In Progress - Rambler street rod

I needed a break from a detailed Ferrari I'm working on, so I picked up this kit at the HobbyLobby 50% off sale this week, and started tinkering around.

So far I've chopped the roof, and lowered it 5 scale inches. I had to cut the roof legnthwise, and add 2mm of styrene down the center to get the pilars to line back up. Since the pilars are fairly straight up and down it's an easy top to chop.

I don't have any real plans for it, I'm just having fun with this build. The more I tinker with this kit, the more this butt ugly car grows on me.

The interior in this kit is awful. The windows will definately be blacked out. But the extras that come in the kit made it well worth the $6 I paid. It has more "extra" parts, than necessary parts. It came with surfboards, a suitcase, a cooler, bowling ball bag, 1950's police light and fender mounted siren. A taxi sign for the roof. And 3 full sheets of decals. There's about 30 license plates alone.

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Use the taxi light!! :D
chop top coolness!

Cool, what are you going to do with the windsheild after the chop?
:sunglasse

that looks kool, can't wait to bust out mine. what color is it going to be? did it come with lakeside pipes? kandy kolors with flames would be sweeeeet

:sunglasse :sunglasse :sunglasse

Time to do some more cutting...ditch that humongous front bumper (or section the grille to raise it up and remove the fugly bumper guards), perhaps make it look like a rolled pan in body color. Do a mesh-type grille...

The S2000 rims, strangely enough, fit it well if you go a bit more modern on some of the details...heck, the Pathfinder Armada has the same roofline! And I see by your "spacer" that a side-exit exhaust would look pretty sweet.

$6! I paid $20 for mine. And you can get a screaming deal on one at Hobbytown for $49.95... :rolleyes: :eek7: I gotta get another Enzo this week for yet another set of rims/engine/seats...for a street rod! :icon16: :naughty:

:sunglasse :sunglasse :sunglasse

Time to do some more cutting...ditch that humongous front bumper (or section the grille to raise it up and remove the fugly bumper guards), perhaps make it look like a rolled pan in body color. Do a mesh-type grille...

The S2000 rims, strangely enough, fit it well if you go a bit more modern on some of the details...heck, the Pathfinder Armada has the same roofline! And I see by your "spacer" that a side-exit exhaust would look pretty sweet.

$6! I paid $20 for mine. And you can get a screaming deal on one at Hobbytown for $49.95... :rolleyes: :eek7: I gotta get another Enzo this week for yet another set of rims/engine/seats...for a street rod! :icon16: :naughty:
zoom-zoom, you working on a street rod?? with a enzo engine? grala said he built a rat-rod out of a mercedes? seee-yaa

zoom-zoom, you working on a street rod?? with a enzo engine? grala said he built a rat-rod out of a mercedes? seee-yaa

We (me, Veyron, Pico and Wayne) hatched another ACME "sub theme" this weekend while looking at some cool old street rods in the auction tent at Amelia Island. Basically a combo of sleek/swoopy street rod, like a duece roadster, or highboy, or similar style, and adding Ferrari power...as Ferrari is an official theme for the show. This may end up like our Z car subtheme...I've got my car picked out, the AMT Slammers Super Coupe. The more the merrier...do a Ferrari-engined, Ferrari-themed late '20's or '30's style street rod.

50% off sale is back?! Oh, looks like it's gonna be another cool project from you!!:sunglasse

Hey, CADguy, who stepped on your roof? :icon16:

:sunglasse :sunglasse :sunglasse

Time to do some more cutting...ditch that humongous front bumper (or section the grille to raise it up and remove the fugly bumper guards), perhaps make it look like a rolled pan in body color. Do a mesh-type grille...

The S2000 rims, strangely enough, fit it well if you go a bit more modern on some of the details...heck, the Pathfinder Armada has the same roofline! And I see by your "spacer" that a side-exit exhaust would look pretty sweet.

$6! I paid $20 for mine. And you can get a screaming deal on one at Hobbytown for $49.95... :rolleyes: :eek7: I gotta get another Enzo this week for yet another set of rims/engine/seats...for a street rod! :icon16: :naughty:

The front end will get some kind of mod for sure. I kinda like the way it makes the front end super low and flat. The bumper guards are definately out. I like the rolled pan idea. But I'm unsure if I want to do a lot of changing. The ugly front end was the most distictive feature of the car.

I'm thinking a smoothie bumper like a stock 1950 chevy truck bumper may help smooth out the funky lines of the front end.

Side pipes will definately look cool. The kit does come with some side pipes I think.

I'm thinking this car needs some outrageous paint. A pink or cobalt blue pearl, or kandy. With rear wing cove in brushed aluminum.

The windshield still works with very little modification. The entire chop was done at the bottom of the pilars, so the glass still works. The clear glass in this kit is tinted green. So I will be spraying it black.

We (me, Veyron, Pico and Wayne) hatched another ACME "sub theme" this weekend while looking at some cool old street rods in the auction tent at Amelia Island. Basically a combo of sleek/swoopy street rod, like a duece roadster, or highboy, or similar style, and adding Ferrari power...as Ferrari is an official theme for the show. This may end up like our Z car subtheme...I've got my car picked out, the AMT Slammers Super Coupe. The more the merrier...do a Ferrari-engined, Ferrari-themed late '20's or '30's style street rod.

