1/25 Whiz Bang '40 Ford Coupe

[Casey]

Tonight the Whiz Bang '40 Ford Coupe B/Gas project got underway, inspired by a vintage image found at the George Klass Remembers... 'site:

I'm not sure if the body color in the photo is accurate or not, but I'm painting it pink. I am going to try to stay mostly true to the real car's details, too, so the parts list so far includes:

• AMT Parts Pack Wide whitewall pie crust slicks
• AMT Piranha dragster rear wheels
• Revell '55 Chevy Bel Air Hardtop Firestone Gum Dipped medium whitewall tires
• AMT '62 Pontiac Catalina front steel wheels and brake backing plates
• Parts by Parks Moon Wheel discs up front
• AMT '66 Buick Riviera V-8 engine

I don't see many mods on this car other than the removed fuel filler cap and tube, the enlarged rear fender openings, the front tow bar brackets, and a crossed checkered flag water slide decal in the rear quarter window. I still see the stock tail light present, but those exhaust dumps exiting under the front fenders hint at a hopped up engine. Looks like their might be a slight cowboy rake, too.

The left rear fender has been cemented in place, but that's it so far:

Edited November 18, 2018 by Casey

[Renegade]

Great project, looking forward to seeing it finished.

[afx]

Love it already.

[vintagercr]

Cool project and just checked out that site and it is pretty neat.

[stavanzer]

"Cowboy Rake" ?  I've never heard that term before.  I like where this is going.

[Casey]

10 hours ago, Renegade said:

Great project, looking forward to seeing it finished.

Bold mine...no pressure. 

5 hours ago, vintagercr said:

Cool project and just checked out that site and it is pretty neat.

Yes, it's really an amazing 'site. One can get lost for hours just looking at all the details: http://www.georgeklass.net/index.html

[W-409]

This will be a cool project. These '40 Fords make great Gassers and I really like how the 1:1 version looks. After seeing some of your work I know this is going to be amazing. And yes, the George Klass' site is very good, I've also spent many hours browsing that site and searching for reference material for different kinds of vintage builds.

[chris chabre]

I forgot all about that site....now Im gonna lose even more time from my day...

 

Oh, and the coupe is already looking killer

 

 

EDIT..I dont know why the "BLAH BLAH BLAH" was there..it wasnt when I posted

Edited November 21, 2018 by chris chabre

[Casey]

 

13 hours ago, W-409 said:

This will be a cool project. These '40 Fords make great Gassers and I really like how the 1:1 version looks.

Thanks, NIko. I like that the car is fairly restrained (well, despite the pink paint) and still close-to-stock appearing, which being honest, makes things simpler and easier when building the 1/25 scale version. 

I realized the steel wheels I planned to use were not an ideal fit inside the front tires, so I test fit the front wheel parts from the AMT '62 Pontiac Catalina, and they are near perfect. The wheel lips stand a bit too proud of the sidewall, but the tire is perfectly sandwiched between the wheel halves, and there is decent backing plate detail on the backside, too:

 

I looked through my decal bin to find some crossed checkered flag decals, and I found a near perfect match. Then, after finding the decals, I enlarged the picture and realized the crossed flags are actually painted on the building in the background, and not in the Ford's quarter window.   Problem solved. 

I also finished most of the sanding and scribing on the body shell, got the right rear fender, firewall, and both front inner fender splash shields glued in place, test fit the grille and hood trim, drilled the filler tube hole in the left rear fender, and ordered a set of Parts by Parks 15" Moon discs. A productive day. 

Edited November 18, 2018 by Casey

[cobraman]

You have my attention.

[TarheelRick]

Going to be a fun build to watch.  Those were great times in drag racing.  Anyone with a bit of mechanical knowledge could drag something out of the junkyard and with a couple of buddies help (and some adult beverages) build a competitive car.  Long before the days of corporate sponsorship and "Powerball" budgets.  Now, get back to the bench and progress.  

