Dodge Lil Red Wagon

[Jon Cole]

Bought this over the weekend, decided to start now, not later.
Never cared for the see thru door jambs, so I am attempting to scratch 'em.
Question on the 1:1, from what I read, Bill Maverick built four of these. Yet, there seems to be a variety of setups and paint schemes.
Did it get repainted and / or rebuilt often?
And why is the one in the Garlits Museum look so different?
The second pic, I am trying a tiny magnet in the body jamb, and a piece of tin in the end of the inner door panel.

[Jon Cole]

How the Garlits Museum truck looks:

[Jon Cole]

Drives me crazy when I find so many variations! Check out the gold wheel wells, the aluminum colored front frame and leafs, white lettering, etc.

[dwc43]

Builders Jim Schaeffer and John Collier performed extensive modifications to the A100 in order to fit a 426 Hemi engine and TorqueFlite automatic transmission. Since the A100 was a cabover design, Schaeffer and Collier opted to install the drivetrain in a roughly amidships configuration behind the rear of the cab, in the pickup bed, within a welded steel subframe.

Parts deemed unnecessary were removed from the body, among them the heater, dashboard, front bumper and all body sealer. The passenger doors were replaced with fiberglass units. The Little Red Wagon's first dragstrip run netted a mid-11 second quarter mile at 120 mph (193 km/h).^[1]

The vehicle was not originally intended to perform wheelstands; the slight rearward bias caused the nose to lift in the air for nearly the entire quarter-mile run.

Golden soon purchased the truck from Dodge for use as an exhibition racer. The Little Red Wagon debuted in the 1965 season opener at Lions Drag Strip in Wilmington, California in front of 10,000 fans and reporters from major newspapers and automotive publications.

The vehicle suffered three wrecks in 1969, 1971 and again in 1975. After the 1975 wreck, Golden converted a non-operable show truck and campaigned it for the next thirty years.

Golden entered the Guinness Book of World Records in 1977 with a 4230' (1289m) wheelstand, approximately the length of three quarter-mile dragstrips.

In 2009, the Little Red Wagon was sold at RM Auctions Icons of Speed and Style Auction. The vehicle was expected to fetch US$300,000; it was instead the auction's top seller at $550,000.^[2]

It is also the subject of a 1/25 scale model kit from IMC and was later reissued by Lindberg Models.

 

Besides the wreck, there were several versions with different engines, and induction systems, and paint schemes. The original truck just had two 4 bbls carbs,then it was hillborn injected, and supercharged at some point. I dont think it ever had a tunnel ram on it, but dont rule that out. It ran different wheels over the years and it did have gold wheel wells at one time. When Dodge first built it and Bill Maverick drove it, the driver was on the left as normal. At some point it was rebuilt with the drivers seat in the center of the cab.

Just like that movie Hot Rod. So many versions of that Willy's coupe to build. You just have to pick a version you like and build it.

 

[geemoney]

I saw it run!!!

wahoo!!!!

as I recall, the kit engine is not that great.....(valve covers)

[gtx6970]

The LRW was constantly changing over the years. Ive seen it run many times . But the last few years around.( maybe 10 or so )  It was the blown hemi version with the mural along the lower body

 

This is one of,,,,, if not the first version of it . As far as I know this is the only version where the lettering is white instead of the more common yellow

Edited July 26, 2017 by gtx6970

[Jon Cole]

The LRW was constantly changing over the years. Ive seen it run many times . But the last few years around.( maybe 10 or so )  It was the blown hemi version with the mural along the lower body

This is one of,,,,, if not the first version of it . As far as I know this is the only version where the lettering is white instead of the more common yellow

Considering it has a windshield and steel wheels, I suspect this may have been a development test run. Doesn't get much earlier than that.
I hope to actually finish this one, so I may plan on going with whats in the box, plus the usual detail.

[gtx6970]

Pay close attention to the door and hinge fit and they will operate as designed.

Mine ' did '  ,,,at least until I dropped it. Sadly they are now permanently  glued shut.

 

I've always wanted to  replicate the one above.  But with no source for the white lettering I never moved forward with the idea .

