cannonball 2025 Cannonball Run - Finished builds thread

[Mattilacken]

Welcome all to the  Cannonballers 18th Annual Cannonball Run Community build!

This year’s Cannonball Run theme is:
1975 CBR – 50 years anniversary! 
So cars shall be built in a way they could have been driven in 1975. 

 

Please post your finished builds here. 

Try to take good pictures of your build of several angles and if you have made some details make sure to show these! 
Try to post up to 6 pictures per entry but not more. 
 

 

2025 Cannonball Run Entry list:

1. '62 Chevrolet Bel Air  (W-409)

2.  Ford Escort MK2 ( stitchdup)

3. ‘71 Plymouth ’Cuda Hemi (Mattilacken) 🏁

4. ‘69 Chevrolet Camaro (atomicholliday)

5. WV type 1 Van (Fat Brian)

6. ‘69 Dodge Dart (Tim08)

7. ‘67 Ford Mustang (JimmyRiggins)

8. '70 Plymouth Superbird (Keef)

9. ’71 Renault Alpine A110( White Rabbit)

10. ‘75 Chevrolet Vega (MeatMan) 🏁

11. Dodge Super Bee (Slusher)

12. ’70 Dodge Super Bee (Sam I Am) 🏁

13. Lamborghini Espada (Tooltime-fan)

14. ‘70 Chevrolet Malibu (KWT)

15. ‘75 Volkswagen Golf (oldcarfan)🏁

16. ’60 Ford Starliner (blue303) 

17. Shelby G.T. 350R (xbazzarex)

18. ‘73 Mercury Cougar (bill_67)

19. ‘64 Corvette Grand Sport (beans)🏁

20. ’71 Porsche 911 T (Misha)

21. ’73 Dodge Charger (Pat Minarick)

22. ’71 Ford Maverick (bobthehobbyguy)

23. ’70 Ford Torino (kromolly)

24. ‘63 Renault Estafette (camaro69)

25. ‘73 Dodge d300 (53gmc)🏁

26. ‘71 Ford Interceptor (spencer1984)

27. ‘74 Ford Gran Torino wagon (iamsuperdan)

28. ‘58 Plymouth sports fury (Rescued Customs)

29. ‘66 Chevrolet  Malibu (Chasten)

30. ’66 Fairline GT/GTA (geras24)

31. '69 Ford Galaxie (Stavanzer)

32. 73 Nissan Skyline GT-R (Badge73)

33. ’75 Chevrolet Laguna (RockinRoler)🏁

34. ‘67 Chevrolet Impala (meechum68) 🏁

 

@MeatMan @Sam I Am @oldcarfan @53gmc @RockinRoller @meechum68

Edited November 3 by Mattilacken

[Mattilacken]

#3 1971 Plymouth ‘Cuda

”Used” to race in France but was sold to Sweden where the guys managed to get JPS sponsors thanks to Ronnie Petersson who was suppose to race with them. 
During the stay in US before the race they ran out of JPS smokers and only got hold of lucky strike and they went through a bunch of packs to stay awake!

Latest issue of automotorsport where F1 was mentioned and the result of Peterssons race was announced is thrown on the floor.

 

 

 

Edited November 1 by Mattilacken

[RockinRoller]

The Idea for that build here was 20+ years ago, by buying the MPC - Cannonball Run (licensed merch.) kit - as usual with these TV and Movie-kits they are not so accurate as we wished... but the amount of work getting it done was intense!

By the way it is a mixture of catching the most of details possible and satisfying childhood memories.

Link to the build...

What was made beside glueing plastic pieces together: 

- self-drawn decals

- reconstructed rear-panel

- taillights constructed and 3D printed

- chassis scratchbuilt

- beercans and pretzels...plenty!

- RED MAN chewing tobacco... 

..and so much more!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let´s go - get a beer first!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Beans]

#19  1964 Corvette Grand Sport

This is the Accurate Miniatures Grand sport - debadged and painted in white pearl.

No real major modifications to this one other than making sure everything fit together decently.

Wired the engine, added seatbelts, fire extinguisher and cb radio to the interior.  Added a side view mirror from a 67 impala (I think).  

 

[White Rabbit]

1971 Alpine A110S

My entry for this year’s Cannonball is the Alpine A110S. It’s a quirky rear-engined car with a solid racing heritage. The kit itself is of the Monte Carlo Rally winner; that is, the full race version. However, I returned the car to a street legal version, which required less modifications than would be expected. These included removal of the large driving lights, complete front bumpers, full length rear bumper, filters on the engine intake horns, front fuel tank and spare tire, standard lap belts, full interior switch gear and handles, and removal of the rally computer.

The kit itself is what is expected from Tamiya with good parts fit and detail. I then focused on adding additional detail and correcting one surprising inaccuracy: the brakes. The calipers are actually molded incorrectly on the rotors where the piston side is facing the wheel. Furthermore, the brake rotor hat is incorrect and does not fully extend to the lugs; that is, the lugs have nothing to bolt to. Therefore, to correct this, I modeled and printed new brake assemblies that are accurate front and rear.

