Old ‘57 Chevy build with paint work by my dad.

[atomicholiday]

Hey guys & gals!  I posted this in Slotto’s thread about new vs. rebuilding kits.  Great read it you haven’t checked it out yet.?

I dug this out for a pic for that thread, but I thought I’d share a few more and kick around my thoughts on its future. 
 

This was built in the mid to late 70’s.  It’s the old Monogram ‘57 Chevy kit in the white box with red car on the cover.  I’m sure many of you are familiar with it and lots of you have probably built it in the past.  What really caught my eye was the black car on the side of the box seen here.

At seven years old, that was about the coolest thing I could remember seeing in my youth life.  Just looked so cool and so fast!

But alas, my dreams of black speed were dashed!  It was molded in red!!  How could I possibly build this dream car now?

My dad is even more of a car guy than me, and I live for all things automotive.  And in this one and only case in model building, he came to my rescue.  And beyond that he added his own custom touch to it.

So, he shot the body black, and then fogged gold spray paint over the whole thing.  I can still remember watching him shoot it, and being amazed.  He said it was an old technique they used to use on custom cars.  Then he masked it off and painted the side trim,  and free hand painted the "V" emblems on the front and rear.   When the  paint was dry, the rest of the build was up to me.  It certainly wasn’t pretty when everything was finished, but he must have been proud enough to display our combined efforts.  It held a place of honor and sat on our fireplace mantle for about 30 years.  Only model I ever built to hold that distinction.

So fast forward 30ish years.  It’s now the mid 00’s, I have a small family, and I’m just starting to get back into the hobby, thanks to a good friend (miss you my brother).  My mom’s health was failing her and she just couldn’t keep up the old house any longer.  So the old ‘57 comes back to me.  The years sitting unprotected had not been kind.  Many parts had fallen off, the chrome was badly faded, everything had an inch of dust on it, just a mess.  Being special to me, yet knowing my limits, everything got bagged and stuck in storage.  
Now here we are, another 20 years down the road.  I haven’t done anything with it but keep it preserved.  What’s the future look like for this old dream car?

Well, first and foremost, the original paint on the body won’t be touched, other than gentle cleaning and polishing.  That’s the whole point of this car.  The rest of the car is another story.

I’d like to redo everything else, using the original parts.  Maybe adding plug wires, but that’s it for additions.   For the most part, just build it straight from the box, but with modern paints and techniques.  Might even foil it.  I think it could look really cool, kind of a 60’s vibe to it.

Let me know what you think.  Thanks for taking the time to check out this old piece of my hobby history!

Edited August 14, 2023 by atomicholiday

[afx]

There is no wrong way to build it, but I agree I would leave the paint.  

[jeffp60]

From an old man, you can't rebuild or improve memories. Consider gentle repairs before "fixing".

[Street Rod]

14 minutes ago, jeffp60 said:

From an old man, you can't rebuild or improve memories. Consider gentle repairs before "fixing".

I’ll agree with Jeff. Kind of like a real car, it’s only original once. 
 

Also, I would recommend caution polishing the body, if your Dad didn’t clear coat over the gold paint it could polish off.

[Rattlecan Dan]

Great story, thanks for sharing. Your memory, your model, your call. 

[bobthehobbyguy]

If it were me I would clean off the dust and reassemble it. It is a time capsule of your dad's work and yours  and deserves to be kept in that condition. 

Since it an available kit get a new one and build a modern version of it today to be shown side by side.

Edited August 15, 2023 by bobthehobbyguy

[karbuildr]

This is a tough one. I get it that it has so many memories for you. I enjoyed reading the back story as well. Part of me wants to see it restored with new parts especially the chrome items. Another part of me wants to see it merely cleaned up and left as is because as others have stated, it's original only once. That aside, I'd leave it as it is and continue to preserve it as long as possible.

[happy grumpy]

Just my opinion  but as Bob mentioned, I would leave it as is , it has a special connection with you and your dad. You could build your own version of the same kit and put them side by side. Ultimatly though, it will be up to you.

[DFrancois70]

The car looks very nice. Maybe just doing all the trims and chrome to finish it would be enough?

[ea0863]

As you commented recently on my tired build done with my son, I totally understand the sweet sentiment behind this car. I feel so happy to have just taken mine apart, gently cleaned everything and put it back together with a sort of "sympathetic restoration" to preserve the patina as the classic car collectors say. Such a great model, and even better story. 

[atomicholiday]

2 hours ago, ea0863 said:

As you commented recently on my tired build done with my son, I totally understand the sweet sentiment behind this car. I feel so happy to have just taken mine apart, gently cleaned everything and put it back together with a sort of "sympathetic restoration" to preserve the patina as the classic car collectors say. Such a great model, and even better story. 

Many thanks to all of you for your comments.   I truly value your opinions. And yes,  ultimately it's my decision,  but for the most part we think alike on a lot of topics.  

It's one of those projects that makes me a little sad to see the state it's in.  And yet preservation has always been a priority for it.  As said above,  I think the term "sympathetic restoration" sums up best what I really want for the old '57.

I think about it like this.  If it were a real car,  and had a strong family connection, I'd want to make it drivable so it could still bring joy to the family and maybe continue to do so into the future.  

It's been hidden away for far too long, while I waited for my skills to catch up with my ambitious.   I might never get to that point.  So I'm putting together a plan.   

I have a few other active projects rolling currently, and don't want to pull off of them since I'm making progress.   But at some point next year,  this one is getting my full attention.   No more waiting for the day that might never come.  It's time to get it back under glass properly. 

 

[disconovaman]

I agree with all the above comments and I think it would be best preserved but it would be Awesome to see it clear coated and sanded/polished with BMF trim then re'chrome the bumpers and wheels. But you could always build a fresh kit so it's a tough call. At the very least the front bumper needs attention Imo. 

Oh and FYI... some time in the late 90's or early 2000's the kit was molded in black. You could always look for that one just to say you were able to see it black out of the box. Also, this kit was the first model I ever built. 

[Zippi]

Leaving the paint is pretty kewl and I think I'd do the same.  I'll be watching.

[carrucha]

Cool that you still have it.  Neat story. I still have a Monogram 1956 Chevy Bel Air that I built when I was 9 or 10 years old.  I was going to take it apart and restore it but I will leave it alone.  It is a snap shot of my modeling skills at 9 years old.  Instead I will build another Monogram 1956 Bel Air kit for comparison.