Little Red Express rebuild

[restoman]

I first built this around 1995-ish. It looked ok in the cabinet, but there were a lot of things about it that bugged me, so...

Done in Viper Red, if I recall. Single layer urethane. I think it's a little brighter than what is supposed to be on the LREs, but it worked at the time so I saw no reason to change it.

The big block, four speed and floor shifter were something else. Little Reds came with the E58 360, four barrel engine and all were column shift automatics  So away went the big block and in went a resin copy of the '71 Duster small block and a resin automatic. Added a column shift, and indicator, covering the floor with some red embossing powder. The proper pedals were added, too. Some underhood detail finishes it off to make things a little more believable.

I lowered the truck to get a little more of  street stance. The kit always sat so high... White letter tires give it a period look.

Clear headlight and turn signal lenses in the grill, a shot of Dull coat for the anodized aluminum look, and some filler strips to set the grill out where it should be. 

The grill, front filler panel, and front bumper just never seem to fit right on these Dodges but short of surgery and repainting, it looks ok. I guess...

Mirrors are in the works, just need to get some casting material whenever the world gets itself back together.

A friend's Dad had one of these when we were in high school. I thought it was the coolest. Whenever Collin was lucky enough to borrow it, we had a blast! For a 6000lb truck, it was pretty quick and would light up the rear tires with little effort. No brake pressure was required to get a satisfactory pair of black marks. )

Comments always welcome!

 

[restoman]

Oops... could a moderator move this to Under Glass?

T'anks!

[espo]

Great looking redo on this. 

[kelson]

looks good!?,i'm waiting for Ray's kits to reopen so i can order the Midnite Express decals from him.

[dave branson]

nice build

[PappyD340]

Looks great, I know a couple of guys that had the 1:1 version of those trucks back in the day.

[charger74]

Very nice

[ChrisR]

Awesome!

[AmericanMuscleFan]

Very bautiful "little" truck Mike!   We don't see much on the road anymore and your final product fully respects the real vehicle!  Well done sir!!!

[restoman]

Thanks for the comments folks. 

I'm happy with how this turned out, considering the only paint work done this time around was on the engine and transmission, and a few small parts.

The grill/filler/ bumper fit frustrates me a bit, but short of modifying and painting, it's as good as it's going to get.

It looks great in its' display cabinet!

Edited May 20, 2020 by restoman

[Nazz]

I remember seeing these running around the streets when I was a kid. Yours looks great Mike, well done.

[Bucky]

Very sharp! The stance looks like what I remember on the real ones. The color doesn't look any different from the '78 that I owned. What a blast that truck was! Mine had the black bucket seat interior, and no A/C!

Well done on this TOP SHELF build!

[Jim B]

Very nice rebuild.

[drodg]

On 5/24/2020 at 2:11 AM, Bucky said:

Very sharp! The stance looks like what I remember on the real ones. The color doesn't look any different from the '78 that I owned. What a blast that truck was! Mine had the black bucket seat interior, and no A/C!

Well done on this TOP SHELF build!

That 78 was what the quickest vehicle in America that year?   Btw this is a great build.  

[crazyjim]

Very well done.

[thatz4u]

nice rebuild, well done

[Cardz]

Wow, very nice!

[#1 model citizen]

Looks fantastic!

[BeakDoc]

Great save! What an iconic piece of American automotive history that truck is.

[Plowboy]

Nice looking little LRE Mike! Your changes made a big difference!  I never was a fan of the stacks on these trucks. If I ever get around to building mine, those will be deleted.

[slusher]

Super sharp LRE!

[Dominik]

very nice! very very nice truck!