"Shamrock" T-Bucket

[ToyLvr]

Hi Gearheads:

Nearing completion of my second T-Bucket project.

By way of explanation, my local modeling club chose the '25 Model T as the 2012 internal club contest theme. I've never been much into Model Ts or Model As (although I respect their place in our American automotive heritage), but I figured I play along and take a shot at building a "T" or 2. My first attempt was a Rat Rod (see recent post in "Under Glass" entitled "I Smell a Rat"). The current project is a bit more shiny.

Once again, the project is based on AMT's reissued '25 T kit, with some kit-bashing thrown in. The wheels come from the recently reissued "Sock-It-To-Me" Corvette. The body is painted a deep Emerald Green Metallic (Testors) with "Citrus Yellow" interior (whatever Testors calls it, it looks green to me).

The fun part was selecting the engine. After reading up on some recent trends in T-Buckets, I learned that there's a movement towards non-traditional modern engines, so I decided to see how "non-traditional" I could get. I'll leave it to you more eagle-eyed observers to see if you can identify it.

I've still got a few details to finish, including the fuel tank and tail light, etc.

Comments/Suggestions/Questions are appreciated.....

[ToyLvr]

A view of the chassis, sans body...

[Albie D]

I'll take a wild guess and say Mazda Rotary? Very cool whatever it is..

[ToyLvr]

Bingo!

Albee, you're close.

It's a Wankel 4-Rotor, sourced from a mid-70s MPC Corvette kit.

Some of you old-timers (like me) may recall that GM briefly flirted with the notion of a rotary powered Vette back in the 70s. They licensed the technology from Curtis-Wright aviation, a developed a version of their own. It wound up in a Corvette showcar, but the project eventually died. Supposedly, the GM version could have produced 350HP - more than sufficient to motivate my little T-Bucket.

MPC apparently thought it was was going somewhere, as they issued kits with the optional rotary engine for at least a couple years.

[Albie D]

What do I win?? Tell you the truth, it didnt look exactly like the Mazda piece, but looked like a rotary. I remember reading about that one-off somewhere....Awesome job thinking outside the box. I'm sure your the sole builder of a Wankel powered rod and that's plain cool!

[stavanzer]

Did this build ever make to the "Under Glass" section. I'd like to see more photos.

Alan