Joe's Year in Review

[mustang1989]

Well gang, it was NOT a very productive year for me numerically. Usually I pop out 3, maybe 4 but this year had two holy grail builds that I put a lot of effort into. One was a repop of a car that I used to drive when I was younger in fastback form. I owned three 67 Mustang Coupes and always wanted a fastback, so I built one as I would've built it had I owned one. My AMT '67 Mustang GT Fastback:







The real car;



I actually went back to see Car #1 and #2 where they both rest now to re-visit the two cars that served me well back then. In the foreground is car #2 and the background car #1



The second build for the year was what was going to be a first car for me as a kid but dad quickly said "Not a chance kid!" when he saw the 350-4speed combo in the car. I've always loved the lines of these early 2nd generation Camaros. The AMT 1970-1/2 Camaro Z/28

[LyleW]

Joe, those are real beauties! Let’s see, 350. 4 speed, teen driver. Check. What could go wrong?

[Gary Brantley]

Well Joe, both of those look great to me. Beautiful car models my friend. Ya know, it's not always the quantity that counts as much as the quality, and I'd say you've got the quality covered quite well! Not a bad year at all Joe!

[mustang1989]

Almost forgot....

I am about 3/4 of the way through my 2017 Camaro that I've been building on for the last 3 months

[LyleW]

Man, those interiors....

[Gary Brantley]

Joe, those are real beauties! Let’s see, 350. 4 speed, teen driver. Check. What could go wrong?

Heh, heh. My parents promised me a new car for a high school grad gift in 1971. (Yes, I was that soiled only child ) I wanted a Dodge Dart Swinger 340. My folks seemed good with that and sure enough, one fine day we drove to Waco to find that Dart. The Waco Dodge dealer only had one 340 Swinger; it was Plum Crazy, w/4-speed, no air. Not exactly the color I wanted and hey, I was 18...I didn't need no a/c! As fate would have it, Dodge was running a promotion that offered Dart Swinger 318s with auto transmission at no charge. They had a bunch of those kind.

I was in the purple 340, when the salesman came over and basically talked my parents out of that car. He explained all the downsides; higher insurance, less gas mileage, less safe for a younger driver...yeah, all those grown-up, common sense stuff. Then, of course, he began pitching the 318s. He and I basically got in a nasty argument about it. I saw my "dream car" disappearing before my eyes.

I walked away and prowled the lot. On the back row was a brand new Dodge SuperBee; 383, four-speed, cowl induction, olive green. It was over a year old and had not sold. I figured that Dealer would make my folks a smokin' deal to get rid of that SuperBee. I even found the keys over the sun-visor and cranked it up. Oh, that big-block Dodge sounded so damned good!

My folks eventually found me and I made my pitch. One look at that bad-boy and I was shot down. To this day, I'd like to strangle that salesman! I hope he died a painful death in those polyester pants...

[tempestjohnny]

I had the exact same response from my dad when I wanted the 69 Camaro. Not a chance
Awesome builds dude

[BlackSheep214]

It’s better than no kits done for 2022. I’ve always enjoyed following your auto builds.

[keavdog]

Great stuff Joe.

[mustang1989]

Thanks for the comments fellas.

Gary: Did you at least wind up in a 318 Swinger? I hear you on the salesman talkout. Same thing happened to me when I went to go look at a '69 Mustang that was parked out in front of a residence in my hometown for sale. I was gonna have me a Mustang for my very first car until the owner started sharing the details of what was in the car to my dad. It was a 302 four speed car BUT......the owner revealed that it was a 6800 rpm 302. Dad was already skeptical but when the owner started it up that was the end of the line for any kind of ownership.