Chuck Samuel's 65 El Camino (NMCA fastest street car shootout)

[Nicholas]

1 minute ago, keviiin86 said:

Hahah! So you know of this car is see?! I've heard those stories of the pea gravel/cement in the tailgate before and considered opening up the tailgate to make it just a bit more realistic...but the bed floor is molded too high on this model, just wouldn't look quite right.  I just recently talked to a guy this weekend who is friends with the current owner of Chuck's old Elco..its sat untouched since probably the late 90s to early 2000s, looks the same just no motor/trans.

ha ya though i never saw it in person ,only when he had the mid 80's camaro first red then down in orlando when it was purple,cool bunch of guys!

[keviiin86]

I went out and got some paint today, I think I have the color figured out.  Since I dont have an airbrush I'm stuck with rattle cans but I've seen Tamiya has a light metallic green that looks close so I figured I'd try a basecoat of another color to achieve the shade I'm after.  I shot some on the old junk fenders I cut off.  Used Tamiya TS 17 gloss aluminum as a base and a couple light mist coats of TS 60 pearl green.  Looks close to the factory 1965 color "willow green".  The pics I have of the car are all from the early 90s and not the best lighting or quality so its tough to get an exact match, but after googling the color on other chevelles I think its pretty close.

 

Edited June 4 by keviiin86

[keviiin86]

Made some beltline trim out of half round, glued them side by side to replicate the trim on the fender, door and 1/4.  Also deleted the battery from the engine bay and made an empty "battery tray" in place of it.

[keviiin86]

Painted the valve covers with Revell chrome, turned out nice and dried to the touch within 24 hours..was able to glue them on the assembled engine. Still have to put the distributor in and run the plug wires and the engine will be pretty much complete.

[NYLIBUD]

Coming along great.And I have to add,that you did a fantastic job on the engine assembly 

[GoatGuy]

REALLY nice build Kevin! Looking forward to more.

Dave

[keviiin86]

Painted the wheels and detailed them a bit.  Tried to replicate the brushed aluminum look on the centerlines.  I have revell chrome paint but for once that was a little too reflective for what I was after so I tried some duplicolor "chrome" paint which was a little more on the dull side.  I think thats closer to what the satin finish looks like.  Rears were painted with flat black then some VHT flat aluminum paint.

[Zippi]

Those wheels and tires came out Super nice looking Kevin.  

[sah5150]

Body paint looks really close - well done! Wheels look great as well.

Steve

[keviiin86]

Started fitting and painting the interior.  I used all of the revell 65 chevelle interior components since it all lines up with the chassis.  Set the interior floor and door panels in to see where they needed to be cut off to fit, and they drop right in and sit perfectly in the AMT body.  Still need to find an acceptable bench seat..leaning toward the AMT 65 chevelle wagon back seat to use as a bench..once thats in I will make up a roll cage out of aluminum wire.  I'll also end up cutting off the back of the AMT interior tub to make a close out panel behind the seat

Stole the floor shifter out of the revell kit and modified it to make it a column shifter.  Also added a tach on the column and a 3 gauge panel under the dash.

[70Monte454]

Excellent work!! This makes me nostalgic for this era of drag racing. big block and a dominator and spray and your going fast!

[Tony Coomer]

Great work. The motor looks great…

[keviiin86]

21 hours ago, 70Monte454 said:

Excellent work!! This makes me nostalgic for this era of drag racing. big block and a dominator and spray and your going fast!

Thanks! 70s, 80s and 90s are definitely my favorite eras of drag racing.

[keviiin86]

15 hours ago, Tony Coomer said:

Great work. The motor looks great…

Thanks!