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The Expendables 1955 Ford F100 |
| Base | Matchbox 1956 Ford F100 |
| Mods | Extensive body and chassis mods, new interior and glass, wheel swap. |
| Card | 5th Gen card w/rounded corners & punch, 2014, JS033, EXP-01 |
| Qty Made | 26 incl Prototype |
I started working on this project in late November, 2013. Again, I had sort of underestimated the amount of work that was going to go into this. The real trucks were heavily modified and customized. Nobody made a 1955 Ford model so Matchbox's 1956 Ford was the closest and most detailed. Originally I planned to cut off the roof of each truck, resin cast a roof/glass section in clear and then paint it to match the body. Once I made the roof section I realized that blending it into a diecast body each time and then having to grind off door handles, gas cap and fill in the hood vents, etc. was going to be entirely too much trouble. It just made a lot more sense to do it right once and then make a body mold. The downside to that is I then had to dissect the roof section and make a separate glass section to mate with the new roofline.
Once the body and glass were created, the truck felt too light, so I added lead buckshot to the chassis to give it a little heft. The wheels are from a Corvette Grand Sport. They are exactly like the ones on the real truck, even with a little chrome rim. I had some help rounding up enough for this project. Thankfully they were released back to back in 2 waves. Assuming I could paint them correctly, I bought a bunch of Acura NSXs that have the same wheels but with a yellow rim. I decided that didn't look as good so I kinda got stuck with like 15 of them, which I'm now trying to unload on eBay :)
After all the work getting it looking right, I figured I'd better make an interior to match. The seats were from a Matchbox Porsche Boxster and the rest was scratch built. There was a tv show that showcased how the trucks were built for the movie which proved really useful. Thank goodness for Youtube!
The hood tubes and exhaust system are real 1/16" aluminum tubing. Looks very authentic! The paint was a special process of primer, 2 coats of thin flat black, then a final coat of 'bumper coating' for that perfect matte- but not flat- black color.
All in all I chewed through about 60 cars to make these trucks.
I finished the series on 3/6/2014.
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