Ace-Garageguy

Yup. Every time I come back to look at this one I think exactly the same thing. Custom design just doesn't get any better.

"Hand me that 9/16 combination, OK?" I said to the noob helper; the blank stare and cricket chorus made it pretty obvious we'd not be pulling the "help wanted" ad.

The firewall on a real '28-'29 body doesn't look much like what the kits give you. Note the recess and the prominent flange the hood sits on. The plan is to get rid of the heavily glooed firewall installed by the previous builder and substitute something mo' better. I need to get it in place prior to establishing the location of the new engine, which has to be done to get the driveshaft length right, which has to be done prior to getting the rear radius rod mount bracket in the right place. The old firewall was removed carefully and saved for something else, then the old mounting flange was ground back to the thickness of the cowl, and everything cleaned up. Heavy gloo residue on left, getting righteous on the right. A flange for the hood to sit on was made from .010" strip and installed. The hood was test-fitted, and it snuggles down nice and flush with the cowl. Then a blank firewall was fabbed from .020" stock and test fitted. Stay tuned. More to come...

Ouch.

I was thinking the same thing, but you beat me to it...

And if I live long enough... 1) The one I REALLY want to build is this. It started as my rough 1/25 scale concept (above left) but Chris Drysdale's (known on the board here as Spex84) design tweaking and illustration took it over the top, and I fell in love. At one time, I was on the trail of a set of molds for a Cord kit car, but they got away and moved to Australia. So this one would either have to be based on a ratty kit-car or somebody's unfinished project (they are out there), or built from the ground up...which is OK. I can do that. But to pull this off at the quality it needs to come in at, it'll be expensive, so some others might have to go to make it happen. 2) I built the first 1:1 Z-car convertible on the planet back in 1974-76, though it's hard to prove. I only have a few B&W photos of the car in my shop under construction, and it disappeared while in storage at a friend's who was going through a nasty divorce. It has never resurfaced. This would be what I'd build if I did it today, and it's possible. I have a bunch of Z-car engines, gearboxes, and suspension bits. A not-too-rusty shell could make it reality. Note the Weber-carbed Z engine behind it, which I still have. 3) This one started as my design for a "collaborative" project between me and a company involved heavily in aviation composites (the 1/10 scale clay model). Originally intended to be powered by a Ninja engine and weigh less than 1200 pounds (with an all-composite chassis), it became apparent that the "collaboration" would have me doing all the work and supplying all the parts and materials, while my "partners" would share the credit for "letting" me build it in their facility. No thanks. I redesigned it as a rebody for a gen-1 Toyota MR2 (small model in foreground) and already have two donor cars...one wrecked but running, and another one stripped but with a virgin tub to build it on. A stock '85 MR2 weighs about 2400 pounds, and I should be able to shave 800 off of that, so even with the little Yota motor, it'd be pretty quick. But the plan calls for a V6 Ford / Yamaha SHO.

So Bud Light's marketing wizards shoot the product in its PC foot, and a few days later Miller Lite says "hey...that's nothin y'all; watch this". You couldn't make this stuff up.

Sense of the common variety is in increasingly short supply.

Damm man. I scored both of those as gluebombs some time back ('cept my Merc is a hardtop). Nice to know what they could look like. Gorgeous.

Great project, great story.

Two current client cars: a complete high-end build of a '66 Chevelle SS with a 750HP 572, custom chassis, and everything onboard upgraded to contemporary specs; and a DeLorean electrical and function upgrade including a full custom wiring harness, instrument panel, and electronics package. 3 primary personal projects I'll be getting back to as soon as I'm settled in Az.: 1) The '32 Ford roadster that has its own model build thread on the board. The shot below is the 1/8 scale version in the model shop in Az. that adjoins my big-car shop where the real one will come to life. I have the rame, f'glass body, hood, 350 Chebby engine, "double-hump" heads, Ford 8/8" to set it up with (it'll get a QC), f'glass hood, 15" Jag wires for the front, and quite possibly a Borg Warner T-10 in a couple of days. All pretty old school, with a target weight of 1700 pounds. With an honest honest 350 horses, it should be a rocket. 2) This all-composite 3-wheel ultra-high-efficiency original, designed by me in around 1985; design and engineering are about 90% complete, and the plugs for the full-scale body molds are about 70% complete. Initial power is 600cc Kawasaki aircooled twin, which I have, along with the majority of the major parts. https://contest.techbriefs.com/2010/entries/transportation/871 3) My own design, for a client who ran out of money. The idea was to combine the flavors of a 356 Speedster and a 930. Custom front and rear fascia, with the fenders reworked to eliminate the crash accordions. The windshield is chopped and laid back, and the rear body is sectioned and laid forward. The hard tonneau is also sectioned to present a lower profile. I still have the running '74 911 Targa S purchased for the project. Maybe: I may or may not complete this original design I did for another deadbeat client. As it's the only other original design of mine I have enough stuff to finish, including a ratty 914 to build it on, there's a good possibility I'll at least take it to the primer stage. Note my signature on the concept sketch I provided the client, published to the web without my permission.

Interesting that a couple who profess they only want privacy seem to go out of their way to be the center of attention whenever possible...

Kinda like being a kid on an allowance again, eh?

Very nice original front and rear bumpers to complete what won't be scratch-bashed on my '61 mild custom Dodge Phoenix: Two complete 427 Cobra chassis to serve as platforms for original styling exercises: And a complete, unmolested 427 Cobra for about half the going price:

Anyway, anyhow, anywhere, and anything all start with "any", but that's obvious.

Show-and-tell was usually a snooze-fest with the boys favoring desiccated frog parts in matchboxes, and the girls showing off their mothers' thimble collections, or something equally fascinating.

2008 release of Monogram's 1/48 scale B-58 Hustler, sexiest machine ever built as far as I'm concerned. Man, this thing's big. Sure am glad I bought a bunch of Testors metalizers there at the end, and a selection of panel scribers. This old girl looks like she could take one whole winter without adding any upgrades. Happily for me, there's no shortage of good info on the web about this bird, and plenty of aircraft modelers more skilled than I am to learn and draw inspiration from.

Isn't Busta Gig that dude (?) in charge of the Department of Transportation? Anyway, cool model.

Delicious will have to wait for Friday night.