High and Mighty inspired Shoebox Ford

[Ferbz]

My High and Mighty inspired 49 Ford model project is finally done! I've documented the build progress in the WIP channel if you want to see how it came together. Admittedly, I dont normally build drag cars as my favorite topic is traditional customs, but I learned about the famous 1:1 Plymouth and I got a whacky idea: 'What would a shoebox Ford version look like?' And what if Ed Roth somehow got involved? 🤪 Needless to say, I got inspired, started in earnest and came up with this fictional back story: In a different parallel universe, Ed Roth saw and appreciated what the Ramchargers team was doing with their experimental Plymouth. On a test run at the drag strip, they crashed it and banged up the body and was in need of a replacement body fast. Ed offered to give them a 49 Ford coupe body he had with one catch: they had to agree to let him promote his Rat Fink branding on the car. They agreed, and the rest was history! (alternate fictional history that is) 😁

Edited August 21 by Ferbz

[M W Elky]

Dude it’s just wild love the back story . I admire your imagination and dedication to getting her done . I flowed your amazing work on the wip . It shows you build customs something else that I really admire 

[RancheroSteve]

Really terrific!!

[Ferbz]

34 minutes ago, M W Elky said:

Dude it’s just wild love the back story . I admire your imagination and dedication to getting her done . I flowed your amazing work on the wip . It shows you build customs something else that I really admire 

Thanks man! Once I got inspired, I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to try to accomplish. This build has a sense of humor which was a nice break from my usual 'serious' custom subjects where I'm exploring design ideas. I did take a break like this once before many years ago when I got inspired by looking at lots of Dave Deal's cartoon artwork. I was looking at my 55 Chevy pickup model and wondered how Dave Deal might've drawn it and proceeded to cut it up and glue it back together:

[Ferbz]

17 minutes ago, RancheroSteve said:

Really terrific!!

Thanks! This build was quite a bit of fun 😉👍

[bondo bill]

great build and story

[ChrisR]

Cool!

[Straightliner59]

I enjoyed seeing it from its inception, to now! Nicely done! I've long wanted to build something inspired by High N Mighty. Very cool project!

[Ferbz]

11 hours ago, bondo bill said:

great build and story

Thanks! 😁👍

[Ferbz]

8 hours ago, ChrisR said:

Cool!

Thanks man! 😎👍

[Ferbz]

7 hours ago, Straightliner59 said:

I enjoyed seeing it from its inception, to now! Nicely done! I've long wanted to build something inspired by High N Mighty. Very cool project!

Thanks! And thanks for following along! 😉 My imagination just fired up once I discovered the 1:1 car and it's significance. It's just such a crazy/cool car 😎

[Mike 1017]

High N Mighty brings a smile to my face. I LUV IT

[Ferbz]

3 hours ago, Mike 1017 said:

High N Mighty brings a smile to my face. I LUV IT

I'm so glad you do! When I first came up with the idea for this build, I did wonder if some folks were going to feel like I might be treading on hallowed ground. The original 1:1 High and Mighty Plymouth is such a significant car in the history of drag racing that maybe it wasn't cool to make an inspired version of it? Well I threw caution to the wind and did it anyway cuz it was just too fun of an idea! 🤪👍

[PappyD340]

Very cool pair!

[TransAmMike]

That is one wild and crazy gasser, great job Ferby!!  

[Kenmojr]

Love the Shoebox Ford and the Dave Bell Chevy pickup models you created. Excellent work on both....

[Redisetta]

Wow, and the color is great!

[Dragline]

Superb! The colors, the stance, the outrageousness.... All on one car.

[Straightliner59]

10 hours ago, Ferbz said:

High and Mighty Plymouth is such a significant car in the history of drag racing that maybe it wasn't cool to make an inspired version of it?

I love building projects that draw inspiration from "classic" sources. I have a project on my bench shelf that's inspired by the first Warren, Coburn and Miller rear engined car. I have a plan to build Monogram's Long John as inspired by Mel Heath's '56 Nationals winner. I have a couple of others, like that, as well. I don't see anything at all wrong with it. I have only ever built two replicas; Dick Kraft's "The Bug" and Cook and Bedwell's dragster, from a Monogram Slingshot. Most frequently, I pull together cool features from different sources, and incorporate them into my models. I guess I mostly look to capture an era.

[MeatMan]

Awesome work!

[meechum68]

I followed this build as well, and you knocked it out of the park!!  Such a fun piece and the backstory sells it! 

Excellent work!!! 

[NitroMarty]

I am diggin' on this thing so frickin hard!!!!!😎

I have looooooong wanted to build model of the original High & Mighty, but never seem to actually get around to it. (With too many ideas of my own, I suck at building replicas)

Your build here has got me thinking maybe it would be cool to throw a H&M inspired 51 Chevy into the mix 😁

[Ferbz]

Thanks very much!

[Ferbz]

On 8/22/2025 at 5:23 PM, TransAmMike said:

That is one wild and crazy gasser, great job Ferby!!  

Thanks! I usually build traditional customs so it was a nice to take a break from my usual subject matter and get a little 'wild and crazy' 🤪

[Ferbz]

On 8/22/2025 at 6:05 PM, Kenmojr said:

Love the Shoebox Ford and the Dave Bell Chevy pickup models you created. Excellent work on both....

Thanks so much!👍