Clunkmeister

This caught me flat footed and I had to do some thinking on the subject. I prefer WW1 subjects these days, but honestly, anything unique is my style. The one I chose is my FAVORITE build, as it’s the one that really got me back into large scale modeling. It’s by no means my “best” build, matter of fact, it’s probably close to my worst, but I had piles of fun building it, and it’s the build where I met all these Wisenheimers who claim to be my friends. the infamous “Toilet Bomber” where all sorts of off color jokes flew around and we had gobs of fun. I look at this build and see the glaring mistakes: alignment, missing arming wires and pins, weathering or lack thereof, shiny wheels, etc, and although I’ve thought of taking a couple days to update and fix it, I choose not to because I can look at it and see how far I’ve come in those years.

Just like Elvira’s.

They got that one so wrong. Thunderbird has a long hood, short trunk...classic. Gives the illusion of speed, muscle, and power. Somehow, Ford got that backwards on the last try. Totally ruined the car.

Dang! I'd almost display it in it's "as delivered" condition. Covered tail boom, wheels, and an open cockpit,.. sounds like all kinds of bad stuff to make sure it wouldn't be good in Canadian winters.

Now I'm sure I said "flapper", not "flopper".

Yup. In 58, Ford made the Thunderbird a 4 seater. A bit bigger to accommodate the rear seat, and also some serious (for the day) power in the form of a 300hp 352cid V8. The two seater guys disdain them for not being "pure" to the original concept, but they sold huge and pretty much started the whole "personal luxury" concept.

WOW! That 47D has to be one of the earliest ones still in existence. What a serious time machine! There's plenty of 47s around and even still working for a living, but an early D has to be rare like a decent Trumpeter kit.

Jeff in 59 they didn't stamp the vin on the engine block, so it's just "date matching". So as long as the engine is built earlier than the car, it's all good.

The good news is that in 58-59 Tbird doesn't use the same top mechanism as the retractable hardtops and the 60-66 Tbirds. On these years, you open the deck and extend the flapper manually, then you operate the top as per any other convertible. It's all nicely counterbalanced so it works beautifully.

This was considered a “compact” car here in 1959. As far as American 1950s cars go, this is pretty small. The Rambler and Corvette ware smaller though.

So, how do you know that? Hmmmmmm?

Picture from an original sales brochure.

Meanwhile in Texas.....

She’s not much to look at, but she’s a genuine 59 T-Bird droptop with a 352 and Cruiseomatic trans. Full load with factory air as well. She’ll be some work, but nothing I haven’t done a few times before. All the chrome needs redoing, the stainless needs polishing, the top has a hole in the canvas, and she needs a full interior. Come to think of it, she needs a full rebuild, although the body is virgin and rust free, and the powertrain is decent. Most folks like the 55-57 baby birds, but I like the classic 50’s cruiser look of the 58-60 birds. Cars way, way ahead of their time. This one rides and drives as new. She’s just old and needs complete cosmetics from sitting open in the Texas sun for 40 years..

Looking good. One will be on my bench, followed by the WNW model. I think I’ll build one oob with postwar RCAF white and nmf. WNW will be a war weary version. Thanks for the review, James.

The old girl followed me home.

I’ve never had to deal with eyeglasses whatsoever. My vision is still perfect at a distance, but now I have issues focusing up close. it sucks getting old.

“Suck it up, buttercup” is a common phrase here as well. The meaning definitely gets lost in translation and by region...

Seatbelt assembly week and I can’t see a blessed thing.....

Truly stunning. Mine’s stalled out on my bench because I can’t decide on CDL or grey wings

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uNb54rwDQJM

87 degrees here today. A/C on, beautiful blue sky, I love Texas.