[Snake45]

On 11/17/2018 at 12:28 AM, Casey said:

I'm not sure if the body color in the photo is accurate or not, but I'm painting it pink. I am going to try to stay mostly true to the real car's details, too, so the parts list so far includes:

• Engine TBD, but likely a hopped up Flathead from the Revell '48 Ford Custom kit

 

I'm thinking a flathead wouldn't have classed as high as B. In fact, as early as 1965 (first year rulebook I have on hand), flatheads were already segregated down to H/Gas. 

Also, I'm thinking it's probably closer to red than pink. It looks pretty close to the flags in the background, which are no doubt red. Maybe it's a "light red" or a dark pink. 

BTW, pink is a deceptively difficult color to mix/match for some reason. Some years ago I built a model of a Playmate of the Year car. Thought it would be easy/simple; it wasn't. Mixed up paints and painted and stripped it twice before I got a color I could live with the third time, and it's still not exactly the right shade but I'm not doing it over. Just sayin'....

Good luck with this. It looks like a fun project! Drive on! 

Edited November 18, 2018 by Snake45

[Casey]

1 hour ago, Snake45 said:

I'm thinking a flathead wouldn't have classed as high as B. In fact, as early as 1965 (first year rulebook I have on hand), flatheads were already segregated down to H/Gas. 

I think you're right, but I haven't looked at the NHRA classifications for B/Gas yet to see what the weight breaks were.  I did some online research last night regarding the Navarro heads (which are included in the Revell '48 Ford Custom kit and what I was considering using in this car), and they don't provide a significant power increase, so that engine is out.

I had originally set aside the early Buick V-8 from an AMT '66 Riviera pre-painted kit for use in this car, so I may go that route, albeit with some backyard mods like Ricky mentioned:

1 hour ago, Snake45 said:

Also, I'm thinking it's probably closer to red than pink. It looks pretty close to the flags in the background, which are no doubt red. Maybe it's a "light red" or a dark pink.

With the original photographs being on film/slides, and now appearing on a screen, it's hard to determine the exact color, but I would agree red seems more likely than pink. Still, I'm sticking with pink. 

[MeatMan]

Awesome!

[Nitrobarry]

Don`t sweat about the "true color" of the 1:1 car. I`ve found that most photos from that era are indeed faded and you can`t figure out the true color. Go with whatever you think is close enough and that`ll be good enough. Keep going, it looks good!

[Casey]

28 minutes ago, Nitrobarry said:

Don`t sweat about the "true color" of the 1:1 car. I`ve found that most photos from that era are indeed faded and you can`t figure out the true color. Go with whatever you think is close enough and that`ll be good enough. Keep going, it looks good!

^This. 

I found the 1962 NHRA Gas class rules found here: http://nostalgiagassers.com/nhra-rules-gas-coupessedans-g-1962/

Fitting into the B/Gas class required a 9.00-10.99 lbs/cubic inch displacement ratio, so using a '64-ish 364 c.i. Buick V8, and a 1940 Ford Coupe weight of approximately 3276 lbs (2970 lbs stock), gives the desired a 9.00 ratio. The 306 lb weight difference could be accounted for by the addition of later model steel wheels, slicks, and other parts, and the Buick engine adds 130 lbs by itself, so I think it's in the 'believable' range. The Street Section Class adds a more requirements (full stock type interior with rear seats present, etc.), so no stripped down, remove-everything-which-weighs-anything type mods.

