AMT 55 Corvette (From the vault)

[RDean58]

Built way back in 1982, this AMT 55 Corvette was painted some kind of Testors candy red enamel, engine block is kit sourced, fuel injection is from Revell 57 Bel Air, valve covers are parts box, headers are (I believe) from the kit, and the oil pan is a deep sump that came from the parts box. Tires and wheels are parts box, windshield is from AMT 62 Corvette kit, custom 59 Cadillac tail lights are from AMT 49 Mercury kit.

As you can see, I did not do any body prep on this so there are a lot of mold seams on it. None of the chrome trim was detailed either (or removed). The reason why this one was kind of slapped together? It was a "problem child." I could not get the body to set right with the inner fenders in & the suspension sat too high in the back. So instead of turning it into a "wall model" I built it as a hot rod with the custom grille, no bumpers, and way less detailing than I normally did back then.

The rear cleans up nicely without bumpers and with the addition of 59 Caddie tail lights.

I didn't know when I built it, but the top of the dash is suppose to be body color.

At one time I had the inside of the wheels painted gold, but it wore off. You can see a little bit of it left on the driver's side of the model.

Here you can see the deeper oil pan and my "fix" for the ill-fitting fender wells :-) Mufflers are from something while the side exhaust pipes are parts of another exhaust system. I know, she's not going very far without a driveshaft! The ride height got to me on this one so I came up with a fix for it as well. Instead of gluing the rear parts of the springs to the frame like they are supposed to be, I glued them to the bottom of the interior panel. This lowered the rear a lot.

I like the styling I did on this one, not real happy with the execution of it, so this one might go on the rebuild pile. If it does then I'll mold in the front and rear pans, match up the windshield better, and put a drive shaft in it :-)

thanks for looking :-)

 

[GMCMAN52]

I would keep it as is and I would build a 2nd new one to show how much you have learned and your skills have improved over the first built kit

[Sledsel]

I would keep it as is and I would build a 2nd new one to show how much you have learned and your skills have improved over the first built kit

X2

[Snake45]

I would keep it as is and I would build a 2nd new one to show how much you have learned and your skills have improved over the first built kit

Same here. But this one looks like a great candidate for a "survivor resto"--clean it up, touch it up, fix it up a little but basically leave it as built--or as you WOULD have built it if you'd had the skills you have today. I've done several of those recently and they are a LOAD of fun.

[donb]

I am in agreement with both off the above. It really is pretty nice the way it is 

[Lovefordgalaxie]

Keep her as is, just do some cleaning, and restore things you did back in the day, like the gold paint on the wheels.