1932 Ford Sedan “The Orange Crate” Custom Show Rod by CDW - FINISHED - Revell - 1:25 scale

[CDW]

3 hours ago, gsdpic said:

Looking good.  That does appear to be a fairly intricate chassis.

 

You are getting a lot of mileage out of the sawhorses.  Hope you are not having to pay royalties to @yvesvidal for that idea

 

Got to give credit where it's due, Yves gave a great idea. Now I need to make a couple more sets in different scales for other model car projects. These are 2X the size they need to be for this scale. 😄

[CDW]

2 hours ago, Egilman said:

A little further into the story, it wasn't just a show rod, it started it's career as a track runner, it took the '61 Winternationals, both on the track and the rod show afterwards, took the America's Best Competition Car trophy at the '61 Oakland Roadster Show and was the cover car of the Feb. '62 issue of Hot Rod Magazine...

 

It ran at the '62 Winternationals as well then went on a nationwide tour as America's Best Competition Car winner once it won for the second consecutive time at the Oakland Roadster Show... (it was after the US tour that Revell asked for and got the measurements for the model)

 

In '63, it made it's last appearance at the Oakland Roadster Show and won it's third consecutive trophy as America's Best Competition Car at which point it was retired...

 

It resided at the owners custom car shop for a number of years before it was sold off....

 

It is truly an American classic.... (both the car and the model)

 

 

Here is the full article I found about the Orange Crate in internet archives:

 

