Ancient History BMW / Cadillac

[Russell C]

Another one in the 'ancient history' series, I built this one in the summer of 1989 and then took it to the Dallas Southwest Challenge in November, my first-ever attendance at a national model car contest. I was pleased as punch when quite a nice photo of it appeared in the June 1990 issue of, well, the other magazine. It's a basic combo of Jo-Han's 1964 Caddy from the windshield back (except for the interior) and a Testors (Fujimi) BMW M6.



In those days I had a beef about the necessity of passenger side mirrors, thus it never had one, but now I advocate having them.



Unlike my later models which were covered with PPG Deltron clear, this one was rattlecan Krylon refrigerator white covered with Krylon crystal clear, which has yellowed quite a bit over time. Although the paint looks acceptable in these bright sunlit photos, trust me on this, it's worse in person.






The rear plate is actually a small part of some magazine ad where the "Ultimate Driving Machine" words happened to be the prefect size to fit into that recess. I had fun getting the interior to look crisp, but my skills at that time were inadequate to yield either a realistic undercarriage or an openable hood, so what I ended up with was an entertaining curbside model.



My preference is to disassemble it sometime soon, have the long side trim pieces as separate installable items, clean up a couple of other shortcomings, and re-shoot the paint as a nice pearl white. Would be neat to have a functioning hood and the BMW V12 engine. What I have in there now is just a moderately detailed Caddy V8 and the hood has been long stuck closed.

Edited April 29, 2020 by Russell C
fixed busted photo links

[slusher]

That is a cool model...

[ChrisR]

Great model, but it ain't pretty.

[Chris White]

great workmanship, but really !!!

[Maxicoop]

Now that is totally different ....... fantstic job, that's what plastics are for .....using your ideas to make new cars !!!! Super build !~!!!!

[TFchronos]

Very creative, awesome work!

[PARTSMARTY]

great work but I don't get it.

[unclescott58]

I don't like the end result. But, it is a very nice build. And it did make me laugh.

Scott

[TooOld]

Interesting combination that actually works . If it weren't for the minor slope of the BMW nose and the rounded corners it could pass for an actual car .

Nice work on combining the two body styles !

[Russell C]

Thanks, gents. Admittedly, not all factory car designs appeal to everyone, and when a person starts to mix 'n match them, that's a risky thing to do. Mix 'n match two different eras, and things get more dicey. I like it myself, although I'd criticize the transition area of the fenders, and the difference between having mostly black front bumpers and solid chrome rear bumpers can be too weird of a mix, but there's really no solution to it without losing major character at either end. For me, the thing is like 90% of the way toward being a successful mix, but then the doubt creeps back in. And there was the fun of watching guys' reactions to it when I first had it at the Southwest Challenge and later at GSL, where I could see how they were trying to figure out whether it worked or not. I suppose this, on the heels of my Mercedes NASCAR, is what caused me to be addicted to messing with people's minds.

[Danno]

Cool, Russell. Customs by Osterizer.

I actually kinda like it!

[chunkypeanutbutter]

Love it.

[DeeCee]

Very different and superbly executed mate.

[BVC500]

Ha! Nice splice!