68 Torino hard top.

[Butter 1]

Converting an AMT 69 Torino fastback to a 68 hardtop.  It will be a replica of the car my sister owned. Leaf green with black interior and vinyl top. 

So far I roughed in the top using the Starsky and Hutch 76 Torino top as a starting point. The deck lid is a portion of the 64 Mercury Maurador deck lid and part of the roof is also from the 64 Merc.

I narrowed the 69 Torino tail lights and wrapped them in aluminum wire to replicate the 68 hardtop tail lights.  The tail light inserts are also aluminum wire. (The tail lights will be embedded into the back of car once I finish the bottom of the trunk lid.)

[Butter 1]

This is what I started with 

[bill-e-boy]

Looking good - that is a lot of work to convert the fastback to the notch back but you have got the main elements nailed

I recently built the fastback and had a lot of issues with the slab chassis. Worst was centreing of the wheels in the wheel wells. I had to move the rear about 3mm to the rear and not quite as much for the front. I think it was mostly due to a pour body to frame fitment. I think the Fairlane GTA has a better chassis but I did not have one available at the time 

[Butter 1]

18 minutes ago, bill-e-boy said:

Looking good - that is a lot of work to convert the fastback to the notch back but you have got the main elements nailed

I recently built the fastback and had a lot of issues with the slab chassis. Worst was centreing of the wheels in the wheel wells. I had to move the rear about 3mm to the rear and not quite as much for the front. I think it was mostly due to a pour body to frame fitment. I think the Fairlane GTA has a better chassis but I did not have one available at the time 

HI bill. thanks for the feedback.   I think I am going to update the frame with a lot of stuff from the Monogram 69 Talladega. The issue there is that the Talladega is a large 1:24 scale so a lot of cutting and pasting will need to be done to get it to fit and look "in scale".

[Can-Con]

Wow, that's a lot of work, Ron. 

I think if it were me I'd try finding a rebuildable annual or resin copy of the body and back. 

Motor City Resins used to do them for 35 bucks but I don't know if he's still in business.

[Shark]

Not a Ford expert, but wondering if the chassis from the '70 Torino would work? Hart's Parts makes a '68 grill.

[1972coronet]

3 hours ago, Butter 1 said:

I think I am going to update the frame with a lot of stuff from the Monogram 69 Talladega. The issue there is that the Talladega is a large 1:24 scale so a lot of cutting and pasting will need to be done to get it to fit and look "in scale".

Is it an old Monogram kit ? Or is it from the Revell-Monogram era of new tooling ? If it's the latter, it's got to be 1/25 scale. 

Great job thus far ! I'm looking forward to watching this come together.

[Bills72sj]

Ambitious conversion. Following.

[rickcaps55]

16 hours ago, Can-Con said:

Wow, that's a lot of work, Ron. 

I think if it were me I'd try finding a rebuildable annual or resin copy of the body and back. 

Motor City Resins used to do them for 35 bucks but I don't know if he's still in business.

Yes they are and i have 2 of them there they are a copy of the AMT kit very nice resin kit and he will chrome the bumpers and grill for you.

[Dave Van]

A buddy in high school had a 69 Fairlane base model (same body) I wanted that car and he was one of those guys that trade cars all the time. But he wrapped the Fairlane around a tree.  

Cool project, Modelhaus made a body like that.....I bought one to build Norm's car...yet to build. 

[Butter 1]

19 hours ago, Can-Con said:

Wow, that's a lot of work, Ron. 

I think if it were me I'd try finding a rebuildable annual or resin copy of the body and back. 

Motor City Resins used to do them for 35 bucks but I don't know if he's still in business.

Thanks for the info about the resin body.  The picture looks pretty good except the rear side window is not qiuite right, but that would be an easy fix. It looks like their web site hasn't been updated since 2015.  I e-mailed them to see if they are still in business. Waiting for a response.

[Butter 1]

2 hours ago, Dave Van said:

A buddy in high school had a 69 Fairlane base model (same body) I wanted that car and he was one of those guys that trade cars all the time. But he wrapped the Fairlane around a tree.  

Cool project, Modelhaus made a body like that.....I bought one to build Norm's car...yet to build. 

Thanks for the tip about Modelhaus.  I know Steve Kohler, the owner of Star Models. They distributed Modelhaus resin, I am contacting him to see is he has anything available.

[Butter 1]

13 hours ago, Bills72sj said:

Ambitious conversion. Following.

