Deep sump, trick pickup and windage tray, re-balanced the bottom end, big two-stage oil pump, front-mounted Harrison cooler behind the grille on the nose (which is fake on the Beck, so I had to make a new repro alloy cooler-grille too), and that led to opening up the fake brake cooling duct grilles. NOS Marchal H4 headlights, which prompted a swap for a late-model alternator 'cause I have some NOS Cibie driving lights too...on and on and on. Adjustable torsion-bar ride-height mod on the front end...and a removable Dzus-fastened panel in the trunk under the tank to get to it (I'm planning to autocross it, so adjustable suspension...)...and more and more and more. I've stopped adding to the list, and have about completed undoing all of the chimp-work that is typical on kit-cars built by amateurs (as this one was way before me). So...to answer your question, for the year or so that it was a sunny-day-daily-driver, it was great fun. Annoying at times because of things that had been done wrong previously, but she just got better and better as I fixed them one at a time. 7000RPM redline with a counterweighted crank in a Bug engine, and 4-into one headers, with no guts in a glasspack. Man, I love that sound. Stops WAY better than you'd think for old Bug drums, but it only weighs 1400 or so pounds. No heat, no top, wipers are a joke, and if you get caught in the rain you A... go faster so it blows over your head B... stop under a bridge or C... get very wet. Out-corners lotsa much newer stuff, even on little 165/15 radials. Slides happily too, and the handling is basically neutral and predictable...to a point. It has a swing-axle rear end, and I hadn't tied it down to limit camber yet. Top end seemed to be around 120, but I don't trust the speedo installation. Passing everything on I-75 quite briskly though. Two 2 barrel DeLorto downdrafts, ported heads, big (for a Bug motor) valves. Instant throttle response and pretty respectable acceleration. Road testers have compared a real 550 with a Beck built similarly to mine (smallish engine, cast-iron Bug brakes, Bug 4-speed) and it turns in very close to the same numbers as the real one. Little car really reminds you you're alive.

Like I said above, self-preservation just isn't that high on my list of priorities. So far, I haven't been t-boned...knock wood. I really PAY ATTENTION when I'm driving tiny, vulnerable cars. I once saw a big, heavy '70s Caddy in the rear-view mirror coming up FAST when I was stopped at a light in the old 7. What do you do? The Caddy stopped in time...just. I'm glad. I've enjoyed some more moments of living since then, but everybody gots to go sometime. I'd rather die having fun than live in a cotton-lined box safe from any danger...or intensity. I wouldn't take the door beams out of a car for a client. But for me, it's just lotsa pounds of useless weight. Long as the removal work is clean and not cutting-torch-slag or jagged/sharp edges from the cutoff wheel, I'm happy. I probably WILL put a diagonally-braced roll bar behind the seats though. To save me from my own possible stupidity, you know? The Spyder really needs one too. I've looked at coil-overs to let me get wider, taller rims under the Toyota for bigger brakes, but haven't done the research to find if there's any junkyard bolt-on brakes (or close) that will work. There's usually something that comes close. For instance, a Porsche 914 trick uses BMW 320 vented rotors and calipers in front. World of difference...and the stock 914 brakes work pretty well in a 1600 pound car.

I'm odd, maybe. I've never gone around thinking in terms of protecting my own ass much. Really. I have a Beck 550 Spyder replica. Some fool t-bones me, I'm toast, period. My favorite ride of all time was my Lotus 7 Series 2, just about identical to this one. Even less protection than the Spyder.

As far as I'm aware, there just aren't any laws specifically pertaining to removing or altering crash stuff...yet. If it's not against the law, it has to be legal, right? That's my carefully considered opinion, anyway. The only laws on the Ga. books that mention altering older vehicles pertain specifically to emissions systems. Even there, the law is vague, as the 25-year cutoff simply exempts vehicles from having to pass the emissions test. It doesn't specifically say you can trash it, but not having to pass the test (both visual appears-as-delivered and sniffer) provided the only cost-effective solution to keeping my '89 GMC truck running after a massive EEM meltdown...which was to replace the computer-controlled ignition-timing system with a mid-'70s style HEI distributor, and a 2-bbl carb. Works great.

