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1963 Chevy II wagon gasser- (built 2007)

When this AMT kit got re-issued a few years ago I thought it would be fun to try and build it a little bit different from the way it was intended. This kit is intended as a mid-engine funny car and has a tilting body, but I thought it would be more interesting to build it as a fictitious '60's style gasser.

Since this wasn't a replica of any particular car I also felt the freedom to change it however I wanted. I did try to build it with a correct vintage look though like something somebody could have actually raced in the late-'60's.

This kit comes with a blown 392 Hemi mounted mid-ship. Just to be different I dug into my parts box and replaced the kit motor with a 409 chevy and topped it off with a more exotic twin blower set-up from on old AMT '53 Studebaker kit and the optional headers from a Model King Cougar funny car kit.

To give it a gasser look, I used the kit's front suspension parts, but modified them so the car would sit with a proper "nose up" straight axle look. I also swapped the kits wheels and tires for some from my parts box. The deep set chrome reversed wheels used on the rear can be found in the re-issued AMT Falcon AWB kits and the front wheels are the spindle mount 5 spokes found in the Polar Lights funny car kits.

The body comes with a hole already cut in the roof for a scoop. I thought the kit's scoop looked a little short, so I decided to make my own. I wanted it to look kind of crude and home-made looking so I just bent up something simple from sheet styrene. I also scratch built and molded a crude looking air dam to the front bumper that was reminiscent of the kind often done in the '60's. Lastly, I found a parachute from another kit and mounted it to the rear bumper with a scratch built mount.

For paint I custom mixed two shades of candy blue urethane and sprayed them over a silver base. It's subtle, but the paint actually fades from a turquoise on the roof and hood to blue on the sides. I used the secondary sponsor graphics from a set of Slixx decals intended for a "Jungle Jim" '67 Nova funny car and then covered everything with PPG urethane clear. Lastly, I hand painted the window lettering to replicate the shoe polish class numbers that were often added at the track.

 

 
See other model cars I've built.