With the brakes corrected, it was a matter of adding additional detail and accuracy. I opened the frunk and installed USCP’s detail set that included fuel tank, battery, radiator, and spare tire, among other small details. I also added their interior detail set with separate door handles, window cranks, and switchgear. Finally, their operational frunk and hood hinge set was added.

Various engine parts, such as the fuel pump, fuel lines, and (missing) distributor, were modeled and printed; as were the Madin 1C wheels. Additionally, some parts were scratch-built such as the engine bracing and mounts, coolant filler neck, and some engine detail. Finally, wiring and plumbing were added throughout.

Paint is Gravity Colors Renault Jaune Tournesol (Sunflower Yellow) and 1K Clear that was wet sanded and polished. Other paint is Tamiya and Vallejo. The bumpers and trim are bare metal foil.

I chose to use the French license plates as I don’t believe that the car was available in the US at that time. So, the idea is that the car owner imported it just for the race and would ship it back to France afterwards.

In the end it was an overall enjoyable build of an interesting subject. Additional photos: CBR Main Build

Edited November 11 by White Rabbit

[53gmc]

While everyone else was going more of a fast and nimble approach,  I decided to go the route of Dennis "mad dog" menesini with a brute of of cannonball racer. 

I started off with amts d100 kit and a bunch of 3d printed parts and ended up with a early 70s d300 dually. Powering this beast is a dual carbed 440 with a 4 speed. While not the fastest vehicle, road blocks won't be a problem for this behemoth. The higher ride height  also allows for some off road short cuts. Chassis mods include full custom exhaust,secondary fuel tank, and conversion to dually layout.

The interior mods include floor shifter, road maps, c/b radio, carpeting,  sunglasses,ect..

The exterior is just a simple red paint job with 3d printed dually flares modified to fit the dodge bed. Under the aftermarket camper topper is an assortment of tools, Jerry cans,ect.

 

Edited Thursday at 03:22 AM by 53gmc

[oldcarfan]

2025 Cannonball Entry #15 1975 Volkswagen Golf-

As this strange and hectic year winds down, so does our annual Cannonball. Here's hoping for a more peaceful 2026.

My 2025 entry was a change from last year's Ford Expedition and this project practically built itself in my head before I'd even finished the Expedition. I've always loved small fun to drive cars, so I went with the prototype for every hot hatch to follow, the VW Golf/Rabbit.

Here's a link to the build page if you're interested: 

A little history. By 1970, Volkswagen was in a fix. The Beetle was old tech and sales were half what they had been just a few years before. Volkswagen really needed a hit and the Golf was a Hail Mary. The car came to market as the gas crunch hit and ended up being the right car at the right time. 

I always like to have a theme for my builds as it helps keep me focused. The theme for this build was that a couple of crazy German Volkswagen engineers decided to do a Cannonball in the company's new Golf. They managed to get hold of an early car right off the assembly line and with unofficial backdoor factory help they built a contender. 

The donor kit was an ESCI Rally Golf that I've had forever. It's a decent older kit and if you've ever built AMT's Rabbit, that came out a few years ago, it's the same kit. I don't know if AMT bought the molds or just put it in their boxes. I had both the ESCI and AMT versions which comes into play in the next part of the story.

 

 
 

I got started the week after the New Year and made good progress. The body and chassis had just been cleaned up and painted in Model Masters Go Mango when disaster struck. I took the painted body into the house from my shop and set it on the counter. When I came back it was gone. It was eventually found in the back yard. Below is a picture of how it looked when I found it. Still don't know where the paper towel came from.

After a thorough investigation, evidence pointed at Fia the cat knocking it off the counter and Bernie, our little girl Corgi taking it outside and chewing it up. They both claimed to have alibis for that time, so the trail went cold. For reference, here are the unrepentant suspects:

Luckily I had that AMT kit and got it painted and was back on track in a week. I had just enough Go Mango to do the new body which saved a lot of extra trouble. The rest of the build was fairly simple. I actually did some research on VW's being raced and found that they were getting some serious for the times power out of that little engine. Trivia fact, the Dodge Omni initially used the Golf 1.7 liter engine.

At around 90 horsepower, the cars were built more for economy than speed. Following the theme of a backdoor factory entry, I knew those clever Germans would have some tricks up their sleeves. Here's the result, a 1.7 l bored out to 1.9 with some Porsche 024 internals, turbocharged with a rams horn exhaust. This was based partly on work done in Germany by racing teams and the engine should put out 120-125 hp. While that doesn't sound like a lot by modern standards, a Golf only weighed about 1700 pounds when stripped down for racing so the power to weight ratio was pretty good. According to some articles I read, a Golf in this form was capable of 115 mph sustained.

The little car's interior was stripped down for weight and only some heat insulation was added for the occupants. A round fuel cell was put in to supplement the regular tank for extra range.

The interior was built according to the tech available in 1975, with a CB radio, a police scanner, and a Fuzz Buster. For safety, a rollbar was added and Porsche seats and heat/sound insulation covers the passenger area.

 

Despite the pet inspired delay, I finished the build in record time. Here's how the car looks, fueled up and ready to go. All the guys have to do is load up their gear and head for the Red Ball Garage.