It's warmer...and Ms. Postperson just dropped off the carb kit for the Rochester on the '63 Olds!

There have been several Allison-powered land-vehicles other than pulling-tractors. The engine was also popular for unlimited-class hydroplane race-boats, before turbines. Arfons built a couple of "Green Monster" drag cars running Allisons, and the Jim Lyttle-built "Big Al" series included a 4-engined Fiat and an Isetta. Big Al III was this COE tractor. Then there was the '57 Plymouth "Nightmare", built by E J Potter (who also built Nightmare II, an Allison-powered Dart station wagon). And right here at the forum is an Allison-powered Deora-based build by Psychographic... http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/?showtopic=57976&page=2

One of my "hope to get to it this summer" project cars is an '86 MR2. I think I can get around 500 pounds out of it by ditching the heavy bumper reinforcements, door beams, factory seats (I have some OEM Porsche 914 buckets that weigh nothing) etc. Also already have a 1990 Taurus SHO engine/gearbox that fits very nicely in the engine bay. We shall see.

The Rustoleum stuff worked GREAT on my old 1:1 '89 beater GMC pickup.

Bernard makes an excellent point about the LEGALITY of modifying later-model vehicles (as well as the complexity). In Georgia currently, the emissions-systems are fair game for removal or modification once the car has reached 25-year-old "antique" status, but as far as I know, there is as yet no legislation covering safety-related systems like air-bags, heavy crash bumpers and the like. This means it's still possible, as I write this, to build the philosophical equivalent of a 1950's hot rod. Drag a cheap old hulk home, strip all the useless weight out of it, fit a hotter junkyard-sourced engine and gearbox, better brakes, and go hunting for high-dollar late-model expensive "fast" cars. I don't see many any kids doing it. CORRECTION: I've seen ONE locally. An old 240Z with a Toyota 2JZ, Weber carbs, big brakes, coil-overs and about 4" of ground clearance. The real deal, built with mostly junkyard parts.

Yes, even the factory brochures show guards on the wagons... ..but they are, by necessity, not as tall as the guards on the non-wagons...

The '56-'57 are my favorite C1 Corvettes. Very GM showcar-derived styling, but still aggressive and cohesive as a design. The scoop, wheelie bars and headers should make for an intimidating street presence, and as always, your paint looks great.

Perfect wheels for the car.

X2, and it's positively toasty here compared to what you guys have to put up with. I especially like the first shot of the model poking its nose out of the garage. Your build looks so good, the first thought that went through my warped mind was that some practical joker had hit a real Caddy with the old shrink-ray.

Very very VERY nice work on the wagon. Funny...I usually hate those wheels on just about anything, but your color-treatment makes them perfect for this old Pontiac. Chrome, chrome, and more chrome.

OMG !!!!! OMG !!!!!! What if we WANT the incorrect bumper guards so that anyone who looks at our finished model will immediately know we're NOT RIVET COUNTERS??? OMG !!!!!

Whatever. Same car, same color, similar interior, same wheels, same tires...so no, nothing at all like it. And the object wasn't to copy the damm Oz build anyway. The client wants a car that presents as cleanly-built, straight, well-fitted and as professional as the Oz car, but something with adequate ground clearance to be used as a weekend driver. No bags. No BS. Reliability of a brick. Easy to service with readily-available parts. For under $150,000. He paid $60k sight-unseen for a "finished, all it needs is detailing" monkey-hacked mess of crapp out of SoCal with sorta shiny paint, and not much else. Got it to the big Atl and had it in 3 "professional" shops before he came to us, and all he got was bent over while he signed checks. Every damm thing on the car was done by chimps. So it's going to top $200,000 any way you look at it. The guy could afford a new Lambo or Roller, but he wants a very special '47 Cadillac. It will still be a beautiful old car, and it will work like a new one.

Oh wait...I've heard of cars said to "purr like a kitten". That must be how they get the sound.

