Wolf Man's Willys

The Wolf Man's '41 Willys gasser. Drawn between appointments while sitting at work. Jan. 20-22

Toys in the Attic

Some of my Dad's old models found up in the attic with some very cool vintage box artwork.

AMT '55 Chevy Nomad after reattaching the bumpers and hood scoop. I remember having this one in my room when I was a kid, built by Jim Earnhart in the mid-1970's.

Nomad  detail

AMT Warren Tope Mach 1 Mustang, repainted Ford Blue over the original gloss brown.

The incomplete engine was replaced with a Cobra motor from Revell's '55 Ford Panel truck. I finished the front and back ends of the car as well.

A Mustang funny car [Mach Won maybe?] in matching brown was also found in the Warren Tope box.

Also in the Nomad box, a lifted Datsun pick-up [brown, of course] with lots of tiny chrome parts that need to be reattached.

"Lunge Box", a '33 Willys Panel gasser, built by Jim Earnhart, 1970's.

Willy's Panel detail

The Father's Day Nova

 Revell's 1969 Chevy Nova [Central Office Production Order] with some minor changes.

Goodyear slicks and sponsor decals are from ebay. The lake pipes came from the junkyard.

L-72 engine with fuel injection system and tank from AMT's '57 Corvette gasser.

 Earth-tone interior and scratch built roll cage. The Rockin' Roller decals are left over from my dad's MPC '57 Chevy.

It was supposed to look like this one.

They never seem to come out like the pictures on the box.

Hot Rod Cord

A junked, fenderless 1965 Monogram Cord 812 body and partial interior I bought on ebay and turned into a roadster-style drag racer.

The chassis and big block 454 are from the AMT '53 Ford pickup. The carbs and intake manifold were lost, so these were scratch built along with the roll cage and fuel tank. The seat belts and headers are from the AMT '56 Ford Victoria kit. 

The headlights and windshield were left over from the Revell '32 Ford Sedan and the grille is off an old Cadillac.

M&H slicks, wheels and Gofer vintage sponsor decals were bought from the ebay store, Model Car Mountain.

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.