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It's
hard to say when the Show Car genre came around. It's more of
an offshoot of the Hot Rod and Custom car craze. But TV had a
lot to do with it, as many of the most famous Show Cars were built
for the small screen and Hollywood.
Others
began as projects and exhibits for the Oakland Roadster Show in
California, as well as for other venues.
Car
customizers like Ed Roth Big Daddy "Rat Fink" started
making one off cars that resembled nothing else at the time. His
new medium was fiberglass, and boy, he really worked some magic
on those early show cars.
Revell
picked up on the popularity and began making model kits of his
famous cars, including the Outlaw and the Beatnik Bandit, among
others.
Other
customizers made their mark in the model world, such as Carl Casper,
George Barris, Dean Jeffries, Chuck Miller, Daryl Starbird, and
Steve Scott.
There
are some other builders who specialized in more Kustom car work,
or just Hot Rods. But you get the idea.
One
Show Car builder is best know for his design work for Revell and
Monogram. That name is Tom Daniel. While he did have his own custom
Corvette (and a model of it too - kool!), most of his designs
were not real cars at the beginning, but they made for some of
the most popular models kits ever produced for builders and Revell.
Later
some car builders built actual full size cars as a homage to his
designs. A little known fact? Tom Daniel designed the 1966 George
Barris Batmobile (though Barris built the actual car).
AMT
and MPC also came out with a lot of Show car designs, from the
Depth Charger to the Lil Gasser. All of them have unique designs,
and are just pure fun to build and tinker with.
Iv'e
met modelers who love to build Show car models, it's a real joy
to them. And I've also met modelers that hate everything about
them. Personally, and I've built several, they are just fun projects.
Build them stock? What's that?
Show
cars and other unusal car models. These kits are great
for kids and adults alike! Fun to build, they have
wacky funny themes and are far out !
Many
have been designed by great custom car builders such
as George Barris, Dean
Jeffries, Tom Daniels, Carl Casper, Bill Cushenberry
and many more.
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