Must be a cat-alytic converter.

When it comes to models, I still have about as much self-restraint as an 8-year old. Soon as it's in the door, it's open. I tell myself I want to check for warpage, short-shots and missing parts on new kits, and the sometimes BS missing / mis-labeled ebay problems, but in reality, I just wanna open the things and have a look. Little kid mind.

Not a "real" car, though there was at one time a Porter automobile company. The TV car was a mashup, built for the show by some big name guys. From wikipee: The 1928 Porter used in My Mother the Car was not a production car. Real Porter cars had existed. The first was a steam automobile (Boston, Massachusetts, 1900–1901). The second car was a powerful luxury car made (Bridgeport, Connecticut, 1919–1922) made from parts left over from production of Finley R Porter’s FRP. By the 1960s, no examples of either remained. For the TV show, assistant prop man Kaye Trapp leased the producers a 1924 Ford T-tub hot rod he recently bought from his friend and its builder, Norm Grabowski. Both Grabowski and the car had earlier appeared in the B movie comedy Sex Kittens Go to College (1960). The 1928 Porter touring car sported diamond-tufted naugahyde upholstery, oversized white tonneau cover, plush black carpeting, chrome windshield braces and half-moon hubcaps. Trapp and studio special effects man Norm Breedlove (father of land-speed-record-setter Craig Breedlove) modified the car to give it an elongated engine compartment, palladian-style brass radiator with “Porter” script, a spare tire mounted on therunning board, outboard fuel tank and antique cane-clad trunk. (It was later fitted, as needed, with special effects hardware, such as an oil tank drip to simulate a smoking engine and "tear ducts" in the headlampbezels.) Off-camera operation of electrics was by umbilical cable. The signature features gave it an anachronistic look, resembling cars of earlier eras. The power train was the rod-grade 283 cu in V8 (Chevrolet small-block) engine mated with Powerglide automatic transmission. The "Porter" was registered (as a modified Ford) in 1964 with the contemporary yellow-on-black California license plates PZR 317 evident throughout the show's run. Though it bore a few design similarities with the FRP Porter, which may have suggested the television car's moniker, it is rumored that the car was named after the show’s production manager, W. A. Porter. When series production was approved, the Grabowski rod was retained as the "hero" car, and a second — "stunt", or special effects — car was commissioned and built by celebrated car customizer George Barris, whose Barris Kustom Industries licensed it to AMT for model kit production (an inaccurate rendering) and also toured it after series wrap with other of his creations. The stunt car, not conventionally driveable, was ingeniously equipped with apparatus to let Mother "drive herself" via a system of levers and mirrors operated by a short human driver concealed on a tractor seat below the removed rear floorboards. It also had other special mechanical features, such as gimbaled headlamps. Both cars had the dashboard-mounted radio head with flashing dial light through which Mother "talked" (though only to her son). These scenes were filmed with a stand-in; actress Ann Sothern’s voice was dubbed to the soundtrack in post-production. Generally, the hero car was used for driving shots and close-ups, and the stunt car for long shots and special effects sequences. Either was available as a stand-in in case of mechanical breakdown on set. Though made to represent one car, they can be distinguished by minor details, and actually appeared together in one episode. Additionally, a third car was used in filming, representing both the dilapidated car-lot Porter of the pilot and, in another episode, a “1932 Porter”. This car may not have been complete, and its existence and whereabouts are unknown. The hero car is currently[when?] located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The stunt car was once owned by casino giant William Harrah, who had one of the largest special-interest and antique auto collections of all time in Reno, Nevada. After Harrah's death in 1984, the auction catalogue advertised the lot as having a carnation red body with white top and created from parts of a Ford Model T, a Maxwell, a Hudson and aChevrolet. Following ownership by Rear View Mirror Museum (Nags Head, North Carolina) and later Herbie's Antique & Classic Car Museum (Mount Pleasant, South Carolina), the stunt Porter is currently[when?] on display in Star Cars Museum (Gatlinburg, Tennessee).

I believe I've seen some criticisms of the front inner wheel wells...