Early 50's Road/Race Special (Ficticious)

[Dave B]

I always wanted to build an early race car that a young guy with a bit of loose change could build and run at Bonneville or on one of the many runway circuits that were prevalent in the States in the 50's.

The opportunity came when a mate gave me a resin Indy Car Legends '35 Miller Ford.

Heading to the parts box I found a suitable early Ford frame, front and rear suspension, motor, head and tail lights and interior seat.  Styrene tube made up the exhaust system and styrene sheet the bulkheads and dashboard. A few decals, a bit of fuse wire and some epoxy made the guages with a dressmakers pin for a gear lever.  Sort of the equivalent to going to a wreckers!!

The body took a bit of work to widen the rear, create a lift off bonnet and relieve areas where the suspension had to go.

Havlng run at Bonneville, as per the decal on the dash, our young guy is now driving home from a road circuit.  The custom Ford pick up could be used to dead mans tow it so this young bloke was obviously cashed up!!

Great fun to build, tks for looking.

Dave B

[Pierre Rivard]

That's a very cool duo Dave. The freedom to mix up parts from a kit and the spares box creates a nice change of pace from our usual chase for historical accuracy.

Question about the gauges, do you se a particular epoxy formulation to achieve the clear glass effect?

[Jim B]

That's pretty cool.  Well done.

[TonyK]

A very nice model. Sometimes a fictional car can be more interesting than a replica of one. A lot of work but looks like you satisfied your creative side.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Saw this one as a WIP. Good looking result.

I'd like to build something full-scale in the same flavor.  

[Phildaupho]

I really like your road race special. I was at the Monterey Historics one year when specials were featured there and at Pebble Beach. I even helped out in the paddock at the Stovebolt Special HWM Chev. I also wanted to build a special myself but never found the right donor kit as a starting point.

[ChrisR]

Looks great!!

[lucky 130]

Great job. puts me in mind of when the "rich" boys used to buy J2 Alards and put Olds and Cadilliac motors, and went sporty car racing. good old days. Glad to see that kind of out of the box thinking still lives, even if only in 1:24 scale. 

[Yeah Nah]

Love everything about this! Has a real period feel to it.

[Dave B]

10 hours ago, Pierre Rivard said:

That's a very cool duo Dave. The freedom to mix up parts from a kit and the spares box creates a nice change of pace from our usual chase for historical accuracy.

Question about the gauges, do you se a particular epoxy formulation to achieve the clear glass effect?

Hi Pierre, I just use white glue to attach the fuse wire gauge bezel and drop clear 5 minute epoxy onto the decal, I always use a brand over here called Selleys 5 minute epoxy.

Dave

[bondo bill]

sweet build

[PappyD340]

Very nice pair!

[stavanzer]

Awesome, Awesome Scratch-Build!

You really nailed the vibe.

Good Show.

[SpikeSchumacher]

Excellent!