Howard Cohen happened across the real Surf Woody after its retirement, which wasn’t going very well. Shortly after this candid shot, help arrived and a thorough restoration was initiated. Now in recovery, Surf Woody is savoring life, one day at a time. (Photo Courtesy Howard Cohen)
Monogram # PC108-150, 1965, 1/24 scale, Designed by Darryl Starbird, Re-issued 1967
Starbird strikes again with the aptly named Futurista. Three-wheelers and air-cooled engines never really caught on, but Darryl’s forward vision caught everyone off guard. Built expressly for Monogram, they stepped up with a bonus engine display stand to better study the misunderstood flat-four Volkswagen power plant. Believed to be a shoe-in for Oakland’s 1963 Tournament of Fame award, a scale trophy was included in the first run of the kit, but was quickly pulled when Futurista was upset by Cushenbery’s Silhouette. (Photo Courtesy Dave’s Show Rod Rally)
Monogram boss Jack Besser commissioned Starbird to design and build a showstopper and the kid from Kansas delivered beyond anyone’s expectation. Futurista was a sensation on the circuit and Besser had yet another hit on his hands. By now (1965), the kit manufacturers were making double the money from models of custom cars than they ever did from the promotional Detroit offerings they started with. Starbird’s previous stylized take on his old Thunderbird (Predicta, in 1964) was his final nod to OEM design paradigms, now parked in the dusty shadow of Futurista. Neither Starbird nor Monogram ever looked back. The future had arrived.
Howard Cohen’s Futurista, on display at his Toronto, Ontario, home. The “Delta Shape” referenced on the box art implies triangular Delta Wing aircraft technology that was typical at the time of Starbird’s inspiration. Futurista never flew, but looked cool at cruising speed. (Photo Courtesy Howard Cohen)
Revell # H-1240:200, 1965, 1/25 scale, Designed by Ed Roth/Ed Newton, Re-issued 1999
If the little board toter isn’t cool enough on its own, how about this fantastic box art? Bob Paeth at Revell acknowledges they threw in the highly detailed “Tiki Hut” and three surfboards just to fill the box so consumers wouldn’t feel cheated. The original 1965 kit is an accurate reproduction of the full-scale car (if Surfite can be considered full scale) and all pieces are high quality. Revell was in its prime in 1965 and this kit proves it. The re-issue suffers quality-control issues. A 1/12-scale kit (Revell’s first) was released in 1993. (Photo Courtesy Dave’s Show Rod Rally)
Howard Cohen’s Surfite appears very similar to how Roth’s real deal looked at myriad car shows: forlorn, in the bare corner of a concrete building. Roth didn’t require (or care about) grandiose show displays; his cars spoke for themselves. (Photo Courtesy Howard Cohen)
From modest beginnings at an L.A.–area wrecking yard, Ed Newton redesigned Roth’s 1962 Austin Mini into the world’s coolest surfboard hauler. Newt’s first design to be realized in full scale was such a total stunner, Revell couldn’t get it scaled fast enough. Alas, after a mad thrash, kits hit the shelves, but sales were somewhat disappointing. Roth blamed The Beatles: “That was the beginning of the end of hot rodding as we knew it. [Model] Sales went down, and Lew Glaser died.” Lew’s wife, Royel, continued to rule Revell with an iron fist (albeit with tasteful nail polish) and sales held steady through the 1960s.
MPC # 507-200, 1966, 1/25 scale, Designed by Carl Casper, Re-issued 1982 as Demon Vette
This is light-years away from Casper’s first custom, Exotic Empress. Or maybe not. First built in 1956 by a 15-year-old Casper, Exotic Empress was eventually a radical chopped and hardtopped 1951 Chevy fastback with an outrageous interior treatment. Its influence is tangible throughout Casper’s work and on Turbo Shark in particular. (Photo Courtesy Carl Casper)
Another “show rod” built on a production chassis (a 1964 Corvette this time) that snuck into the party. But man, what a crazy body! Casper’s fastback GT styling and Mako Shark–ish fender treatments were matched by such period exotica as turbocharging and stylized red velvet and pearl seats, stitched by Casper himself. The red plexiglass top insert enhanced interior ambiance. MPC’s kit included a 25-piece open trailer for kit-bash bait (also available in various other 1966 Chevy kits). The Turbo Shark kit was released in white and re-issued in black plastic as Demon Vette in 1982 (sans trailer and Cragars).
Casper’s staff buys his kits when they find them, then master modeler Michael Wazny assembles them to championship-caliber specs at the Kruse Automotive and Carriage Museum in Auburn, Indiana, alongside Casper’s show rod collection. Yes, Carl still has every one of the show cars, race cars, antique cars, and horse-drawn carriages that he ever built. (Photo Courtesy Carl Casper)
Casper also built his cars to be drivable. Imagine the impact that the real Turbo Shark made upon pulling into burger joints on Saturday nights at the dawn of the 1970s. Far out! (Photo Courtesy Carl Casper)
The 1982 re-issue, sporting its new Demon Vette moniker and updated graphic treatment. Besides building “crazy cars to satisfy the voracious appetites of model car fans,” Casper has played a pivotal role in establishing the national car show circuits, promoted several long-running shows and model contests, built myriad custom cars to stock said show floors, and pursued a successful professional drag racing career in his “spare time.” (Photo Courtesy Dave’s Show Rod Rally)
Aurora # 486-98, 1966, 1/32 scale, Designed by George Barris, Re-issued 2013 by Round 2/Polar Lights in 1/25 scale, 2014 by Aoshima
No scale show rod display is complete without a Batmobile. Legend has it Aurora’s molds were too worn-out to produce re-issues when their original kits quickly sold out, but Round 2 has now re-issued Batmobile, as well as Batcycle, Batman Batmobile Deluxe kit (including Batman and Robin figures), and even a snap-together kit, all under the Polar Lights banner, in 1/25 scale. Previous to the re-issues, builders pieced together spare Lincoln Futura parts with Batmobile conversion kits from resin casters such as Skyhook Models. Hard cores may scoff, but many collectors are displaying gennie Batmobiles right alongside the above kits, and even some