Mickey Thompson's Challenger One. Still alive, Feb. 8

[chris chabre]

4 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

 I overheard a couple of folks saying "ah, that's nothing...just a diecast that's been sanded on". Pretty effective finish though, if people up-close thought it was really metal.  

I suppose youre right haha

[Breezy]

Glad this post was brought up to the front. Should be pinned for all the knowledge in here. This is amazing, what craftsmanship, you really got the look you described and referenced in the beginning I mean by the end you would think the magazine cover was of your build. Very inspiring. thank you for putting in the time to put it on here and just straight dropping knowledge out here. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

BUMP...because lotsa new people here have never seen any of my work, and occasionally question my bona fides when I offer advice and answer questions.

This one's a pretty fair indication I might know just a little.

[Pierre Rivard]

Bumping this one to the front again. Found this one researching streamliners. Superb craftsmanship.

[Big John]

Very Sleek machine in its original form. Great raw metal finish!  Just for reference, the original Challenger was on the cover of Hot Rod Magazine Dec. 1959. The injector horns are siamesed, kind'a.  Did you ever get to the inner workings Ace?

Edited June 8 by Big John

[Big John]

While we're on the subject here is an ad from the same 59 magazine, (which has a great article about the good year tires.)

[Brudda]

Ace this is a cool build. You are a brave man building this model. I have an old version and when I opened the box and looked at it , I put the lid back on the box and shelved it. Your corrections are fantastic. Let me tell you guys this is probably one of the hardest around. 4 engines, a very fragile frame and a body that is not the right shape and has a heck of a time fitting it . Great work sir as I’m very , very impressed. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

I didn't realize this one had been bumped again. Thanks for the interest and comments.

She's one of the closest projects to the bench, one of the easiest to re-start.

Maybe it's time...   

 

[sidcharles]

i think he was obsessed with these engines. 

image from HAMB   History - Early drag racing photos | Page 138 | The H.A.M.B.

[Ace-Garageguy]

On 6/12/2025 at 10:00 AM, Brudda said:

Ace this is a cool build. You are a brave man building this model. I have an old version and when I opened the box and looked at it , I put the lid back on the box and shelved it. Your corrections are fantastic. Let me tell you guys this is probably one of the hardest around. 4 engines, a very fragile frame and a body that is not the right shape and has a heck of a time fitting it . Great work sir as I’m very , very impressed. 

Thanks again for your interest and comments.

Just one point I wanted to make after re-reading this: though difficult to fit and with adjacent panels of varying thicknesses that makes it even harder, the kit body shape is quite good for the supercharged version it represents, which is the version that clocked 406.6 at Bonneville in 1960.

To further clarify, the bare metal body as first shown to the press was considerably different in a lot of areas, most noticeable being the absence of the scoops for the superchargers. The nose, tail, and fender contours were also quite different at that time, and that first version is what my model represents.

The un-supercharged version was painted light blue and run on the salt, but didn't have the speed to set a new record. It went back to the shop where it got superchargers and a revised body intended to reduce drag...which increased dramatically with the addition of the superchargers sticking up in the air stream.

The model is currently back on the bench, as the finish has deteriorated somewhat from being uncovered for years, and I'm looking at what it'll take to bring it back before I pull molds from it.

My plan was always to eventually make molds so I could make a set of almost-scale-thickness fiberglass skins (actually closer to .35" scale thickness, but a lot thinner than kit parts), which will in turn require a new method for mounting the body to the frame.

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

On 8/28/2025 at 9:02 PM, sidcharles said:

i think he was obsessed with these engines. 

image from HAMB   History - Early drag racing photos | Page 138 | The H.A.M.B.

Thanks for your interest and comment, and for that image.

I have Thompson's Attempt kits that I'd like to display with all its different engine setups, and I didn't have that shot of the two-cylinder.

[Big John]

A record is a record I guess.  Strange 2 cyl, supercharged even. V8 quartered.

[Ace-Garageguy]

20 hours ago, Big John said:

A record is a record I guess.  Strange 2 cyl, supercharged even. V8 quartered.

