Snake45 Posted October 18, 2014 Posted October 18, 2014 Back in 1969, I bought and built the AMT '69 Chevelle in orange with a black vinyl top. Later in the year, I won a second copy of the same kit in a contest, so I built it as a Modified Production dragster. I scratchbuilt a tunnel ram manifold from balsa, added aluminum tubing collectors to the kit headers, and scrounged up open wheels and legal-sized slicks from the parts box, but otherwise it's pretty much box-stock. Paint is AMT Surf Green, a pretty good match for Pontiac Verdoro Green, which I liked a LOT back in those days (and still do, come to think of it). I hand-lettered it—the only decals on it are the Air Lift and Champion sparkplug decals in the windows. Everything else is hand-painted. Over the decades, both Chevelles deteriorated until they looked like this: Couple years ago I restored the orange streeter. At the same time I cleaned up all the racer's parts, but every time I started to put it back together, I'd hit some kind of snag and my ADD would kick in and I'd throw it all back in the box. Yesterday I dug it out again, determined to Git Er Done. Took four hours yesterday and four today, but it's finished. This is a true resoration, not a rebuild. I changed nothing (except the back bumper and taillights), I added nothing. I borrowed the original bumper and taillights from this one for the new '69 Chevelle build I recently completed, because the ones in the reissue kits are whack. I tried fixing the new taillights but they still didn't fit or look right so I didn't want them on the new build. Till I can get some replacement repops of the originals from Modelhaus, this one is wearing those. The Ratman name was originally hand-painted with Testor Chrome Silver. It looked pretty bad after 45 years. Didn't want to hand-paint all that again, so I just went over it with silver Sharpie. The Surf Green paint had a few chips, so I mixed up something close with Turn Signal Amber and a military dark green, FS 34079. I didn't get a perfect match but I got close enough that you have to go looking for the dings to spot them. Oh well, it is what it is. I also polished a lot of scratches out of the windshield with some Walmart fingernail polishing sticks. I did make one minor change. Apparently enamored of the red front inner fenders of certain Oldmobiles and Pontiacs, I originally painted the front fender inners of this one a bright yellow—and also the entire front suspension and sway bar (!)--basically the whole front 20% of the chassis. This time I went back and hand-painted the front suspension and all the chassis parts except the inner fenders themselves Black Chrome Trim. Looks better now. Here it is with its 45-year-old shelfmate, my original restored steet terror Chevelle. This is pretty much the way they looked sitting on my dresser all through high school (back during the Nixon administration).
Mackvision Posted October 18, 2014 Posted October 18, 2014 Very nice! I sure love to see these old kits saved,especially when put back "like they were".............................................Mark
Draggon Posted October 19, 2014 Posted October 19, 2014 Yup, nice save. Pretty cool to have it all of these years and take it back to its original glory.
W-409 Posted October 19, 2014 Posted October 19, 2014 That is just my style Chevelle. Especially I like the stance a lot and it's great to see those old sponsor texts etc on the sides. Really nicely built and restored Chevelle overall.
rustybill1960 Posted October 19, 2014 Posted October 19, 2014 An outstanding save on both builds Snake I am really liking the street, I had a metallic blue 68, a midnight blue 73 and the family 78 Chevelles My favorite was the 73, ah the good old days, Thanks for the trip back and fo sharing Your builds with Us here Later Russ
Snake45 Posted October 26, 2014 Author Posted October 26, 2014 Thanks for all the kind comments, everyone!
dragcarz Posted October 26, 2014 Posted October 26, 2014 I love this, great job. It's kinda like a barn find, where you drag it out wash off the years of dust, get it running and enjoy!
bismarck Posted November 10, 2014 Posted November 10, 2014 Those are some really SWEET saves. They look even better cuz they are survivors.
AC Norton Posted November 10, 2014 Posted November 10, 2014 truly great fun and memories from the best times in model building.....seeing cleaned up survivors is a rarity now, with the look and feel of the true era of when a kit was first built. wish I had all of mine......I have a soft spot for your green m/p car, as one of my closest friends got that annual kit summer of 69, and I recall how excited all of our friends were to see it built as a drag car. amt fire flake blue, ratman decals, the works...finished in a day, as usual....don't ya wish that feeling of building a car kit felt just like it did in those days.......the ace.....
Snake45 Posted November 10, 2014 Author Posted November 10, 2014 Thanks for the kind words. You can see more pics of the restored orange one here, along with another orange one I just finished (after painting it 20 or more years ago): http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=93494
AC Norton Posted September 24, 2016 Posted September 24, 2016 Thanks for the kind words. You can see more pics of the restored orange one here, along with another orange one I just finished (after painting it 20 or more years ago): http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=93494 ........just returned home from a local swap meet today, and, even though old, rare kits were few and far between,,,,I scored a mint in box original Y910 AMT CHEVELLE SS396 kit. nice box and all.....the only issue that actually had clear red tail light lenses and the original red lines.... the American Torque Thrusts in the original are quite nice as well.....I guess not a bad Saturday morning......the Ace....
stavanzer Posted February 16, 2017 Posted February 16, 2017 Wow, the story is even better than the restored kits. Great Work.
Hubert Rollins Posted February 18, 2017 Posted February 18, 2017 Nice job- it's very cool these kits have survived at all for that length of time.
PARTSMARTY Posted February 18, 2017 Posted February 18, 2017 I love em-how cool is to restore an old model-I love doing it-the caddy picture next to my name is a restore-congrats !!!
DumpyDan Posted February 18, 2017 Posted February 18, 2017 Wow man that is one great looking pair, never thought the Chevelle as a racer looked that good until now. And sitting beside the other kinda wants me to start another project. Awesome saves
RAMBENNA Posted February 19, 2017 Posted February 19, 2017 sweet work , nice job bringing them back to life
Scott Colmer Posted February 19, 2017 Posted February 19, 2017 Very nice Mr. Snake. Good choice on the restoration instead of a rebuild. Those time capsules have a special value. Nixon admin? Fitting tribute for the introduction of the 55 mph speed limit and double daylight saving time. (That was him, yes?)
Alan Posted February 19, 2017 Posted February 19, 2017 Very cool, I really like the MP Chevelle ! The only thing I would change is to swap out the pie crusts for a more era correct slick, but like you pointed out it is a restoration of one of your original builds.
Snake45 Posted February 19, 2017 Author Posted February 19, 2017 Very cool, I really like the MP Chevelle ! The only thing I would change is to swap out the pie crusts for a more era correct slick, but like you pointed out it is a restoration of one of your original builds. That's the only/closest thing that was available to me at the time. I did have some wider ones (as seen on the orange streeter), but they were too wide for MP rules.
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