1951 Chevy De Luxe Convertible, A Cuban Classic

[bbowser]

Great looking car!  I have no problem with enamels using a dehydrator.

[David G.]

21 hours ago, Tom Geiger said:

Nice job on the Cuban Chevy-   Note a few things, very few of these cars have original paint. Most are painted poorly in what ever colors were available locally in that year.  Your bright Caribbean Blue is perfect!   Same with interiors.  Most are locally stitched, so again Score! Perfect!  Mirrors- fine without, but a lot of the cars have big modern aftermarket mirrors on them.  The only extra I could suggest is to add a small "Taxi" sign on the windshield.  Many if not most of these cars are pressed into tourist taxi service because it's one of the biggest money making opportunities on the island!

Here's an example of the windshield  "Taxi" sign.  This one shows every bit of 60 years of hard service on an island. It probably is running a Russian diesel engine too. 

Thank you Tom. Thanks for the information too. I thought about putting  a "Taxi" sign on the windshield but opted for a Cuban flag instead. I wonder if Uber is in Cuba? Uber Cuba!

21 hours ago, Classicgas said:

Nice work.

Thanks Lee

21 hours ago, alexis said:

Beautiful Colour, Beautiful Car. The whole Cuban Car backstory works well. I like the Build.

Thank you Alex, I'm glad you like it.

David G.

[fivesuns]

I knew the Cubans went to great lengths to keep these cars running, but I didn't know about the Russian engine angle.  Learned something new.  Makes sense though when I think about it.  Anyhow I love what you have done with your model.  

[David G.]

21 hours ago, ChrisR said:

Looks great!

Thank you Chris.

18 hours ago, espo said:

Turned out perfect , and I also like the Cuban back story. There used to be a TV show on the Car Culture in Cuba and this would be one of the best ones out there. What the Cuban people have done to keep these older cars on the road is beyond amazing. While the color was not a stock color for the era a couple of years done the road It would be a perfect way to update the look. At that time side view mirrors were an option anyway. I think it looks great.   

Thanks David. I have seen a couple episodes of that show or a very similar one. It was an interesting show but I felt a little sad knowing that I would likely never see one of these fabulous cars in person let alone get to drive one. Somewhere in the back of my mind , that show was likely the inspiration for this car's story.

16 hours ago, Eric Macleod said:

I like it, and the story. I don't share the dislike for Testors paint but then again my model building skills are not as good as yours! Nice model overall. 

Thank you Eric. I've been using Testors enamels since the 1970's when I started building model kits and I've often achieved good results with them. Once I discovered and began using lacquers and acrylics, I began to obtain better results more often.  I've seen some of the YouTube videos by Donn Yost and a couple of other enamel paint masters and I'm envious of what they can achieve. Right now, I don't have the equipment or patience to practice enough to get to that level of proficiency. I hope to some day to do that, but until then, lacquers and acrylics are just easier for me to use.

13 hours ago, bbowser said:

Great looking car!  I have no problem with enamels using a dehydrator.

Thank you for the compliment Bruce. I live in Phoenix, nature's dehydrator. Yesterday's temperature was 111 degrees with 12% humidity and Testors spray-can enamel still takes a week or more to cure to where it can be color sanded. Tamiya lacquers and acrylics can be worked after about a half-hour of drying time. I even have a food dehydrator and thought of modifying it to dry model car bodies and bits. But why, when lacquer or acrylic paint is dry to the touch in less than ten minutes and cured to work in less than an hour? My biggest problem with enamel paint is my own lack of patience for what it takes to use it.

Thanks for all your comments.

David G.

[Danno]

Excellent model, David!  

And, there’s an idea:  “Uber Cuber.”

[David G.]

11 hours ago, fivesuns said:

I knew the Cubans went to great lengths to keep these cars running, but I didn't know about the Russian engine angle.  Learned something new.  Makes sense though when I think about it.  Anyhow I love what you have done with your model.  

Thanks Howard, I'm glad you like it.

9 hours ago, Danno said:

Excellent model, David!  

And, there’s an idea:  “Uber Cuber.”

Thanks Danno. I'll see you in April!

I also almost forgot about my traditional "Display Case Shot", so here it is!

Thanks again to everybody for all your kind comments!

Now, on to the next project.

David G.

[zakdoggi]

Very nice build.

[bisc63]

Back story or not, that color looks absolutely perfect for that car!  Well done all around. As if I needed more reason to love it, you go and park it next to a handsome '63 Impala, one of my very favorite cars!  Is there a build thread or more pics of the '63 here somewhere?

[larman]

Nice job!

 

[David G.]

On 7/28/2019 at 6:26 PM, zakdoggi said:

Very nice build.

Thank you Geoff.

On 7/30/2019 at 5:39 PM, bisc63 said:

Back story or not, that color looks absolutely perfect for that car!  Well done all around. As if I needed more reason to love it, you go and park it next to a handsome '63 Impala, one of my very favorite cars!  Is there a build thread or more pics of the '63 here somewhere?

Thanks Rusty. I built the 63 as a glue bomb rescue. I posted progress pics on an MCM forum Community Build Project back in 2012 which I can't find now. I also have them on my personal web site along with many of my other projects. Here's a link. Please feel free to browse around once you get there.

17 hours ago, larman said:

Nice job!

 

Thanks Larry.

David G.

[Mike999]

Great job!  I have a couple of books on "Cuban cars" and might try my hand at something similar.

