Hey there fellas. Really had a blast building this one. First time I saw Garlits run was at National Speedway in NY back in '70, met the guy, and was a fan from that point on. Picked up this version of his '75 ride off eBay (origional boxing) and man was I stoked! Mostly OOB, I added wiring, hoses, and braided lines w/fittings from Ted’s Modeling. The front rims are AM also - turned aluminum rims and hubs, but the modeler needs to add the spokes. They are a major improvement over the kit rims. The rear rims had the lug details shaved off and replaced with metal AM nuts. The drive belt was made from Evergreen styrene strip. All the kit chrome was stripped off in a bleach bath. Metal paint is Alclad II’s, the body paint is Krylon Fusion from a rattle can and about 6 coats of Future. My biggest concern was the 40+ year old decals, but a coat of Microscale liquid decal film held 'em together. Hope you enjoy the pics!
Dude that is one sharp ride!!! Love all the detail and decal work. I’ve never used the Microscale decal solution you mentioned. I’ll have to try it out as I have a 37 year old “Blast from the Past” that I want to build. Great work Mike. This thing must be a monster in size!
That is one outrageously choice build. I certainly did my share of watching Big Daddy on TV when growing up and you have done his ride some righteous justice. Simply awesome. Thanks for sharing your build with us.
Can’t thank you guys enough for looking in and for your comments! This build and the other dragster I built for Joe’s Hot Rodding GB were sort of ‘get back to my roots’ builds and got me out of a major modeling funk - they made it fun again.
Mustang - it is a beast for sure. easily the longest kit in my display case!
Joe R. - Garlits is an amazing guy! I met him again at Englishtown in '86, the year he did his famous blow-over. He’s very devoted to his fans!
I don’t think I ever built the kit, but I remember seeing it for sale at the little pharmacy I used to buy my model kits at when I was a kid. Jundt’s Pharmacy in La Canada (can-YAH-dah), California, the suburb of Los Angeles where I grew up. It had a decent supply of models and was a lot closer to walk to than even the nearest hobby shop.
