Sometimes I wonder how my interest in cars developed. My formative years were the late '50s through early seventies. My Dad and I would often go to the local stock car races at Riverside in Agawam (thanks Dad, r.i.p.) but other than that there was not a lot of real cool car/racing in my circle. When I got my license we would go to McDonalds in Enfield and watch all the muscle cars cruise through. I was not aware of anyone who had a hot rod or custom. But I built models! There were a bunch of fighter planes and bombers, but there were also hot rods and they always were my favorites. Between those and a steady stream of magazines I believe I became addicted for life. My favorites were the Orange Crate, Little Coffin and Green Hornet ('27 roadster). Then girls and driving took over but the models were the spark.
Of course I built models. Then I quit about the time I started modifying real cars. this is a picture of a few 50 years ago. I still have two of these, but a lot of parts fell off!
Started building models back in '59. Still have them someway in the basement. Always were winners. No spray cans back then. Used a bug sprayer. Cut the pickup down and it fit the large Testers bottles. Rubbed out the paint with toothpaste.
Yep. Did a few planes, those didn't do it for me. Model cars was it! At 9 years old, Dad bought what is now my '40 Ford Tudor so at that time I started building '40 Ford models. Plan was to build and modify available '40 kits into every body style of them made in real life. I did a woody from a sedan delivery kit using balsa wood. Did a 4dr sedan, a convertable from a coupe kit plus I was using the sedan kit with the '39 deluxe grille to make Standard models by painting the grilles side body color and leaving the center chrome. Of course I did the Monogram '40 pickp too. I never did get ALL the different models built but did do a bunch. At 70, I still have some unbuilt '40 kits and a bunch of Model T's and Model A's. Dave
I did. Years later my mother commented that it was interesting to watch because I never built them like the pictures on the box. Shape of things to come.
Lots, from about the age of 7 on. In fact my first introduction to the hot rod phenomenon was through Tom Daniel's box art for the Tijuana Taxi, seen in the window of an Italian toy shop. It began to fizzle when I was 14, and we moved back to Pretoria from Canada. The local hobby shops were few and far between, held weird kitbash-unfriendly stock (unfamiliar JDM stuff in odd scales, without opening hoods), and were hellishly expensive (at least double Canadian prices). I took it up again briefly in 2004, by which time the local scene had become even worse, in line with the worldwide decline in the hobby. I began to learn computer 3D modelling at about the same time. I returned to the showrods mainly because apart from the mechanical bits, accuracy was less of an issue. Here are a few I built last year:
that's how it all started. My dad used to give me crap ,he said your wrecking those good models trying to put those big motors and tires on them
The one time I can recall my folks questioning my wasting money. I came home with a '32 roadster** #5 ( coupes were coming soon ) I had felt justified because it was cheap, only 89cents. ( Lindbergh mfg. ) So I countered with that. The AMT kits were $1.95. The next quest was for Deuce coupes. The folks learned that night, I do what I want with the money I worked for. As time went on the modifications became more and more intricate and detailed. There is still a couple kits in the garage. ( arthritic hands and blurry eyes ain't fun no mo ) The leftover pieces and then the whole cars that lost their display case in the living room, all went into a large box that I let a good pal of mine have when he went nuts over the assortment.
It's called "Book Launcher". It's a flower-power-themed bookmobile with a catapult on the roof, to distribute books.
Definitely! Up until I got my drivers license. My grandsons and I built quite a few too, but now that the older one can drive, we are chipping away at real ones. The younger grandson has a half done ‘63 split, that we will complete; one of these days.
I built lots of models as a kid when they were $1 each at the dime store near me. I got .25 cents a week allowance and saved a month to buy another model. Still had them in my late 20's stored in their original boxes in a spare bedroom when my son and daughter were little kids. One day my wife said she was going to check on the kids because they'd been quiet too long. She came back downstairs and told me I needed to go upstairs, but try to hold my temper when I saw what they were up to. I walked into the spare bedroom and they'd taken every model (45 total) out of their boxes, and broken all of them. Most weren't worth repairing, and those that were still needed major work. I took all of them to the trash can and tossed them. My oldest is 55 now, and he still remembers being part of the model car crushing, and still can't say what they were thinking at the time.
That’s not good. Sometimes you wish for some quiet and sometimes when your wish comes true it’s not what you were hoping for.
Lately I've been longing for the smell of paint and glue. Haven't opened this box in decades. Happen to have it right here cuz the whole house is still in disarray after the fire. There's an unfinished stock green 1952 Chevy 2dr in there. Like the one Sandy and I used to buzz around in. Hey... there it is. This started out as a hardtop. They don't make a '52 2dr. So I grafted the rear roof portion from a '53 2dr. Whoever built this doesn't know how to weld very good. I heard just the other day that psychologists believe it's a good thing to revisit hobbies we enjoyed when we were young.
