Jump to content

1973 Chevrolet Caprice Classic


ewahl

Recommended Posts

I purchased this model kit 43 years ago when it was brand new in the MPC line of 1973 annual car and truck kits. In 2016 I started it a couple of months ago because I had the urge to work with Bare Metal Foil to add chrome trim to a car model, and this car has lots of trim and badges in need of foil. Now that it is finished, my only regret is waiting this long to build it.

 

Ed

 

DSC03334_zps1pubaet7.jpg

 

DSC03335_zpswid6fjv7.jpg

 

DSC03336_zpsd8zo77t7.jpg

 

DSC03338_zpshzqw3ruj.jpg

 

DSC03339_zpsxsmk5hud.jpg

 

DSC03340_zps4wxzpgjv.jpg

 

DSC03344_zpszan508cg.jpg

 

 

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My parents had one of these jobs in the four door offering with a 350 in it. I like the job you did on this one here alot!!!! Great BMF work Ed. Got any under hood shots?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That REALLY looks GREAT ED! Very clean work. My folks also owned one of these. It had a White Landau top with blue body and lt. blue interior. Nice car to ride in.

Edited by GaryDavis
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, Clare -- Thank you for your kind words about the paint job and BMF application. As a former GM employee, you if anyone would appreciate this showroom stock model as your company built them. Also, you know where to find my errors. It was nice of you to not point them out.

 

Hi, Joseph and Gary -- Part of what brought me back into doing a car model is your fantastic work on your superbly scratchbuilt car models. I can't match your level of expertise even though you inspire me to try. I have had a partly-built 1/12 Lamborghini Countach LP500S on hold for many years, which I promised to build for my daughter when she was in junior high school (her daughter is now in her first year of college). I got hung up on how to show the attachment of the carb linkage to a cable from the throttle pedal and what the seat belts, hardware, and attachments looked like (not included in the kit).

 

Hi, Mark -- If you really think this is a real car, I have one to sell you. Seriously, thank you for your words of praise. It has been almost exactly 10 years since I built my last car kit: a Revell 1999 Shelby Series One that I used in my "Two Fast Women" diorama and took a 2nd place at the 2010 Nationals with it. You saw that one on the table.

 

Hi, Bill -- Thanks for your in-person inspection of the model at our chapter meeting. You also politely did not shout out its faults. Full disclosure: there is a big one on the underside of the car. The two exhaust pipes running the length of the lower pan are molded too short to meet the exhaust pipes coming from the engine block, creating a gap of about 1/8th inch. Here is the dilemma: I built this kit strictly OOTB and would enter it in a curbside category at a National. According to the rules, inserting a plug into the gap on each side is not permitted because such a piece was not part of the kit. Yet, a contest judge not knowing this was the as-molded condition from the box would reject the model as having a basic construction error because the exhaust pipes are not connected. What to do? What to do?

 

As was common at the time, MPC did not include pieces for such things as exterior rear view mirrors, internal windshield mirror (nobody had thought of On-Star back then), lap seat belts, steering column shift lever, turn signal lever, oil filler cap and tube, alternator support bracket (floating alternator on belts), hood hinges, etc. The solid wire front axle runs through a big slot in the engine block. There are two large circular holes on the gas tank where the screws for assembling the promo model version attach the lower pan to the upper body.

 

I am not certain if this 1973 model was a rework of a 1972 or earlier kit or promo model by MPC, but I do know that this kit was adapted for the changes Chevrolet made to the car for 1974, 1975, and 1976. Not so long ago, Round 2 reissued the 1976 version, complete with the race car tow trailer "bonus" that was included for each of the four years. I am saving the trailer hitch mount and trailer for another project.

 

Ed

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I love these old classic cars, too bad I wasn't interested in them when they were readily available. Back then, Jeeps, rally cars and of course the custom vans were all the rage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's a beautiful build! Reminds me of the Buick my parents had when I first started driving.....felt like your were driving a big wide boat down the road! And you could house an entire homeless family in that humongous trunk! :smiley2:

 

You really captured a bit of the past with such an authentic build! Congrats!

 

GIL :smiley16:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, Mike and Gil,

 

Thanks for your memories of riding in cars of that era. In my family at the time I had four kids and wife, so our 1973 car of choice was a Pontiac Grand Safari station wagon. Luggage and stuff for six was abundant, so the station wagon's cargo space was needed. It was a green and chrome monster, especially to wash and wax.

 

I rarely see station wagons as car bodies in model kits. Never mine!

 

Ed

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Ed

 

Why did you wait so long to build that beast. I did one of them back in 1973, though not as good as yours is. I had most of the cars and trucks in that lineup, although they are all gone bye-bye after I got out of the service. Yours turned out great.

 

Dave

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...