I saw a lot of old American cars when I worked in northern Egypt. They were not for sale at any price. One of my Egyptian co-workers had been trying to buy a '55 Chevy for years. No deal.  Like the Cubanos, many of these cars are running with Russian truck engines. Or parts of those engines. Egyptian blacksmiths are very inventive, and can grind valves and other internal parts to fit. One 1950 Chevy was in daily use as a taxi running between farm villages.  I saw it nearly every morning on my way to work, crammed with people.

Here's an Egyptian '55 Chevy 4-door. Probably used as a taxi, with that big "aftermarket" luggage rack on the roof.  The detail on this one that tickles me is the chrome "surfer foot" in the lower right corner of the trunk lid.

[carrucha]

Cool convertible.  Good color choice.  Nice interior.

[David G.]

On 8/1/2019 at 8:22 AM, Mike999 said:

Great job!  I have a couple of books on "Cuban cars" and might try my hand at something similar.

I saw a lot of old American cars when I worked in northern Egypt. They were not for sale at any price. One of my Egyptian co-workers had been trying to buy a '55 Chevy for years. No deal.  Like the Cubanos, many of these cars are running with Russian truck engines. Or parts of those engines. Egyptian blacksmiths are very inventive, and can grind valves and other internal parts to fit. One 1950 Chevy was in daily use as a taxi running between farm villages.  I saw it nearly every morning on my way to work, crammed with people.

Here's an Egyptian '55 Chevy 4-door. Probably used as a taxi, with that big "aftermarket" luggage rack on the roof.  The detail on this one that tickles me is the chrome "surfer foot" in the lower right corner of the trunk lid.

 

Thank you Michael. I imagine that there are vintage and classic American cars all around the globe. Back in 2014 I sold my 1971 Delta 88 to a man in Russia. He's been working on restoring it, we still email back and forth once in a while.

 

13 hours ago, carrucha said:

Cool convertible.  Good color choice.  Nice interior.

Thanks Hector, I'm glad you like it.

David G.

[Tom Geiger]

On 8/1/2019 at 11:22 AM, Mike999 said:

Here's an Egyptian '55 Chevy 4-door. Probably used as a taxi, with that big "aftermarket" luggage rack on the roof.  The detail on this one that tickles me is the chrome "surfer foot" in the lower right corner of the trunk lid.

My father was US Army attached to NATO and we lived in Izmir, Turkey from 1966-1968. I was a little car guy even then.  The Turkish economy was in tatters and they had banned all auto imports after a certain date. They had no auto industry then,  so there were no new cars available at any price.  Four door American cars were coveted and repaired by skilled craftsmen no matter how bad the accident was!  And with no replacement parts.  They'd hand bang out body panels until they were perfect.  To maximize the taxi loads, they'd stretch cars to have an extra row of seats. 

In 1967 the Turks started their auto industry with the Anadol, which was a small fiberglass 2 door sedan. Eventually that became a full line including light trucks with the same nose.  Eventually their own auto industry flourished.  Most of the taxi's in Turkey are "Falcon"s a home grown car that wouldn't look out of place in Europe.  Ford did some major investments and the first version of the Transit Connect vans we got in the USA were made in Turkey.  Eventually the people there got more affluent and the old American cars got tossed aside.  Today the traffic in Turkey looks like anywhere in Europe.  Just go to Google Street View and walk a few blocks in Izmir or Ankara.  

The last part of the story is that when we arrived in Izmir in 1966 my father had a brand new Pontiac LeMans 2 door hardtop with 326 and 4 speed. It was dark blue with a white bucket interior. That was our family car.  And we were lucky that it was one of the last cars imported into Turkey that was eligible for sale.  All cars after a certain date had to be exported back out when you left.  My father made a deal with a rich hotel owner for the car.  He sold it for more than he paid for it new, and bargained in a month long stay at a waterfront hotel when we had to vacate our apartment and ship our stuff back to the US.  The guy had to buy the car and pay 100% import duty.  Not out of line if you are rich and there is nothing to buy! 

[Mike999]

Thanks, Tom, that was a great story!  Egypt also has some weird laws aimed at protecting its car industry.  Only one American brand was exempt from its crippling import taxes: Jeep. And that's only because Jeep had a plant in Cairo, where knocked-down Jeep kits were assembled.  According to rumor, that plant was formerly used to build Russian SA-2 missiles.

[David G.]

Tom and Mike, Interesting stories, thank you both for posting them. 

David G.

[Fairfax]

The story is impeccable. And I have to smile, because I, too, originally built my 51 'Bel Air as a car in Cuba, but my wife, she's from Havana, told me that varnish would have to be more half-fat with exceptions.  You can see the diligence in your work, it's done beautifully. Congratulations on finishing.

[David G.]

1 hour ago, Fairfax said:

The story is impeccable. And I have to smile, because I, too, originally built my 51 'Bel Air as a car in Cuba, but my wife, she's from Havana, told me that varnish would have to be more half-fat with exceptions.  You can see the diligence in your work, it's done beautifully. Congratulations on finishing.

Thank you for your kind words Michal, I'm glad to know you like it. I've never been to Cuba, I live in the States and, until recently, our government really didn't like us to visit there. I hope to visit Cuba some day, I hear it's a beautiful country.

David G.

[tkzwolf]

Very nice!

[David G.]

On 9/23/2019 at 7:01 PM, tkzwolf said:

Very nice!

Thank you Tom.

David G.

[tbill]

Fabulous build and great back story, well done.

[David G.]

11 hours ago, tbill said:

Fabulous build and great back story, well done.

Thank you Tom. It's kind of you to say so.

David G.

[crazyjim]

Very cool build.

[David G.]

7 hours ago, crazyjim said:

Very cool build.

Thanks Jim. 

David G.

[videocast36]

Your photography skills seem to be equal to your modeling skills. great job...