Anyone know much about the early Classic Motor Cariage bodies? Are they worth a hoot? I believe they later were marketed as Street Beast. Thanks in advance, I'd like to know more about the fibreglass bodies before I jump into anything. Steve
They are some of the biggest pieces of crap ever to be made out of fiberglass. Remember you give love a bad name,,,sing it to they give glass a bad name.HRP
Run, do not walk, away. They did not receive much negative press in the automotive mags--why? Look at the size and frequency of their ads.
Over the years they changed their name because their original name had such a bad rep. . Ah, hell rather than me go into some long winded repeat of what's been written just Google them and muddle through the hundreds of pages of what has been written on them. I think their biggest seller may have been the Gazelle which owners tend to believe is a Mercedes You tend to see those all over the place and they are crude but the owners seem to have fun with them.
There were people who bought various kits from them and didn't get all the parts to build them. They would wait and wait and some never did get everything they were promised. I heard one story where an irate customer went to their shop and removed a windshield from a Cobra kit car on display because they kept dragging their feet on getting him one. The biggest problem was that they would go out of business then reopen under a new name at the same location right after that. How they ever stayed in business I have no idea. Don
I've long thought there's potential in crappy old kit-car bits, if they can be had second-hand and cheap. The trick is not to expect it to fit like OEM or even decent repro stuff, but to think of it as obscure old stuff that won't fit anything but might with a bit of work. Then, go about de-faking: in the case of the abovementioned Gazelle, lose all pretentions to Mercedesness (or otherwise add lots of real say, '70s Mercedes parts and lots of fabrication in a '30s Mercedes idiom, i.e. study!). The aim is a hot rod where it's impossible to tell where the kit-car parts end and the real hot rod begins. There was a VW-based kit car called a GP Madison: I once had a neighbour who had one, and walking past the thing every day got me wondering about putting that body and rear fenders on a '32 Ford, keeping the Deuce shell and front fenders, etc. I did a sketch, with the body "de-sectioned" up to the stock Deuce firewall height. It actually worked quite well. I've got no idea where that sketch is now.
Wikipedia: Classic Motor Carriages was forced to close in 1994 after the Florida Attorney General's Office filed suit against it on behalf a several hundred of its customers. It agreed to pay $2.5 millon in compensation. At the same time as the case was proceeding a new company, Auto Resolutions, was set up by the owner George Levin to continue making Classic Motor Carriages vehicles trading under the name Street Beasts. Street Beasts closed its business in 2010 and auctioned off its plant, moulds, and machinery.
I have a buddy with one of their 34 bodies. It looks great! Oh, I forgot to mention, he is a professional body and paint man and spent at least three times as much time and materials as he would have needed on a decent body. He traded around on some cycle stuff and had all but zero in the car to start. He is still upside down in it, but he and his wife enjoy it.
If you park a CMC 34 car beside a real deal Henry 1934 they don't look alike at all. The fenders were made to the body like a cheap model car,,the grill is too wide,,the top and the rear looks entirely wrong. There are a lot of quality and well built glass body's available,,just do your homework when it comes time to spend your hard earned money. HRP
...........Any "seasoned" hot-rodder can spot one a mile away. They are just so wrong in so many ways. It's almost like the original designer of the CMC '34 Fords was going to great lengths to avoid paying licensing fees to Ford Motor Co!
HRP hit it on the head, the bodies are a lot like model cars, where the fenders are molded into the body. A friend had a 34 tudor that he did a really nice job on, It was bright red and he had things like a 347 stroker in it and nice wheels and tires. To the untrained eye it actually looked like a 34 Ford, but real car people knew the differences. He was able to sell it to a non car guy for good money because the guy just wanted something that looked like an old car but had a/c, modern power, and a comfy interior. For those kinds of owners I guess they are ok, but the resale value usually sucks. Don
I always feel kind of sorry for the owners when I see one. they think they have a HOT ROD but really they don't.
Guys; Thanks for all the input. I'm going to pass on this one and keep looking for "the real thing". You have ALL been a WEALTH of information. Thank you HAMB! MS Steve
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