El Ponchero 1969/1970 Pontiac Bonneville Boat race team

[alan barton]

When Model King contracted the re-issue of the 1970 Pontiac Bonneville kit, I had to get one for two reasons - firstly, I love model boat kits and secondly, I had to make good the horrors I inflicted on a 1969 Bonneville kti when I was a teenager.

I bought the kit while at high school and immediately built it as the El Camino option. I seem to remember painting the roof, interior and chassis but leaving the body in white plastic.  It was a good looking model.

Sometime .later I felt the need to customise the poor thing and there's where it all went pear shaped.  I remember trying to shorten those enormous rear quarter panels but my ambition far outweighed my aptitude and sadly it died under the knife.

I never throw anything out, however, so I was pleased to be able to use the dashboard, the hood and the custom front grille extensions from my 1969 disaster.  In my opinion the 1970 is about the ugliest full sized Pontiac ever but it does have a nice rear end treatment. The 69 version was handicapped at the rear but quite cool and aggressive at the front.  Thus I built it as a custom with a little touch of 69, 70 and a bit of Alexander Brothers style for good measure.

This was one of my tougher challenged when It comes to my signature right hand drive conversion but as I still had the remains of the 69 dashboard, I used them to make the cutting and shutting on the 70 dash a bit less obvious.  My grandfather owned a 69 Pontiac Parisienne back in the day so a right hand drive Pontiacs is definitely existed.

THe beak at the front was constructed of flat plastic and putty to match up with the 69 hood.  The rear bumper was removed from the taillight unit and moulded in as a rollpan.  The entire light assembly was painted in Testors clear red to give the illusion of a one piece unit.

The cargo for the pickup bed is the AMT Westcraft Go Boat that was an option in the 1964 El Camino kit.  I had the two halves of the hull for over thirty years but sadly no other parts so I had to make do.  The windshield is one side of the Revell Bass Boat spilt screen, the steering wheel is a heavily trimmed AMT billet item and the motor was lifted in its entirety from a weird little Hot Wheels car called Hyper Mite.  It fitted like it was made for the job! The boat rests on a cradle scratch built form Evergreen.

The boat on the back is the original AMT Raysom Craft speedboat , repowered by the SOHC from the Hullraiser kit, a very simple conversion.

Paint is a combination of Duplicolour Silver base with Testors Candy green enamel and Tamiya metallic green acrylic lacquer, obviously not on the same model!

Questions and comments welcome!

Cheers

Alan

[Jack L]

Looks Great nice combo , love me some boats

[espo]

Really like the way you changed the front grill area on the body. Looks like something Pontiac would have done. The paint color is a real attention getter. Like how the Boat is done to match. 

[ncbuckeye67]

The work you put into this build was definitely worth it. That's an awesome looking Poncho, and the color matched boats are really cool!

[thatz4u]

well done...

[Bainford]

Very cool custom. I really dig the front end treatment. You have been redeemed.
I want to take that little boat out for a spin. 

[Koellefornia Kid]

Very nice combo, Alan! great work!

[alan barton]

Thanks everyone, glad you liked it as much as I did!  I've always had a soft spot for race teams of any sort so this one ticked a lot of boxes for me.

Cheers

Alan

[slusher]

Outstanding combo!

[ChrisR]

Very nice!

[Sledsel]

Sweet Ponchero!!!! What is that color? Has some great flake to it.

[Kit Karson]

AMT Rayson Craft Ski-Drag Boat Kit

Alan, have to say your version of the iconic AMT Rayson Craft Ski-Drag Boat Kit is a true complement to trailer behind your custom El Ponchero! Awesome trio, Brother!! -KK

[Paul Payne]

I also really like the front end treatment, and it's always nice to see matching boats!

[chris chabre]

oh hell yeah!!!!!

[stavanzer]

I love the colours! Green on anything makes it look better. Your Boats are wonderful.

 

Good Show.

[michelle]

awesome work 

[Bills72sj]

Very creative. The front definitely screams Pontiac.

[Claude Thibodeau]

Hi Alan!

Very nice styling exercise, bravo!  You are right: the 1970 has an UGLY front end, but your design changes everything!

CT