My personal feelings about Issue #158's contents....

[Agent G]

At least when I started in '79 we had a real honest to goodness electronic siren! Trouble was that mega hundred watt speaker was on the roof directly above us. Can you say deaf? Huh? What? LOL

Fast forward 28 years and my new 07 Impala. I got that 45 days before retirement. As a Sgt. I rode one man, so I got my trusty wrench and moved that darn laptop so I'd fit in the car. Right, no one could ride with me and I couldn't reach the AC/Heat controls.

Now, holy stink Batman. My oldests was in traffic for a few years. He had accessories on his bike we only dreamed of back in my day.

G

[Jon Cole]

Ain't it the truth! My son is a Ct. Trooper (he has my old Trooper badge!...very proud of him) and I sat in his cruiser the other day. I felt like I was at the controls of a 747! In Ct. we don't have cages for prisoners...we put 'em right in the front seat. But with all the electronics...man that prisoner is pretty squished in there! In '74 all I had was a little bitty radio head mounted on the floor! Didn't even have an electronic siren...had one of those manual units like on old fire trucks! The horn button activated the siren motor and started it winding up when you held the horn button down. When it got up to max noise you'd let go of the horn button so the siren would wind down. There was a switch under the dash that toggled the horn button between the regular horn and the siren. So you got to imagine how it was in a pursuit...one hand on the wheel steering and operating the siren, the other hand with the microphone in it...driving at whatever speed trying to keep it all together! Add to that the 73 Plymouth Furies had lousy brakes and it was a helluva adventure to be in a chase back then!

WoW! That is odd, even for 1974 standards. Did it have a wood stove under the dash for winter heat?

[Dr. Cranky]

This thread DOES IN FACT set a record for civility and excellent discussion. Congratulations to everyone . . . and let's help prove EYEGORE right when he said it'd go beyond 12 pages!

[Agent G]

WoW! That is odd, even for 1974 standards. Did it have a wood stove under the dash for winter heat?

Probably did!

AND (Gasp) Crank windows!

G

[Danno]

Remember patrol cars that did not have A/C because 'it costs extra'?

[Ben]

Now this is awsome! I pop in several pages later and everyone is still being good! Everybody gets a smiley face!

[Harry P.]

Now this is awsome! I pop in several pages later and everyone is still being good! Everybody gets a smiley face!

Yeah, they're being good... but can we puhleeeeeeeze get back on topic???

Uh.. what was the topic?

[Danno]

Yeah, they're being good... but can we puhleeeeeeeze get back on topic???

Uh.. what was the topic?

We are 'on topic.'

We're talking cop cars here. Issue 158 includes mentions of police car or security patrol car versions/parts in the kit review of the big '76 Chevy and the Hubley history piece. Voila! On topic.

[MikeMc]

[Dr. Cranky]

The Lower Left Coast NNL models this year are all amazing! I'd like to see more of Michael Mendoza's and Oliver Galgani's work!

[Greg Myers]

Remember patrol cars that did not have A/C because 'it costs extra'?

When I worked at the post office they got in about 100 vans with A/C and someone decided it wouldn't be cost effective, so they paid some guy $1000 per unit to remove them, and, he got to keep the parts he removed. That was right here in Phoenix.Then a few years later we got some more in and they decided to keep the air with the stipulation that if it broke they wouldn't fix it, only to their dismay the A/C was part of the serpentine belt set up and it had to be maintained.

P.S. I got one of the A/C equipped vans, it has a nice sound system too.

[Greg Myers]

Are you telling us that EYEGORE can talk???!!!

EYEGORE has spoken.:P

[Danno]

When I worked at the post office they got in about 100 vans with A/C and someone decided it wouldn't be cost effective, so they paid some guy $1000 per unit to remove them, and, he got to keep the parts he removed. That was right here in Phoenix.Then a few years later we got some more in and they decided to keep the air with the stipulation that if it broke they wouldn't fix it, only to their dismay the A/C was part of the serpentine belt set up and it had to be maintained.

P.S. I got one of the A/C equipped vans, it has a nice sound system too.

Yikes! But no surprise. All they had to do was raise postage again, no problem.

I have heard that same story before (Mike Cholewa told it)!

[Guest Johnny]

I remember the Mayor having the city mechanic order 1 power window unit per car from JC Whitney for the 4 1964 Plymouths they had bought for police cruisers. (Manual steering and brakes, no AC and crank windows! he did it because the County had power windows in theirs and were making fun of them!