I've got an Enzo engine laying around. I'm in for that theme. I picked up a rat rod 3n1 kit for ol'dude at Hobby Lobby that I may keep now. :lol:

I've made a little progress on this one.
A viper donated it's grill for the front end.
The roof is glued on.
The door handles and scripts have all been shaved off..
The putty still needs sanded and shaped on the front end, but it's almost ready for primer.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/502/61680Rambler10.JPG

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hey where di d that big front end go???? the viper front looks cool, now it looks like something from B Coddington, which is awesome! keep it going, shave it smooth!!!!

Muuuuuuuuuch better! Glad you got rid of the gravel scraper! :iceslolan

Looks like something Ted "Chopper" Lear would build. You gotta get some House of Kolor paint on that.

Maybe think of something cool for the hood...a recessed intake or perhaps a small power bulge or perhaps some slots/vents...like what could you do w/this car in your NFSU hood menu? :eek7:

Looking way :sunglasse :sunglasse :sunglasse

:lol: thats awesome

Looks great. Something new, and very cool. Not feeling the bumper tho.

Muuuuuuuuuch better! Glad you got rid of the gravel scraper! :iceslolan

Maybe think of something cool for the hood...

Thanks! I'm liking this car the more I add or take away from it. And the addition of the Dodge Challenger hood scoop added what it was missing I think.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/502/61680Rambler11.jpg

I must admit I am having FUN with this build. Being creative, and just letting the project go where ever it wants, and trying different suggestions. I didn't have a clear plan for this like most of my other projects.

I ordered the paint for it today. I ordered 2 different HOK base coats. Orion Silver, and Platinum Pearl. And 2 different Kandys. Cobalt blue, and Tangerine. So it'll be a kandy blue or orange. I'm hoping to have this done by the CARS show in Chattanooga in 6 weeks. One of the themes is Candy colors.

Definitely one of the most interesting AMC's I've seen on this board.

Wait.... Have there been other AMC's on this board?

Well, there will be once my Pro Touring AMX is on the way. But in any case, this is an awesome custom. I liken the style more to that of Troy Trepanier than Boyd Coddington. At least, not the current Boyd. If you're talking Boyd in the period between the construction of Caddzilla and the Smoothster, then it's a Boyd-style build. But otherwise it's totally a Trepanier.

And it's way cool either way. :sunglasse :sunglasse :sunglasse

By the way, I hope those aren't the wheels you've settled on. Something that wild requires wheels more like this.

http://www.happyhobby.com/hobb_html/images/PEGASUS/0760001201.JPG

Hope you agree. ^_^

cadguy, that hoodscoop does look cool as helllll!!!!!! spray tang orange with cobalt blue flames!!

The Challenger hoodscoop is great. Since there still is a bit of a Chrysler/AMC connection, it's a good choice.

And I agree about the rims; it's not the style as much as the need for them to have a deep-dish rim. Trim rings added to the S2000 rims would help. FWD-offset rims look a bit out of place on it. I can bring some examples to the ACME meeting for you to try, if you want. Off the top of my head, I'd say the custom big 'n little set of Torque Thrust rims from Revell's '59 Corvette would look evil on this model. Pegasus T's, Diablos, or Daggars would look good as well as the Tri Blades.

It's a little closer now.

I took Zoom Zoom, and Layla's advice and tried some deep dish wheels.
Instead of buying some Pegasus wheels, I stole these out of the '59 Corvette 2 n 1 kit. They do look much better than the S2000 wheels. Thanks for the recommendations guys.

I sprayed it in primer and see I have some more sanding/smoothing/filling to do. But it's getting close to paint now.

I added some styrene to the lower rear wing, and added a rear roll pan.
The kit came with some straight pipes that I'll add below or through the roll pan.

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Really cool!

:smokin: Hey man that thing is looking good, time to go get the groceries!!!!! bad boy!!!!

Great! I was waiting to see pictures of this. Great job so far!

looks good to me

looking very nice, hope to see more!

badass. and smooth.

Now in color!

Sprayed the basecoat last night. It's House of Kolors Orion Silver.
http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/502/61680Rambler18.JPG

Added the HOK Kandy Tangerine and blacked out the windows tonight.
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Next will be some clear and polishing, then adding the details. The coves over the rear wheels will get some aluminum bare metal foil.

That is super cool. I liked the chopped roof and the color. Too bad about the interior, I'm sure you would have made it look great.

yeah, an interior would make it even better!

looking sweet with the viper grill! definately an improvement from the stock!

spray it HOK euro red with about 4 medium coats of HOK candt apple red and 3 coats of HOK wild cherry! will be a unreal red!

i hope your not using green putty.. over time it wrinkles up, use bondo glazinf putty.. its in the auto department at walmart for about a 1.50$ bad ass build tho

Hey cadguy, that is a awesome color, it turned out great, can't wait to see it in person :evillol: :smokin: :smokin: :evillol:

Nice work. The color is great, and I love the rims. This thing looks 110% having chopped the top.

Those rims are very similar to the ones I will be making on my rod.