Very Old Build - 32 Ford Vicky

[Tom Geiger]

 I got thinking about this car today as I posted a memory on another thread. It’s gotta be 25 years old as it was my first very detailed model as a adult builder. 
It started as an AMT 32 Vicky but...

There is nothing under the hood besides a steering column, master cylinder and a spare tire. I had molded together the nose and hinged it too.

I did open the doors and made them work with dollhouse hinges. I added the rear hump from an Anglia... but why?

well, to cover the VW engine!  
 

Interior wise, it has Deora buckets which hinge forward for rear seat access. The body had VW interior panels and dashboard too.  

I had made my own VW chassis pan with it’s components from the Revell VW Convertible.

And since my kids were young (in their 30s now!) I scratched up a baby seat and found a teddy bear that I painted to match. 

My whole idea back then was that this was a VW kit car. And I wanted to build something completely different to compete in contests. The hobby was pretty narrow in those days. People had pretty set ideas as to what was an acceptable model. And this wasn’t acceptable! 

I took it to shows, put it in Street Rod class and never placed! This was the one where a judge told me I was disqualified because I forgot the battery! He was floored when I responded that it was a VW so the battery was under the rear seat.

I had one contest tell me it wouldn’t place because “nobody would ever build a car like that!”  And I laughed because a car that was winning was a Ford with a Ferrari engine in it! One guy told me I was being disrespected to Fords and I was lucky someone didn’t smash it!  

My friends and I laughed after every show where it didn’t place. In one contest there were four models in the category and a poorly built model that wasn’t even painted took third!  At that point my goal was for it to lose at every show. It became a running joke.. then I took it to MASSCAR and it took second in Street Rod! Man we were surprised!

Edited September 25, 2020 by Tom Geiger

[slusher]

Looks great Tom!

[TooOld]

Love the whole concept !  You did a great job making a tilt front and opening the doors and rear lid . If you built that today I bet it would place in any contest you entered ! 

[stinkybritches]

Great idea and great execution. 

[CapSat 6]

Cool idea Tom- I noticed the VW taillights, too. If it were me, I would build a follow-up with an electric motor to display with it, and call them "Heresy" and "Heresy II"...

[Peter Lombardo]

Very different.  Rear engine '32, I never would have figured something like that. Cool.

[Tom Geiger]

9 minutes ago, CapSat 6 said:

Cool idea Tom- I noticed the VW taillights, too. If it were me, I would build a follow-up with an electric motor to display with it, and call them "Heresy" and "Heresy II"...

Thanks Bill! Funny story behind those!  The kit ones were sunken in and unusable.  I flattened them with putty and painted them red. Looked awful. 

I was pretty new to modeling back then so I didn’t know a lot, but I decided to cast them from clear glue. I had a tube of something automotive in the garage. I took one light and glued a length of sprue to the back of it to make it like a rubber stamper. Then I stamped the image into clay my daughter had.  I then poured this one part thick clear glue into a cup. I sprayed some Testors clear red into this and stirred. Then poured it into the clay. I had done nearly the whole tube of glue so I made 10 tail lights. I walked away for like a week. They dried and out of the 10 or so I had at least 2 acceptable tail lights!

When I showed them to my club mates they told me that process wouldn’t work! Well it did work because I was too new to know it shouldn’t!

And they are still good 25 years later!

[ewetwo]

Awesome Tom.

 

[THarrison351]

The first picture struck me odd with the Porsche alloys. So as I progressed down the topic, and saw the underhood was empty and the Beetle taillights, I knew something was going to be cool! Judges can be stupid and I'm glad you kept entering anyway. Look where you are now. Jokes on them.

[Spottedlaurel]

Excellent lateral thinking, and amusing/appalling to read what the reaction to it what was.

[PappyD340]

Very nice!

[Koellefornia Kid]

On 9/25/2020 at 4:13 AM, Tom Geiger said:

“nobody would ever build a car like that!”

A very good reason to build a car like that! Nice work!

[Tom Geiger]

Thanks everyone!  Times change!  And I still like this car!  It’s fun to put out at shows, stand back and watch the reactions!  If I hit the lottery this is one of my models I’d have built in 1:1!

I will post my 1959 Chevy convertible next! I have a similar story there!  

[doorsovdoon]

Very nice. I love these mix and match personal customs, it's your own unique build where you won't see another even close. Love it!