Tag Archives: 1/25
Like a Super Coupe(r)
Fighting imports wasn’t something the Big Three really understood. I’m not sure they even really get it yet, but they’re closer now than they were. For some reason or another, various attempts to rival sporty European and Japanese cars by North American makers usually end in failure. They either can’t compete on quality and “flavour”, […]
More Retro than Deluxe
For those interested in loser cars, everyday cars or just non-supercars, there isn’t a car that’s much more of all of those than the much venerated (or is that reviled? ) Ford Pinto. This most basic of cars offered by Ford during the ’70s is a true nadir in so many ways, and its reputation […]
Cross Border Car Bonanza!!
If happiness is where you find it, then my brother and I found it big time in Michigan a couple of weeks ago. We did a hobby shop tour, and I think we did pretty darned well. With a trunk full of vintage car model goodness, you can’t say we didn’t get our cheap American […]
BRAT Update 1: Grind that Body!
Sometimes, you have no choice but to work with what you’re given. When it became apparent in the mid-‘70s that small trucks were going to be a thing, a lot of makers jumped on the bandwagon. Most companies, by 1980, had some kind of small truck to offer. In a lot of cases, it was […]
Wheezing off into the Sunset
The end of the ’70s saw the final nails driven into the coffin of automotive excitement and performance. The Gas Crisis and government-mandated emissions standards choked all the fun out of driving. However, as the sun set on what had been a glorious chapter in the history of the car, a few car makers were […]
The winner is a real BRAT!
Thanks to everyone who took part in the poll regarding what they wanted to see out of my London Model Show haul over the past week and a bit. I was completely overwhelmed by all the amazing, everyday losers and weird stuff I had managed to acquire, and I needed cooler heads to help me […]
Paralyzed by (Odd) Choice(s)!
For me, finding unusual car kits that appeal to me is an ongoing quest, and one that meters out results in “ones and twos”. While I may find a treasure trove of Luft ’46 kits at one vendor’s table and a model show, or a tonne of Matchbox kits at a flea market, finding large […]
Pinto Update 3: Inside, Underside… TNT
Because the outside of a car is the part of the car that everyone else sees, it’s part that designers work at making the most visually interesting. Colour, shape, profile; these all combine to give a first impression of a vehicle. However, if you think about it, the part of a car the driver most […]
Pinto Update 2: Body Issues
I’m sure that the words “Pinto” and “Fundamentally Flawed” are already permanently linked in the psyches of anyone who follows automotive history or grew up in the ‘70s. Ford’s “explosive” issues with the Pinto runabout/hatchback/Pacer-wannabe-whatever-it-was are well known and oft-mocked, even today. Thankfully, the wagon versions of Ford’s desperate econobeater were a bit better, at […]
MPC Ford Pinto Update 1: Not-So-Wild Horses
Let’s face it: by the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, engine performance had pretty much reached a new low. It was the height (depth, is more like it) of the Automotive Dark Ages and performance was not only a memory, but almost a four-letter-word to the government-overseen pollution control watchdogs. This is reflected in the […]
The Sprue Lagoon 