The Deja Vu Willys

The AMT/ERTL '33 Willys Coupe

I remember building this same AMT model with my dad in the late 70's with some different box art than this 1989 version I found on eBay a few years ago. I recognized the thin, light blue plastic right away I also recalled this one ending up with an M-80 in the sun roof sometime around 1980, but couldn't remember why this model.

Another one of the half-built cars my son has pestering me about for the last couple years. Last month we did the gold paint, decals and attached the finished body. The hood attached to the front of the chassis and was lowering down over the motor when it stopped about an eighth of an inch short of the firewall. Wait, this had happened to me before.

How it is, so far...

We like it with the hood open and the 427 V-8 showing. The kit came with a roll cage I built by instinct since it was left off of the instructions along with one or two other mystery parts. I think the zoomie headers and rear bumper ended up on the '41 Willys hot rod so I used the stock option headers. This kit also comes with hardtop or "glass" top options for the sunroof, too bad both drop right through the hole. The other unmentioned option was a license plate frame in place of the parachute which was also removed from the instructions for this street rod version of the same gasser kit. Despite the issues I still think old models are the most fun and I might look into fixing the hood problem, one day. Unless we find an M-80 somewhere first. ha ha

Givin' me the Willy's

Revell's Stone, Woods & Cook '41 Willys Gasser in Glacier Blue.

Chris Reynolds bought me this one in 2008 when we both worked at La Jolla Tattoo. I finally put it all together last December since my son had been demanding it for his bedroom.

Thanks Chris

The Swindler, ready for the '64 Winternationals.

Found In a Field North of Kyoto

This AMT Ertl '53 Ford Pickup was the first model box my son got into at age three. Last month we found what was left of the box and decided it's future would be as a rusty wreck with a tree growing from under the hood.

The narrow chassis didn't leave much room for the bonsai tree so I ended up removing it.

Luckily, I found a tree with a thin enough trunk for the hood to fit in place.

The finished product was a 64th birthday gift for my Dad, who happens to like 50's Fords and bonsai trees. The dead Ford in a Japanese garden is a little ironic.

King Rat

Revell's '41 Willys Street Rod kit minus front fenders and hood.

The headers, support rods, rear bumper and pinstriping decals are from other kits. Chris Reynolds supplied me with the headlights and I made the longer firewall and spun aluminum caps.

This is a little more to my taste. Revell's suggested "ZZ Top" styling looks a little dated for the 2003 copyright. This one was started in '08 and then waited in it's box until last December when I finished the build. The support rods and decals were added last week and I'm calling this one done.

This Year's Model

1937 C-505 Cord Super Charged Convertible

1955 PYRO Plastics Corp.

The green instrument panel and flat white, house paint interior are left from the original builder. The Wisconsin plate was carefully peeled from the trunk and framed for use; tail lights from another kit replace the original red stickers.

A look under the hood at the 2 piece V-8 motor and original green plastic color on top of the fire wall. I thought it looked better without the front bumper and left it off. The fender skirts are cut out from a sheet of modeling plastic.

Original box art from jimnohio.com

My Cord was found on ebay and came in a plastic shopping bag instead of the cool box above. Thanks to drastic plastics mcc for the instructions that made it go a lot smoother, they also have more great box artwork.