The units pushed on over the regulator stub in place of the crank and screwed onto the door panel!

Heard more than one Officer cuss as they wacked a knee when they colsed the door!

By the next summer they had Sears install aftermarket AC! Because of the radio location they mounted it on the passenger side under the glove compartment. They had to lean across the seat or get out wand walk around to turn it on!

Things sure were tough for Police Officers back in the day!

[Terry Sumner]

Yeah but then we'd all have to be in there all at once.....

[Agent G]

Now that'd be a sight. Buncha old retired police milling aimlessly in a room.

G

[Harry P.]

There was a thread about issue 158 on the MCM forum somewhere. Anyone know where it went?

The cops took it away...

[MoparWoman Jamie]

There was a thread about issue 158 on the MCM forum somewhere. Anyone know where it went?

Um... ah... I think your standing in it.

[Agent G]

Darn five oh, always messin with a thread.

G

[Guest Johnny]

Wow. This topic is turing out like the "i'm a little teapot" topic also.

You guys know that there is a chat room for this type of stuff, right?

Can't go in there, I'm claustrophobic!!!

[Danno]

The cops took it away...

What?

[jsimmons]

There was a thread about issue 158 on the MCM forum somewhere. Anyone know where it went?

I think the rapture has started.

[sjordan2]

Currently, it's about 3 threads below this one.

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=44332

[Harold]

While the buiild itself may not be what I'd do. but you can always learn new techniques. I love articles like the Fordson (having grown up in the sticks).

[Art Anderson]

Harry...you are of course correct. A diecast is a model but not the traditional kind. I should have been more specific. What I mean when I say model is a kit that comes out of a box that we have to build. And yes, I know that there are some kits that are made of metal. Those would be okay if you had to actually build and paint them.

Terry, not to be terribly argumentative, but would you have the same objection were someone to do a bang-up job of painting and detailing out a plastic promotional model car (considering that promo's, like diecasts, come pre-assembled)?

It's been a couple of years, but I have reworked a couple of diecasts in my time--and to do that as I did required the disassembly, complete stripping of all factory paint, smoothing and filling mold parting lines, followed by primer, paint, surface detailing, and reassembly. It seems to me that doing all that work was about the same as building a somewhat simplified plastic kit with the addition of needing to disassemble the thing to start with.

The old IAAM (International Association of Automotive Modelers), which operated nationally from the early 1950's until the late 1980's had members with a HUGE prejudice against PLASTIC model car kits (perhaps you were unaware of them, or that controversy?), declaring almost officially that the only true car modeling was done in wood, card stock or metal--plastic need not apply for admission. Where is IAAM today? Gone, save possibly for a small group of increasingly elderly builders in the Los Angeles area, and the Chicago Area's Lake Michigan Model Car Club, which began as the home chapter of IAAM in 1951, and gradually morphed into one of the very first model car clubs in the US, embracing plastic kits and builders of such over the years (but as late as 1990, there were still members of that club who scratchbuilt in wood, paper and metal). In other words, the "old line" disdain for the plastic kits we on this board all embrace and love made IAAM very irrelevant over time.

A diecast model car is just that, a model car. Now, it can be collected as manufactured, or reworked, reworked to whatever degree you or anyone else might imagine. At this year's NNL East, Vince Lobosco showed a beautiful 1934 Packard V12 Roadster by Dietrich, converted from the very well done Franklin Mint '34 Packard V12 convertible sedan. I would challenge anyone who saw Vince's masterpiece at NNL to say it was anything less than a tremendous automobile modeling example (any takers?).

Bear in mind that not every car modeler works only with the popular subjects of drag cars, pro-street, street rods, customs or even big trucks. Some of us love the really OLD cars (you know, the ones with brass radiators and seemingly polished brass everything else). Trouble is, unless one is a scratchbuilder of Gerald Wingrove's caliber, such subject matter is available ONLY in diecast for the most part, there having been only a handful of acceptable-in-today's-world plastic kits out of the era 1895-1930.

Now, with all that said, I found a great color scheme for a 1928 Stutz Blackhawk Speedster (that's a 1928 Muscle Car to the uninitiated BTW), which will require my taking apart one of my Danbury Stutz's, stripping the bodywork, repainting it, and probably scratcbuilding s set of 6 wire wheels, mebbe even the tires for it. I won't mince words here: If I do such, you can danged well bet your back teeth I will consider that to have been a model car building project of....a model car.

Art