After hearing the doorbell ring, I went outside to see who it was, and almost tripped over a little box that the mailman left by the front door. This was the box I had been waiting for! I excitedly ran into the house and used my keys to open the box. Sure enough, this was it! A $20 2005 Ford GT model by Jada. But before I start telling you about the fun involved in putting a “simple” model car together, I should begin with what I am doing with this model in the first place…
I love cars! Exotics, racecars, classics, you name it! However, my absolute favorite is the Ford GT. Every year, a group of GT owners (and I) get together in a different location for our annual Ford GT Forum rally. This year, we were going to have our 4th annual rally in
Unfortunately, I found myself out of a job just months before the rally. With my apartment lease soon to expire and basically a non-existent nest egg to live on, going to the rally this year would not be an option. That is, until my good friend Ralphie heard about it. He not only found a way for me to attend without spending a fortune on hotels and meals, but let me ride shotgun for part of the rally! :-) He did not want me to pay him back, so I had to think of another special way to say “thank you”.
I thought that making him a special miniature Ford GT that looked just like his would be a great gift, as well as a way for him to remember that event. And now, a week after ordering the GT model, the adventure begins…
After opening the box, I thought about the special features of Ralphie’s car that would not be included in the model. He has small American flags on each side of the car, a gold arrow on the front of the car pointing to the tow hook, and a Gurney bubble on top of the car. I think that’s it. The Gurney bubble looks like a giant contact lens on the car. (The photo to the left shows a Gurney bubble on the driver's side door of a Heritage GT.) Since the model is pretty small, I did consider using a real soft contact, but it would be too small and too breakable. Hmmm. After calling a car buddy for suggestions and spending a few hours on the Internet looking up plastic hemi-spheres and searching around the house for ideas, I was no closer to solving the Gurney bubble dilemma as I was before. :-(
I decided to stop by the local hobby store and see if they had anything I was looking for. After an hour of looking at fighter plane bubbles, round plastic containers and ships, I decided I would have to look elsewhere. However, just as I was getting ready to leave, I found small American flag decals of different sizes that reminded me of the ones on the sides of his red GT, so I purchased a set of those.
Then I hopped back in my car and took a ride down to Michael’s to see what I could find there. I had very little confidence of finding what I was looking for – whatever that might be – but it couldn’t hurt, right? Walking down the aisles, I saw stickers and decided to see if I could find anything resembling a gold arrow. I didn’t. However, I did see a bunch of butterfly stickers that had me thinking about the incredible migration of the monarchs attacking the front grills on the Ford GT’s in
So, I picked up a few of these butterfly stickers and will add them as a final memorable touch once the car is done – don’t worry; they are removable. I walked down each aisle trying to find anything that would resemble a Gurney bubble, and guess what I found? Googlie eyes of all different sizes! Since I did not bring the GT with me, I had to guess what size Google eyes to buy, and picked up 2 packs. Oh yes. These should do just fine for a Gurney bubble!!
And now, after spending ½ the day looking for “mods” for the mini-GT, I am ready to relax. Assembling the GT model will have to wait until tomorrow.
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