Ace-Garageguy

Great concept. Who did the illustration, or did I overlook that in earlier posts?

I've put this one back in the rotation, 'cause there's slow drying stuff on the other two current projects, and this one could see completion relatively quickly. This is going to be a '57 or so period hot-rod build, a car that would be seriously fast on the street, lakes or early dragstrips. It's been stalled for a while, but I've been on it again lately, and will bring the pix up to date as time permits. Came in like this...... Much excessive glue holding everything together, firmly..... some Dremel surgery........ ...and an early mockup of where we're going.... The wedge channel job gives the car a little different profile than the standard hiboy or lowboy, and a little less drag for lakes runs.......

Here's one I started a few years ago....still waiting to decide which way to go......

Hard to beat Fuchs alloys on anything from Wolfsburg or Stuttgart. They look great on 356s, busses, 911s, anything. Nice color too. Wish I still had the '58 an idiot girlfriend sold for $50 when I was out of town years ago. She thunk she done good cuz it didn't run............

Thanks again to everyone who's posted comments. I'm really glad you guys like it. C-man405, the tires are no-name roadracing slicks from the Revell C5-R Corvette. Albie D, yes, the taillights are Corvette C5. Actually, the rear panel is C5 (NOT R) turned upside down and mated to the stock rear pan.

Thanks guys. Right now I'm looking at windshield options, modern or more wrap-around, and a starting point for a front lower pan. Once I get those nailed down she should start moving pretty quickly. I've got some vintage Revell parts-pack rocketship taillights that may work too.

Thanks guys. I'm still tinkering with the theme and may go back to the slicks in the rear for a more '60s showcar look, and I'm probably going to set the headlights deeper into the fenders. My designs sometimes take a while to figure out what they really want to be. Jason, the scoops are a pair that happened to come in with a bunch of parts I bought, sight unseen. Just a lucky find. The round bottoms will be replaced with 2-hole Hilborn-style injectors. Anybody out there have a 5th wheel setup, or a recommendation for a kit with a good one?

Amazing how the right color, some pinstriping and detailing can really make a car pop, model or 1:1. I really love love love this body style, and think it's one of the best looking cars ever built, frankly. Nice rework. I see your red is over a silver base. Is it a candy red, or a metallic?

Incredible, impressive, inspiring model.

The car looks absolutely great, Bernard. And your rotogravure effect makes it look like a couple of "little pages" pix from history. Very nice job all the way around on a very ambitious and complex project.

Thanks to everyone for the comments. Glad you're enjoying it. After the repairs were done on both sides, I added a 1/8 inch layer of cotton flock / epoxy mix to the insides of the quarters. Enough structural strength in the fibers to allow me to reshape the lower rear of the panels without worrying about going through the repair. The original car had some protruding molded things to fair in the bumper, and I decided they had to go. Also made a splash mold of the Saleen Mustang hard tonneau, and made a duplicate, shown on right. Not perfect, but all I was after is the shape of the head-fairings anyway. Starting to work in a narrowed Pontiac-ish rear panel........ ...and with the hard tonneau, trying to bring out a little of the Jetsons feel without going over the top.......

Thanks guys. And....I never liked the front end I had, kinda reminded me of a character from Ice Age. Reworked it with higher headlights, new lower pan, different wheel / tire combo. A little more tweeking and I think I'll have what I was after.....

No pix, but I once hauled a small-block Chevy to the machine shop in the trunk of a client's Jag XJ-12.

Wish I'd seen this BEFORE i tried inking in the panel lines on my Revell Gearz entry, just before I took it to a club meet here. The black inking was nice and even, but looked like dog squeeze on the orange metalflake body. And THEN it took me almost half the day to get it off the car withoug damaging the paint, and even after all that, you can still see some traces of my misguided attempt. This was doubly disappointing because the contest car is the first one I've gotten to the paint stage in years. I'll be experimenting with the deep-scribe technique before I paint anything else. Thanks to everyone for the great info.

Absolutely beautiful. I love the old Olds, and this one is a knokcout.

Great looking project.

Mo debinately likin' dis one a'ready. Weathered, as in having had a rough life ex-custom-painted truck, or full-tilt-boogie shiny, it's going to look great.

Poor little car. Probably not restorable. Great job.

Man, that's a jell of a lot of fine looking work on a bunch of "incorrect" parts. Fascinating project.

Really nice rework, and one of my favorite designs.

Beautiful model of a truly striking car.

Jason, since you asked, I have two build threads on here now. The first is a '61 Dodge Dart Phoenix restoration / custom: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=58538 The second one is a re-design of the old Monogram Orange Hauler : http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=58969

Man, this is great. Has everything that appeals to me: unusual subject, experimental techniques, lots of scratch-building, and historical research for accuracy. Really cool project.

Great projects. Naturally I also love to see old models restored and reworked, especially when they have some particular sentimental value to the builder. I like your ideas for both of them, especially the BBS wheels on the T-bolt.

The stretched wheelbase is an interesting idea. Cool little bug.