Let’s see your oldest surviving builds

[dust collectors]

This might be my oldest surviving build. Some years ago the front bumper was fixed/reattached. Other than that it’s been unchanged since being built 20+ years ago. Paint is Boyd black and blue pearl with a lime gold metal flake chassis and motor. Mostly box stock with lowered suspension and shaved door handles.

[bogger44]

On 1/2/2024 at 9:03 AM, atomicholiday said:

I love the look of this one.  Very aggressive!   This would be a cool one to build a second version of with your current skills.

Thanks Jeremy.  I have thought about it, and may possibly happen.

Edited January 12, 2024 by bogger44

[HotRodaSaurus]

This is my AMT 52 Chevrolet custom, inspired by Harry Bradley's 'La Jolla' in Street Rodder magazine sometime from the 1970s. A lot of firsts for me, extended rear fenders, moulded grill, tunneled headlamps, AMT Impala wheels , roof I think is Monogram's 55 Chevrolet Street Machine though Im not really sure and visor cut from the the kit rag top , oh and first attempt at a rattle can cellulose pain job(with primer) Built, sometime in the mid 1970s

Edited January 22, 2024 by HotRodaSaurus
Spelling mistake

[Coyote_6]

Gotta resurrect.  Here's the last one from when I was 13 (45 years ago).

 

Found this on the internet and had to buy it!

Gonna do an identical build 45 years later to compare and contrast my skills then and now.  Should be fun!

(The only thing not original to the 1980's build is the silver sharpie door handles - did a test for my General Lee build this year.)

 

This Avenger Ford existed in it's 45 year old state until I decided to start turning it into a moonshine runner last year.

The 45 year old Testors black enamal is polishing up nice.  Needless to say a work in progress.  It won't be perfect but the car is old.

 

Edited January 5 by Coyote_6

[Sam I Am]

I actually have more than I thought I did. The black 49 Ford and Mercury were from about 1980, the rest are early to late '80's. I have an amt 69 Chevelle that I restored, and an amt 57 Ford that I recently pulled apart for restoration.  The Jeep and the 56 Ford are two of my favorites. I also have a number of Hubley Model A Fords, 32 Chevrolet, and a Packard that I built with my dad from about 1975 through 1980. All brush painted with Testors bottle paint. They are all boxed up at the bottom of a closet, so no way am I pulling those out for a quick pic. 😁 

[Coyote_6]

@Sam I Am Those have aged nicely!  Real classics.

Steve

[Sam I Am]

I just remembered that I did a thread on my Hubley models, so I didn't need to dig them out from the bottom of my closet. 

 

[Old Buckaroo]

My oldest car models - JoHan Olds, ever so often I see the dash and steering wheel turn up in another kit box.  This was built before I was married (34 + years)

The Monogram Z28 was a gift from my wife our first Christmas together.

 

[catpack68]

I started back building models back in 1995 or 96 after a LONG layoff.Most of my older built models were sold or either given away to friends because I ran out of display space.This is the oldest built model I have in my collection.It was built back in 2001.Its a Revell Wheels of Fire PT Cruiser Snap kit.The front bumper was smoothed and I made a roll pan for the rear with a exhaust cut out.All the trim was shaved and the door handles were removed. The color is HOK chameleon paint with HOK clear.It was lowered and it has Hopping Hydro wheels/tires.The interior has a AMT 67 Impala street machine kit steering wheel and has Scale Motorsport Zebra interior decals on the seats and door panels.

Edited January 19 by catpack68

[1959scudetto]

I re-entered the hobby in 1982 (after a long break during my teenage years). My first model was amt's Peterbilt 359 Wrecker - here is what it looks like today ( I only re-glued a few fallen off pieces 3 years ago - my oldest surviving build therefore is a truck):

 

Edited January 10 by 1959scudetto

[Steamboat]

MPC 1968 Corvette annual in 1/20 scale.  I originally built it without paint, only decals.  As my skills improved, it suffered a couple of renovations, as well as being dropped on the floor more than once.  The current paint job dates back to about 1975.

[alan barton]

I believe this to be my oldest build, an AMT 49 Mercury from around 1971.  I would have been around 13. Hard to believe it is nearly 54 years old.

