Christine - Finished! 01/31 - She's ALIVE

[mopargreg]

Hi guys,
I haven't done a WIP in a while. I used to share my builds during the building process on the old forum. Not sure why I stopped but Ill try to do some progress photos & info on all future builds. Ive wanted to build Christine for many years now. Im sure everyone knows what Christine is, a 1958 Plymouth. Originally from the book written by Stephen King & later a movie. The movie is great if you haven't seen it.

I started this car a few months back & have slowly been working on it. Started with a AMT 1958 Plymouth kit in 1/25 scale. The side trim molding is terrible on the body as it curves like a banana. So I sanded off the side trim & made my own from styrene strips. Body has been painted in Tamiya Pure Red TS 86, Tamiya Pure White TS 26 for the roof. Ive also Foiled all the trim. Christine is going to be lighted, Warm White for the headlights, Red for the tail lights & Green for the dash, both the taco gauges & of course the radio! Ive hand drilled everything out for the lights so its now ready to be wired.

Usually before I paint I have the chassis already built, body posts installed & the car ready to roll. I haven’t even thought about the chassis yet but Ive built 2 of these cars in the past so I know what to expect. I hope it won't bite me, but Im confident. On with the photos -









Ill keep you posted with my progress. Ill have a few race cars Im building so I can share the progress on those as well if interested. Thanks for looking. More to come.

[dge467]

Cool build! Looking forward to your progress.

[Vintage 1/24]

Another great forward look Mopar!

When I first started reading you were sanding off the trim, I thought you were going to down-convert it to a Plymouth Savoy . . .

Like this famous "Suddenly its 1960x" car:



It would be a little tricky with headlights and grill but it is doable.

Anyway, looks like a really great project you have going - the Hot Rod Magazine special is another build.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Why was the "1960" car made from a 1957?

[dge467]

Plymouth's advertising slogan for the new 57 Plymouth was, " Suddenly it's 1960" !

[mopargreg]

You have a great memory. Yes Im building the Suddenly 60, 1957 Plymouth as well. It was stalled as I was waiting for paint to arrive. The paint is here for that now so I can continue on that one. It is ready for paint & all the building work is done converting it back to a 1957 & lower trim level. Im in Australia & I have to buy everything in from the US. Shipping is so expensive now so I usually wait until I need quite a few things from that supplier before I purchase. Hence why I have so many cars on the go.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I always thought the '57-'58 and the '67-'69 Plymouths made everything else in the Plymouth full-size look crappy. Those were the best. I did my driver's test in a '57, my family had two '67s, I owned another '67, and my father had a '69- all Fury IIIs

[mopargreg]

Hey Rob, Plymouth thought that the 1957 Plymouth was a full 3 years ahead of its time. Suddenly its 1960 was Plymouth's slogan for that year. Hot Rod Magazine built the Suddenly 60 for the new experimental class at at Daytona Beach. It clocked up 166mph along the beach setting a new record. Im currently building this car. Ill start a new thread for it.

[mopargreg]

Ill start a new thread for the Suddenly 60 Plymouth Im building as well

[Wobble]

I think I can understand why Carrera went for the Plymouth Fury they did and I think it's a real pity they didn't go for 2-3 years earlier, plus it would've been more in keeping with their '57 Chevy.

edit
PS - forgot to add the bit about how good your car looks. Best all time favourite body shape of mine.

[FC47]

Nice work, and rework of the side trim!
This'll be great!!
..don't know why I've painted a few before chassis lately too. Have the Christine funny car to build..

Thanks for sharing these!
Paull

[Broman62]

OH MY...another beauty in the works...love the headlight array...keep 'em coming!!

[mopargreg]

She's ALIVE! Christine is pretty much finished. I had planned to do some more WIP photos along the way but I got to engrossed in the build. Here's a teaser, Ill post more photos tomorrow after I finished a few little things. I drilled out the dash & radio & put green LEDs in there. For those that don't know in the movie Christine would illuminate green the radio & dash when she got mad.

[one32]

Wow.....Thats a little spooky. Great job my friend. Those lights make a huge difference.

[Area 51 Raceway NC]

That looks Killer! If you know what I mean.

[Vintage 1/24]

This is great - the wiring really puts it over the top - you don't often see quad headlights lit up.

And the expression on the driver with the green interior lighting is extra good.

[mopargreg]

Yes, I think Im going to wire more cars with lights in the future.

[mopargreg]

Ok so here's a few finished photos of Christine. The only thing left to do is the license plates. I need to print those next time I go to my parents house. Overall it wasn't a to difficult build. The biggest hurdle was the wiring from the LEDs. I bought them pre wired off eBay & the wiring diameter was way to large which. If I was to do this again I would wire them myself with much smaller wire so the wire is more flexible etc. The roof is painted in a pure white, just looks grey in the photos as I shot them outside just as the sun was going down. Happy to answer any questions if you have them & all comments are welcome. Thanks for looking. Onto the next one!

[Wobble]

Too good. Hit the nail fair and square right on the head. Only problem is, if I hit the like button again it would unlike it which wouldn't be fair at all.

[dge467]

Looks awesome all lit up. Nice work!