AMT Dave Strickler ‘62 Bel Air Bubble Top

[moparmike619]

I bought this kit with no original intent on building the actual “Old Reliable II” on the box art, but rather as a showroom stock ‘62 Bel Air 409. After some light reading about Strickler (and finding out he was somewhat local and that a friend of a friend owns his real deal ‘64 Dodge), I decided I had to build it as a tribute to his car. Primarily done box stock, but with AMT’s Parts Pack M&H Racemaster slicks and a wired distributor from Gofer. I sourced the correct blue decals for the car from “teresawulf” on eBay. Every picture of Strickler’s cars showed the bubble top Bel Air done with blue lettering and a Pennzoil logo, while the Impala hardtop cars wore the black lettering like what was included in the kit. I also added Pennsylvania antique plates, as if to represent the car in present day being enjoyed by a collector. This kit was an absolute joy to build, and to say it’s one of AMT’s best is a total understatement. It literally fell together. Fitment and detail are top notch. It was my most enjoyable build to date. 

[Yeah Nah]

Nice build! Looks great.

[Zippi]

Great looking Bubble Top.  Love those 409 engines.  

[ColonelKrypton]

Very nice

cheers, Graham

 

[jjsipes]

Great looking model,

But the lettering and interior was actually a Turquoise color. The Hardtop had red lettering and interior.

[moparmike619]

Thanks for the kind words. This picture was the one I primarily used for reference. The decals I used do have somewhat of a teal look in the correct lighting, but are bluer than what was on the real car. The craft paint I used on the lighter part of the interior also dried way less of an aqua shade than what it looked like in the bottle, but ended up matching the decals fairly well. I still prefer it to the drastically incorrect black decals it came with.

[M W Elky]

Yours looks fantastic. I built mine when it first came out. Using ferd caddy decals . When we still had local hobby shops in are area I was able to get it displayed in the hobby shop in the Montgomeryville mall . It stayed there until the store closed.

[1972coronet]

Outstanding !  Now I've got to get a copy to build .