The Ultimate Dual-Purpose Hot Rod The Story of the Orange Crate By Calvin Mauldin Photography: The Rod & Custom Archives As any rodder knows, a '32 Ford of any body style never gets thrown away. Short of being run over by a freight train, a Deuce will just keep coming back in one configuration or another. Owners may change, engines may be swapped, but once this ever-popular Ford model has been hot rodded, it stays that way.   Such was the case when Portland, Oregon's Bob Tindle bought a solid, albeit modified, '32 sedan in 1959, and over a period of five short years, dazzled the difficult-to-impress car-show faction as well as magazine editors. Bob's '32 came complete with such rodder's touches as a radical chopped top, a gutted interior, and rear fenders that had been bobbed and molded in for that mean and hungry look that could intimidate the competition just by standing still. Bob's younger brother, Terry, remembers what his brother purchased. "Man, that was a long time ago," he says, "but I remember the body was in excellent shape and covered in light-gray primer. It had a real hot flathead bolted in, but the guys Bob bought the car from wanted to keep that engine. Dave Bell had built a heated late-model Olds engine with six carburetors and put it in his '57 Corvette, and that engine would really run. Bob bought the Olds and had it put in the '32. We ran a Cadillac/LaSalle transmission with Second and High gears. I'll never forget sitting at the starting line, ready to go. The whole car shook, and really took off when the flag dropped."   Keith Randol kept the '32 tuned to a razor's edge for drag racing so the Tindles made a good showing at the strip, but Bob wanted to get more into the car-show side of the hobby. As Terry tells the story, "The car was painted lemon-yellow. It looked nice when it was entered in the Portland Roadster Show in 1960, and it did well. Then Bob decided to create an all-out show car. Keith Randol had just started up a shop, and Bob took the '32 there for a drastic rebuild. I should mention that Keith was a machinist, and years later went to Indy with a rear-engined racecar owned by Rolla Vollstedt. This was a short time before all the teams made the big move to rear-engine cars. Keith was a real pioneer. I don't know if Bob intended to go all-out with the sedan, but he would dream up an idea and Keith would take that idea a step or two further, making the '32 very innovative and far ahead of what was being built at the time."   The reconstructed show 'n' go Tudor turned out to be a quarter-mile, straight-line competition sedan riding on a Sprint Car-style chassis. The chassis itself was almost jewel-like in construction, having been fabbed from 3-inch-diameter, 0.120-inch wall seamless Shelby tubing, bent at curvaceous angles by Randol with a torch and tube bender. Adjustable suspension was added, along with a complete front axle assembly and Halibrand quick-change setup pulled from a 20-year-old Sprint Car that also gave up its Halibrand wheels. Obviously, Randol was honing his skills for future forays on circle tracks, but the blending of the two styles gave Bob's '32 an unquestionable "Wanna race?" attitude.   Dick Maris rebuilt the Olds with meticulous attention to detail. Case in point: After hours of porting and polishing the heads, the combustion chambers were slicked up and given a final polish with jeweler's rouge.   Enlarged to 417.63 ci, the mill was equipped with Hilborn injectors, using a front-mounted Potvin blower. A B&M Hydro trans capably handled the 600-plus horses that Marris concocted with the trademark wham/bang shifts.   The chassis/engine package was treated to a liberal dose of chrome plating and polishing, which made it a shame to cover it up with the body and hood panels. Therefore, Bob gave Randol another engineering puzzle: make the all-steel body tilt for display. Keith, the wizard machinist, went through the body, adding anti-flex support members. It was a strain on the average muscleman to raise the body, but the extra grunts and groans were worth it when the eye-popping engineering was revealed.   What the completed showpiece chassis needed was an equally exquisite body, and Von's Body Shop was assigned the task of getting the panels straighter than Henry ever made them. Reproduction fiberglass Ford parts maker Dee Westcott was given the job of building the top insert. When the metal was deemed worthy to paint, Von's covered the panels in Naples Orange (minus the peel), and thusly, the tart, tangy Orange Crate was officially born.   The fresh Orange Crate blitzed the '61 Winternationals, handily took the America's Best Competition Car trophy at the '61 Oakland Roadster Show, and graced the Feb. '62 issue of Hot Rod magazine. This was quite an accomplishment for the Orange Crate Gang from Portland, Oregon, considering that at the time, California was considered the leader of the pack when it came to hot rods.   For the 1962 show-business encore, the Orange Crate was treated to some additional, point-gathering details (as if it needed any more). It also competed once again at the Winternationals before Bob sent the wild, trophy-winning sedan on a whirlwind tour of car shows throughout the U.S. Afterward, Revell sent an engineer to Bob's high-performance automobile dealership, where the Orange Crate was diligently measured inch-by-inch for a model-car kit that would become a solid seller.   In 1963, the hot rod celebrity made what was to be its final showing at the Oakland Roadster Show, once again winning the coveted America's Best Competition Car trophy. Then, the Orange Crate was retired from show business and touring to a space at Bob's hot-car emporium. The details of the story after that become vague.   As Terry says, "One possible thing that led to the Orange Crate being retired was the fact that we opened a Chrysler/Plymouth store that year. That took up a lot of extra time." Being a competitive dealer also meant there was less time to keep the Orange Crate in tip-top show condition.   Terry continues, "In 1964, I bought my own Chrysler/Plymouth store in McMinville, Oregon, and moved there. I sort of lost track of what Bob was doing with the Orange Crate, and by 1965, he'd sold the '32 to a couple of guys he knew who were in the used-car business. That's really the last time I saw the Orange Crate, though people still ask me about it. That's how famous that car was, and still is."   Could the decision to sell have been a response to a gentle nudge from officials at Mopar? After all, here was a famous Oldsmobile-powered Ford sedan on a lot where stock Chryslers and Plymouths were being touted as the latest Michigan giant-killers. No one will ever know.   Over the years, the Orange Crate could be seen occasionally, whizzing by on the custom trailer Keith Randol built for it, or on hand at a used-car auction or swap meet, each time its once-dazzling appearance a bit more tarnished. Terry states that Bob looked at the sedan a few times, but never expressed any interest in buying the Orange Crate back for old times' sake. Besides, nostalgia drag racing hadn't been born yet, and few of us were very nostalgic about anything in the early '70s. An old competition sedan was virtually useless. Shortly after, the Orange Crate disappeared.   Over the last two and a half decades, rumors have abounded about the whereabouts of the Orange Crate. Paul Duchene, an enterprising writer for the Chicago Tribune, recently found the missing Crate. It's alive, if not too pristine, and living in rural Washington, owned since 1975 by drag racer Ted Gord. Gord knows what he has, as well as what needs to be done to get the old warrior back in show condition. He plans to build a shop for just that purpose and have the venerable sedan ready by the end of this year. Wouldn't it be a stupendous comeback if Gord took the Orange Crate back to the Oakland Roadster Show just one more time?   Sadly, Bob Tindle wouldn't be there, as he passed away recently, but we're sure Terry could be coaxed into coming to Oakland. He might even sign a few Revell Orange Crate kits (recently re-released from Revell-Monogram) for old fans that remember the unforgettable '32 from the early '60s or for new fans taking their first look at this resurrected classic.