Thanks for commenting Bill.  I am supposed to be building this as a shelf model for my sister but it may be a contest level piece if the body and interior go together ok. I will continue to update the thread as I go.

[Butter 1]

17 hours ago, 1972coronet said:

Is it an old Monogram kit ? Or is it from the Revell-Monogram era of new tooling ? If it's the latter, it's got to be 1/25 scale. 

Great job thus far ! I'm looking forward to watching this come together.

Hi John. Thanks for commenting. The Talledega I have is from before Revell and Monogram merged. The wheel base is several mm longer and a couple mm wider.  The good thing is that the front fame rails are almost the same width as the AMT frame so I am hoping to use the front end suspension. As for the rear suspension I think I can narrow everything up a bit to make it work.  The old Monogram talledega has a pretty accurate looking suspension under it.

[Butter 1]

19 hours ago, Shark said:

Not a Ford expert, but wondering if the chassis from the '70 Torino would work? Hart's Parts makes a '68 grill.

HI Todd.  Thanks for checking in. I am not familiar with 70 Torino kit but I will look into it before I do too much on the suspension.  thanks for the info on the 68 grill.  Took a look at the picture of it and it looks pretty good. Fortunately it is not a GT grill so it has the correct center emblem.

[Can-Con]

29 minutes ago, Butter 1 said:

Thanks for the tip about Modelhaus.  I know Steve Kohler, the owner of Star Models. They distributed Modelhaus resin, I am contacting him to see is he has anything available.

Modelhaus went out of business several years ago, Ron. The owner retired.

[Butter 1]

6 hours ago, rickcaps55 said:

Yes they are and i have 2 of them there they are a copy of the AMT kit very nice resin kit and he will chrome the bumpers and grill for you.

Hi Richard. I e-mailed Motor City Resins today about ordering a body.

 

[Butter 1]

My sister's car had stock 68 Torino hubcaps like the one in the picture.  The hubcap on the left is my rendition.  I used a 57 t bird hubcap (top hubcap) and inserted the hubcap from the Monogram 69 Talladega wheel (wheel on the right). Anybody have an idea about how to replicate the Ford script on the center of the hubcap. 

Thanks Bill H for helping me come up with this solution. 

[rickcaps55]

17 hours ago, Butter 1 said:

Hi Richard. I e-mailed Motor City Resins today about ordering a body.

 

Great you will like his casting they look like plastic light and very little to do on it but wash it i have many of his body's and parts. Also Missinglink resin is the same type of casting and parts and he has the dog dish caps if your going that way and he also chromes his parts.

[Butter 1]

7 hours ago, rickcaps55 said:

Great you will like his casting they look like plastic light and very little to do on it but wash it i have many of his body's and parts. Also Missinglink resin is the same type of casting and parts and he has the dog dish caps if your going that way and he also chromes his parts.

Hi Richard.  Thanx for the info on the resin stuff. The Missinglink hubcaps I saw are a different style than I am looking for so at this point I will use the ones I fabricated. I really appreciate all the information you have sent me.  I saw some other stuff on Missinglink that looked ineresting for other future projects I have in mind.

[Andy Oldenburg]

Hi Ron,

a wonderful challenge and in the end it will be a rewarding beautiful conversion. Like what  you doing!?

[Tom99]

On 6/17/2023 at 5:07 PM, Butter 1 said:

My sister's car had stock 68 Torino hubcaps like the one in the picture.  The hubcap on the left is my rendition.  I used a 57 t bird hubcap (top hubcap) and inserted the hubcap from the Monogram 69 Talladega wheel (wheel on the right). Anybody have an idea about how to replicate the Ford script on the center of the hubcap. 

Thanks Bill H for helping me come up with this solution. 

Excellent conversion for the 1968 Fairlane wheel covers!

[fairlane1320]

I bought a very nice resin '68 Torino hardtop from MCW a couple of years ago. I would give them a try......

https://mcwfinishes.com/shop/ols/categories/resin---kits-bodies-and-accessories

 

 

 

[Butter 1]

On 6/19/2023 at 2:36 AM, Andy Oldenburg said:

Hi Ron,

a wonderful challenge and in the end it will be a rewarding beautiful conversion. Like what  you doing!?

Hi Andy. Thanks for checking in. Glad you like it.

[Butter 1]

On 6/19/2023 at 7:34 AM, Tom99 said:

Excellent conversion for the 1968 Fairlane wheel covers!

Hi Tom. Thanks for commenting on the wheel covers.  They looked OK to me but it is nice to see that they make sense to others.