Ace-Garageguy

I've never seen the shoebox fastback before. Something I'd like to build, specially as it's a 2-door. I need to do some research...

It's not an "old guy rant" by any stretch of the imagination, at least not to rational big-picture thinkers. Anybody who's paying attention to current events and issues like "supply chain problems", constant excuse-making, and widespread general incompetence, can't help coming to the conclusion that it's not really smart people (with a solid grasp of cause-and-effect relationships) who are screwing everything up. Then you have the midwits: an entire subclass of folks of above-average intelligence and education, totally convinced of their own superiority and in rather a lot of upper management and tech positions, smart enough to be "successful"...but incapable of thinking critically or challenging the herd "wisdom" because their self-image is based on a need for group approval and acceptance instead of being concerned with knowing the actual truth. They are peer-directed sheeple, constantly reinforcing each other's warped beliefs within the echo-chamber that is most social media. Combine a falling level of general intelligence with a business class intent on keeping their heads down while embracing a go-along-to-get-along mentality, you have a recipe for the messes we're currently seeing virtually everywhere.

They're not always available. Last time I saw one was months ago it seems, so I put some bucks aside in case it came up again...and got it. Besides the VWs, and the Corvair rampside, I'm pretty sure I have his '50 Olds wagon too.

Dumb, dumberer, and dumbererer-er. Lotsa supporting data for what I'm seeing on a daily basis. Glad it's not just my own perception (also sometimes known here as the "old man shouting at clouds" effect). https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2020/04/29/technology-is-on-the-rise-while-iq-is-on-the-decline/?sh=728db67ab103 https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/iq-rates-are-dropping-many-developed-countries-doesn-t-bode-ncna1008576 https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/06/iq-scores-have-been-falling-for-decades-new-study-finds/

Exactly. Looking good.

No question about it. https://auto.howstuffworks.com/1958-1960-rambler-american.htm

Don't want to make 'em from something else? Maybe this guy can help:

Which one? His resin offerings change from time to time.

Got his resin '49 Bug split-window and Hebmüller conversions for the Tamiya '66 Beetle last week. Both very nice, as thin as styrene parts, crisp details...and though I bought them several days apart, he shipped them together, gave me a break on that cost. EDIT: They come with decals for the instruments too, window templates, and about the best instructions I've seen in any kit.

Excellent. Been using them for years as reamers when necessary.

This Fujimi 15" set as a possible starting point... Or this... Hobby Design maybe... And if you need 14" rims, there are many 14" sets out there you can turn the canters out of, and use the spokes from a set that looks like what you want...

There are some Aoshima sets that are somewhat similar, and could be reworked if you have a lathe, though it'd take some extra effort:

Imaginative and skillful build. Very nice indeed.

Couple VW resin transkits from bestmodelcarparts. This guy's stuff is some of the best quality resin I've seen so far. '49 VW split-window and Hebmüller convert, both intended to use the Tamiya '66 1300 Bug as the donor:

Fine, fine, fine.

Well that sure bites. Perhaps interestingly, when I moved here decades ago, there was a foundry called Glover Machine Works that cast and finish-machined brass fittings. They made narrow-gauge steam locomotives there up until about 1925 or '30 too (the last running Glover locomotive will be on display the first of August over in Kennesaw, at the museum housing the Civil War "General" locomotive). Of course Glover Machine Works is long gone, and the property was redeveloped to locate the Marietta Board of Lights and Water, among other govt. facilities. Ironic that what was once locally manufactured equipment necessary for distributing water is now nothing but a lost-in-the-past memory, as clean-hands business dwerbles have outsourced the icky making of things we need to other lands...leaving us no longer independent, but helpless and reliant...and the water company occupies the land where the factory once stood. I was fortunate to have toured the old facility many times before it was bulldozed in 1995. https://railfanning.org/2015/07/glover-machine-works-played-important-role-in-shaping-post-civil-war-south/ EDIT: Brass is, of course, an alloy of copper and zinc. Arizona still produces copper, and there's reason to believe there are still untapped commercially viable deposits of zinc in the state as well. Maybe it's time for some enterprising Arizonians to look into doing something worthwhile with these resources.

Nice to have more sources for dirt/asphalt short track builds...but the new illustrations don't show the wedgy body from the earlier "Drifter Super Modified".

Four, correctly-sized bolts in single-shear not safe? I'm curious as to the basis of reasoning here Not the way I'd do it either, but with tight holes and adequate fasteners there's no safety issue I'm aware of...though I'd need the specifics on the fasteners to run the actual numbers. Ungraded hardware-store bolts made of Chinesium could be a problem, but real grade 5 fasteners, assuming again they're correctly sized and installed, should be fine. Granted, a single bolt in a loose hole, as illustrated below, could lead to failure...but that's not the obvious case in this car..

Nice job. Nothing looks more like bare aluminum than bare aluminum. Any in-process pix, or possibility of a tutorial?

Always kinda liked this car. Nice job on the model.