6 - Diecast Mecca and More!

JANUARY 2014
VOL 2 ISSUE 6
HAPPY NEW YEAR EDITION
Diecast Mecca and More
Cool cars you can afford…well, the diecast anyway
Welcome to Diecast Mecca
Happy New Year. We’re in 2014 now. Wow!!
Diecast Mecca is going strong and we are
working hard to bring you all things diecast as
well as cool classic full size cars and car
related stuff. Check out this issue. In “Cars I
really like” I am featuring David Freiburger’s
’68 Charger “on a budget”. I like his creativity
and “git R done” attitude. In “Cars of the
Stars” I finally get to feature one of my all-time
favorite movies and cars, the V8 Interceptor
from the Mad Max movies.
Finally, in
“Braking News”, we at Diecast Mecca have
some exciting news to share. A new feature
“News Flash” is about a get together at Shake
Rabble and Roll on Feb. 8. Check out the
details. Wishing you a happy 2014. Thanks
for reading.
Cars I Really Like – “Roadkill‟s”
‟68 Charger Built with Used
Motorhome parts.
David Freiburger has outdone himself with
this cool 68 Dodge Charger, which he calls
the “Mad Max 5 Dodge Charger”. The
creator of “Roadkill” put this car together for
very little money. He traded a set of cylinder
heads for the car and intended to load it with
the engine from a Dodge Ram. He decided
the pick-up was too nice to cut up so he
found a ’79 Dodge Pace Arrow Motorhome
with a 440 and traded it for $1000.00 and a
retired ’73 Plymouth Fury. After lots of cheap
parts he managed to put together this great
cheap Dodge Charger Rat Rod. Check out
his Youtube video to see the complete build.
(Motor Trend Channel – “Dirt Cheap Rat
Rod”). This is why I like what Freiburger
does. He takes a car that is just sitting
waiting to be restored, does a crazy
wonderful thing to it and puts it back on the
road.
.
In This Issue:
Cars I really like
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’68 Charger – Roadkill’s crazy cheap resto
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’62 Chevrolet Bel Air
’66 VW Karmann Ghia
’69 Chevrolet Camaro SS 427
’70 Dodge Coronet RT Hemi
’82 Checker Cab
’70 Mercury Cougar Eliminator Boss 302
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’69 Dodge Charger
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’68 Dart Shift Knob
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Road Warrior “Interceptor”
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’70 Plymouth Cuda 340
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Coming Soon – Diecast Mecca Website

’77 Plymouth Volare “Roadrunner”
Cool Cars You can Afford
Under Construction
Hard Parts
Cars of the Stars
Cars in Barns
“Braking” News
Classic Car Ads
Diecast Mecca and More. 905-725-0403
JANUARY 2014
VOL 2 ISSUE 6
Cool Cars You Can Afford
’62 Chevrolet Bel Air, the first Chevy with a
409 engine.
In Matador Red, this car
really pops. Hurst shifter, great diecast.
’66 VW Karmann Ghia, body designed by
Karmann, built by Ghia. Great black on
black…on black counting the wheels.
’69 Chevy Camaro SS 427. This is a no
console car, Hurst shifter. Motion dynotuned sticker on the window. Love the
green.
’70 Dodge Coronet RT Hemi convertible,
pistol grip shifter, black interior, Dana 60
rear end, 4 speed, air grabber car.
’82 Checker Cab with 350 Chev engine.
Has jumper seats, great paint and detail
and basically a bullet proof car.
’70 Mercury Cougar Eliminator Boss 302 in
one of the famous “grabber” colours. Hood
scoop, Hurst shifter, white high backed
buckets and cool spoiler round this out.
Diecast Mecca and More. 905-725-0403
JANUARY 2014
VOL 2 -ISSUE 6
Under Construction – ‟69 Dodge Charger
This diecast is one of my
latest projects and is now
complete. I always save
parts if a car “needs” to be
canibalized and for this car,
I dipped into my parts
collection. The seats were
replaced with racing seats, I
added nitrous, MSD ignition
and a new steering wheel
and column. The paint is
the original diecast paint.
The motor and drive train
are original too. Wheels
were changed to Cragar
mags with Goodyear Eagle
ST tires to soak up the
bumps.
!!!News Flash!!!
!!!News Flash!!!
!!!News Flash!!!
The winter is long enough, but when you’re a car guy or girl, it seems to drag on for too
long. A get together is planned at Shake Rabble and Roll for February 8, 1:00 – 3:00.
Although our cars will still be in storage, we can all come out of hibernation and enjoy some
good old diner food and conversation with fellow car lovers and think about the upcoming
season. No need to RSVP, just show up if you can make it. Details are as follows:
Cruisers Hoping Winter Ends Soon Meet
Saturday February 8, 1 to 3 pm
Shake Rabble, Roll - 905 666-9700
939 Dundas St. West, Whitby
1.5 km west of Brock
1 pm to 3 pm
Looking Forward to Seeing You
Diecast Mecca and More. 905-725-0403
JANUARY 2014
VOL 2 ISSUE 6
Cars in Barns – ‟70 Plymouth Cuda 340 Diecast
Amongst all the leaf litter, rubble,
tons of ice and other parted out
diecast cars is a 340 Cuda. The
original car was “Plum Crazy with
the back window louvers and
pistol grip shifter. The original
also had a “Sun Tach”. Sadly, this
car had a lot of abuse early in it’s
life. When I found it, it was in
really bad shape, but good for
parts. It sits in my outside junk
yard along side a ’70 Chevy Monte
Carlo back half and a ’70 Pontiac
Firebird Trans Am with Ram Air.