I built cars n planes,a few boat models. Some just stayed on the self,some rolled,an a few could fly,or float. Yet, none were done as designed,great fun to do my own way. For the cars, customs , hotrods and race cars. Lot of drawing as well. I have no idea were most models went,just faded away,by the mid 50's,when I started hunting real car parts for hot build,making piles in the weeds out back of parts I thought I wound use. I'd fine for free off junked cars in the woods or down old dirt roads,were ever a junker was. Actully got my hotrod to run around the block by end of 1959,that first go,was a big deal! No every thing did not work right,but little by little I fixed the bugs.
Yep Then my brothers who were older got into slot car racing and solid engine rockets you could build from kits and launch with a match to a fuse … That evolved into multi stage rockets and puttting engines between stages to blow those up - we experimented with adding solid rocket engines to model kit cars we built but those exploded too … Jim
I am proud to say I never built a boat or an airplane model. cars only. we moved when I was 12 and somehow my models did not make the move along with what would probably be thousands of dollars worth of toys on ebay today.
I did, and I still do. I have a youtube channel with mostly hotrod/kustom model car builds. https://www.youtube.com/@HayAuto Here is my display case, my current builds are the primered 59 Elco and the primered 62 Corvette with a 63 front clip grafted on.
I started with model cars, then built mostly planes and ships while in high school. Then got back into cars and still have the remains of a few and a couple of un-built kits in a box somewhere. Lately, after spending 15 years working on the real thing I've completed a couple of P-51 models. Someday, I'll get back to the cars... I have a '57 Ford Custom in the box that I'm going to build as the bracket racer I was running 54 years ago.
I started building models when I was about 7 and quit when I was 15 , was building go -carts at 14 ,so the model building faded away . I used to enter model car contests twice a year and finished in 2nd place several times , but finally won in 1971 . Like some others have mentioned , my models mysteriously disappeared in the move from Kansas City Missouri to Lincoln Nebraska in June of 1973 .
This particular thread really brings back some memories from my childhood. The picture I have posted here, is one I got from the internet. This particular model, was the first model car I ever built. My parents had taken me to town, to a big toy store and they said pick what you want. My choice was this one, because of how cool the picture was on the box. And my parents not really knowing anything about the model cars, they didn't think to council me on my choice, and I was too young to know anything about that model kit. So I thought that by choosing that model, there would be enough parts in it, to build all three of those T-Birds, that was in that picture. Well, when I found out other wise, I opted to build the stock version, because it was easier. Over the years after that, I built a lot of planes and a lot of cars and trucks, and that was cool for a while, and then I got the idea of buying models based upon what they looked like, and then I would NOT build the model as it was pictured on the box, but I would empty out all of the parts of what I had bought, and then get fancy with Ex-Acto knives and hack saws and other sharp instruments, and I would build creations that didn't exist in reality. Sadly back then at my age, I didn't have a camera, because it never occurred to me, that those mutant vehicles I had built, would ever be anything of any interest, to me or to anyone. I am sure that a lot of you had the same experiences with building stuff out of mismatched parts and making cool stuff that made you smile. An even sadder element but more relatable to a lot of us, was when my personal discovery of fire cracker's and M-80 explosives, was to subject the models I had built, to real life destruction and reenactments of battles, and what not! It was just pure fun and nothing more than that. There was no foresight at that age, of just maybe, I should stash the cool models I had built, and have them to reflect upon in my so called mature years such as now at age 72. I have a lot of respect for people such as @Ron Funkhouser who has an incredible collection of just about everything that you can think of, and also the amazing collection of @Moriarity who has taken collecting to an all new level, that is appreciated by all of us that know of that affliction! As time has gone by, and with that time honored addiction to swap-meets and such, I drug a lot of stuff and vehicles home over the years, and have wisely parted with a lot of them simply because of lack of space, etc, etc. Now I only have a very select few cars on display, as seen here. I moved on in later years to the realm of doing artwork and indulging in the deep hole of photography. Its far easier to capture the cars and trucks on film and even more so now in digital form as its just more logical to me, and this element doesn't take up as much space. These days, I find that by making solar powered sculpture, is filling the need to create interesting stuff, that cant be bought in a store, and its fun to display in my front yard to entertain the people that see it ! If you go to the Antiquated forum, and look for the thread FORD COE HEADLIGHT UPDATE, it shows the complete build of the wind driven solar powered unit that you see in the picture of it next to my truck in my driveway.
The Jalopy Journal