It was moulded in black plastic and was probably my first real custom.  It is not chopped, just turned into a hardtop by removing the B pillar which seems to give the impression of a chop top.  Front extensions from my first ever 1/25th scale kit, the AMT 57 Fairlane.  Rear wheel arches were radiussed.  It was painted in about six coats of brushed on Humbrol enamel.  The photos, for once, hide a few ugly bits here and there but I love it to bits.

I recently polished the roof with Meguiars Scratch - X and gave it a good clean.  I had robbed the Monogram whitewalls and mags off it to restore another model years ago so added Pegasus chromies which really suit it. It'll stay this way forever now.

Cheers

Alan

 

[Falcon Ranchero]

These are my dad's model kits; the Reher-Morrison Drag Camaro has remained assembled since 1983, but the Z/28 1969 Camaro and "Snakebite" Shelby GT 500 1968 were disassebled before my time, and a few years ago we rebuilt them the right way

A 1983 photo of a shelf in my dad's room shows these three kits on display among others lost to time. Circled on the left is the 1969 Z/28 Camaro, circled in the center is the Drag Camaro, and cricled on the right is the "Snakebite" Shelby; originally molded in yellow, and painted with a flat black hood and trunk, with a blower sticking out of the hood.

 

[oldcarfan]

My oldest builds from around 1994 or so. I bought a six NASCAR kits from a Kaybee Toys that was clearing out and built them in series. I got bored and bought JNJ decals to switch things up. These are the only ones to survive and I'm kind of proud of them.

[NitroMarty]

My oldest surviving build, from roughly 1976 (l would have been 15 years old)...

AMT Street Rod Series 1959 El Camino, built as an early 60's custom. Heavily inspired by the style of the Alexander Bros.

It's showing it's age now, but was really something back in the day.

Somewhere along the line the '59 Caddy taillights, dual custom antennas, and most of the chrome micro stripe tape chrome bed trim have gone missing.

I entered the model in the 1979 NSRA Street Rod Nationals model contest, and won 1st place in class with it.

Edited January 20 by NitroMarty

[Falcon Ranchero]

11 hours ago, NitroMarty said:

My oldest surviving build, from roughly 1976 (l would have been 15 years old)...

AMT Street Rod Series 1959 El Camino, built as an early 60's custom. Heavily inspired by the style of the Alexander Bros.

It's showing it's age now, but was really something back in the day.

Somewhere along the the the '59 Caddy taillights, dual custom antennas, and most of the chrome micro stripe tape chrome bed trim have gone missing.

I entered the model in the 1979 NSRA Street Rod Nationals model contest, and won 1st place in class with it.

Real cool; congrats on the win back in the day, that's so cool your model is an old show winner👍

[jdcar32]

I originally built this in high school, around 1969, so it's over 55 years old. But I recently refurbished it. An AMT Corvair annual kit with a mid mounted small block. Sort of influenced by Yenko and the Crown Engineering conversion kit seen in Hot Rod mag.

[kruleworld]

I built my MPC "Super Charger" 74 Charger back in the 80s. over time it's had many rebuilds and repaints and is sporting 1/20 F1 wheels

super-charger-007 by aus_mus, on Flickr

[ismaelg]

Hello,

In the second page of this thread I posted my oldest surviving build, from around 1984. But here is another one with a twist in its history.

The Revell Magnum's Ferrari was released in 1982.  I must have built it probably around 1983 or '84, ~age 13-14.  This picture is from around 1986 (we moved from that house in early '87 and I see my built '85 Trans Am).
You can see the Ferrari in this picture. While I already spray painted some bodies back then, the Ferrari seems to be bare plastic with only the roof brush painted black.

After we moved to the new house, I remember disassembling that Ferrari and Spray painted it after discovering the Testors little spray bombs.  Pretty sure it as about 1988 (age 17 or 18).  By the way, parts from those other builds are in parts boxes everywhere as I disassembled those to be rebuilt. 

Back to the Ferrari, I clearly remember I couldn't get the tail lights out, so I painted over them with the hopes of "eventually" repainting them red and amber, which I never did.

