1934 Ford circle tracker

[roadhawg]

One of the top local race car drivers in the North Georgia/Tennessee area in the 50s and 60s was Smyrna, Georgia's Bill Hemby. A member of the GA Racing Hall Of Fame, Hemby won around 300 features, will forever be the track record holder at the famous Peach Bowl Speedway in Atlanta, was the 1965 track champion at Boyds Speedway in Chattanooga TN, and was the top money winner at the Athens GA Speedway in 1968. While known mostly as a supermodified driver, Hemby raced in several different divisions, on both dirt and pavement. He even ventured into Nascar in the late 60s in the Grand Touring division.

I was asked by Bill's son to build a model of a 1934 Ford he raced in the mid to late 50s.

Since it is the only accurate 3-window coupe, I started with an original Monogram kit...the one molded in burgandy. Like the real car, the model is very close to stock. Modifications include bobbing the fenders, adding shock absorbers, adding interior bracing, and scratchbuilding the bumpers. Wheels and tires are from Early Years Resin, and the grille is from MCG.

The hardest part for me was the decals. Once I got the artwork figured out, they were printed by Joe Schulte at Diecast And Decals.

Looking at the pictures, I probably should have redone the red pinstripe, it looks a little shakey, but it didn't seem that bad looking at it in person. I had fun with this one, and learned a few things along the way.....and Bill's son was VERY happy with it.

[sjordan2]

Pinstripe aside, this is terrific, and I love the shot of the car with the period background. Nice work.

[Bernard Kron]

Wonderful replica. Truly captures the spirit of the 1:1. Bravo!

Under the heading of "closing the barn door after the horse has bolted", those decals came out beautifully so maybe you should have ordered up some stripes while you were at it! No matter, the build looks really fine.

Edited April 18, 2011 by gbk1

[Dr. Cranky]

A perfect replica. Nice job.

[vaughn]

That is a wonderful build and the period setting in the background captures it all. Great job with decals and all !!

[MyBradKeselowski]

Outstanding ! ! !

Looks like a perfect match to the 1:1 to me, great outcome...

Edited April 18, 2011 by kaseykahne09

[wisdonm]

Great job. Can't get more original than that.

[outlaw035]

u did a grt8 job replicating the 34....congrats

[roadhawg]

Thanks, everybody. I DID learn that making decals is a lot more that "scan and print", lol!

[Guest]

To me,there's nothing cooler than a model of a real car, especially one of this caliber! Very nice work Tommy!