Ford Capri Funny car "Gloworm"

[NitroJunky]

I have had to shelve my Lucas Oil TFD project for a while for one and other reason so i thought it a good idea to blow dust off some other projects ive been working on.

Sometime ago i stumbled across a few pictures of ford capri funny car called the "Gloworm" this was built by roy phelps here in the uk and was considered Santa Pods and in fact the uk's first proper funny car.

Other than Corgi producing a diecast model i dont know of anyone else who as built one. So with this in mind i set about building a 1/24th scale model.

The MK1 capri donor kit is one by doyusha. This was cut at the bulkhead and stretched 20mm along with a few other small body mods.

The chassis is being scratch built using the corgi model as rough guide and scaled up.

The rear axle is from a revell chevy panel van kit and s been narrowed by 10mm. The real car had a ford 427ci blown V8. Luckily i had a ford 427 revell engine kit in the spares box.

During my research on this car through various racing contacts and websites the original builder of the car roy phelps got in touch with me and as taken a keen intrest in the project.

here are a few WIP shots

I will post a few more pics when more work as been done

[Chuck Most]

Cool! I'll have to keep an eye on this one.

[SSNJim]

Very cool. The first car I bought was a charcoal grey 73 4 cylinder 4 speed Capri. I love those early Capris. I've seen a lot of custom Capris, but never a funny car. I just googled the car's name, and found a bunch of pictures of it and other Capri-bodied funny cars. Who knew?

Did you put that "power bulge" on the hood? The Doyusha kit I have (Nostalgic Heros series, maybe?) doesn't have one - the hood is flat between the headlights.

Your car is looking good. I'm looking forward to seeing its progress.

[NitroJunky]

Very cool. The first car I bought was a charcoal grey 73 4 cylinder 4 speed Capri. I love those early Capris. I've seen a lot of custom Capris, but never a funny car. I just googled the car's name, and found a bunch of pictures of it and other Capri-bodied funny cars. Who knew?

Did you put that "power bulge" on the hood? The Doyusha kit I have (Nostalgic Heros series, maybe?) doesn't have one - the hood is flat between the headlights.

Your car is looking good. I'm looking forward to seeing its progress.

Sorry forgot to mention that part, The power bulge was made from plastic sheet and sanded to required shape.At the time i didnt have the corgi model so i had to roughly work out the length from photos. Its also helped to strengthen the body over the joins.

The single chute and rear bumper were fitted but then removed to make it a bit easier when painting the body.

This car was built way before my time but i was hooked from the moment i found the photos of it.

Most of the capri funny car bodies in the UK and europe at the time were built by FGR motorsport as they are now from the same mould the gloworm came from.

Thanks for the comments

[SSNJim]

Thanks for the info. It is a unique car, and quite eyecatching.

[NitroJunky]

Just found a few photos from when i started the body

The body from the kit straight out of the box.

This is what the real car looked like, These are not my photos so credit to owner and are only being used for reference.

[W-409]

Very nice job with it! I like to see Drag Car made from some unusual car. This one looks cool, nice modifications in that body. Frame doesn't really fit to my eye perfectly, but that's not bad anyways. Great work with it, I can't say more, I'll be watching it...

[randx0]

Cool subject matter.

[NitroJunky]

Here are a few more photos as ive been busy with the chassis construction.

One with the 1/43 scale corgi model

Edited December 9, 2010 by NitroJunky

[John Teresi]

This is so cool.......the Capri is the first car I bought when I was in high school 1972.......thank`s for the memories .......very cool build so far.