AMT ‘37 Chevy Cabriolet

[NOBLNG]

There are precious few early Chevys portrayed here, so when a club member offered this up for $5 I jumped on it.😬 It’s obviously not a great kit…but it does have potential I think with a bit of detailing.

Edit: Little interest is no wonder…that is pretty pathetic looking box art!😳

I glued the fenders and inner fenders onto the body. And typical of older AMT kits, one side is waaaay thicker than the other.🥴

A first thing I need to address is the poor mounting of the body to frame/running boards….no more iffy location going forward.😜

Another thing I want to address is the running boards. The outer edges should be dead straight and not have a bulge approaching the front fender.

So I filed them straight. I had to add some material to the passenger side to get there.🥵 And I added the chrome trim along the edge from .030” half round, as well as the missing bead that should go halfway around the rear fender.

 

Edited yesterday at 12:34 PM by NOBLNG

[meechum68]

Following this! 

[Big Messer]

Following. I have one... somewhere.

[NOBLNG]

The raised sections on either side of the grill should actually be part of the fenders, so I scribed some new panel lines and used some Milliput to blend the transition. These were very handsome looking cars…more elegant than the Fords in my opinion.😎

While I was working on the running boards, I filed off the 3/4” bolts that AMT used to attach them and am kinda winging it with some new mounts. Undercarriage photos of original equipment are pretty scarce, and I don’t really care if I’m completely accurate.🤯

Edit: I think someone at AMT left the bolt head making machine on overnight.😬

 

Edited October 26 by NOBLNG

[NOBLNG]

6 hours ago, meechum68 said:

Following this! 

 

6 hours ago, Big Messer said:

Following. I have one... somewhere.

Thank you for your interest Gents! I hope to fix a few of the fitment issues and upgrade it slightly. The wheels and tires were missing, and there was no stock engine, but for $5….I’m happy.🙂 The supercharged 454 supplied in the kit is a bit ridiculous without a complete ground up rebuild, so I am just going to swap in a 283 and cast iron powerglide from the Revell ‘56 DelRay, like someone may have done back in the 50’s or early 60’s. Some nice mags or maybe steelies and baby moons and good enough….maybe something along these lines.😎

Edited October 27 by NOBLNG

[DJMar]

Cool beans.

The '37 is one of my favorite early Chevs, but the AMT kit is kind of a disaster. Nice work on all of it so far. The front fenders/grille interface and those curvy running boards have always been a pet peeve of mine - good job with getting that all sorted. It makes a big difference in the look of the finished kit.

[Ulf]

Creative improvement of the front fenders. I seem to remember that there is only one rear light in the kit (check the instruktions so you don't have to waste time looking for it).

[NOBLNG]

I am tempted to replace the dual beads on the side of the body, as they should extend back to about where this mold line is.

And they are missing on the cowl between the door and hood, so it may be best to replace them with half round. .030” would work for the lower one, but there is no smaller half round for the upper bead so I may have to make some if I decide to go that route.

The interior tub is pretty crappy and neither of the dashboards locate nicely.😕 So I am in the process of fixing stuff.🤯 The gaps from side to side are nowhere close to symmetrical. Still re-engineering stuff.🥵 I may have to get rid of that box on the floor and put in a proper trans tunnel…but that’s yet to be determined.

 

Edited October 27 by NOBLNG

[Big Messer]

It MAY be possible to replace the ugly/inaccurate body beads with stretched styrene rod. But I will deny all the way to the guillotine being the instigator. And those stumps that pass as pedals...

Edited October 26 by Big Messer

[Big Messer]

FWIW I found this coupe. It is hot rodded but there are interesting detail pics:

https://classiccars.com/listings/view/1791683/1937-chevrolet-coupe-for-sale-in-clarksville-georgia-30523

[NOBLNG]

25 minutes ago, Big Messer said:

It MAY be possible to replace the ugly/inaccurate body beads with stretched styrene rod. But I will deny all the way to the guillotine being the instigator. And those stumps that pass as pedals...

I have .015” and .020” round evergreen which may work. I could carve a trench for it to sit in but getting it to NOT look “wavy” might be a challenge which is why I’d prefer to make some half round if if  possible. The pedals are definitely being deleted.😬

Edited October 26 by NOBLNG

[NOBLNG]

15 minutes ago, Big Messer said:

FWIW I found this coupe. It is hot rodded but there are interesting detail pics:

https://classiccars.com/listings/view/1791683/1937-chevrolet-coupe-for-sale-in-clarksville-georgia-30523

Thanks Jose.👍 I have a ton of pics downloaded. Finding pics of original, un-modified stuff is the challenge.