So technically, it is a newer build than the one I previously posted by about 3 years.

I re-discovered that model years ago and put it in a box waiting to be cleaned up.  This is how it looked up to last week.

Untouched for about 36 years.

I decided to clean it up but strictly refraining from improving on it.  Strictly getting it back to what it was in 1988, including painted over tail lights, warped front hood, tons of flash, misaligned wheels and taped-repaired hood prop among other things.

Touched a small corner with polish and the paint came out.  So only soft brushes and cotton swabs (Q-tips) were used, damped in clean water.

This is how it looks today.

 

 

 

 

It will now reside in a proper display case.  This is history. This is 18 years old me.

Thanks,
Ismael

 

Edited January 27 by ismaelg

[atomicholiday]

9 hours ago, ismaelg said:

Hello,

In the second page of this thread I posted my oldest surviving build, from around 1984. But here is another one with a twist in its history.

The Revell Magnum's Ferrari was released in 1982.  I must have built it probably around 1983 or '84, ~age 13-14.  This picture is from around 1986 (we moved from that house in early '87 and I see my built '85 Trans Am).
You can see the Ferrari in this picture. While I already spray painted some bodies back then, the Ferrari seems to be bare plastic with only the roof brush painted black.

After we moved to the new house, I remember disassembling that Ferrari and Spray painted it after discovering the Testors little spray bombs.  Pretty sure it as about 1988 (age 17 or 18).  By the way, parts from those other builds are in parts boxes everywhere as I disassembled those to be rebuilt. 

Back to the Ferrari, I clearly remember I couldn't get the tail lights out, so I painted over them with the hopes of "eventually" repainting them red and amber, which I never did.

So technically, it is a newer build than the one I previously posted by about 3 years.

I re-discovered that model years ago and put it in a box waiting to be cleaned up.  This is how it looked up to last week.

Untouched for about 36 years.

I decided to clean it up but strictly refraining from improving on it.  Strictly getting it back to what it was in 1988, including painted over tail lights, warped front hood, tons of flash, misaligned wheels and taped-repaired hood prop among other things.

Touched a small corner with polish and the paint came out.  So only soft brushes and cotton swabs (Q-tips) were used, damped in clean water.

This is how it looks today.

 

 

 

 

It will now reside in a proper display case.  This is history. This is 18 years old me.

Thanks,
Ismael

 

That was a great save.  Nice looking Ferrari! 

[1959]

I am not 100% sure if this Superbird is the oldest or is it AMT 57 Chevy but 99% says that this is the one. Atleast it is the first one I have painted with paintbrush. It also has the first spark plug wires I have made. Built at the age of 13 or 14 in early 90s. I didn't place the decals back then but my son added those few years ago. Glad that it had survived.

[RT6PK]

Lightning Rods version of the Revell Anglia. I think this was around 1984 which would have made me about 13 or 14 years old. I had already building on my own, (without dad's help) for several years. This was the first model that I took parts from other kits make it my way. 

• Wheels from the AMT '62 Corvette.
• Front end AMT '32 Roadster, (the original Revell front end kicked my ass).
• Engine is a Chevy rat motor. I think it came from the AMT '63 Corvette. Intake and carbs from the AMT Shelby Cobra.
• Dash from a snap together '40 Ford.
• Shifter from a Monogram '71 Cuda.
• I went with a bigger gas tank since this was a street car, not a gasser.
• Side pipes from an MPC Demon Vette show car.
• Paint, Testors Candy Grape.

 

Edited February 12 by RT6PK

[ismaelg]

Very cool Anglia!

[RT6PK]

I am not sure, but I think these are my two oldest builds. I think the '53 might be older because I did not attempt painting the window trim. I am guessing I was 11 or 12 years old? The '53 was built straight out of the box. The '55 has the dual quad intake from the AMT '62 Corvette. I stole the air cleaners for another project many years ago. I loved the Testors Saphire Metal Flake Blue.

 

 

Edited February 12 by RT6PK

[Bullybeef]

This is the oldest surviving build of my automotive building, this would have been done around 1990 or 1991. It’s currently getting a sympathetic restore( Reggie it back together) and will be a gift to my Brother in law for his office.