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The Oft, Overlooked 1966 Ford GT-40 Mk II No. 4, on Display at the IMS Hall of Fame museum,
Circa 2012. (the Tomaso Collection)
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Another unforeseen impact of packaging the
top row of Diecasts, which were All Le Mans competitors over thou years, was
that I'd forgotten three of them had itsy-bitsy, teeny-weenie miniscule plastic
radio antennas, or is that Antennae?
Like Bloody Hell!
How in the Buggers' did they even attach said plastic antennas? As NO Jokes
here 'bout small Chinese Hands; Butterfingers...
Although I had ZERO idea which car I was
attempting to carefully wrap in a cocoon 'O tissue paper, I first tried cutting
the paper to go around said offending antenna, which was the size of a baby Douglas
fir's individual needle; CRIKEYS!
But the antenna kept moving around on Mwah,
so next I mistakenly tried poking it thru the tissue paper instead, as it kept rotating
around on me...
And as I attempted making the first of three
cars cardboard cutout "ski Ramps" to protect thou Antennae', and
almost having it in place, Yeah, Y'all know what happened, Eh? The DAMN Antenna
went Snap, Crackle, Pop; SHIT!
Reviewing the catalog list I'd made years
earlier, I discovered that I'd unfortunately broken the miniscule antenna off
my Porsche GT1 Diecast.
While fortunately for thee "Scottish
terrier," aka Allan McNish, he'd managed to win his first of three Le Mans
races twenty years ago, as he'd not had any radio issues to worry about; Hya!
Moving past my obvious Displeasure over
mangling one of my Diecasts, as they're really Not Designed for being Moved; but I digress... I moved along
to the next car with more FREAKIN' Antenna's, this time belonging to a lovely
Dodge Viper GTR/S, which not only was its antenna beefier', but I was also more
cautious in my attempt to package it up for transport. And successfully built
up a cardboard protection Ski Ramp, which surely Justin Bell would be proud of
my efforts, Mates!
Naturally, the third and final chassis with
Pain in thy Derriere' Antenna's was of a totally different design, as this is
another forgotten, and most likely unknown racing car. As I'd been Smitten with
Dr. Panoz's "Batmobile," a la the Panoz Esperante GTR-1 Coupe
edition, that raced at Circuit de la Sarthe Wayback in 1997.
As think it sports
Visteon sponsorship on It?
As I was a Fan of the Booming FoMoCo'
motivated Roush Racing built 6.0-litre naturally aspirated V-8 lump' propelling
it.
Although I'd either forgotten, or more likely was
unaware that Panoz commissioned a Q9 Hybrid version the following year...
As it's Diecast replica's antenna was simply
a small bulbulous affair pointed straight up, and was the easiest of the three
"Offending" chassis with replica antennae to wrap into its protective
shipping cocoon 'O three layers of tissue paper, followed by generous dosage 'O
Bubble-wrap - before being placed lovingly inside cardboard moving boxes; Aye
Karumba!
Having saved the final seven cars, which were
some of my most prized, along with being the only one's I'd painfully kept
their original "Shipping Crates" for future posterity.
Thus I began with another of the many Porsche
Sports Cars in my eclectic collection. This one being a wonderful Carousel 1
:"Hawaiian Punch;" Err Hawaiian Tropic Porsche 935 that finished
runner-up Overall in the 1979 Le Mans race, and sported the moniker PL Newman
above the door sill as one of its Pilotes'.
Although I'd long fawned over an Exoto
Martini Porsche 935, they'd long since disappeared, or were out of my price
range! So I settled on this fine Carousel example instead.
And I
was amazed at how Carousel had basically mimicked the Exoto packaging method.
And marveled over how the bottom half of the Styrofoam box had even cut out
space for the larger rear wheels!
Hmm? What's this spare piece of Styrofoam
for? And how in Bloody Hell does the top half of the box fit on? Before I
finally remembered when looking at; Uhm, feeling the box's inner surface that
Thar AIN'T any indentation for the 935's rear wing! Which at least isn't of
"Moby Dick" proportions; R'
Oh Yeah, I think the rear bonnet's removable;
Wallah! Ah Hah, that's what the tattered piece
'O tissue paper's for. Now realizing that the removed bonnet stores atop
the upper Styrofoam container and that spare piece goes over it for protection:
YIKES!
Then it was onto the row of Ford Exotica, a
Virtual Six Pack of Blue Oval History, which are my best vehicles, all being
from Exoto. Featuring three of 'Ol Shel's' Front engine Shelby Cobra Daytona
Coupes, which were a 'lil Dicey getting back into their potential individual
boxes, since I cannot read the print on the end of the box. Which is probably
why some of these made slight protests upon being crated.
And then finally, it was time to put the
NASTY, BAD ARSE 3 Car set of the 1966 Ford GT-40 Mark II's, which finished
1-2-3 back inside their case.
Although I'd kept the plethora of plastic
bits 'N screws used to secure these cars upon purchase, I'm long past being
able to SEE how to reattach each car. Not to mention trying to figure out how
the expanse of tissue paper inside said packing case covered these cars...
As Tacoma Bureau Chief Mary Ellen noted, they're
like Russian Nesting Dolls, for which I'd pack up Herr Schumacher's separately,
later .
As it was quite painful putting these
Beauty's back inside this monstrous Styrofoam box, which includes two snapping turtle':
Err plastic snap suitcase style straps!
As I'm hoping the cars survive intact, since
I couldn't bolt them back down, so they're loose in this case, although I tried
lightly packing some loose tissue paper at both ends, whilst Mary Ellen's been
most patient with Mwah, over keeping the box upright, and Not marking or taping
it...
Since after the Styrofoam's located
correctly, and the suitcase straps are re-mounted, albeit I needed to loosen
one. It was time to slide this into the first of two slip covers, being of
plain white.
Then a coloured slip cover with the word
Exoto cut out into it goes on next, before it's slid into the third and final outer
packing/slip cover; Aye Karumba!
As naturally this made me think of Dan Gurney, who
just passed away this January, which I previously lamented in;
Or Y'all can check out those Narly, Boomin' Seven
litre thunderin' Ford Big Block 427cid V-8's in action on this Youtube video,
which itself weighs in at a Hefty 13mins and 21seconds...
As Good luck
finding this year's 24 Heurs du Mans race on the Velocity Channel...
(Photo c/o No Fenders ‘Offical Photographer
CARPETS')
