Ala Kart a la carte: Part ONE, Compare and Contrast

[Ace-Garageguy]

Some people aren't big fans of this car, but to me, it's one of the most important customs ever built. Designed By George Barris when he was really in his prime, and two-time winner of the prestigious AMBR award, 

           

      it burned at one point and went through several changes of ownership.      

The car was restored to 100-point as-built condition in 2008.  

With the reintroduction of the AMT "Mod Rod" double kit, there's renewed interest in building replicas of the Ala Kart that the original issue of the kit included parts for, some of which are lacking in the most recent Mod Rod release. There are enough original-issue gluebombs out there to make it fairly easy to come up with the missing parts, however.

Both the AMT Ala Kart kits available (the "new tool" kit released in about 2002, and the "old tool" kit, released in 1961...TOTALLY DIFFERENT KITS) have scaling and proportion issues, but both of them also have their strengths as well. 

I'm sure you all know that Ala Kart is a play on "a la carte", which refers to ordering individual items off a menu rather than going with a complete meal. What we're going to be doing is trying to pick-and-choose components from BOTH kits, a la carte, to come up with a more accurate rendition of this iconic car than you can build from either kit on its own. It's going to take a while, and there will be much head-scratching, measuring, cutting (in all probability) and unforeseen delays. Typical for me.  

NOTE: Harold Perry built a gorgeous model doing much the same thing a few years back. For photos of his model, click here and scroll about a quarter of the way down...

These are the kits we'll be using... "old tool" original issue on top (anywhere from $25 if you're lucky to $75 or so for a perfect one), and the "new-tool" kit below (can be had for as little as $15, shipped. (The newly-released Mod Rod kit shown to the right is derived from the original version of the Ala Kart / '29 Ford double kit shown here).

                      

There are a LOT of differences between the two. Again, I always find it kind of amazing that adult "professionals" can measure the exact same thing and come up with different results. "Old tool" parts are white, "new tool" parts are gray.

First off, we'll compare the fender units. The main differences, besides the slightly shorter length of the "new" (2002 tooling) one, are the rolled lips on the fenders of the old kit (1960s tooling) that are almost totally lacking on the new one, and the louver detail on the aprons. The rolled lips are easily identifiable on pix of the REAL car, both finished as-was and during its recent restoration. The much lighter engraving of the louvers on the new parts will tend to fade out and disappear as the part is painted, particularly important as the correct color is pearl white, with a clear topcoat. Lotsa paint.

Next up is the body shell or bucket. The real car uses a '29 model A Ford front section wedded to a '27 Ford model T rear. The "new" tool part is fatter and rounder at the sides, longer, and is considerably different in the rear. Again, white is the 1960s tooling and gray is the 2002 tooling. Later on, we'll be comparing these to photos of the real car to see exactly what's what.

The main differences in the pickup bed are length, rather a large difference, and the size of the license plate recess. The old-tool kit has it too small.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 26, 2018 by Ace-Garageguy

[Ace-Garageguy]

One of the things that really sets the two kits apart and drives careful builders and reviewers crazy is the disparity in the shapes of the grille shell and cowl, which are the most important styling elements of this vehicle.

The hoods are also remarkably different in length, and carry the shape differences almost all the way back to the cowl...where they get kinda close.

 

 

 

 

[bisc63]

This is going to be very informative! Keep it up...

[slusher]

Thanks, Bill i just learned something. I never knew how much difference between them. Is that a tire mark on the side of the cab on the old tool??? 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Thanks, Bill i just learned something. I never knew how much difference between them. Is that a tire mark on the side of the cab on the old tool??? 

Yes sir. Tire burn on the 55 year-old part.

Hard to believe that particular kit survived with no other damage and almost all the parts still on the trees.

But then again, there were around one million original-issue Ala Kart kits sold. 

[Mr. Metallic]

I've often dreamed of combining the kits as you are to get the "ultimate" Ala Kart, so I'll be following along intently. Perhaps at the end you could also do a comparison to the Danbury Mint diecast?

[Mr. Metallic]

I also think this would make a great article (or series of articles) for the magazine.

[Phildaupho]

Thanks for doing this. The Ala Kart has always been on my list to build someday. Hope you can find the time to pursue this between all your other projects.  I was just getting into cars and modelling when the interview with Barris and Roth appeared in Rod & Custom. I could never decide which was cooler the Ala Kart or the Beatnik Bandit. They seemed so different but had so many similarities - pearl white paint, scallops, chrome wheels, custom body work.

[cobraman]

I always liked this car but I never built the model. This may change. I will be looking in.

[Modlbldr]

Thanks for the comparisons. I will have to compare the original that you show to the one that I picked up recently. Given the ages of the other built up kits that i got it with I believe that mine is from the 60's.

Later-

[Jantrix]

Glad to see this comparison. Keep it going.