[CDW]

With the chassis covered in Alclad chrome, I’ll leave it sit until tomorrow and then shoot Alclad aqua gloss clear over the chrome to protect it. The other chrome parts are ready for the clear as well.

[CDW]

Dry fit (again, for motivation). The chassis fits right down on top of a belly pan. The pan will be orange eventually.

 

I love those Offenhauser valve covers. WhennI was a teen, I bought an Offenhauser triple single barrel carb intake manifold for my ‘51 Chevy, and the matching Offy valve cover, too. I thought I was the cat’s pajamas with that setup back then. My dad throttled me back more than once. I guess a lot of us my age went through that stage back then.

Edited November 18, 2023 by CDW

[CDW]

There was a hitch with the custom sidewall slicks. The tires are molded too small to fit the Orange Crate wheels. I needed to enlarge the inside of the tire to make it fit the rim. I'll be using the stock slicks, not the custom ones. Anyway, we're getting closer to the finish now. 

[gsdpic]

Looks great!  You're a master with that alclad chrome paint.

[CDW]

11 minutes ago, gsdpic said:

Looks great!  You're a master with that alclad chrome paint.

Thanks Gary, but I still have a lot to learn about it. I should have used a clear coat before the Alclad. The gloss black was not sufficiently slick for the best possible Alclad chrome finish. I think this looks much better than kit chrome tree parts, but it can be done better than I've done here. I also must say that it's imperative to use very light coats of the Alclad chrome. It's one of those products where "less is more".

I have been reading some rave reviews of the Green Stuff World airbrush chrome paint. It's an acrylic and looks very convincing when done properly. Alclad is not a forgiving paint, that's for sure. With practice, trial and error, great results can be had but I'm still working on it.

[Canute]

Sometimes the base color affects the reflectivity. For stainless passenger cars on a model railroad, a dark gray base coat seems better than the black.

[CDW]

2 hours ago, Canute said:

Sometimes the base color affects the reflectivity. For stainless passenger cars on a model railroad, a dark gray base coat seems better than the black.

Yes, indeed it does. It takes a lot of experimentation, trial and error to figure out the ins and outs of all this stuff. So many products, so little time. There is a guy on YouTube who goes through great pains to test and video things like this. Unfortunately, his videos are so long and tedious, I often quit watching before it's all said and done. I wish he would learn to be more concise and to the point.

[Canute]

You might look up Antonio "FP45" Santana on UTube. He has done great work in airbrushing  Alclad paints on passenger cars.

 

The FP45 in his name is/was a passenger loco used by the Santa Fe before Amtrak took over. The Santa Fe ran a lot of stainless steel cars in what is called the "Lightweight" configuration and they routinely washed them at their major terminals in Chicago and the West Coast. Lionel always had a Santa Fe streamliner in their catalog in the classic Warbonnet scheme. Back then, we kids lusted for a Santa Fe train to run around the Christmas tree.

[CDW]

3 hours ago, Canute said:

You might look up Antonio "FP45" Santana on UTube. He has done great work in airbrushing  Alclad paints on passenger cars.

