Con-Air 1967 corvette from a revell 63 snapper

[Whosurdaddy209]

I think out of all the movie cars in the history of cinema the 1967 Elkhart blue corvette roadster from the movie Con-Air stands out to me the most. Maybe it was the car it’s self, a rare corvette in pristine condition in a movie not about cars at all, or it’s unfortunate fate. Probably one of the most memorable moments of destruction in most car guys mind. A lot of people argue that it was a mock up, or dummy car, that there’s no way they destroyed a real one, unfortunately the footage of the car looks to be quite real, complete with control arms, brakes, turn signals, and a very bright orange oil pan. I’ve always wanted to build a model of this car prior to its plane ride, the biggest issue I have it the car is a small block with a standard hood, revell has a great 67 kit bit the stinger hood is wrong, however the 63 snapper car be made to look correct with a few modifications. So that’s where I will begin. Looking at the still frames of the car it appears that the hero car is Elkhart blue with light teal interior, with rear exhaust and 64-66 knock-off wheels, the drop car has a black interior, there is an article on google saying the drop car was restored to its original condition in the form of a 435 hp 427, with side exhaust and bolt on wheels, but that wasn’t it in the movie. So here’s my attempt at building AZZ-KIKR, the ill fated 67 roadster.

[Snake45]

Good call using the nice '63 snapper instead of the wretched misshapen '67 roadster kit. One of those could serve as an "organ donor" for the fender gills, though. Drive on! 

[Whosurdaddy209]

After a bit of test fitting I found that the revell 67 chassis will fit perfectly, my 69 z/28 camaro was kind enough to donate it’s small block engine, I removed the fender vents from my old junkyard scene sting ray. I have some knock off wheels around here some where, locating them is a trick though. Other than that I believe this is now a complete kit, time to get started

[FLHCAHZ]

Nice body work!   I liked the movie and love the car as well

 

[Zippi]

Nice work on the mods.

[Whosurdaddy209]

On 8/17/2021 at 9:08 PM, FLHCAHZ said:

Nice body work!   I liked the movie and love the car as well

 

Thank you

[Whosurdaddy209]

On 8/18/2021 at 6:54 AM, Zippi said:

Nice work on the mods.

Thank you

[Whosurdaddy209]

I finished up the body mods, now have it in primer. Next I’m going to start on the engine/chassis while the body work fully cures.

[Dave Darby]

Looks great! Don't forget the center mounted backup light over the rear license plate.

[Whosurdaddy209]

20 hours ago, Dave Darby said:

Looks great! Don't forget the center mounted backup light over the rear license plate.

Thanks, I think I’m going to scribe it in the tail panel. Or paint it on, Ive been thinking about the best way to do it, the biggest gripe I have with the body is the size of the tail light holes, they are a bit to big.

[Dave Darby]

Maybe splice in the rear panel from the 67 and fix both problems at once.

[Whosurdaddy209]

4 hours ago, Dave Darby said:

Maybe splice in the rear panel from the 67 and fix both problems at once.

I think that might be the best option, I’m thinking about using the whole rear clip from behind the doors.

[Whosurdaddy209]

I’ve got the frame painted, and most of the engine painted. I tried to recreate the over spray on the fiberglass portion of the chassis, only problem is the blue almost blends with the dark gray fiberglass. Next is the suspension and the engine details.

[Whosurdaddy209]

So I have made a bit of progress on the interior, I used VHT titanium blue over grey but the color was to light looked more of a silver, so I tried a base of royal blue then sprayed the titanium blue over it. That had much better results, next is the rest of the suspension details and then the knock off wheels.

[TransAmMike]

I just saw this thread, don't know how I missed it before.  Very nice work Anthony!  The mods you have made are quite impressive.?

[Whosurdaddy209]

5 hours ago, TransAmMike said:

I just saw this thread, don't know how I missed it before.  Very nice work Anthony!  The mods you have made are quite impressive.?

Thanks

[Bills72sj]

Well done. Following.

[Whosurdaddy209]

I completed 90% of the chassis I’ve still got to mount the rear exhaust and the cross member before I can permanently install the engine, but all in all it’s moving along slowly but surely, I ended up using big block exhaust manifolds on the small block engine I’m sure it won’t bug me to much once the car is finished.

[FLHCAHZ]

Coming along great!  The interior looks fantastic!

[Whosurdaddy209]

After many attempts to get the color right I believe I have gotten as close to Elkhart blue as modern PPG paint will allow, it is the prime formula mixed using the original 67 paint code, I really like this color and am considering it on a couple other projects. Now I’m off to strip the chrome and reshape the hideous mold lines on the bumpers. Then final assembly can begin, I noticed in all the test fitting that the front wheels needed to be moved forward about 3mm to center up, the interior tub still sits a little forward for my liking but at this point I’m just splitting hairs. As always thanks for looking

[FLHCAHZ]

Color looks spot on!  Nice and smooth.  Very nice paint work.

[Whosurdaddy209]

Well a bit of an unfortunate series of events occurred while polishing the paint, I burned through on the top of the quarter panel, which I could have lived with honestly, then while I was removing some making tape from around the tail panel, for the center mount reverse light, the clear decided to come with it. The clear seemed to flake off rather easy, I believe I let the base cure to long before I cleared it, also the base coat seemed to have more of a shine than normal, the paint store may have mixed single stage by mistake which would explain why they said I might need some base coat hardener. Either way the body has ventured it’s way into the purple pond, hopefully it will strip the urethane paint off. Hopefully I’ll have a positive update soon?

[Whosurdaddy209]

Paint job 2.0 is complete, it came out very good, better than the first I believe. I also got the bumpers prepped for chrome and the backup light is cut into the body this time not painted on.?

[kelson]

I agree it looks 100% better!

[Whosurdaddy209]

The Con-Air corvette is finally complete. The body fought me pretty hard going on, mostly around the windshield area. But once everything was adjusted it went together pretty easily. I also took out the center tag bar from the front bumper, from all the photos of the movie car it didn’t have one. I did find some pretty cool behind the scenes footage of the crew setting up the drop car.