Jo-Han's 1965 Cadillac scale model, A miniature masterpiece of an automotive masterpiece!

I have always admired the styling of the 1965 Cadillac ever since it was introduced in October of 1964 as a seven year old boy. Back then, I asked my dad if he could buy me a toy model of the thing, but money was tight, and he either could not, or he would not. I knew that they made already built up promotional models in 1/25 scale plastic, and that is what I wanted more than anything, but to no avail at that time. I was too young to know how to build model kits at that time, so that was out of the question, too. My dad did get me a Japanese tin litho friction toy of a gold 1966 de Ville the following year, but the detail was not there, and I did not like it. I ended up trashing the toy.

I was finally able to get a Jo-Han annual model kit with my allowance money in the fall of 1966 of the redesigned again 1967 Cadillac Coupe de Ville at my local hobby shop, "Smitty's Hobbies" in the Manor Shopping Center in Lancaster, PA. That shop is long gone, now. I still really wanted the 1965, though.

As I grew into a teenager in the early to mid 1970's I started building and collecting model cars and kits of cars, thereof in earnest. Model kit companies started to re issue models and kits from the 1950's and 1960's of all different kinds of cars. Then Jo-Han Models got into the act in around 1974 with their re-issues of some of their stuff from the early '60's through the early 1970's in their "USA Oldies series line, which included their re-issue of their 1964 Cadillac coupe and convertible kits. A year off, but close.

At the time, I was going 1959 Cadillac crazy, and I had my driver's licence, and I had a chance to buy a REAL 1959 Caddy, but my dad would not let me, so I wrote to Jo-Han Models and asked them if they would re-issue their plastic model they did of their '59 Cadillac. Their response was that they sent me a comprehensive survey, asking me, as a collector, what models that I would be interested in seeing re-issued. That survey list had EVERY car model that they ever  made, going all the way back to 1955, and all the way up to the then new for 1977 model year cars. I was very excited to say the least.

That survey list included the 1965 Cadillac, and of course, I checked that one off, along with about half the cars they had listed there, including a 1956 De Soto Fireflite 4 door sedan, as well as others. The result of that survey was the formation of Ex-el Products, a division of Jo-Han Models. That company proceeded to re-issue their old dealer promotional models in a choice of different colors, in the amount of four different cars at a time in very limited quantities. I was  hoping they would re issue the 1965 Cadillac, but that never happened. So I put it out of my mind....

 That is, until 1983. That was the year I was able to fulfill my dream of buying, owning and driving a 1965 Cadillac. It was a very weather worn Hampton Blue Metallic Calais 2 door hardtop that I bought for $500.00, fixed it up, and had repainted in the original color. I had already started going to car shows and swap meets, looking for nice parts for this car. I  thought, why not look for original promotional models and/or kits of '65 Cadillacs, there. In the spring of 1984, at the big Carlisle meet, I found my first one. an old scratched up blue plastic one with a friction motor, but it was intact. I paid $35.00 for it.

 In the fall of '84, I went to the big Hershey AACA car show, and swap meet. There, I found at a vendor called "Grandpa's Attic", an off white, mint, still boxed 1965 Cadillac Coupe de Ville in absolutely perfect shape. That is the very model you see in these pictures here, right now. When I got it home, I tore it completely apart, spray painted it light metallic blue, and super detail painted the body and interior.

I had my real 1965 Cadillac for almost 25  years, and I enjoyed owning it very much,(We used it in our wedding in 1989) and once I was able to afford to buy my REAL dream car, a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air sport sedan, I sold the Cadillac to make room for the Chevy.

I still own this 1/25 scale Jo-Han model that I did up of my car, today, as it is one of my favorite models that I have in my collection.

In my opinion, of all the subsequent models that have been issued of this car by different companies, this Jo-Han model stands out as the most accurate in scale proportions, and the nicest in appearance.

In around 2008, I was finally able to fulfill my childhood dream of finding the original annual 1965 Cadillac model kit issued by Jo-Han models in 1964. It is only missing one stock clear red taillight insert and the custom clear red taillight inserts.But otherwise, it is all there, and in good buildable condition. A not too common kit that I found on eBay . Since these were only issued during the original model year run in 1964-'65, these kits and dealer promo models can command some crazy prices, as they are in high demand, today, where they are found in decent condition.

Jim.

AMT's 1928 Porter from "My Mother The Car" from 1965.

