Ill-fated 1954 Carrera Panamericana Corvette

[1959scudetto]

Around 1986 I built amt's 1953 Corvette - it had some issues and was that ugly that I ordered Fred Cady decals from Model Empire to turn it into the 1954 Carrera Panamericana participant: in its first international competition, the corvette was ill-fated: a rod punched through the Blue-Flame Six and the race was over.

I swapped the stock for some red-painted spoke  wheels, removed the teeth grille, replaced it wire mesh and applied the decals. I'm sure I have made many mistakes in some details, and I had to guess where the decals might go - there were no templates or photos available that could be used as a guide.

Anyway, though the car still looks ugly, I took it out of the closet, applied road dirt and grime with some pastel chalks and took a few pics:

[cobraman]

Looks good to me.

[TransAmMike]

Yep, looks good Helmut....The soft tops on the early Corvette were gawd-ugly.

[PappyD340]

Looks great!

[Bainford]

I like it. Aside from riding a touch high, it's got the right look. Cool.

[1959scudetto]

On 5/30/2021 at 4:36 PM, cobraman said:

Looks good to me.

Thank you, Ray !

 

On 5/30/2021 at 10:28 PM, TransAmMike said:

Yep, looks good Helmut....The soft tops on the early Corvette were gawd-ugly.

Thanks, Mike - for me the whole car is ugly : it is bulky and misshapen, and the ragtop - oh well ! From 1956/57 onwards, the Corvette had a much more attractive look.

 

23 minutes ago, Bainford said:

I like it. Aside from riding a touch high, it's got the right look. Cool.

Thanks, Trevor - though I built it box stock originally, it sits too high (almost SUV-like) - if built today, I would choose the Revell(ex-Monogram) version.

[1959scudetto]

On 5/31/2021 at 1:41 PM, PappyD340 said:

Looks great!

Thanks, Larry!

[slusher]

Does look great..

[Gramps46]

Well done and I like your weathering.  I asked Fred Cady once what he used for reference for the decals and he smiled and said he was friends there in Chicago with the family that entered the Corvette. 

[ewetwo]

Nicely done.

[1959scudetto]

10 hours ago, slusher said:

Does look great..

Thanks, Carl!

 

5 hours ago, Gramps46 said:

Well done and I like your weathering.  I asked Fred Cady once what he used for reference for the decals and he smiled and said he was friends there in Chicago with the family that entered the Corvette. 

Thank you, Gary - interesting background from Fred Cady.

 

2 hours ago, ewetwo said:

Nicely done.

Thank you, David.

[Venom]

This is a cool little model... I really like the “grubby” effect on the paint and wear marks on the canopy you gave it... looks the way a “raced” race car would look. Nice job?

[ChrisR]

NICE!

[1959scudetto]

On 6/27/2021 at 2:26 AM, Venom said:

This is a cool little model... I really like the “grubby” effect on the paint and wear marks on the canopy you gave it... looks the way a “raced” race car would look. Nice job?

Thanks for the compliments, Josh !

 

On 6/27/2021 at 2:57 PM, ChrisR said:

NICE!

Thanks, Chris !