The Bub Johnson Tribute '29 Roadster PIckup

[Fletch]

The Bub Johnson tribute '29 Roadster Pickup has finally made it off the bench and on to the shelf. I'm pleased with the results, it captures the look and feel of Bub's little jewel of a pickup.

The build started with a Revell '29 Pickup kit. The rear of the frame was Zed to get it down to the ride height it should have been. The front cross member was cut down to get the front end down as well. The bed was shortened a scale 10" and the rear fenders were bobbed at the upper body panel. The engine came fro the Revell '48 Ford Convertible using the stock single card manifold. A Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland 2-1 intake adapter was used in order to run 2 97s on the stock single carb manifold. The engine has been fully plumbed with plug wires, fuel lines, and oil lines.

The interior received the tuck n' roll treatmentusing Evergreen Half-round. The seat was cut-down to fit the new interior tub. the center section was removed and replaced by tuck-n' roll. Steering wheel is out of Revells 1960 Impala.

Hub caps are from AMT's Edsel Rangeer kit as did the rear end. Radiator grille and shell are from an AMT '32, headlights are from the latest issue of Monograms '30 Woodie.

Color is Plasti-kote 5431 Nissan red.

Here she is:

Hosted on Fotki

As always your comments are welcomed.

[Bernard Kron]

Very fine indeed. The chassis mods settle those whitewalls just right into the fenders and the shortened bed makes it all a nice tight, compact package. A sweet lookin' ride.

[RodneyBad]

Way Cool!

I love the Red & white..

Great tuck-n-roll.

Great wheels and tires.

The chrome cap & red with the white walls pure Classic class..

Great job.

[fordh8r]

Very nice! I really like the stark contrast of the red and white. Again, very nice!

[Dr. Cranky]

It's a fine, clean and smooth build. Love the color too. Nice job!!!

[DR Dubois]

Looks awesome! Love the red and white colour and the engine detail.

[Fletch]

Thank you guys for your kind words. I had the opportunity to sit down with Bub a couple of years before he died of Cancer. He spent a evening at a cruise-in just BSing about his pickup. He told me that he doubted that I would ever be able to build the a model of the pickup because of the unique intake adapter. He was almost right, as it was the thing that kept the build from moving forward. I had attempted to scratch build the adapter a couple of times but wasn't happy with the results. So, they went into the scrap styrene box. Then I found the adapter from RMoM and the build was back on.

Any other Flat Heads I have ever built either was from the newer 59AB block engines sp they had the distributor on the engine front cover or I didn't bother with any of the plumbing at all. It's amazing what you can do if you just allow yourself to actually do it.

Bub's widow still has the pickup and attend any event she could following his death. The 1:1 pickup is in the shop being rebuilt as it made a sharp right turn off the interstate last year on the way home from a show n shine. Needless to say it didn't do the little pickup any favors.

The club members ask last Sunday night if I planned to have this finished before the 1:1 was back on the road, they all laughed. For once I get the last laugh.

[MikeMc]

Not my style(its got fenders) BUT what a sweetly done PU....Love that tuck n roll!!

[09WNS/14BRK]

very nice job mate

looks great

[CB]

That's one sweet lookin' ride, Dave. Very special build, in honor of Bub. I imagine that manifold adaptor wasn't the only difficult thing about it. Anybody who built up a 1:1 like that had to be a pretty cool dude.

[Starliner Kustoms]

Sweet. I love the look.

Bernie

[Fletch]

Well guys I guess I should give the follow-up on the story of the Roadster Pickup. Our club president knew I was building the RPU and had ask if I had considered giving the finished model to Bub's widow. I told him that yes I had. So, on Friday evening at the Portland Roadster Show I was out on the main show floor looking for future projects. My cell rings and it's one of the guys from the model contest letting me know that Joyce, Bub's widow, was in the contest room and wanted to meet me.

So, my wife and I quickly went back to the models where I was introduced to Joyce. She was in awe that someone had built a replica of her late husbands pickup. We talked a bit, then I told her to come back on Sunday as I wanted her to take the model home with her. You would have thought I had just given her the keys to the castle. I got a big ol' hug we both had tears from the raw emotion of the moment.

We went and picked up a display case at Micheal's, got the model all tied down for her. On Sunday she came in during the awards presentations. She was on her way to take care of a family issue. So, I went and retrieved the display case and walked her out.

It was a few hours of my time to build the model, but to her it was special. So, now the Cherry Bomb Roadster Pick up take 2 is underway. Hopefully, it won't take 5 years to complete like the first one.

You never know when a simple act of kindness might bring untold happiness to someone else's life. After all it's only plastic and you can always build another.

Edited April 7, 2009 by Fletch

[09WNS/14BRK]

that is very nice mate

so glad she like what you had done

[Alyn]

...You never know when a simple act of kindness might bring untold happiness to someone else's life. After all it's only plastic and you can always build another.

What a great story, and very generous and thoughful of you.

I built a replica of a car my Dad had owned and that been handed down from his dad. I got the same reaction as you when I gave him the car. You would have thought I was giving him the full size version.

Great for you modeling karma !

[randx0]

great story and great build let's see how quick the next one goes!