At that time, Thompson's goal was to get Pontiac's name on as many records as possible for publicity.

Here's a nice overview of the two-cylinder cut down from the V8, and its place in the rest of the record runs...some of which I didn't know.

https://macsmotorcitygarage.com/mickey-thompsons-crazy-pontiac-two-banger/

Edited September 4 by Ace-Garageguy

[Bugatti Fan]

I'm a late comer to this thread Ace.     Brilliant model I have to say.

[Ace-Garageguy]

On 9/4/2025 at 4:42 PM, Bugatti Fan said:

I'm a late comer to this thread Ace.     Brilliant model I have to say.

Thank you sir.

I'd like to get it going again, but I got derailed trying to find some timing covers that looked like what was in the real injected (non-supercharged) car.

Probably time to use what I've got and get pretty close. Nobody but me and Mickey would probably know or care anyway.

I did find some Hilborn injection manifolds that look close enough, from the old Revell Anglia/Thames 394 Oldsmobile engines. Intake port spacing is close enough to the Pontiac to pass unless somebody gets out the micrometers...but I ended up having to make a coupla resin copies to avoid buying multiple Anglia kits to scavenge.

Found some nice metal stacks that look good too, but getting them all mounted exactly the same as in the photos proved to be more challenging than I'd originally thought...

Edited September 6 by Ace-Garageguy

[lucky 130]

I have seen some(not enough) of your work to be interested in the amount and quality of your work on this build. Anyone doubting your Bonafide's should do some research. You've always been a great help with off the wall problems that plague us all. Thanks for being there.

[Ace-Garageguy]

On 9/15/2025 at 4:54 PM, lucky 130 said:

I have seen some(not enough) of your work to be interested in the amount and quality of your work on this build. Anyone doubting your Bonafide's should do some research. You've always been a great help with off the wall problems that plague us all. Thanks for being there.

Thanks for your interest and comment.

I try to pass on what I've learned from experience, and I've done a whole lot of stuff wrong trying to get things right. 

Edited Tuesday at 01:58 PM by Ace-Garageguy
punctiliousness

[Big Messer]

I overheard a couple of folks saying "ah, that's nothing...just a diecast that's been sanded on". Pretty effective finish though, if people up-close thought it was really metal.

These people never assembled a metal Hubley kit...

[Ace-Garageguy]

22 hours ago, Big Messer said:

I overheard a couple of folks saying "ah, that's nothing...just a diecast that's been sanded on". Pretty effective finish though, if people up-close thought it was really metal.

These people never assembled a metal Hubley kit...

Has anyone under 60?   

[Big Messer]

46 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Has anyone under 60?   

71 here. I did a few of them. Got a great education about dealing with diecasts. Now I am mostly doing modified ones, usually starting with one and then adding a plastic kit or scratchbuilt part. I find them more challenging than plastic kits (just my opinion under the First Amendment). 

[Ace-Garageguy]

45 minutes ago, Big Messer said:

71 here. I did a few of them. Got a great education about dealing with diecasts. Now I am mostly doing modified ones, usually starting with one and then adding a plastic kit or scratchbuilt part. I find them more challenging than plastic kits (just my opinion under the First Amendment). 

I'm older than you, and I do the occasional diecast upgrade as well...  

AND...due to a forum glitch, many of the early photos disappeared when I edited the text back when we were still allowed to do that, but this is the old Monogram diecast-bodied Jag XK-120.

It was kindof a bummer when all the pix went missing, 'cause there was some nice metalwork on this thing, and after the magic disappearing, I never felt like going back and finding all the photos and replacing them...which is impossible now.

When I relight the project, I'll just start over and have the mods delete the existing thread.

 

 

Edited 5 hours ago by Ace-Garageguy
punctiliousness

[Big Messer]

Read with interest the Stude buildup. I recall seeing in a magazine (Hot Rod?) decades ago about a guy who built one with the body turned around, claiming that it looked better that way. This would be a nice discussion topic during a long winter night around the old pot-bellied stove.