As with most of us in the car hobby our first association with it was through the building of models before we were old enough to drive legally. I started out with airplanes, and then changed to cars when they became more interesting. I never liked ships either. I still like aircraft but cars are my consuming interest here.

Where I grew up, all the boys were in to cars of some kind and I was no different. It was the fifties after all and hot rodding was the big deal. I think the very first ones I built were the small scale Revell plastic kits such as this 56 Ford I customized while in Jr. High. There wasn’t a large selection as I remember or at least any that appealed to me.

Monogram had a larger 1/24^th scale size and later on when the first AMT models kits came out they were the must haves. Most of mine that survived are the AMT three in one kits. There were several others such as Jo-Han which was very poor quality and Lindberg which was a little better. At one time I had several of the early and late model Corvair kits by AMT. One of the survivors is this 64 model which I wish I hadn’t customized but, who knew? Of course I have a few of the new issue Corvair model kits in my collection now but only one is built.

Actually, all of my models that survived were a direct result of my giving them away to a friend of mine’s younger brother as I was going away to the military. I had completely forgotten about them until years later when by accident I ran in to him and he asked if I wanted my old models back. At first I didn’t understand but he explained that his mom had boxed all the models up and stored them when it was his turn to join the military. Obviously I said yes and now they are back in my possession. Time and lack of care had taken their toll but I have repaired some of them and kept them as I had originally built them. I have others waiting patiently in a drawer when I have time, but I barely have time to build the real cars anymore!

I, like thousands of others were influenced heavily by the "Kookie" T bucket that appeared in the TV show, 77 Sunset Strip. The one in the photo is a clone. The original was built and owned by Norm Grabowski who is still active in the hot rodding scene today. As a result of this I built several T bucket models, but this little T bucket is a special one to me. That’s because I painted the name of my first love on the side. It was a summer love just like the song and it flamed out when school started. Actually, she wanted to see other guys and I wasn’t one of them! My first big heart break.

When I began the rebuilding of these old models I discovered I did not have the steady hand and keen eye I had when I was of high school age but the excitement was still there! I built more 32 Fords in more iterations than anything else. The 32 is still the standard of a Hot Rod today and I still want one but, there are a lot of Corvair projects ahead of it.

Back before I had a real V8 Vair I built a model of one from a reissue 69 kit. Yeah, I cut up a 69! At the time I thought I was going to put the radiator in the rear but that didn’t happen with the real car.

I don’t remember what company made this altered dragster but it was a quality kit with rubber wheels. Somewhere along the way it lost the rear wheels and gained some in hard plastic.

While perusing an issue of a car magazine I spotted an ad for a reissue of some of my old models. Obviously I had to have them. They are displayed with the corresponding original model in the photos.

As you can see in these pictures one entire wall of my home office is covered with shelves displaying my die cast collection and other models . I need more room!

One of my all time favorite car movies is American Graffiti and the yellow Milner 32 coupe that inspired many clones. George Lucas and I are the same age and we had the same influences but, he lived in California where it was happening and I was in West Virginia.

 I have the Falfa 55 Chevy too along with the white 58 Chevy that Terry the Toad was driving.

The 65 in a diorama was my old autocross car. While I was living in Charlotte NC a younger brother of a friend and fellow racer built this model as birthday gift to me. The pictures in the back ground are of the actual car. The photo on the left was taken at an autocross at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1974. It appears elsewhere on this site as does the other photo from the autocross at the 1972 Corvair Convention in Washington D.C. The model has survived and I made several improvements on it.

 I have entered this model along with the V8 Vair in several Convention model car Concours and they usually place well.