 

The FP45 in his name is/was a passenger loco used by the Santa Fe before Amtrak took over. The Santa Fe ran a lot of stainless steel cars in what is called the "Lightweight" configuration and they routinely washed them at their major terminals in Chicago and the West Coast. Lionel always had a Santa Fe streamliner in their catalog in the classic Warbonnet scheme. Back then, we kids lusted for a Santa Fe train to run around the Christmas tree.

Thanks Ken.

 

I'll look him up.

[CDW]

I thought I was going to have a more difficult time getting the exhaust headers to fit, but it was easier than I imagined. There's one little issue that some minor filing and sanding can correct where the belly pan meets the chassis. The exhaust pipe on number one and number five cylinders rub against the pan causing it to pinch a bit. This is why so many dry fits are needed. Sometimes you can't tell where problems lie until you get further along in the build.

If you're wondering why, I decided to go ahead and use the custom raised white letter slicks after all. I had already enlarged the inside of a tire to make the wheel fit the tire, so it didn't make sense to not do the same to the other slick and use the pair. Otherwise, they would have gone to waste. I'll just throw the stock pair of slicks in a large box I have that is slap full of tires from many, many model car kits I've built or scrapped over the years.

The toothpick is used to prop up the body as this is the way the model will be displayed when it's finished. This was all that frame and engine assemblies can easily be seen. The finished model has a folding prop mechanism that holds the body in a raised position and folds down if you want to display it closed. Same for the radiator shroud and bonnet. She's a hinged folder. The mechanical body props won't go on until the model is painted and finished. They are fairly delicate and would easily break if mishandled.

[CDW]

PS:

 

If I was the driver of the 1:1 race car, I would be a bit nervous about having that transmission and driveshaft between my legs like that without a shield between them and me. I never had a desire to be a steer.

[Old Collingwood]

Really coming on well Craig.

 

OC.

[CDW]

55 minutes ago, Old Collingwood said:

Really coming on well Craig.

 

OC.

Thanks OC

[mtaylor]

21 hours ago, CDW said:

PS:

 

If I was the driver of the 1:1 race car, I would be a bit nervous about having that transmission and driveshaft between my legs like that without a shield between them and me. I never had a desire to be a steer.

I'm not sure when the NHRA started requiring flak jackets or the earlier steel shrapnel shields.   I would guess it was a bit after this car was built.   Or, the model maker just decided to not provide one which was also common on some kits.

[CDW]

26 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

I'm not sure when the NHRA started requiring flak jackets or the earlier steel shrapnel shields.   I would guess it was a bit after this car was built.   Or, the model maker just decided to not provide one which was also common on some kits.

My brother raced NHRA sanctioned matches in the early '60's with his '55 Chevy, competing in a stock class. I don't recall him even wearing a helmet back then. He took top of his class in a number of matches including the state championships.

My old boss ran in one of the stock classes in his '62 Biscayne 409. He held some stock records for a period of time with that car. After he wore out that 409, he became a Mopar man and bought a Dodge with a Hemi. It was another stock class demon. 

The early 60's to mid 70's were golden years for drag racing IMO. I have so many good memories of drag racing on the weekends. Our local track held handicap races, so you could "run what you brung" on Fridays. For those who were never involved in these types of drag races, the following is a basic summary of how it worked:

All competitors ran three qualifying races. Your best time of the three became your ceiling. The lights were timed so that each pair of competitors were evenly matched. In other words, if my best quarter mile time was 14.0 seconds, and my competitor's best time was 11.0, my light flashed green 3 seconds before his light turned green. If by some chance you clocked a faster time than your qualifying time in a match, you were automatically disqualified and thus eliminated. These matchups continued until there was a top dog at the end. They were so much fun because everyone could compete even if you were driving the family station wagon.

