More models completed

The one is of a 1949 Mercury.  I really like the late 30s to early 50s fat fender cars.  Their lines are so classic and retro.  By the mid-50s, fenders had been integrated into the body, and the distinguishing feature was fins.

And now?  All cars look alike.  Gone are the days when cars had personality.  

This "Merc" was a classic car to hot rod up in the 50s and early 60s.  It's lines just demanded it. 

So that's how I built it.  Usually I like the stock look--how it came out of the show room.  But for this one I made it like boys in the 1950s would have modified it, including the color, the V-8 with two Edelbrock carburetors, dual exhausts, fancy tail lights, and side exhausts.  Mostly, though, it is the fender skirts that do it.  I just love fender skirts. And they had all but disappeared in the 1960s.

 How it looked when started:

 And now:  (Doesn't it just scream for a 17-year-old boy in 1960 racing this down main street?)

My next one was a 1929-1936 Rolls Royce Phantom II.  There were only 1680 Phantom IIs ever produced.  The most famous was for the Maharajah of Rajkot.  Here it is:

The kit:

Completed.  Doesn't it look EXACTLY like the real one above?  (sorta?)

1952 Hudson.  Hudson Motor Company lasted until 1954 when it "merged" (i.e., was swallowed up by) with Nash.  In Oklahoma my next door neighbor had a Hudson, although it was not the fancy one shown here.

How it looked out of the box:

Completed model:

1937 Chevy modified to be a dragster: