Jim Keeler Dodge Fever tribute: the "Kim-Jee Ler Stude Flew" (links/photos fixed 4/24/20)

[Russell C]

Since ol' Jim Keeler has popped out of the woodwork, I thought I'd drop in a few pics of a tribute model I sorta did to mess with his mind at the 2005 Greater Salt Lake contest. Jim is a legendary figure in the model car industry, with his famous Dodge Fever models being among his many claims to fame - photo link for his Dodge Fever 1 here.

Long story really short, the GSL contest has long had a special "Group" category where Mark Gustavson and his associate contest organizers choose a particular model in advance and builders are restricted to building that vehicle as though it was 20 years ago. In 2005, I had already built up a minor reputation for a running gag of models for that category that were always yellow 3 wheelers*, usually blaming their design shortcomings on a fictional guy named Gus Marktavson, while referring to other dyslexic misspellings of folks at the contest. With the "Group 5" model being the AMT '53 Studebaker Starliner, I was at first stumped on what to do with it, but when I ran across Jim's yellow Dodge Fever, it all fell into place. Designed by Marktavson and some mysterious Korean fellow named Kim-Jee Ler, with its driver being "Hoggy" Iscano. And what a perfect excuse to have that AMT kit's twin blowers sticking out the sides of the car.







Here's a photo link for the lineup of the other Group 5 Studebakers.

This particular class is unusual for being a popular choice aware, and despite the other models being better than mine, the humor of it must have carried it to its 2nd place award. Precious to me was the standing ovation Jim gave it at the awards brunch when it was announced, an honor I'll always cherish.

* (I later became a lampooning victim of this myself, when "Hollywood" Fernandez pointed to my 3-wheel mayhem at the next contest in 2007, speculating on what became of all those '4th wheels.'

He came up with his own answer that was his entry in the category  -  have a look at his photo gallery of his truck here. Yep, this hobby is full of nutcases, but that's a whole other story. Btw, my Group 7 backwards '40 Ford pickup lampooned Ken Hamilton's Bonneville suicide bike seen in Scale Auto's August 1990 coverage of GSL.)

Edited April 25, 2020 by Russell C
fixed busted links

[PappyD340]

Very NICE!!

[slusher]

Very cool models...

[am73grand]

I like both of those very much!!!

Nice job!

[crazyrichard]

whaat thats cooL !!!

[Danno]

Very imaginative creations, Russell!

C'mon down to Desert Scale Classic Saturday and bring 'em along. There's a whole new generation of fans waiting to discover them!

[Russell C]

Thanks gents. To avoid any potential confusion, I added a line in my first paragraph above to note that the top photo is mine of Jim's original Dodge model, taken at the International Model Car Museum during the 2005 GSL contest.***   Senility being what it is, I had to rummage through my photos to make doubly sure it was one I took, as opposed to the ones I gleaned off the internet as reference photos when I was building my Stude tribute.

Regrettably, when I donated the Stude to the Museum to go alongside several of my other 3-wheelers I'd already donated, it got misplaced. It's there somewhere still, I hope.

I'll be at the Desert Scale Classic, but my weekend obligation to take care of my elderly parents prevents me from staying long, an hour or two at most.

*** 4/24/20 Edit - put in a photo link instead of Jim Keeler's original Dodge Fever, from the official GSL web page collection. My "Stude Flew" model was found, and is on display at the museum.

Edited April 25, 2020 by Russell C
line clarification

[superbike-shaun]

Russell, i went ahead and clicked on the highlighted names,and that is some funny stuff 'specially the story about the '40 ford pick up tire sales! ya gotta love an awesome sense o' humour! shaun.s.(beautiful build btw)

[Modelmartin]

Russell,

If you built a normal model my jaw would bounce off the floor!

Keep up the good work!

[bobthehobbyguy]

Cool stuff. Its fun to see such off the wall stuff. Its great that there are builders like you that think way outside of the box.

[Russell C]

Yep, me and a pure ordinary box stock are like two opposing face magnets.

Edited April 25, 2020 by Russell C
deleted "TinyPic" 404 error icon ... and I completely forget what the photo I posted from that site was ...

[Studemax]

Russell - that is one radical Studebaker, to be sure! I love it!

[FASTBACK340]

That is so original and twisted at the same time. And blowers coming out of the side windows! Genius!!!!

[rustybill1960]

Great take on a great build

Thank You for sharing

Later

Russ