This is my take on Tom Daniels California street Vette. When I was a kid back in the '70s, I loved all of Toms designs, but the Vette was my favorite. I built tons of them. They usually ended up with giant slicks and huge blowers, not to mention a good dollpop of glue on the windshield. I have wanted to build this kit as an adult,but collector prices have prevented it. A good friend of mine sold me this kit , mint in the box. for ten bucks.

I started on the chassis using the front suspension from a newer Vette kit, and detail painted the rest of it. The wheels in the kit are weak to me, so I started a quest for some nice aluminum slots. I would have loved to use some machined wheels from Bob Dudek ,but the money was an issue. I came across these wheels at the Toledo NNL last year, I think they are much nicer than the kit wheels. The interior was next and is mostly out of the box with the exception of the steering wheel and shifter. The engine is from the R-M '70 Baldwin Motion Chevelle. I wired it with ignition wires , fuel lines, heater hose ,and made radiator hose with electrical wire. I eliminated the side marker lights because I thought the detail was soft and I didn't think that removing them would violate the spirit of the car. I painted it with Testors One Coat Orange and then laid down several coats of Tamiya Clear Orange to give it depth, and finally several coats of Testors One Coat Clear. After 3 weeks I sanded and buffed.

I applied Bare Metal Foil to the trim. The rest of the kit is pretty much out of the box. My goal here was to build the kit as close to out of the box as possible, but with improvements where needed. I am very pleased with the results.