AMT 62 Pontiac Catalimo

[Farmboy]

I had seen a custom built limo out of a 63 Oldsmobile at a car show recently and thought it would be a good project to attempt. The car I had in mind is the 62 Catalina

Firstly, doors on different models of vehicles are not all the same. rear doors on a 4 door vehicle are not as wide as the front ones. The doors on 2-doors are wider still. For this build from a 2 door kit, I separated the door from the door jamb and cut it the width of the door handle. I then cut another width out of the remaining door to make it even narrower so when the door handle section is joined back on, it will still be narrow, but still wider than the rearward doors. I had two Catalina kits and a custom catalina available to butcher.

Here I've separated the roof to accomodate the stretch I'll be attempting.

The 1:1 vehicle had all of it's limo doors on the passenger side! Neat! For the driver's side, only the driver and rearmost doors are present. Note the section re-glued to the door. I will have to build this open section but it looks pretty straightforward for sheet styrene and filler. Hope my skills are up to it.

Here are the doors glued in place. I do have one thing to mention. The side spear has a slight slope to it from front ot rear. When re-assembling the doors, in order to keeps the spear straight, the top or bottom of the doors where they join has a slight mismatch. It's minor and will be corrected with careful sanding and filling. I wanted the spear to be straight at all costs. The rearward 3 doors are all the same width, only the front door is slightly wider by design.

This will be the new roof section. I've already rounded over the sides. Chrome strips will be replicated with plastic rod. I'm contemplating 4 individual sunroofs but that's not for sure.

Now on to making the frame. Here, the chassis is being eye balled for length. I''ll use calipers to get it right. The frame will then be lengthened by the same amount. More when I get a chance

Comments and observations welcome.

Edited July 30, 2012 by Farmboy

[Badluck 13]

Now that's "Dare To Be Different",this looks to be a very cool idea that I am sure to watch the progress.......are you planning to build it "stock" or "custom"?

[cobraman]

That's different. That will be very cool. Good luck with your project.

[Jantrix]

Now that's "Dare To Be Different",this looks to be a very cool idea that I am sure to watch the progress.......

x2.

[dyl_w@comcast.net]

i see alot of sanding and thick primer coats in your future

[Farmboy]

Time for chassis and frame work. Here you see the amount of overlap required. Looks like it will make it with just the two

...but see the gap. A small section from the 3rd chassis is needed.

[camarofreak82_427]

thats crazy!!! i like it cant wait to see more

[Gluhead]

I'm not sure if it's just me or not, but your pics aren't showing on the page. I have to right-click and open the images in a new tab to see them. I'm guessing that you're using the link that your host tells you to use to share. I've found that if you copy the url from the address field instead they work properly.

Anyway, this is a great project. I actually started a stretched '63 Olds years ago. It's sitting on my "don't just forget about this project" shelf, but since then experience has taught me that it would have been much easier to use one body instead of two, and create new side and roof panels from sheet plastic. That's for the Olds, though...I think with the Cat you may be better off doing as you are.

[Farmboy]

This is the rough joining of the floor pans and frame. Oddly, it took a section from the third kit to more or less blend the unit together. Some minor finishing will be required. The frame however, where it has nothing outstanding in it's design was a simple matter of joining two pieces.

Here's another view of the two pieces from the bottom. The transmission support piece on the 2nd crossmember will be removed.

and lastly, the two paired together

Comments and observations welcome. It'll be a couple of days till the next post but I will continue the build

[Farmboy]

A bit of progress. Here I'm adjusting the body to fit the frame. I've assured the floorpan/frame are square. I've mounted the body to the unit, adjusted it so it fits and glued and clamped the styrene sheet to the body assuring it's proper fit.

[Farmboy]

Here's the scratchbuild of the body side. I've decided at this point that only the drivers door will be on the left. The rear door will be part of the body. It just makes more sense to me. Anyway, I made a few attempts at making the body side out of a single piece of styrene sheet but no luck. So, the bottom, middle and upper section are made from separate pieces of styrene. The topmost piece is from a section of styrene tube, the side spears from half round. There's lots of room for adjustment thru sanding and filing and filling. A few of the pieces are overly large which will cut down on the fill.

comments critiques and observations welcome.

[Farmboy]

Now the sanding and filling begins. I'm going to start at the bottom of the inserted piece, level each section and move on to the next. Here is the bottom section with filler applied before sanding

comments and observations welcome.

[kruleworld]

looks very ambitious. can't wait to see more

[jcbigpaw]

I've been wanting to do something like this with a 57 belair. Mine will be made from three identical kits so i dont have to completely fabricate missing panels Progress looks good so far. I'll be watching. Good work

[Greg Pugh]

Wow. That's no small undertaking. I'll be watching this one.

[Farmboy]

JC, here's a shot of a 55 I did a few years ago. A minor stretch but it turned out ok. This something like what you're contemplating?

[Farmboy]

Progressing fairly ok. The bottom half of the body is about ready for finish sanding, just have to finish the vertical door line. The top is just getting the filling work underway. The strip of styrene is just the mock up. It will be cut to length and covered with BareMetal foil or shot with Alclad to be the chrome insert in the spear

comments and observations welcome.

[jcbigpaw]

Farmboy that 55 is really nice! I got the idea a few years ago to do the 57 stretch when I saw one at a local car show. It belongs to a local limo company. I've found quite a few on the web too. I've managed to gather three kits that match but just haven't gotten the time (nerve) to tackle it yet. The work is progressing nicely on the Pontiac. Keep going ?

[Badluck 13]

I said it before and I will say it again,AWESOME!!!,love the '55,is there more pics of it here??

[bryan_m]

very cool mike!

cheers

bryan

[jcbigpaw]

I agree with bad luck, anymore pics or a thread on that 55?

[Alyn]

looking forward to seeing this thing on wheels with the body work done. Definitely a stand out concept.

Us modelers are always looking for ways to stretch are hobby dollars. I think you've hit it!

[Farmboy]

Here are a couple of the 55 from the same file.

There's no engine in her. The stretch was the focus and I was satisfied with that.

Back to the Pontiac, I'm thinking of putting a spa in the center section of it. There would be no roof over it and it would have wood decking. Thoughts?

[jcbigpaw]

You gonna fill the hot tub with lovely ladies too? (joke). I seem to remember seeing a limo with a hot tub in the back somewhere years ago.

[Custom Hearse]

Nice work you are doing on the Pontiac. I plan to keep an eye on this build. I built a Corvette limo awhile back, and I enjoy watching builds of limos people come up with.