[mtaylor]

As I recall, basic street stock back then.. just a lap belt.   I have a vague memory of them starting to require the "armor" when "funny cars" with nitro fuel hit.   Some racers lost toes and parts of their feet.  One side effect of the armor beside driver protection, was that a blown clutch or tranny didn't damage the framing though sometimes the body took some.  If my memory is right, the rear engine dragster for top fuel was a Don Garlits invention due him having injuries cased by a front engine rail having it's clutch blow.

 

Ah... thanks for that memory... bracket racing.  The old "stock" classes were certainly a mixed bag of pros and those running the family sedan in same class before then.  I had a lot of good times doing those, both as a driver and track photographer. 

[CDW]

50 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

As I recall, basic street stock back then.. just a lap belt.   I have a vague memory of them starting to require the "armor" when "funny cars" with nitro fuel hit.   Some racers lost toes and parts of their feet.  One side effect of the armor beside driver protection, was that a blown clutch or tranny didn't damage the framing though sometimes the body took some.  If my memory is right, the rear engine dragster for top fuel was a Don Garlits invention due him having injuries cased by a front engine rail having it's clutch blow.

 

Ah... thanks for that memory... bracket racing.  The old "stock" classes were certainly a mixed bag of pros and those running the family sedan in same class before then.  I had a lot of good times doing those, both as a driver and track photographer. 

Bracket races! I couldn't recall the name of them for nothing. Thanks for jogging my memory! Bracket racing was a blast. So much fun. But consistency was the key. You had to run your best qualifying time consistently. Whoever did that eventually became the "top eliminator" that evening. Rail dragsters ran against completely stock cars.

[Egilman]

Back in the '80's I was associated with a wrecking yard that supplied merchandise to the rodder's runnin SIR and some of the other local tracks...

 

It was hard to come up with Powerglides and used steel belted conveyer belts.... Powerglides were a cast steel two speed automatic transmission, GM manufactured millions of them and NHRA & AHRA teams burned up most of them... The old asphalt vulcanized rubber steel belted composite conveyer belts, 32" wide were used as tranny shields cause when the tranny let go it was usually the central clutch that would fail... The clutch pressure barrel would explode blowing the tranny case wide open... Then, it would throw the razor sharp clutch and friction plates around the inside of the car... They acted like throwing stars except being thin as a steel ruler and ground sharp as a razor, it was like trying to play frisbee with circular razor blades... 

 

Nope, I recovered two cars from SIR that had blown their powerslide trannys, I refused to drive them, ANYWHERE, faster than they were designed to go....

Edited November 22, 2023 by Egilman

[CDW]

Put on the orange base coat today. Will give this time to cure before the clear coats to come later. This was a custom orange I mixed more than a year ago when I built a Can Am McLaren M8B and wanted a match for the McLaren paint. I had plenty of it bottled up and thought it looked good for the Orange Crate. Nothing I had on hand looked the right shade of orange straight from the bottle. Can't recall my formula for this mix as primarily, I did it by eye not by specific ratios of colors.

 

 

[mtaylor]

The powerglide was a favorite of many.  I suspect it was because aluminum case and relatively light weight.    

 

As for the bracket racing... the usual winner in my neck of the woods was guy who drove a small 4 banger... I think it was Renult.   Thing would only go so fast but he got mental break because of it.  Other guys running against got impatient waiting for their lane to go green and either would red light or just run too fast and break out.  

[Egilman]

1 hour ago, mtaylor said:

The powerglide was a favorite of many.

Yep, them, Warner T-10's and narrowed Ford 9" rear ends, Buick dropped front ends as well... (especially the axels)

 

There was a LOT of repurposing of old automotive parts back then... You know, the need for speed is the mother of invention... And the drag strip was all about what an item could do versus what it was designed to do... (then the big money came along and built all the speed shops and custom parts designed to do it better than the old modified parts) Like all other forms of racing, it became a sport of the rich guys....