 

[gtx6970]

These are some of the earliest pictures I've seen of the truck showing its 1st power plant.  Best I can remember it was basically robbed straight out of  the  A990 based Race Hemi bins back then

I used to have the original build article ( lost it in a PC crash a few years ago )  That is killer for details on how it was built

[Alan]

Pay close attention to the door and hinge fit and they will operate as designed.

Mine ' did '  ,,,at least until I dropped it. Sadly they are now permanently  glued shut.

 

I've always wanted to  replicate the one above.  But with no source for the white lettering I never moved forward with the idea .

 

Bill, I do custom decals as well ....

Alan

[Jon Cole]

Updates: 
Had to trim down the door hinge at the top & bottom where it attaches to the body.

More clearance issues for the door hinges at the floor. Cuttin' & chopping.

I handled everything so much, I had to repaint or touch up the floor pan. Not my finest job.
I found out the hard way that the chassis / floor will fit into the body much easier without the rear pan in place. Pried it out, broke a mount tab in the process. So grind out the broke tab, fab & glue on new tab.

Yes, I have resorted to taping memos on my cutting mat.
When I put it back together, I made a spacer instead of risking having the tailgate in the way. Used the rubber band method to hold it snug while the epoxy set.

Progress is still slow. I will need to do a lot of touch up as it comes together.

 

[Jon Cole]

Forgot to add my last pic. And... it would not accept an edit! LoL! Even my posts fail LoL! 
So here, again...

When I put it back together, I made a spacer instead of risking having the tailgate in the way. Used the rubber band method to hold it snug while the epoxy set.

Progress is still slow. I will need to do a lot of touch up as it comes together.

[DumpyDan]

It is looking great, will keep watching

[1320wayne]

Which version are you attempting to build? It appears that you might be doing the museum truck but you don't really confirm that. Why I ask is that if you are trying to replicate the museum truck then you would have to remove the tops of the door frames as a few of the later trucks ran without them. See my build below.

 

 

Just one of the many variations that he ran throughout the years.

[OldTrucker]

Mine was an old IMC kit that I painted wit Testors red enamel waaaaaay back in the day.

Over time parts were lost broken and decals went bad. Picked up a parts kit in a trade and finished it up a couple years or so ago.

I was building it from what I remembered seeing at US 30!

 

 

 

Edited April 25, 2018 by OldTrucker

[High octane]

I know the owner of this LRW and hope to see it again soon, but only time will tell................................................

[Jon Cole]

Not doing the museum truck, as I would have had to fabricate a center mounted cage and driver position. 
It seems like every photo I saw, was different in some way. So I am just going for an early career build. 
Not so early that it would still have the glass.

[gtx6970]

On 4/15/2018 at 11:50 PM, High octane said:

I know the owner of this LRW and hope to see it again soon, but only time will tell................................................

some dang fine iron in that shop

 

[Codi]

Fun build and you'll have a blast doing this one.  I have to agree with what Bill said, that guys shop has quite the impressive collection of cars in his shop. Great photos too.  cheers, tim

[Truck parts]

Thank you for the post .Nice to know about the other builds of the truck

[Jon Cole]

Finally done!
Bought this kit back in July. That's downright quick by my standards! LoL! 
Figure by Jimmy Flintstone. I painted helmet.

[bytownshaker]

Looks great John

[OldTrucker]

Great job!  

There  we're so many changes to the truck over the years, it is hard to remember just how it looked!

I saw it 4 Times in the sixties and it was different every time!

[dragmodels44]

Looks awesome. Your kit inspired me to finally get this kit. Luckily 1 bought 2, as one had no decals! What color red did you use, and did you clear over the decals?

[Jon Cole]

16 hours ago, dragmodels44 said:

Looks awesome. Your kit inspired me to finally get this kit. Luckily 1 bought 2, as one had no decals! What color red did you use, and did you clear over the decals?

Thanks. I used DupliColor Medium Red Pearl, a Toyota color. The 1:1 truck is not a bright red. May be metallic. Then it was cleared, same brand, then wet sanded. No clear over the decals.