Fat Brian

Yeah, mating the convertible windshield frame to the hardtop probably won't give it the right look. There also used to be a resin body someone was making that might be worth tracking down. This project hasn't come high enough on the list to really start serious planning yet.

Yeah, I've got an AMT Monte Carlo body I'm going to borrow the top from. I'm just trying to decide if I want to use the convertible A pillars or try to harvest the entire greenhouse from the Monte.

Okay, I got the 7 up on its wheels this morning. It ended up a little higher than I had intended to clear the tires, it's got about six inches of lift in the rear. I wanted to keep the fenders as stock as possible since if I had removed them I'd have to replace them with something else some how.

Yeah, the price on these is a bit ridiculous. I mean, they were able to sell a kit with brand new tooling for around $60. I don't know how these reissue kits can possibly be more expensive than an all new kit.

Fireball makes a set, they're very good quality.

I don't care for the sportsroof body so I'm probably not going to get one of these. Honestly, I don't really like any GM car on this platform between 68 and 72 with the only exceptions being the 70 Buick GS and the formal top Cutlasses.

I agree that it seems like less work to have made a formal top but I guess they figured there were more variations of a sportsroof they could offer.

Just to confirm about whether the 71 Olds is a fastback or formal top here is a picture of the fastback test shot posted by James (niteowl7710) in a thread he started.

This was my question as well. I had hoped for a formal top but typing "71 442 coupe" into the Google machine only brought up fastback cars.

There are also promo versions of the long bed that go for pretty cheap if you don't mind curbside.

Here are the 5 tons from Ron's Shapeways store. They're setup for use in a monster truck but it would take much to remove the steering bits. These were $24 plus shipping.

I forgot about those decals, wow... I may still have a set of the purple decals. Both sets are definitely of their era.

It's only bad if you expect more out of it than what it is. I think the overall fit of the parts is pretty good, or at least it was when I built one like 25 years ago. There's one really important part to get right or the thing won't sit level to save your life. The body shell and firewall need to be dead straight when you glue them together and the two pieces that are the front of the frame need to be cleaned up well along with the holes in the firewall so they sit nice a parallel. If those front frame pieces get out of whack the front axle won't sit level. It's not hard, it's just something to be mindful of.

The custom version has some incredibly 80s saw blade wheels and a dual quad tunnel ram intake with velocity stacks. Also a hood with a corresponding hole for said intake and big tires and lift blocks for the rear.

Ok, I've got the Mustang version of this body but it's got the same flared Capri fenders. I don't think you've got enough meat there to just bust out the grinder and go at them. I would use thin strips of round Evergreen plastic to basically fill in the flares from behind. It will need to be at least 1/8 inch thick right to the edge of the wheel lip, maybe even a bit more in the rear since those flares are a bit wider. I tried to highlight the area I'm talking about here in white.

This sounds like a cool build.

Yes, congratulations Kurt. When you look at real Cannonball cars his build would be right at home with them.

The Lindberg Chevelle was reissued buy Round2 in the last few years so it's out there.

Interesting, that's the hood scoop the supercharged version has but the wheels from the tunnel ram car. Since it's marked 2 n 1 it might just have all the parts in it.

AMT made a GMC style grille for their 88-98 kit but I don't know if anyone is making copies.

I just ordered a set of 5 ton top loader Rockwells from Ron Olsens Shapeways store. I'll post pics once they get here.

Some of the AMT squarebody Camaro kits have a Weber intake for small block Chevies.

I'm using a set of Ford AA wheels from Scenes Unlimited and a Monogram 29 Ford pickup to make a wrecker/tow vehicle for an early salt flats car.

Some clears also yellow over time which gives the foil an odd look.

After doing a bit more research on this I found out there was a second blow over in the aero car. The Englishtown '86 wreck was Swamp Rat XXX. The next year in Spokane WA Swamp Rat XXXI had a similar accident at the far end of the track and was completely destroyed. While this is still not the footage I remember it does account for their being a second wreck in the spoon-nosed cars. And for the record, Swamp Rat XXXII went back to a traditional nose with a normal spoiler.