Ace-Garageguy

Dontcha mean this guy??

I'm kinda having a hard time believing ALL these fires have been caused by lightning strikes.

"Kits" is whatcha call baby foxes.

Being disappointed by the metal front axle and blobular front suspension on the old AMT '74 Mustang II (for a planned "Sudden Death" build), I snagged an MPC Fire Fighter kit, as instructions and photos of it online seemed to show a better front end setup. Yes it's better, but not great...though I can work with it without having to scratch everything. This is already turning into an expensive project, and I haven't even started anything yet. Also got a no-box-mostly-complete "new tool" bullet-bird donor for guts under another planned build of a mild custom '63 T-bird hardtop, based on an old Styline body. Interesting that the new-tool kit shares nothing with the old one, but remarkably, the kit designers got everything plenty close enough to work with a little massaging. And maddengly, one previous owner had twisted all the wheels off the sprues, ruining the rims, making them useless for anything but centers in alloy sleeves. Not that big a deal as I wasn't going to use 'em soon anyway, but kinda lowers the value of what I thought I was getting. It'll be something like this...

I've done this several times. It helps if you have access to a lathe, but you can do it with just a power drill. You use the lathe to taper a piece of wood dowel so that the end goes into the tire easily, but as the taper gets bigger, it won't go any further. Glue/wrap a piece of 120 or so grit sandpaper to the tapered end of the dowel, and twirl it inside the tire (by hand) just until your wheel is a very tight fit. Most likely, the enlarged area of the tire will be a little "fuzzy", but this can be corrected by doing the same process with 600 grit on the dowel, using water as a cutting lubricant. After de-fuzzing, your wheel should fit the tire like it's made for it. Naturally every wheel-tire combo is a little different, so some innovation might be required. Work carefully, sneak up on it, end you should get what you need.

Makes as much sense as lotsa stuff today...which is usually just part of a desperate cry for attention from easily-indoctrinated zeros who'd rather "reinterpret" or outright deny reality than accept and try to understand it. SEE ALSO: midwit, Dunning-Kruger effect, declining general intelligence, spiteful mutants

The '79 Firebird convert was not a "factory" offering, the rear body contours of that car are different from anything else, so you're probably not going to find a boot rom anything that's very close. Scratch-building looks like the best option. I believe the Caddy was a '74 Eldo. Any big '60s or '70s GM convert boot should get you close, but the boot is fairly flat in reality, so scratch-building is a viable option there too, and probably easier than doing the Firebird piece.

Thanks for the pix, Dennis. I was aware of the bodged front fender contours and grille placement, but hadn't started looking into what it would take to get those corrected as well. That little red roadster looks right. Amazing how much more attractive a correctly-proportioned and contoured model that actually looks like what it represents can be.

I'm not familiar with that particular kit, but I seriously doubt Chevy offered a factory FI option on a wagon in that time frame. Chevy's early foray into production FI was mechanical, as represented by this unit for the 1960-'61 Corvette...but it's entirely possible this style FI could have been dealer-installed on any small-block-equipped car, assuming a competent mechanic on staff.

Anybody remember "cash for clunkers"? Stupid requirements are what make the world of third-string bureaucrats go round. To paraphrase, "those who can, do ; those who can't become petty officials" whose mission in life is to exercise power over others, in an effort to compensate for their feelings of inadequacy.

The car apparently has to go through an extended "drive cycle" of 100 miles or more, and driving it that far under the circumstances is just asking to get popped by some gung-ho REDACTED.

Many of California's laws and arcane regulations are beyond idiotic, and that fact tops the reason-list I elected to move to Az. instead. But the folks who've ruined Cali don't like it now and are moving elsewhere...taking their irrational mommy-state mentality with them, and doing their level best to ruin wherever they move to by creating a new endless morass of ridiculous laws...too stupid to realize that's what ruined the place they left in the first place..

(A)round Midnight, the Miles Davis version, is one of my favorites.

Something along the lines of the fix I started working on for the too-short cowl on the old AMT '32 Fords...

Exercise and a healthy diet will do wonders for the way you feel and how long you live, but there are millions who seem to be content to just sit on their spreading tails, guzzle empty calories, and let themselves go to jell.

Nope.

^^^ He left a few out, like pathetic and abysmally ignorant. How the freakinbabygeezum do you get to be mid-20s and be this poorly educated??

"Discussed" should not be confused with "disgusted", though I've seen it done.

Pretty much, all minor, especially roadsters. Differences between '30 and '31. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/30-31-model-a-differences.352181/

Yup. Sitz nize.

"Confused" isn't a desirable trait in a president (of anything: country, company, or model car club so let's not make this political).

Me too. And all my machines run Windows. ?

The best scale representation of this iconic car I've seen to date.

And I've met people (yes, more than one) who will argue the Sun is not a star, because "it's, like, you know, the SUN!!!"