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I had posted this one a while back but the photos were small and not very clear,so I decided to post them again. For anybody who missed it,it is a 1951 Autocar.The entire cab and chassis is scratchbuilt from evergreen sheet and tube,cut to make c channel.I used a lindberg dodge for its wheels,axles, suspension and also the motor. All the chrome bits and pieces except for the horns and marker lights,were out of my parts box. It was quite challenging getting the curves on the roof and nose right. Most of the evergreen was heated with a lighter and quickly moulded before it cooled,then filled with auto body filler,and sanded,sanded,sanded,sanded! I cut the tops off pin heads and used them for bolt detail on the chassis,i think it was nearly fifty all up! The interior I had to just take a guess on,coz I couldnt find a single picture anywhere of this particular series,so is loosely based on other Autocars of this era. The only bit in there that was really fiddly was making and glueing the seperate spokes onto the steering wheel,cutting the original tri spokes out as i went,so as to keep the centre where it needed to be. All up it was about three weeks solid work. One thing that i really love about these trucks is the factory suicide doors,never seen them on a truck before.Anyway follow the link and have a look,leave any feed back,good or bad. Codie.My link

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Yes, I had seen this one the last time you posted it, was very impressed. The U-series Autocar is one of my all-time favorites. Do you have any reference material on the dimensions of the cab?

thanks for your comments, i agree with you, the u series is one cool looking truck, after spotting one on an image search, i decided the only way i would get to have one would be to make it, as i dont think anybody sells them in kit form, and as far as i know the 1:1 were never brought here to australia. i wish i could help you out with reference material for dimensions etc, but i refered to the pics i found on the net of various angles and then built it by guess work and a careful eye. as i used the lindberg dodge kit as a donor, i used the chassis as a basic template for length and width. and for the cab i used a peterbilt 959 cab as a guide for width and height,as its 1/25 scale[roughly]. are you planning on trying your hand at one also? if you have any more queries just ask and i will try help you out as best i can. thanks, codie.

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I was just THINKING about it, I have a couple other things on the go right now, I am working on a mid-fifties White conventional, it is my first full-on scratchbuilt cab. I will also be doing a fiberglass paystar nose conversion pretty quick here. Depending on how the White turns out, I may tackle a U-series Autocar. It is probably my favorite COE.

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Guest Johnny

Love these kinds of builds! Obscure trucks that many never ever knew existed!

I remember wandering around old salvage yards with my grandpa and marveling over the design of the old semi tractors from days gone by!

Very cool build! ;)

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I was just THINKING about it, I have a couple other things on the go right now, I am working on a mid-fifties White conventional, it is my first full-on scratchbuilt cab. I will also be doing a fiberglass paystar nose conversion pretty quick here. Depending on how the White turns out, I may tackle a U-series Autocar. It is probably my favorite COE.

the white sounds like an interesting build. are you gonna post some pics on the forum of it? i was doing another image search the other day and came across a 1939 white streamliner that was owned by labatts beer and am seriously considering that one and the matching trailer as my next scratchbuild,just got to find as many pics of it as i can. should make for an interesting project.

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Love these kinds of builds! Obscure trucks that many never ever knew existed!

I remember wandering around old salvage yards with my grandpa and marveling over the design of the old semi tractors from days gone by!

Very cool build! cool.gif

i agree with you,one of the good things about modern technology is the ease that which you can find these sort of trucks via the internet,then with skilled hands and a bit of know how, you can build one. some cool stuff was built in those old days.

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the white sounds like an interesting build. are you gonna post some pics on the forum of it? i was doing another image search the other day and came across a 1939 white streamliner that was owned by labatts beer and am seriously considering that one and the matching trailer as my next scratchbuild,just got to find as many pics of it as i can. should make for an interesting project.

It depends on how bad it looks! LOL! No, just kidding, once I get a little farther along, i will post some progress pics. I have mastered up a front wheel, once i get that in rubber, I will put up a pic of that too.

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  • 1 month later...

God, I love old rigs. As an Auto Artist I have 2 1950 Chevy COE's designed (Though I have thought of using the old Cannonball GMC) I want to build real life ones. One is styled as an Airstream style motorhome and the other is my shop wrecker for when I build my Rod shop. They are both tandem axles. These would be some awesome models. I like how Autocar held onto an Art Deco design. This truck is killer.

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