unclescott58 Posted June 24, 2014 Posted June 24, 2014 (edited) OK here's one of my favorite kits I put together about 15 or so years ago. It's built from a Shawn Carpenter resin conversion kit and AMT's '55 Chevy Cameo kit. First a little background on the real trucks. When Chevrolet put out the Cameo pickup in 1955, GMC got their own version. To confuse matters, they called it a Suburban pickup. At the same time both GMC and Chevrolet were offering the traditional Suburban Carryall. Which is still offered under that name by Chevrolet. Why they chose to use that name on this truck I don't know. The other thing different about the GMC Suburban pickup, is unlike to the '55 Cameo it was available in other colors and single tones. Were first year Cameos were all White with Red accents and inner bed. Plus the GMC was powered by a Pontiac V8. So much for the real trucks. Again, this is a resin conversion that was offered by Shawn Carpenter out of Colorado. I don't know if he's still in business or not. But, his resin kits are some of the best I've ever come across. The conversion kit included a chrome plated grille and bumper, a hood with chrome center emblem, correct chrome hub caps, a correct dashboard and tailgate, plus photo etched emblems for the front fenders. Everything but the Pontiac engine. His white resin plastic pieces looked more like styrene that resin. Prep was virtually nil. His stuff was that nice. The only real modification to the AMT Cameo was cutting away a lower lip on the front end so the GMC bumper would fit. One of nicest, easiest resin conversion kits I've ever had the pleasure to work with. Scott Edited June 24, 2014 by unclescott58
jeffs396 Posted June 24, 2014 Posted June 24, 2014 Nice Scott! Sure wish the Shawn Carpenter parts were still available
Danno Posted June 25, 2014 Posted June 25, 2014 Scott, Your glowing review is dead-on! Shawn's resin castings were among the best anywhere. I've built one of his '55-'56 Chevy panel trucks and I have one of his '57 GMC conversions just waiting for its turn on the bench. Yours is a beautiful build. Good job!
408calirides Posted June 25, 2014 Posted June 25, 2014 great job, i had a that conversion kit some time back and ended up selling it worst thing i did. also had the 47-53 GMC conversion.
bpletcher55 Posted June 25, 2014 Posted June 25, 2014 wow ! thats sweet a build , I would love to get my hands on one of those conversion . hint ,hint ,!
TooOld Posted June 27, 2014 Posted June 27, 2014 Very nice Scott ! Too bad Shawn had to stop making those conversion kits , if someone would repop a few of them there would be a lot of happy campers !
bpletcher55 Posted June 27, 2014 Posted June 27, 2014 I ,m a camper ,I would like to be happy , one of those would make me a very happy camper ! shout out to NORM VEBER , ?
Danno Posted June 27, 2014 Posted June 27, 2014 (edited) I ,m a camper ,I would like to be happy , one of those would make me a very happy camper ! shout out to NORM VEBER , ? GMC shut down Shawn Carpenter's little line of resin GMC parts. Same would apply to Norm Veber or any other resin caster. Edited June 27, 2014 by Danno
unclescott58 Posted June 28, 2014 Author Posted June 28, 2014 GMC shut down Shawn Carpenter's little line of resin GMC parts. Same would apply to Norm Veber or any other resin caster. Ah, good old GM. The dumb s.o.b.s that they are. I had heard this was the reason Shawn Carpenter stopped offering his stuff. At the same time others are offering other GM products in resin. I wonder what it would take for another to step in and offer a GMC conversion like the one I got Mr. Carpenter. If anybody ever does try to offer something similar, they're good to have work hard match Shawn's quality. Scott
oldcarfan Posted July 6, 2014 Posted July 6, 2014 I love this. I sooooo want a GMC conversion. Anyone have one they could cast?
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now