Edited August 30, 2016 by Jantrix

[Crazy Ed]

   I wonder if the Restoration, "100 point" or not might account for some of the differences? It wouldn't take a whole lot of Artistic License along with Eyeball Engineering to have provided the changes. Could be Both Kits are Correct. They just represent the Truck in different stages of it's life.

[Ace-Garageguy]

   I wonder if the Restoration, "100 point" or not might account for some of the differences? It wouldn't take a whole lot of Artistic License along with Eyeball Engineering to have provided the changes. Could be Both Kits are Correct. They just represent the Truck in different stages of it's life.

That thought occurred to me, and I've been studying pix I've found of the in-process restoration, as well as lots of photos of the car as originally finished.

For one thing, the photos of both the restored car AND the original agree very well with what is presented in the original kit, for the most part. Some of the photos I've acquired are scalable, so I'll be doing a careful analysis of them too, and measuring BOTH kits to see what's right and what's not.

There would have been no reason to make the changes to the car that show up in the "new-tool" kit, though I DID consider the cockpit may have been enlarged, as is common on rods these days, to accommodate fatter Americans. Not so, judging from the resto shots I have.

People who love this iconic car can be glad it got done the way it did, as at one time, Boyd Coddington wanted to entirely rebuild it as something else, with a newly-fabricated frame under it.

As far as I can tell, the very sympathetic restoration carried out by Brizio's crew left as much of the car intact as possible, even leaving most of the old lead in place. Other than the fire, the car wasn't heavily damaged or modified previously. A new hood was built to match the curves of the original cowl and nose (and apparently new flat bed-side inserts) but as far as I know at this point, the rest of the panels are original to it as built by Barris.

 

[bobthehobbyguy]

Bill some of the differnces were caused by the fact that the new kit was based on a tribute car built by Ledbetter. It was never meant to be a accurate recreation. If you google ala tribute car there is an article in hot rod about the car.

Looking forward to seeing you do this project.

[1zebra3]

I built this kit back in the day but put in a Thunderbird engine and different paint scheme because the Ala - Cart didn't appeal to me at the time . I purchased the reissue to do it as the original car and display next to my old version but was so disappointed in the differences that I have yet to build it. Hopefully this will ignite a fire under me and I will build it the way you are. Probably not with the great attention to detail as yours but hopefully close. I will be following. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Bill some of the differnces were caused by the fact that the new kit was based on a tribute car built by Ledbetter. It was never meant to be a accurate recreation. If you google ala tribute car there is an article in hot rod about the car.

I'm familiar with the Ledbetter clone, but it differs significantly from the real one in several important respects, notably a Chebby engine and a Jag-based IRS rear end. These are NOT reflected in the "new tool" kit. The Ledbetter car has no louvers in the fender aprons either...so it doesn't really make sense that the "new tool" kit was prepared from access to the clone.

It was always my understanding the "new tool" kit was done from measurements obtained from the original car during its long restoration.

Perhaps more research is in order. 

[bobthehobbyguy]

I was told about the clone by a friend who was also looking to do an accurate version of the Ala Kart. Unfortunately my friend passed a number of years ago so I can't ask him for his source,

[Ace-Garageguy]

I was told about the clone by a friend who was also looking to do an accurate version of the Ala Kart. Unfortunately my friend passed a number of years ago so I can't ask him for his source,

There's a fair bit of conflicting information out there about the car. Even Kustomrama, a site that usually gets it right, states that the original Ala Kart was "almost entirely destroyed by fire". Hardly true...if one goes by photographs taken at the time.

      

This is the clone, immediately identifiable by its lack of coil-over-air-bag front suspension.

Edited August 30, 2016 by Ace-Garageguy

[Ron Hamilton]

Bill, I like what you are doing with this one. The A'la Cart has always intrigued me, even though it is not in my wheelhouse. I appreciate quality work, no matter what the subject matter is, and this one piques my interest.

Edited August 30, 2016 by Ron Hamilton

[Snake45]

Bill, I like what you are doing with this one. The A'la Cart has always intrigued me, even though it is not in my wheelhouse. I appreciate quality work, no matter what the subject matter is, and this one piques my interest.

I was just about to say something very similar. I don't really care a thing about this car, but I enjoy seeing and reading the detailed analysis of someone who does. Drive on!

[Spex84]

I've grumbled at the new-tool kit many times, but don't have an original to compare it to, so this analysis is very interesting to me! I love the shape of the original kit's body and fenders compared to the newer version, regardless of which one is more correct.

 

[blunc]

visually, it looks to me like the radiator shell and bonnet on the awful repop of the ala kart is closer to the real truck than the original kit.

[Modelbuilder Mark]

Really looking forward to this project. 

[bobthehobbyguy]

Bill not to belabor the point but the short pickup box and the longer hood makes sens. With the fenders and wheelbase the same the longer hood would mean something else would have to be shorten and it appears the pickup box was the choice. Just a thought.

[Zoom]

A nice and informative thread. Thank you!