Here is a relic from TV shows gone bad from days gone by. Of course, this is AMT's one time issue of the "1928 Porter", "Mother" from the Jerry Van Dyke show, "My Mother The Car" The show was based on the concept that a man's mom, one David Crabtree's, had passed away and her spirit was incarnated into this 1928 Porter, and the car comes alive. Goofy concept, for bad TV, but hey what do you expect for 1965 television? I was glued to the screen each week, as I thought this was the coolest looking car on the face of the Earth. I really thought there was such a car for real as a 1928 Porter. I knew as soon as I saw that first episode, I had to have a model of it.

Of course, this was the golden age of 1/25 scale model car kits, so AMT stepped up to the plate, and produced this kit in early 1966.

Beings that at the time, I was only eight years old, I could not yet build model kits very good, and all my attempts to build this model ended in a glue-smeared wreck. My parents got this kit for me 3 times. The last time I got it, the show was already cancelled, and off the air, and I was heartbroken, not being able to see the car gracing my black and white Motorola 25" TV screen anymore. Unlike the preceeding two kits, this one did come out somewhat fair, but still glue smeared. My parents got this last kit for my at a bulk discount store in late 1966 for fifty cents. I still, after I built it, I played with it to death, and it, too was destroyed.

Fast forward to the 1980's, when I started to play around with REAL antique cars, and I started to go to old car shows and swap meets. I started finding the old model kits, and dealer promotional models that I got, and destroyed when I was a kid, and started to build up my collection like I had back then.

In, I believe, 1983, I was walking past a vendor at the big Fall Carlisle car show and swap meet, and he had about 15 old AMT kits stacked up on his table. One of them was this beat up old 1965 AMT My Mother The Car kit box. He said the kit was 100% complete, nothing missing. I told him I was trying to find one of these for years. He said, "Gimmie $15.00, and it's yours!" So that is how I got a fourth chance to build this model again, as I still think the car from this show is cool looking.

I never realized, though, how many inaccuracies are in this kit, compared to the real car, such as the fact that AMT based their replica on a 1927 Ford Model T touring car body, instead of the 1924 model T Ford body that was actually used in creating this car. The actual car is much more lower slung than this kit is. The tires on the actual car are much fatter, are wide whitewalls, and run in much smaller diameter chrome wire spoke wheels, as opposed to the bigger stock model T's painted wire spoke wheels.

Nonetheless, this model somewhat captures the essence of the original show's car, and still is the only scale replica ever made of this car, of which only two were really built for the short lived show.

I tried to be very careful with this then 17 year old kit, and painted it up to the best of my ability, according to the original copyrighted 1965 box art and instruction sheet that came with the kit.

The model you see here, today, is the result of that effort I did in 1983, to preserve a piece of American automotive and television history. After searching the internet, these pictures here, are the only ones of this kit  that show an intact, and completed model.

"Everybody knows in the second life, we all come back sooner or later. As anything from a pussycat to a man-eating alligator. But the truth may mean my story, is more fiction than it's fact, but believe it or not my Mother dear, decided she'd come back. As a car. She's my very own guiding star. A 1928 Porter. And that's my Mother, dear. She helps me through everything I do, and I'm so glad she's here. My Mother The Car. My Mother The Car!"

To show how nuts I am about this car/show I typed this from memory.

My mom says I was, and am the only  fan of this show. I don't think so. :-D

Jim.

1965 Buick Electra 225 coupe 1/25 scale model-Revisited!!

I thought I would revisit this subject, as it seems to be one of the more popular posts that I have done since I opened this blog in 2009. This of course, again is my scratch built posterboard, or cardboard 1965 Buick Electra 225 coupe in 1/25th scale. It is about 9 inches long in this scale. The reason why I'm doing this is, I took the time, last year to open up the protective display box so I could take better, unobstructed pictures of the model. As I said in my earlier post about this car, there were never any factory  produced models or model kits ever made of this car, yet. But beings that I had one of these cars that I drove in high school, I wanted a scale model of it regardless. Read  the older post on how I built this model in 1987.

 Warning, picture heavy!!

 Model may not be all that precise, but as far as I know, it is the only one of its kind in existence, as of this typing.

Everything is cardboard except for the plastic interior box,  the acetate window "glass" and the chrome plated plastic Jo-Han 1977 Cadillac Coupe deVille wheels.

My car did not have the optional front fender cornering lamps, just above the sides of the bumper, so that is reflected in this model.

Center corner crease in the rear window was unique to the Electra coupe, in the Buick line. Oldsmobile Ninety Eight coupes also had this same rear window treatment. It was repeated in 1966.

Enjoy.

The long taillights, first used here, on the 1965 Electra, would later on become a Buick hallmark for years to come. That along with the front fender "Ventiports", (portholes), which those were premiered on the 1949 Buicks.