Once the ice has melted, I will be
stripping even more parts from the
Cuda and the results will be in a
future “Cars in Barns”.
Stay
tuned.
Braking News – Diecast Mecca Website Coming Soon
At Diecast Mecca we are very excited to announce that we will be launching a website this
year. Planning has just started, but we are hoping to bring you all the features that Diecast
Mecca and More has brought you over the years. In addition, we will have video and
website links related to the diecast and full-sized collector car hobby. Back issues will be
included and also a link to Sick Kids Hospital so you can see the great things you support
when you support Diecast Mecca. Stay tuned for updates. Special thanks to my Uncle
Dana and Lucy for the great Website Christmas gift.
Hard Parts – ‟68 Dodge Dart GTS Shift Knob
This shift knob was at my friend Chuck’s
place, in the metal garbage. It was out of the
Dart that Chuck and Ron, the owner are
restoring that I have photographed and
featured on previous Diecast Mecca issues.
Ron didn’t want the shift knob anymore and
said I could have it. This knob has good wood
on it and is pretty much the way it looked way
back in 68. I will add it to my collection of odd
parts. You never know if someone might
need it in the future and it’s better to recycle.
Diecast Mecca and More. 905-725-0403
e
VOL 2 ISSUE 6
JANUARY 2014
Cars of the Stars – “Mad Max/Road Warrior” V8 Interceptor
One of my favorite movie series is the “Mad
Max” series and of course, the famous V8
Interceptor. Actually an Australian ’73 Ford
Falcon XB GT. It premiered in the ’79
movie “Mad Max” complete with Wieand
blower, Scott injection “hat”, side “zoomie”
exhaust pipes, Concord front end, roof and
trunk spoiler, flares and a 351 Cleveland
motor. By ’81, when “Mad Max 2/Road
Warrior” debuted, there were a few
changes to the Interceptor. No chin or
trunk spoiler and in fact, there was no trunk
or back glass at all. Instead, to further the
plot, extra gas tanks were installed and it
had a very scruffy look to it. Sadly, the
Interceptor had a fiery death near the end
of the movie but the only identifying part in
Thunderdome was the roof and only for a
minute.
After many, many years in
planning, Max is back in the driver’s seat
and coming to a theatre
and coming to a theatre near you in the
future. The new movie, “Mad Max – Fury
Road” is teasing us with peeks at a new
movie and more importantly, a new
Interceptor. Due out in May of 2015, I can’t
wait to see this new beauty. The original
movie Interceptor used in ”Mad Max” (and
also in Road Warrior) still lives too. It has
been fully restored and tours car shows in
Australia. Would love to see the original.
This great diecast of the V8 Interceptor was
originally my brother’s, who gave it to my
cousin, who then gave it to me. It is pretty
much all there including the cool
accessories. Originally, the diecast came
with the dog, “dinky-di” dog food cans and
box, spare tire with chain and gas cans.
This diecast is really hard to find now and I
am ecstatic my cousin passed this on to me.
Many thanks to Kevin.
3 generations of the famous V8 Interceptor.
Top: Mad Max
Middle: Mad Max 2/Road Warrior
Bottom: Mad Max Fury Road due May 2015
Top photo is my diecast, so cool. Bottom
photo is the catalogue photo of the car with
all the accessories. These cars are very
hard to find now.
Diecast Mecca and More. 905-725-0403
VOL 2 ISSUE 6
JANUARY 2014
Classic Car Ads – „77 Plymouth Volare Roadrunner
By the late 70’s, auto manufacturers were under attack by the EPA. High oil prices
combined with skyrocketing insurance rates for young adults meant there were no REAL
muscle cars left. But Chrysler still trotted out the Roadrunner, under the “Volare” name with
a $4000 price. Unfortunately it was a “Roadrunner” in name only. There were scoops,
spoilers and bold striping, but that was all. These “image cars” were unfortunately, “all showno go” and the ’77 Volare Roadrunner was
exactly that. The first year Volare’s needed a
rework anyway since they were infamous for
being one of the most recalled cars in history.
Gone were the big engines of that era. No more
Hemi’s, 440’s or 383’s. The biggest engine you
could get in this car was a “smogger 360” – with
170 hp and a single exhaust or the 150 hp 318.
For either, you could only get a 2 bbl carb. The
318 came with either a 4 speed manual or 3
speed auto tranny. The 360 had a very sloppy
“slushbox”.
A year later the 360 got an
additional 25 hp from dual exhaust and an
electronic 4 bbl carb. The 318 got 10 hp with
the 4 bbl. By 1979, the final nail was fired into
the Volare coffin when they replaced the 318
with a 225 slant-six. Only one year later, the
plug was pulled with only 1000 units produced.
Muscle cars, some in name only were now
gone.
Hope you enjoyed this issue of Diecast
Mecca and More. All proceeds received
from “Diecast Mecca and More” are sent
to Sick Kids Hospital. The cruises are
over for the season but we will continue
to send monthly issues of Diecast Mecca
and More.
Hope to see you at
Megaspeed in Toronto, March 21, 22
and 23. If you know anyone who might
want to receive a copy of Diecast Mecca,
please email me and I will add them to
the mailing list.
Our email address is:
nissanfleet@sympatico.ca
Thanks for reading,
Diecast Mecca and More. 905-725-0403
Eric Lee
905-725-0403