A Pair Of Mopar Survivors

[Tom Geiger]

Those who know me are aware that I collect early custom survivors. In fact several of you have aided and abetted me in the pursuit! 

Dave Darby has a survivor board on Facebook called “Scale Survivors”. I pulled these photos out to share there so I figured I’d give you guys a peek too. The below two cars are as found, no restoration or mods needed. Just as the original builder created them in the 1962 era. They came from different sources, years apart, so they are not from the same builder. I consider these the folk art of our youth! Oh, if these babies could talk!

An original AMT Styleline kit from 1962. It uses the kit’s front and rear treatments. What’s unusual is how well they were molded in by original builder.

Monkey was one of several mascots AMT included in kits. Wires were found in several different kits.

The thing that makes this car unique is the Kaiser peak on the rear window. Expertly done and still manages to use the kit glass.

Builder didn’t do much in the interior other than using the kit supplied interior pattern stickers which have stayed in place better than most. Kit contains the reel to reel tape  player and those awful plastic seat belts we all love to hate.

The Revell 1962 Lancer done in a unique manner. Custom grille and the dual hood scoops!

I believe this is the custom roof from the 1957 Thunderbird kit. It creates a prehistoric Barracuda look, as if Chrysler created that car one generation early!  It really works here!

 

Side view paint scheme does make car look longer. What’s spooky to me is how much like my old 1:1 1965 Barracuda this resembles! I had the Mopar 340 dual hood scoops on mine!

Hope you guys enjoyed these. A lot of folks don’t get the survivor thing, especially early on when I started collecting these over 20 years ago. There were times I would pull one out of a junk box at a show and the dealer would say something like, “too far gone to restore to stock!  Music to my ears!

Edited June 8, 2020 by Tom Geiger

[michelle]

nice save 

[cobraman]

Kool old Kustoms !

[Peter Lombardo]

Wow, a couple of forgotten oldies.  Different! Nice work, not my cup of tea, but nice work on them.

[Spottedlaurel]

What amazing survivors, well done for saving them and respect to their original builders. Wonder where those people are now and whether they remember doing them?

[Modlbldr]

Nice survivors there. Funny how style tastes change over the years. I have the front clip to that first one and wondered what kit it went to. Never would have known if you hadn't posted it.

Later-

[Snake45]

Very interesting, VERY cool! 

The great thing about this body style is that it's so ugly to start with, nothing you can do to customize it could make it any worse, and who knows, you just might improve it a little! 

Thanks for sharing these! 

[slusher]

I always enjoy seeing the models you buy and save, Tom.  This pair is really neat..

[Tom Geiger]

6 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

What amazing survivors, well done for saving them and respect to their original builders. Wonder where those people are now and whether they remember doing them?

I always wonder!  These old relics would have a story to tell if they could talk!

Who built them? Were they in a hobby shop contest?  How did they survive all these years?   Some folks would toss them or use them for parts but I find it important to preserve them as a time capsule of where the hobby was in the early days!

[TarheelRick]

Thanks for sharing those memories with us.  I guess my sense of style has pretty much remained the same since I opened my first "advanced custom" kit back in the early 60's.  I thought they were ugly then and still do; although I do respect someone who takes the time to build one.  That being said, I do have one in my pile to be finished, an AMT '61 Ford Styline kit with a Monogram ;58 T-Bird bubble top.  All it really needs is some refinish work, since the original paint went south really badly.

 

[ewetwo]

Those are really cool Tom.

 

[Dave Darby]

Cool stuff, Tom! I'll concur with you that that roof is from the 57 T Bird, along with a custom grille and taillights from the AMT 50 Ford Convertible.

For you guys interested in anything to do with vintage model cars, history, box art, and even vintage tools, paint and glue, Scale Survivors is a fun group.

                                                                                                                Scale Survivors

Edited June 9, 2020 by Dave Darby

[WillieB]

I just joined. Thanks for the share.