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1979 Malibu Pro Mod Finished! 8-1-14


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Hobby Lobby had Revell "Jukebox" Fords on clearance. They had three on the shelf so I bought 'em all. This allowed me to start on a few more cars. I am really enjoying these drag builds as I love big motor cars with stock bodies.

This body is from Bandit resins. It is a little thick so I am not going to open the doors and I may put the trunk back on. This one will be white with black bumpers, grille and trim. Power will come from a big block Chevy with a turbo 400 transmission. I figured I would try something different with the power plant on this one.

I made the cowl induction hood using an El Camino Hood with a scoop off a Revell Nova.

As always thanks for looking!!

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Edited by am73grand
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This is an interesting project for sure! You do great work and you build models of unique cars, which is always a good thing. This looks very promising already, I like the Cowl Induction hood a lot, it fits nicely on Malibu's body shapes.

You said the body is thick... How is it otherwise? I mean are there air bubbles or other problems that need to be fixed? I'd like to buy one and build it as a Stock Eliminator Drag Car... :D

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Thanks everyone. This is one of my favorite cars. I'm very excited to be able to build a drag version. This originally started out as a pro touring style build but after looking at tons of pics of these I had to pro-mod it!

This is an interesting project for sure! You do great work and you build models of unique cars, which is always a good thing. This looks very promising already, I like the Cowl Induction hood a lot, it fits nicely on Malibu's body shapes.

You said the body is thick... How is it otherwise? I mean are there air bubbles or other problems that need to be fixed? I'd like to buy one and build it as a Stock Eliminator Drag Car... :D

Niko, other that the body being a little thick it is perfect. No air bubbles, parts fit really well and I like how they separated the headlight bezels and grille into individual pieces. Does not come with chrome plated parts or glass. I've seen a lot of these and to me this body is the best of all of them.

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About Time! I'll be watching this 1 ! I've started 4 but they end up as slot cars! Hard for me to find time to build these days.. :(

That car has kicked my butt making molds! Marc put a ton of work in the rear of that master!

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About Time! I'll be watching this 1 ! I've started 4 but they end up as slot cars! Hard for me to find time to build these days.. :(

That car has kicked my butt making molds! Marc put a ton of work in the rear of that master!

Kenny, yours is the best version of this body I've seen. The fact that Marc Nellis worked on it clued me in that it would be dead on and it is.

I'm glad you like the project. I'll be updating again in a few days!

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Small update. Parts I ordered for other builds have been slowly trickling in. The Ventura is done and the Falcon will be wrapped up this week. This left me with a little time to work on the 'Bu.

Chassis has been assembled and the main hoop is installed.

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I also got started on the wheelie bars. I use 1/16" diameter plastic rod for my wheelie bars. I cut the kit's wheelie bars off and then fashion my own. I drill holes where the kit bars were and then insert some .020" diameter brass rod. This makes for a much stronger joint. I also do the same for the wheels at the end of the bars. (You can see the brass sticking out the end of the bars.)

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Notice the chassis mounting area of the rear end has been cut down. I had to move the rear axle forward so my wheelbase would look right. This is going to be a shelf model so I really don't care how it looks underneath. Next up will be finishing the cage, more engine assembly/detailing and the start of the interior.

Thanks for looking!

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You do great work! The roll cage looks really nice and the wheelie bars, too. When looking at your previous builds, the cages fit perfectly inside the body, too. That is a thing I always had some problems with. I can't wait to see how this turns out. It is a nice body, and I know some people think I'm crazy when I say this, but this older model with single headlights looks much better than the newer one with two headlights on both sides.

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