Edited October 26 by NOBLNG

[Big Messer]

22 minutes ago, NOBLNG said:

Thanks Jose.👍 I have a ton of pics downloaded. Finding pics of original, un-modified stuff is the challenge.

I know. One place I always check is 

https://hymanltd.com/view/inventory/

Usually they have complete sets of pics of  the underside of the cars that they have for sale. Unfortunately not this time. 

[FoMoCo66]

Looking pretty good there, some chrome reverses would look bitchen on that. Of course I think they look good on all hot rods.

[Can-Con]

2 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

I have .015” and .020” round evergreen which may work. I could carve a trench for it to sit in but getting it to NOT look “wavy” might be a challenge which is why I’d prefer to make some half round if if  possible. The pedals are definitely being deleted.😬

I was going to suggest stretched sprue too, Greg.

Easiest way to keep it strait when putting it on is to glue one end first, just tacking the tip down so it doesn't move then pull it tight against the body and tack the other end down. I'll use super glue for tacking the ends and just a little liquid cement to glue down the rest after the super glue has set. 

I'll also cut the strip longer then needed and trim it off to length after it's attached.

[TopherMcGinnis]

I dig it. In the summer of '87 I was 15 and working in a Phillips 66 station. The owner's paw-in-law, Jim, brought his son's '39 Chevrolet coupe to the station one Saturday morning. He said "Chris, I think Jimmy's car has a miss in it. Take that thang around the block a see what you thank". It had a '63 Corvette 327 in it. I pulled out, went a block and turned left. This car had the lightest throttle return spring I've ever seen....I pushed the pedal and it collapsed to the floor! This car took off like a jack rabbit! I have no idea how fast i got up to, but I was scared to death! I got back to the station and Jim was grinning and said "Hmm, I guess it didn't have much of a miss did it???" He busted out laughing. I guess they heard it. These are cool cars for sure. I'll patiently await your talented progress 😁

[Kanada Kustoms]

Love these cars… I have fond memories of building this kit when I was younger. You’re doing all kinds of great corrections that are improving it. Looking forward to your progress!

Edited October 26 by Kanada Kustoms

[NOBLNG]

32 minutes ago, Can-Con said:

I was going to suggest stretched sprue too, Greg.

Easiest way to keep it strait when putting it on is to glue one end first, just tacking the tip down so it doesn't move then pull it tight against the body and tack the other end down. I'll use super glue for tacking the ends and just a little liquid cement to glue down the rest after the super glue has set. 

I'll also cut the strip longer then needed and trim it off to length after it's attached.

Thanks Steve. I myself have had very little luck stretching sprue.🥴 Stretched sprue is still round and I have round Evergreen that is OK size wise.

[NOBLNG]

I’ve got the interior bucket positively located now. 🥵

I slit the floorpan and bent the center section up to close this gap, which also helps with driveshaft clearance. AMT already upgraded the rearend somewhat from the OE torque tube setup so I’ll keep it. I separated the diff from the leaf springs though and added some 1-3/4” lowering blocks. I still have to fabricate some shocks.

The front suspension I will just use the kit parts as is. I capped the visible portion of the frame rails and have the engine mounts finalized.

 

Edited Thursday at 05:37 PM by NOBLNG

[NOBLNG]

I might drop the front end about the same as the rear or may leave it  like this.🤔

 

Edited Thursday at 05:42 PM by NOBLNG

[bisc63]

This view has a certain appeal! Kind of a period hot rod look, just in the early stages of modifications.

 

[NOBLNG]

3 hours ago, bisc63 said:

This view has a certain appeal! Kind of a period hot rod look, just in the early stages of modifications.

 

Thanks. I raised the rear back up to the kit level. I don’t have the original wheels and tires, so for now I am mocking up with these parts box steelies. I might dig through the parts box again for some mags just to see if anything tickles my fancy since the kit hubcaps are too large for these wheels.🙂

Edited yesterday at 03:02 AM by NOBLNG

[meechum68]

2 minutes ago, NOBLNG said:

Thanks. I raised the rear back up to the kit level. I don’t have the original wheels and tires, so for now I am mocking up with these parts box steelies. I might dig through the parts box again for some mags just to see if anything tickles my fancy.🙂

I think it looks great with the steelies!  Especially with white walls. 

[DJMar]

Wow. Way, way better fit than the original kit, and it looks so much more like the real thing.

[Zippi]

Looking good there Greg.  I'm diggin the fat fenders.  Nice work so far.