 

That's why bracket racing went away, sport racing disappeared, eventually USAC went away as well... When some investor gets the idea that he can make money off of someone's love of tinkering that is when the heart and soul of such goes away, the tinkerer can't compete...

 

That's what makes people like Big Daddy, Shirly, Ed the Snake and Tom the Mongoose, and any number of others the legends they are and always will be... Today anyone can bolt together a 9 second car, they don't need to know why or how it's a 9 second car, just which bolt to tighten and how much...

 

Ruins it for me....

 

 

Edited November 22, 2023 by Egilman

[mtaylor]

16 minutes ago, Egilman said:

Ruins it for me....

Amen brother.  This is probably one of reasons why "street racing" has taken off.   Run what you brung and have at it.

[Egilman]

The last vehicle I built was a '72 Chevy C-10 long bed stepside, old forest service truck.... Straight six and 5.72 12" rear end.... (but it had the rare turbo 400 long shaft truck tranny) Couldn't locate a 4 bolt main 350 for it (LT-1 motor) so I settled for the next best thing, a CJC motor out of a '69 Impala SW... Everything the LT-1 had except the 4 bolt mains... I had a guy offer me 400.00 for the 2.02 heads alone... (chuckle, they were getting rare about that time)

Bored .60 over, polished the intake & heads, didn't shave the heads though I wanted it to run smooth at idle, custom camshaft from the local cam shop, Hooker Tuned Headers, 4" collectors to glass packs to turbo mufflers, (to keep the cops happy) dumping from under side step in front of the rear tires, all nice and tucked away couldn't see or hear anything just driving down the road... The friend who ran the local dyno shop gave me a tip about pulling the Cadillac quadrajet off of it and getting a '67 T-bird quadrajet to put on it, the difference between the two? 400 CFM!!! the Caddy Quad ran at 850 cfm max the T-bird quad ran at 1275 max but only when the secondary's were wide open, which means it didn't load the manifold up until you reached 2/3rds throttle, just before the T-400 detented... {BSEG on that one) Never did get to re-gear the rear end, was going to put 3.72 zoom gears in a posi into it, but ran outta money and then got hurt at work...

 

Would leave everything at the line, didn't matter what it was, get 4 car lengths ahead then squat like a turtle at 92.7 MPH... They would blow right by me halfway down the track.... Turn it around and drive back to the pits and it would sound like typical quiet everyday pickup truck...

 

But when your foot was in it it let you know she was there... Everyone paid attention...

 

AHHH those were the days.... 

[CDW]

The first of what will eventually be three clear coats went down today. With tomorrow being Thanksgiving, will give this coat a couple of days to cure before laying down the decals, then two more clear coats following the decals. There are a few more parts to attach but don't want to handle the body until the paint is thoroughly cured.

[CDW]

It’s time to build a garage for these 1:25 scale model cars. About 20 years ago I bought these Fujimi diorama kits but never built them. Thinking how ridiculous my 1:12 sawhorses look together with 1:25 model cars, decided it’s high time to build these for photos and display. Will start a separate thread to present the build.

[Canute]

The Crate looks great (weak pun). I like the Burnt Orange shade. And a garage/shop to boot. 👍

[bruce d]

Now you're trying to make me jealous. 

The garage equipment looks cool, a couple of bits aren't period-correct if you are representing an early '60s speed shop but you are probably way ahead on this.  

Two items that seemed to be in every shop I saw: a wash tub full of kerosene for washing parts, surrounded by towels; and bags of oil-dry dust piled in a corner. 

Looking forward to seeing your speed shop!

[Egilman]

30 minutes ago, bruce d said:

a couple of bits aren't period-correct....

Yep the server tower, the crate of wheels and the telephone all date this to the early '90's everything else except the labels are period correct for the 60's.... (of course IMHO)

 

Of course the Server Tower does more to say where this came from than anything else... You wouldn't find a server tower anywhere near the tools or parts if the shop even had one...

Edited November 23, 2023 by Egilman