Got this display a few months ago. Pretty neat. Its got 2 1962 Chevy Impalas mounted on top of a moving "roadway". Never saw one before. When you crank the handle, it shows the difference between worn shocks and new United Delco Superide shocks. The way it works is that the car on the left has rigid axles, so when you crank the handle, the car bounced around over the bumpy roadway. The car on the right, the axles are in elongated holes so the tires move up and down in the wheel houses. Underneath are two large pulleys and a large belt that has bumps on it. Really cool. The thing is filthy and well worn all around. My initial goal was to just take it apart, clean it and conserve whats left. But it snowballed into a full blown restoration. So now its blown apart and Im knee deep in it. Once its done, it should make for a unique display piece. Im half thinking to ditch the bowties and mount 2 Buicks on there!
Where the bleep did you FIND something like that?!?!?! Just too cool..... At Hershey, they pay W A Y more for things like that than car parts!!!!!!!!!!!!! You finish the project, put it on a table at my stand at Hershey -- you can practically name your price!!!!!!!!!!!! good luck in the restoration, Jason.................Yours, Craig.....
Thanks Craig! The cars were AMT promo cars originally painted Chevy code 912 "Silver Blue". I took them apart carefully. They got scrubbed in hot water with a tooth brush and Simple Green. They were literally black. The chrome on the bumpers and hubcaps were totally shot. I sent all the chrome to Chrome Tech USA for re-plating. Here are the cars all cleaned up. After all the layers of dirt were finally removed, there was little to no original paint left on them. I ordered a can of the original color through Automotivetouchup.com. I wiped them down, tacked them and gave them a few coats. They haven't looked this good since 1962!
Im half thinking to ditch the bowties and mount 2 Buicks on there! Where ya gonna find a pair of 1962 Invicta models? BTW... were the spots on the front fenders for "spears"? I seem to remember my 62 SS (Nassau Blue) having them. Hmmm... Get one of those 1mm MOLOTOW chrome pens for the wipers, belt trim and window trim. ws
Yep, the fenders have little chrome "spears" which sadly are missing. I think I can get them out of the current production AMT 62 Impala kit. AMT just recently re-issued the 1962 Electra kit which I bought. And whats nice is the Electra kit is a re-issue of the original "screw chassis" kit of the 60's. Model companies love re-tooling kits so it was a pleasant surprise to see they didn't change it Here is a pic of the display all broken down The shame of the whole thing was that the original graphics that were painted on were worn pretty badly. The larger piece is made of Masonite and the smaller, metal. As you can see, they both looked pretty ratty. Thankfully, the couple that run the local Sign-a-rama said they could make me a set of decals that would match the original graphics perfectly. I was a little skeptical but they knocked it out of the park. Here are the proofs they made. They printed them on clear vinyl to make sure the decal letters laid over the original letters exactly. The attention to detail they put into the project was impressive.
I'm just wondering if different dealers had their own models on display. What BUICK owner would care about an old dumb chevy rockin' and rollin'? Youre so lucky that belt is intact. Anything you can treat that with to keep it supple? Does the red parking lot-lark have a quick ratio steering unit on it? High Tech Heims eh? Automatic, huh? ws
The vintage kart is a blast. Same exact one my dad bought me when I was 5. Couldn't reach the pedals back then. Now my knees are by my ears when I sit in it! I upgraded the steering linkage on it. Its up in my spare bedroom. I was going to hang it on the wall but it didn't fit. Its too nice for the garage. There's a thread on here somewhere similar to this one about its restoration. That was a fun project. Restored soup to nuts.
NEVER GROW UP! Ya gotta get the G.I.JOE Jeep and put a 455 in it! Maybe a "Visible V-8 would fit? Don't forget to put Vaseline in the cylinders! Zheeesh! ws
Here is the stand and the panel that supports the belt/roadway. Luckily, the paint underneath the panel was like brand new, so I was able to bring it to my local auto parts store and match it up to a Duplicolor shade. Ironically, it matched up exactly to a GM gunmetal gray mettalic. After some sanding...well, a lot of sanding, priming and painting, this is the finished product. I love painting in lacquer.
As a keen modeler ( 300+ on display) I appreciate your work. I did have the "Visible V8" as a teen, never got the full chassis.
https://www.barrett-jackson.com/Eve...service-department-counter-top-display-170807 https://www.barrett-jackson.com/Eve...sorbers-dealership-smooth-ride-display-182335 http://www.knottypineantiques.com/events/auctions_events_details.asp?AuctionID=36&LotNum=014 https://www.mecum.com/lots/SC0509-80067/1962-automobilia-delco-shock-absorber/ Craig, Given the history of high value placed on these displays, along with Jason's results oriented restoration talents, fine marketing abilities, and acute negotiating skills, I think one should carefully prepare themselves financially before loosely throwing out such a suggestion. At the very least, might I suggest having a decent beater GS and some boot lined up to fortify your trading position.
Both panels have now been sanded, primed and painted in GM bright white. And here is one of the custom made decals ready to go on. The Masonite definitely had some age related deterioration, but I was able to repair 90% of it. Im going to let the paint dry for a week or so before I apply the decals. I called Chrome Tech and they told me I should have the bumpers and hubcaps back next week.
Brian -- looked at your additions to this thread -- I had a "feeling" that something that "COOL" could be a $1000 item...... like you say, especially the way Jason will make it look when completed..... A Hershey sale (if Jason WANTS to sell) could ... top .... Barrett-Jackson!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here's something interesting. The display had these little rubber feet on the bottom. One of them was missing and the remaining three were rock hard. I noticed that they had a six digit part number on the bottom. A quick Google search revealed that the rubber feet were actually Mopar/ Desoto hood bumpers from the late 50's. And incredibly, someone on Ebay had a set of 8 NOS ones for under $10. Score! NOS parts for my display!!!