Heavy ribbed lower body chrome plated pot metal side mouldings, which ran the total length of both sides of the car, weighed more than what most whole cars of today, do. Just kidding. This also was a styling cue of Buick Electra's made from 1963 through the 1966 model year. For '67, it was discontinued. A modernized version of this design was brought back for the 1991 through 1996 Buick Park Avenue.

Chrome block serif type capital letters spelled out "ELECTRA 225" across  the rear flanks of the huge quarter panels of the car. 1965 was the last year Buick did this styling feature. In 1966, Buick went to a two piece chrome plated pot metal cursive script model name badge.

If I can make a model of this car out of cardboard, how much harder for a model manufacturer would it be to replicate this car in die cast metal, or plastic. Come on model companies!! You are missing a whole new marketing opportunity out there as alot of these big American luxury cars were never replicated as scale models, even when these cars were new. As such, they are now becoming today's collector cars.

Here is the link to my original post on this model.

http://jayveejayaresjunk.blogspot.com/2010/04/1965-buick-electra-225-coupe-125-scale.html

Just a little note that I do not do commissioned model making work. This is just a hobby of mine. If I did it for a living, it would not be enjoyable for me to do, and I would probably stop doing them.


Jim.

Blue Jada 1965 Cadillac diecast The reason behind the work.

Model is NOT for sale.

These pictures are only meant to show that it is possible to rework, and repaint this model, and the purpose of them thereof, is meant to be informative, and reference purposes, only.
















After seeing a request on my very first post on this blog, I feel I need to revisit the reasons behind why my model subjects are done the way I do things.

First and foremost, my models are not for sale.

Most of my model cars that I have posted, or will post are models of actual cars that I either have, or did have. If it is of another subject, such as my Hotel Brunswick model, I built this model because I remember this building from when I was a little kid, and I watched them tear it down in 1967. Such a beautiful building laid to waste simply because it was old.

Other subjects that I will post about later on such as a wood model of the Parthenon that I did in 1993, posterboard models that I did earlier than that, back to 1971, as well as a menagerie of different scale model subjects will be posted here. I did them all because I liked the originals of the model that it replicates in scale.

The Jada 1965 Cadillac Coupe de Ville was a labor of love, as I owned a Hampton Blue Metallic 1965 Cadillac Calais coupe for 25 years. The Calais coupe looks just like the Coupe deVille, but with narrower windowsill trim on the sides of the car. The interiors are a simpler cloth design, as opposed to the deVille's mostly leather interiors. I got it in August of 1983 for 500 bucks. It was used in our wedding in 1989. it was such a sweet running car that I really loved the design of. But when I got a chace to buy a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air in 2006, I did not have room for the Cadillac anymore, so I sold it. I have two other old cars, now, besides the Chevy, and I still may have to get rid of two more cars. Hopefully, it will not be the Chevy, as this car is the same year as I am, hence the reason that I wanted one of these more than I wanted my '65 Caddie. The main reason I bought the '65 in the first place is I fell in love with the car's design as a seven year old in the fall of 1964, and never fell OUT of love with it.

I also have three Jo-Han models of the car. Two promos of it with one detail painted up like my real car,and one molded in blue, and I also have an original unbuilt 1965 Cadillac Coupe deVille kit.

When Jada came out with this big 1/18 diecast model, I knew that I had to do it up like my old blue '65. It was not the easiest job to do. Taking the trim pieces off was not too easy to get them off without breaking them, either. I had to use a very toxic chemical stripper on the body after the model was completely disassembled of all plastic components, and the doors, hood, and deck lids were also removed for stripping, cleaning, primering, and repainting with "rattlecan" automotive touchup spray paint. This is not an exact match for Hampton Blue Metallic, but it is close. It is a tad darker, though.

Here is a resized copy of that first image, as well as two more pictures of the model that I took later on with my own digital camera. That first image was taken with a borrowed camera in 2009.

What I really do not understand is why Jada did not produce this model in more colors besides just the light yellow replica of the car used in the movie, "Reservoir Dogs" It also is missing key details, such as door handles and lock cylinders, rear window opening mouldings, wheel opening mouldings, and most blatantly, the cowl vent grille in front of the windshield. I added these to my models, both the yellow one, and this one. The interior has a 1964 dashboard, which is completely different in design than the 1965 dash. What Jada could have made into a very impressive model for it's size, is at best very mediocre, because of it's extreme lack of detail. Fortunately, it is a very easy model for someone like me, who has been building models, and reworking models, and scratch building models for about 45 years, to rework!!

Jim.