Showboat Dragster

Can you believe it? NHRA ban Nitro. Man what is the world coming to. So in the late 50's and early 60's the drag racers thought the only way to go faster was put more engines in the cars. This is the most extreme. TV Tommy Ivo built the Showboat in 1958 ran it in 1959 with a sprung front axle. The car was uncontrollable. Then in 1969 the Front axle was mounted solid to the frame. Low and behold it went straight. I saw this car run when I was a kid and was thrilled. It would spin all 4 slicks for the entire 1/4 mile. The speed was almost 180 MPH. Dude was that cookin'? The engine are 4 Buick nail heads. They are built end to end so act like 2 V16 engine instead of 4 V8's. The left engines drove the front end and the right drive the rear end.

This is the hardest kit I have ever built. The fit of the parts is terrible. The detail leaves lots to desire, but the feeling of well being when it is done is priceless.

I added spark plug wires and redid the fuel system plumbing. The molded fuel injection units left a lot to be desired. I filed away the molded fuel lines and made my own from craft wire. 26 guage. I dechromed alot of the parts and painted them instead. One of the hardest things to do was get the headers to line up.

I hope you enjoy the view as much as I enjoy the fact that it's done. LOL Really I might build it again. Now that my skills have improved I think I could detail it a little better.

Great representation of this car. Your added detail really make it shine and stand out! Keep up the great work Buck! I really like your work.

Thanks Jason. The following pictures are the car after the rebuild in 2012. Much better now.

I built this model in either 2002 or 2004 not sure which. I thought I would get it out and tune it up for the Portland Roadster Show. Then I got side tracked on that Furnace project and never did get it done in time. So I will show it at the Puyallup Elks "Model Car Sunday" next month.

As you drag racers know the original car was modified back in the 1960's with a Buick Special Station Wagon Body being added to the car. Tommy Ivo built a clone of the car and it has been shown on the show circuit for several years. There were some differences. As far as this model goes it was all in the fuel system. The original had Brass fittings on the lines and the clone has Red and Blue A&N Fittings. It looks prettier.

So Armed with 28 reference pictures of the clone I set to work. I scratch built a fuel tank. Then used .018" silver craft wire to make the lines. The Brass fittings are a #0 Crimp (something used in beading). The decals had wrinkled up on the first build so having a donor kit I painted a new body and added new decals. Nice and smooth this time.

The injector tubes are wire ferrules. I don't know what size they are. I measured the ones that were in the kit. These are .004" bigger in diameter and .010" taller.


Any way all questions and comments are welcome. Here are some pictures.

Thats sweet !! I have this kit and want to build the twin engine version with the sprung front end.

Stunning rebuild! Looks much purtier now. LoL Keep up the great work! Feels good to restore an ole classic don't it?

Awesome finished product!001  I too have this kit but want to build the station wagon version some day.