Ace-Garageguy

Two words: WHO CARES? If somebody wants to spend lotsa money they earned or inherited on anything, let 'em.

The color balance in the photograph of the restored #3 car above is very good. Shoot for that blue and you'll be as close as anyone who doesn't have access to a real one will ever get. Just FYI, the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum restored car #002, a roadster, supposedly found a perfectly preserved, un-faded area of the original metallic blue under a door sill plate, and had a precise match made up. If you want to go crazy with the color accuracy, you might try contacting somebody there for more info.

Yes, the tooling designers took some liberties, and corrections will be required. Just be glad they didn't work from this sorry mess:

Yup.

Day-yam. I don't think anyone on the planet has ever done such a beautiful job with that kit...or probably ever will.

Seems like besides the perpetually whining man-babies, this is just about all that's left to choose from in the labor pool.

I've had great results doing "brass" radiator tanks with one of the Rub 'n Buff colors. Gold leaf is probably the closest to a brass look.

I don't know how much they are now...

Depending on how it's been stored, there's also the possibility of water in the gas from condensation. Little tiny jets sometimes won't flow water. It used to be a real problem with Fiats too. Imagine that.

Looks like the waserboxer (water boxer), which is a water-cooled flat 4 developed specifically for the post-'82 European bus. It's not the same as the 411/412 air-cooled engine, but you could probably get it to look close enough to fool most folks.

How much is Mr. Raitz getting these days?

You do.

The engine in the Revell 914 is a blobular six, nee 911. Most 914s came with the VW 411/412-based 4-cylinder engine (which was also in the Porsche 912E). It has a low profile cooling system like the earlier VW squareback and fastback 1600 engines...which is one big reason it was used in the TV Cotote. The engine in the T3 van is probably a wasserboxer, fitted to European VW vans after '82...but I've never had that kit so I don't know fer sure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasserboxer

Yup.

Entirely different design...and the TV car was built on a Bug pan.

Sits like a road-racer instead of the typical mud-bogger stance. Big improvement.

The one between the white and the brown is pretty close. And the one to the right between the lighter green and the gray is pretty close too. So many engines got rebuilt, or faded, or heat-discolored, no two are really ever the same these days. Even restorers will argue about what color is "correct". But either of those should be plenty close enough

https://www.homechargingstations.com/cost-charge-electric-car-calculator/ And yes, for the time being, the grid in many areas is barely adequate to handle peak loads as it is. Add in a lot of vehicles being plugged in when their owners return home and turn up the AC, things will get interesting. Localities that depend heavily on "renewable" power generation are already having trouble, as the peak load doesn't always conveniently coincide with peak sunshine and wind. EDIT: Like many modern issues, the question of EVs and the switch to renewables is highly complex. It's also polarizing, with opponents and proponents continually trying to shout each other down, often oversimplifying the benefits and costs due to lack of understanding. The rational middle-ground, based on harsh reality, is rarely what we hear.

Fine looking model. Looks so good, you've got me hankerin' for one.

Congrats man. Good looking truck.

And therein lies the rub...or one of them, anyway. Cost of repairs of fairly recent vehicles already often makes them prohibitively expensive for second and third owners to keep on the road. I believe we'll see a gradual decline in the use of older vehicles, because folks who can't afford new won't be able to afford post-warranty repairs either. The cost of an automatic transmission replacement for a second-hand car can easily exceed the value of the vehicle today. Replacement of a battery pack in an EV will probably be up there too. It's almost as though there's an intentional driving force operating to further separate the working classes from the techies and "elites". Working class people who can't afford new vehicles will be forced to rely on public or on-call transportation. Don't say nobody warned you.

Dontcha just love having idiots telling you what to do, and penalizing you for doing the right thing, while they demonstrate they have no clue?

^^^ Exactly what Mr. Guthmiller said...and his work speaks for itself.

Looking good, Matt. Watching those things run SCCA D-Prod during my impressionable yoot was what turned me on to Corvairs. Sure wish I hadn't let 'em all get away now.