Dave Hill's Phantom Roadster Pickups Family

[tim boyd]

Dave Hill is among the most talented model car builders and 1/1 scale automotive designers I have run across during my decades in this hobby. In the mid to late 1980's, Dave designed and fabricated a series of 1/24th and 1/25th scale street rods and customs that built on an idea from another highly talented automotive designer (and in more recent times, author) Thom Taylor.

Thom's idea was to apply the styling of the 1934 Ford passenger vehicle line to a roadster pickup body style, which of course was in high contrast to the original Ford factory pickups of that year, which used what was essentially the prior generation 1932 Ford passenger car styling. Dave took that idea and applied it in (miniature) to a variety of model kits from AMT and Monogram. The result you see here.

I showcased Dave's 1948 Ford Roadster Pickup in my then-monthly "Modeler's Corner" column in Street Rodder magazine. Dave's design subsequently took the form of a real 1/1 scale Street Rod built by Gary Vahling of Masterpiece Rodding in Colorado, unveiled in finished form in 1989.  It generated a number of articles in the 1/1 scale mags and IIRC a "Ten Best" of the year award from Hot Rd magazine (although some of the coverage omitted Dave's crucial role in conceptualizing the project).  

In more recent years, Dave had taken commissions for hot rod era automotive design and authored many articles in magazines such as Custom Rodder and various titles of the Buckaroo Publishing Empire.

I hope you enjoy these images that I photographed on the back deck of my home near Atlanta on a fall day in late 1988, which I rediscovered a number of years back during a major reorganization of my home office and model studio.

Thanks for looking....TIM

[espo]

Great information on the background on these builds. Each one is a remarkable looking build. 

[thatz4u]

Nice collection of models, love the concept....

[happy grumpy]

Beautiful and colorful bunch. 

[Oldcarfan27]

Tim, I'm so glad you're here sharing old builds and model history for folks here who may have never seen these cars before and maybe some of us who forgot about them.

Thanks. 

[PappyD340]

Nice collection!

[Ace-Garageguy]

Very nice, very interesting work.

[misterNNL]

Great stuff Mr.Boyd. Thanks for reminding us about these. I know I was inspired to build one from a Rolls Royce after you dared to go where no modeler had gone before.

[slusher]

Great builds, very cool!

[ozmodeler]

Seeing this group of roadster pick-ups has given me the inspiration to build one using an up market car like a Caddy or Packard roadster. During WW2 the farmers in Australia had to get creative

 as light trucks weren't available, so all sorts of roadsters had their rear body work removed and replaced by a truck tray. In my travels i actually found a '38 Packard with such a conversion.

[ewetwo]

Those are really nice.

[stavanzer]

Wow!

Some Unique and Colourful Cars. (er Trucks).

My Favorites are the White '36 and the pale Blue '46-48, You don't have any more photos of the '36 do you, Tim?

[tim boyd]

Alan...I think those are the only ones.  They are color slides I scanned on a high resolution commercial quality scanner.  Creates huge digital files and takes a long time.  I'll keep my eyes peeled in case there were any other slides that I did not scan....

TB 

[Vince Nemanic]

Dave lost his house in the Loma Prieta (San Francisco World Series) earthquake, along with at least one full size car. Thankfully he and his wife were uninjured. Were all of these models lost, too?

I haven't seen him in ages.

[tim boyd]

9 minutes ago, Vince Nemanic said:

Dave lost his house in the Loma Prieta (San Francisco World Series) earthquake, along with at least one full size car. Thankfully he and his wife were uninjured. Were all of these models lost, too?

I haven't seen him in ages.

Vince, I don't know the exact status of these models, but on a general basis I believe Dan lost most of his models along with with the calamitous damage to his house and belongings. 

Dave and Linda later moved to Tennessee when the John Diana/Buckaroo empire did the same; Linda was doing accounting for the firm at the time and Dave continued his magazine freelancing activities.  When Buckaroo went bust, I recall him moving to Colorado, and most recently, Phoenix I believe.  Haven't heard from Dave in several years. 

Incredibly talented guy, and one in a million personality.  We were gifted during the period when he was an active part of the model car community.   

Best...TIM 

[Vince Nemanic]

Dave was always friendly and open with everyone. A great guy. I miss talking to him.

[stavanzer]

Thanks, for looking, Tim. That '36 is a killer machine.

[Mr. Metallic]

Thanks for sharing these Tim. What a great throwback.

In your notes or do you recall what Jack used to create the rear bodywork on the 34 cab? It's obviously based on the Monogram (ZZTop) 34 Body. i started a similar conversion based on the AMT 34 5 window body after seeing Jesse James stunning 34 RPU. It's been a few years so I don't recall what I used for my rear bulkhead, but I remember not being completely happy with it. Jacks looks great, so I'm curious what he used.

[tim boyd]

On 4/22/2022 at 10:47 AM, Mr. Metallic said:

Thanks for sharing these Tim. What a great throwback.

In your notes or do you recall what Jack used to create the rear bodywork on the 34 cab? It's obviously based on the Monogram (ZZTop) 34 Body. i started a similar conversion based on the AMT 34 5 window body after seeing Jesse James stunning 34 RPU. It's been a few years so I don't recall what I used for my rear bulkhead, but I remember not being completely happy with it. Jacks looks great, so I'm curious what he used.

Craig....sorry I do not know what Dave used for that rear bulkhead, and looking at the picture again, I don't offhand recognize that as a piece from any other kit I know of right now.  Having said that, if Dave scratched that from sheet plastic (and he may well have done that), he did one heckuva job making it look accurate and believable!    TIM .

[Russell C]

6 hours ago, tim boyd said:

....I do not know what Dave used for that rear bulkhead......

Could it be an old ribbed station wagon roof that was coincidentally the same width as the '34, with the beltline continuation being a quarter round strip of Plastruc?

[grodudulle77]

Very nice !! 👍😀

[stavanzer]

Tim, I continue to go back and look at these pics! Dave did a fantastic job on these kits. They inspire me to try building one myself. It won't be a snice as hos, but I'm willing to try my own version.

Thank You again for sharing these photos!

[tim boyd]

On 5/3/2022 at 11:17 AM, stavanzer said:

Tim, I continue to go back and look at these pics! Dave did a fantastic job on these kits. They inspire me to try building one myself. It won't be a snice as hos, but I'm willing to try my own version.

Thank You again for sharing these photos!

Heh Alan....thanks for the comment.  I know Dave, wherever he might be these days, would be pleased to hear that he is still inspiring modelers with his works of automotive art....Best....TIM  

[tim boyd]

Thanks to Ken who commented on this thread yesterday, i reminded me to advise of the following.....  

Pryor Passorino told me last week that Dave is fighting some very serious health issues and is now in hospice.  Prayers are welcomed and encouraged....TIM 

[Modlbldr]

Wonderful article. I remember when that 48 was in Street Rodder. Here is a 1:1 Chevy done a bit differently (along the lines if what ozmodeler mentioned above) that I snapped pics of at a recent car show in Kentucky. The lady told me that it was a factory built job.

Later-

Edited July 26, 2023 by Modlbldr