[Casey]

I stripped the pre-painted AMT '66 Buick Riviera's V8 with 91% isopropyl alcohol, trued the flat surfaces, and generally started prepping the engine parts for assembly. After doing some Buick V8 research last night, I noticed something on the 1/25 scale block was a bit off. The bellhousing flange at the rear of the block (and the bulge for the distributor too short) looks too high in relation to the rest of the block. Here's a shot of both a '65 Buick 401 and the AMT '66 Riv engine:

 

I already cut off the stock auto trans, so while I still need to trim the lower half of the flange off, I am a bit disappointed by what I discovered. Overall, the 1/25 AMT '66 Riviera engine looks very good compared to the real engine reference pics I've viewed, and the only other clear omission is the lack of any valley pan detail. Granted, most of the valley area is hidden when the intake manifold is in place, so I can live with it. I think the block's skirt is a bit short, too, but maybe things were compromised in that area to ensure the engine would fit under the Riviera's hood. Not sure, but the engine looks a bit vertically compressed, if that makes sense. Fortunately, the bellhousing flange is the only area which really stands out to me, so once I source a bellhousing, I will decide if I want to modify it or just live with it.  

Here's the engine as I received it, presumably from one or the AMT 'Pro Shop' prepainted issues:

Edited November 20, 2018 by Casey

[Nitrobarry]

Agree with your assessment of the engine. However, you might want to take a look at the Revell Buick engines (Show Boat and or Tony Nancy 22jr kits). They look good and are not needing as much modification.  I like it!

Edited November 22, 2018 by Nitrobarry

[DPNM]

You are off to a great start on this Casey. It's looking good.

Maybe it's my old eyes but it sure looks to me like there is a glass pack and a bit of the exhaust pipe showing behind the rear wheel.

I see the headers behind the front wheels, perhaps a street/strip exhaust set-up?

Or... it could be more background clutter like the crossed flags.

Nail polish may get you a pink you can use.

[Casey]

On 11/22/2018 at 12:39 PM, Nitrobarry said:

 you might want to take a look at the Revell Buick engines (Show Boat and or Tony Nancy 22jr kits). They look good and are not needing as much modification.  I like it!

Thanks, Barry. I bought the Revell Tony Nancy 22Jr SSP double kit not that long ago, but didn't love the engines. The 22Jr's Buick also appears to suffer from the same issue as the AMT engine, at least as far as I can see in the lone image I took of those parts:

 

On 11/22/2018 at 6:54 PM, DPNM said:

You are off to a great start on this Casey. It's looking good. Maybe it's my old eyes but it sure looks to me like there is a glass pack and a bit of the exhaust pipe showing behind the rear wheel. I see the headers behind the front wheels, perhaps a street/strip exhaust set-up?

Thanks, Jim. I think a street/strip type exhaust would be appropriate for this car, and I do see what appears to be a muffler under the rear fender, too.

[Nitrobarry]

Well there you go. Keep going!

[Casey]

I spent some time cleaning up a few parts, namely the frame, jump seats, dashboard, one frame crossmember half, and both door panels, getting them ready for primer.  I also received two good Piranha dragster rear wheels (thanks again, Vince ), so I sliced off the mounting pins, trued the lips on the lathe, and made the first copy in resin. The 15" Parts by Parks aluminum Moon disc wheel covers I ordered arrived, too, so things are moving forward, little by little.

[afx]

Wheel/tire combos look great.

[Casey]

On 12/2/2018 at 12:59 PM, afx said:

Wheel/tire combos look great.

Thanks, JC...pics are a bit too close up. 

I got the frame assembled with a minimal amount of twist, but the outside faces of the side rails still need to have the sink marks filled and everything leveled out. I'm not crazy about the Columbia (?, IIRC) two-speed rearend, but not a deal breaker. Lots of mold seams and such to clean up on all the suspension parts before I start attaching them.

 

I removed the too-high bellhousing flange, sanded that area flat, and used a wheel from the parts box which had the correct diameter to create the new, lowered positioned flange. I left a bit of the old flange in place on the passenger's side, and I still need to add a small block of material for the distributor boss, too. After looking at more reference pics, I noticed the oil filter boss is all wrong for this engine, too, but at least it's close to being in the right location. Jesse C. was kind enough to send me a bellhousing/scattershield from the Revell Tony Nancy 22 Jr kit, so I modified it slightly, and will use it between the engine and trans...which I have have yet to decide on. 

[afx]

This is the Revell kit - correct?  Looks much nicer than the AMT.