74 Chevy Caprice

[Railfreak78]

Hey all. This is an original 74 Caprice from MPC. It has obviously been started and the paint seems brushed and very thick. It has heat damage from where the tires are. The tires and wheels are toast minus the tires that were with the trailer. There is damage from a tire laying against the front driver wheel well as well as the interior. I have some work to do but I want to make her shine again. Enjoy!

Edited March 28, 2010 by Railfreak78

[Railfreak78]

Here is some more and once I get the windows out she is off to the purple pond.

[Zoom Zoom]

Good luck with it; I had a nearly identical restoration a couple years ago (though no box or extra parts). Bone-stock built Caprice in red. Paint stripped off well, tire damage to wheels/wheel backs.

Photo Album of restoration

Here's a few shots of it:

Before:

During:

After:

It looked like this for one day only for a Donk theme at the Birmingham NNL in '08:

[Railfreak78]

Dave: I was able to look at this one before I bought it but I see where your coming from on the collector market for sure. Bob that was a beautiful save. I like the colors. I hate to admit it but that thing looks good as Donk ... Temp at least

[Zoom Zoom]

Dave: I was able to look at this one before I bought it but I see where your coming from on the collector market for sure. Bob that was a beautiful save. I like the colors. I hate to admit it but that thing looks good as Donk ... Temp at least

I kinda liked it too; if I had two of them I might have kept it like this.

Ron Hamilton has a really neat variation of this kit that he's scheming up...can't remember the exact package it was, but it was a white car w/red, white, blue accent theme.

[plasticfrog]

Awesome find to bad for the shape its in.This is the same thing that happend to my 1978 chevy stepside when i bought it off ebay.

Edited March 8, 2010 by plasticfrog

[gilsdropshop1]

love this glasshouse body good luck with resto! i had one also to restore it was a promo with both pillars broken and bad chrome after i was done with it came out like this.

[Marc @ MPC Motorsports]

Good find with extreme tire melt!!!

Get you an AMT 1976 Caprice kit and use parts from it to restore yours. Probably the interior tub and part of the front fender. You have to remove all traces of the melted styrene or the plasticizors from the tires will continue to wreak havoc. Good luck and have fun!!!

[nails3825]

A few of my older kits, especially the ones my Uncle gave me (40+ years old) have a little tire damage on the bodies... this is because I keep them all in the same box, stacked on top of each other ~ seeing what major damage the tires can do, I think it's a good idea to keep them away from each other Wow... I'm going to do that now.

As for your restore, I can't wait to see it brought back to life. I'll be keeping an eye on this build Good luck with it!

[Guest Mustang3.8]

Great start. I have a Modelhuas '75 Impala four door waiting to be built.

[Ron Hamilton]

I kinda liked it too; if I had two of them I might have kept it like this.

Ron Hamilton has a really neat variation of this kit that he's scheming up...can't remember the exact package it was, but it was a white car w/red, white, blue accent theme.

It is the 1974 Impala Sport Coupe with the "Spirit of America" package. My mom bought one on Memorial Day, 1974.

[Ron Hamilton]

I restored a very ratty '71 into this.

And I am doing this phantom '76 Convertible.

[Railfreak78]

Thanks for all the comments and other pictures on here for inspiration. I just got home from work and she was in the freezer all day. I was able to pull out the windows, grille, headlight, tail lights and all trim off without damaging it. Thank goodness too these windows are clean so I get one break with this car . Now she is in her birthday suit and getting ready to go swimming. I'll post more soon.

[oldscool]

This one looks interesting Railfreak. An old buddy of mine had one of the Spirit of America versions and within a few years it rusted away to almost nothing. Kinda like the Vegas used to do. And this was in Florida! I remember his having a vinyl top that covered the entire rear quarter windows. Maybe it was modified before he bought it?

oldscool

[modeler]

are u gonna get new bumpers from model haus if so what u want for the old ones

[modeler]

[walt francis]

Ok Modeler, give up the story on this and do you have anymore pics of the 64 wagon in the back.

[oldscool]

Yep Carl, that's just what my buddy's car looked like- except he was still driving it

oldscool

[modeler]

im not sure what hapened to it not mine but i got some pics of the 64

[philo426]

Love those '70s Caprices! here is my '73 model.

[Railfreak78]

This one looks interesting Railfreak. An old buddy of mine had one of the Spirit of America versions and within a few years it rusted away to almost nothing. Kinda like the Vegas used to do. And this was in Florida! I remember his having a vinyl top that covered the entire rear quarter windows. Maybe it was modified before he bought it?

oldscool

Maybe it was possible that the vinyl was an option that way? My buddy's old 76 Nova was one of 50 and had an oddball quarter window set up.

[Railfreak78]

Carl I'm going to keep the bumpers and have a buddy shoot them with alclad. Very sad to see that Spirit in such bad shape. i LOVE that wagon! I absolutely LOVE lifted ( not Donk ) cars!. I'd buy that in a Heartbeat if I could. I used to see a 72 Chevelle, 68 Mustang, and a 72 Caddy Hearse around here.

[jevries]

I def like all these big '70 Chevy's! Great job on restoring that model.

[hemithunder]

I like too see the old ones saved! What do you use to strip the bodies so well? I've got boxes of old builds that my father gave me as well as many from my distant youth that could benefit from it.

[Railfreak78]

I like too see the old ones saved! What do you use to strip the bodies so well? I've got boxes of old builds that my father gave me as well as many from my distant youth that could benefit from it.

I use a 50/50 mix of one full bottle of Dot3 brake fluid and a equal size bottle of Purple Power brand degreaser. A picture of my tank is in the general section. mt Caprice should be coming out of it today.