Hot Rods & Street Rods
1928 Ford Roadster Highboy Pickup
This pickup appeared in the October 1997 issue of Street Rodder Magazine. This was a real trick....I didn't like either the Revell or the AMT kit soooo....I combined the 2 using the body from the AMT and the modified frame from the Revell. Headlights are from the AMT 36 Ford kit.
The engine is a wired Ford 4-Banger w/2 Strombeckers.
The interior is detailed in photoetched parts (doorhandles, gauges, ignition keys, gas/clutch/brake pedals, steering wheel etc) and has a scratchbuilt dash and dice shifter. It's fully flocked in a camelhair color.
The bed is lined in REAL cedarwood from a cigar tube w/brass rails.
1932 Bantam "Ohboy" Coupe
This coupe appeared in the August 2000 issue of Rod & Custom Magazine. It was an old Monogram Sizzler Dragster Bantam body that I filled in the roof & wheelwells on and converted it to fit the Mysterion chassis.
I modified the Thunderbird engines (2) to fit 8 carbs on each opposed to the original 3, then wired and plumbed each.
It has a photoetched grill and the dual headlights help to gain the strange overall look.
Photoetched tailights and a scratch built aluminum exhaust finish it off.
1927 Ford Pheaton Lowboy
This was from the old AMT double "XR6" kit. I had to stretch the frame a scale foot to fit the look I wanted. It sports a Hemi with 8-2 barrel carbs. The interior is a two level configuration mostly scratch built.
1937 Pro-Street "Sharknose" Willys Coupe
This was a resin cast body that I had to scratchbuild a complete chassis for. I started with a 33 Willys chassis that was cut off at the rear end and then grafted a pro-street rear end from a Monogran Pro-Stock T-Bird.
The engine is a Twin Turbo, Twin Supercharged Pontiac mill from the Dobertin kit.
The Pro-street style gives this round lump of a car a real mean stance.
1932 Ford Roadster Lowboy
This was built as a "LowBuck" HotRod many year ago...way before it became popular to build so called "rat rods". It sports the original 32 spoke wheels and cycle fenders and is in the traditional "Black Suede". The windsheild is a scratch built "Duvall" style.
The engine however is a different story. It's an Ardun equipt Ford Flathead.
The interior is rugged and sports a 1940 Ford dash & steering wheel as was customary in those early years of Hotrodding.
The rumble seat has been converted over to trunk space.
1939 Ford Phaeton Sled
This '39 appeared in the October 1995 issue of Street Rodder magazine. There's a long running list of all the modifcations I made to this gem such as dual frenched headlights, molded in stylized curved bar tailights, chopped windshield, radiused front wheelwells etc., not to mention that it came as a sedan model. The color is a Pearl Metalflake Scarlet Purple.
The mill is a 50 Merc Flathead w/2 Strombeckers.
Oh, there is one more thing....it's right hand drive.
1925 Ford Bobtail "T" Roadster
This model was started with an original AMT "Double T kit". The stock frame was shortened a scale foot. Headlights are from a BMW Isetta. Grill was formed from brass screening. Engine is a "Nailhead" Buick w/6-2 barrel carbs and the exhausts were formed from aluminum stock w/milled aluminum glass packs. Gas tank was scratch built from brass w/ brass straps.
HO Scale 1928 Ford Woodie w/Beach Scene
"Location, location, location"
This Woodie & Beach Scene appeared in the July 2002 issue of Model Cars magazine which caught me holding my breath because no matter how popular it was on the show circuit, the magazines tend to shy away from publishing anything with nudity in it...hats off to you Car Model magazine. By the way, that's a dime alongside of it.
This tiny little Woodie was built on a dare from my brother Paul who challenged me to prove my modeling skills. He said "Anyone can build a regular sized kit. Let's see how good you really are by going blind building this one." Thanks Paul....who shut off the lights?
After building the Woodie from an HO scale kit by Jordan in Candyapple Red and with chrome reversed wheels from a diecast, I decided it needed it's natural surounding so I scratch built an entire beach (real sand from Key West), palm tree (branch from an artificial plant), and a surfboard from scrap plastic. I found some beachies in a local train store. Notice how the one guy with his girl sleeping is checking out what's to his left.
While combing the same train store, I happened apon these 3 nude and topless beach bunnies. Being the all American guy I am, I couldn't resist.
All in all, building something this small did make me realize how BIG my hands really are...lol.
1927 Bugatti Boatail Roadster Lowboy
This originated from a Monogram "Classic" Bugatti that I decided should be a hotrod. I threw it onto a stretched (I do that alot) AMT all chrome "HotRod" frame and jammed in a dual overhead valve 6-cyl with 6 weber carbs. And NO, the engine is NOT from the "Red Baron" car...YUK!!!!
1937 Fiat Coupe
This little bugger appeared in the August/September 2001 issue of Model Cars magazine. Making this Fiat altered drag coupe into a full fendered street rod was actually a pretty easy conversion. It almost fell right onto the Revell 34 Coupe fenders without much alterations at all.
The Cobra engine is from the '34 kit with an injector set up from the AMT 1956 Ford pickup. The car rolls on machines aluminum wheels.
The hardest part of this conversion was filling in the roof and scratch building the entire blue & white candystripe interior.
1929 Ford Woodie
While building this, I replaced all the plastic fake wood panels (body panels, headliner, dash, floors, undercarrage etc.) with REAL cedarwood that I found in cigar tubes (no Monica jokes please....LOL)
The engine is a Ford flathead converted over to a Plymouth. It's blown w/1 side draft 4 barrel.
The multi-colored surfboards are held to the roof with a scratchbuilt brass rack.
Don't ask about the teddy bears in the back....OK?
1923 Ford Roadster
"TeeBine"
This purple nightmare appeared in the 2003 Scale Auto Contest Annual Magazine. It started out as a multi-piece junkyard body from a vintage kit called "Wilhelms Wonder". I then spent around a week stripping what I think was house paint off it, repairing & sealing the body and fabricated a scratch built windshield (Duvall type on acid) and whatever else I needed to...which was a lot.
I then dropped it onto the hotrod frame (slightly altered) from the newly reissued AMT "T" kit. The engine (?) was a vintage Revell parts pack "Dream Car Turbine Engine" that you don't see much because it's close to impossible to build from the extremely poor direction illustrations on the box.
I then took a chopped 32 grill shell,used sheet plastic and formed a nose and painted the whole thing in Boyds Black & Blue Pearl. All around this turned out to be one of my favorite creations....just shows where my tastes are huh?
1932 Ford 5-Window Highboy Coupe
This is a 1932 Ford 5-window Coupe....and NO, it's NOT the American Graffiti Coupe model. It's an AMT body that was chopped 4 scale inches and then dropped onto a Revell Deuce chassis.
Chassis and components are all in shades of GLOSS purple and lilac while the body, grill shell & fenders are all in Lilac SUEDE. Most of the metal components I replicated out of aluminum.
Powerplant is the Flathead engine from the 1953 Ford kit with a hop up kit from Replicas & Miniatures.
Interior is in purple & white candystripes with a banjo steering wheel and piston shifter.
I saw a picture of something like this done on a real 1:1 car and just had to try it in 1/25th scale.
Tym to move on....
Street Machines
Home Page
