AMT 1951 Chevy Belair Convertible

[Sixties Sam]

Hey, guys. I just finished this AMT 51 Chevy Belair convertible. I built it stock to use on my 1950's diner diorama. The paint is Walmart spray can stuff. The color is a yellowish cream which closely matches a factory color from 1951. The brown in the interior is actually Rustoleum rusty metal primer buffed up a little to look more realistic. The engine is wired old school style - with sewing thread (I ran out of wire). I found some fit issues in this kit. The front inner fenders had to be sanded down almost 1/8" to get the body to fit, and those underhood air vent ducts didn't even come close to fitting! The uptop doesn't match the body where it sits on it at the rear of the top, either. Still, I am pleased with the results, and it should look good in the Starlite Diner parking lot. I hope you like it!

[Dave Mikrut]

It's beautiful. It's like looking back in time. I actually remember riding in cars like that. Very nice work.

Edited July 12, 2010 by Dave Mikrut

[Janne Herajärvi]

BB... Beautiful Belair

[Trekker4747]

Very nice, my karate instructor in highschool gave me one just like it for my birthday.

[DAYTIME]

Those exahust manifolds are weathered just right.

[charlie8575]

Nice work, Sam.

I found the interiors on most of the 1951 Chevies were gray. The convertibles used gray with blue, red, green or black leather. The wagons used vinyl in a dark tan color.

Mine will be Thistle Gray (pastel gray) with a red and gray interior. Thanks for the heads-up on some of the fit issues, too.

Charlie Larkin

[Guest]

She's a beauty! Glad to see one built stock instead of chooped, channeled and whatever. Great job!

[crazyjim]

Looks like a great addition to your diner, Sam. Very nice job.

[DRG]

Great job on building this one, I really like it.

I also like the fact that those old school plug wires look good to me.

[Sixties Sam]

Nice work, Sam.

I found the interiors on most of the 1951 Chevies were gray. The convertibles used gray with blue, red, green or black leather. The wagons used vinyl in a dark tan color.

Charlie Larkin

You're right, Charlie. I took some liberty on the interior color scheme. I saw a photo of a real 51 in the yellow/cream color with a brown leather interior, and liked how it looked, so I fudged a little! We'll pretend the owner had it reupholstered in about 1959!

Thanks, everyone for the compliments. Much appreciated!

Edited July 12, 2010 by Sixties Sam

[Greg Cullinan]

Great colors on this, the boot looks great with the top down. Is it in the kit?

[Guest Johnny]

That is just a sweeeet build! Beautiful job!

[MyBradKeselowski]

Very nicely done, great job ! ! !

[Eshaver]

Sam, you have no idea how popular that sand color was back in the day . I remember that Beige being as popular as the Dk Blue metallic and the medium Steel Grey . Thats a good combination for a convertable as air conditioning was relitively un heard of in ANY car . Now Nash was an exception but, ya need to see one of those Early Kelvanator units up close too. Nicely done Bel Air . Ed Shaver

[Scalper]

Great classic build. looks like she just left the show room. Great clean build.

[oldscool]

Looks kinda like the one Steve Mcqueen drove (abused) in The Hunter.

oldscool

[Harry P.]

Ditto to what everyone else has said. That's a real beauty, nicely done!

[Guest old man]

SWEET BUILD

[horsepower]

Sam, you have no idea how popular that sand color was back in the day . I remember that Beige being as popular as the Dk Blue metallic and the medium Steel Grey . Thats a good combination for a convertable as air conditioning was relitively un heard of in ANY car . Now Nash was an exception but, ya need to see one of those Early Kelvanator units up close too. Nicely done Bel Air . Ed Shaver

I could be wrong, (rusty brain cells) but to the best memories I have, the 1948 Cadillac was the first factory air conditioned car that was released, there is an old '48 Caddy in a local wrecking yard that has factory air, that would be a cool car to build a resto-mod out of. (pun intended)

[John Teresi]

Great build........AWESOME detail.

[pharr7226]

She's a beauty!

[ARTEMIS1759]

Me and my wife hate convertibles except the pre 1955 styles. This is a beauty. I would like to build a 40 Chevy convert after my rod shop is built.

[bsoder]

That should look perfect with the diner!..beautiful job

[Sixties Sam]

I made a minor addition to this model. I added rear side windows to the uptop. I used clear plastic from packaging (I don't remember what it came with), and cut the windows from an area of the plastic where it makes a sharp 90* bend. This leaves a "lip" of about .020" on the front edge of the window that nicely simulates the chrome window frame. A little silver paint around the edges, glue it in, and it's done!

Here's a pic.