Ah, springtime! (Here in Australia) Warmer temperatures, more sunshine, longer days, occasional showers, and lots of new growth. Not so much flowers yet, but plenty of weeds – so that means plenty of time outdoors. Fresh air, sunshine… and aching knees.
This year my son came to take care of the pruning for us. And the trees seem to be responding well to the attention, with lots of blossom on the fruit trees, followed by bursts of green leaves.
Well, on some of the trees. The stone fruits seem to blossom first: plums, apricots and nectarines springing forth a mist of white blossom, while the peach blossom is more of a pale pink. The apples and pears will come in later.
So with thoughts of springtime blossoms, let’s take a look at some white cars today. Some are more of an off-white, and I’m going to concentrate on ones we haven’t seen yet. It’ll be rather a mixture of subjects, along the lines of the CC Cohort.
More of an ivory, this ’37 Chevy convertible. One of those models I need to re-photograph.
I’ve shown a ’41 Plymouth before; I can’t remember whether it was the ivory one. Might have been the red one. Or the brown.
Blossom isn’t always white, so that gives me the perfect chance to slip in this Hudson. Its green roof matches the leaves, you see.
Another one of my favourite shapes, this ’60 Galaxie Starliner. Might do a story just about ’60 Fords sometime. I’ve built enough…
Not quite white, this ’62 Pontiac is parked by my back door. A good place for it. As usual for Australia, we only got four-doors. And ours were Cheviacs, too, not the real McCoy.
I’m on the fence about these Plymouths. The front end is fantastic, but I’m not so enthusiastic about the rear. I built this one about fifty years back; that silver trim was all hand-painted using Humbrol enamel and a #0 brush. We’re spoilt these days with adhesive chrome foil!
This Fairlane was originally a Thunderbolt drag car, but I bought an aftermarket conversion kit (flat hood, bench seat, wheel covers and whitewalls), dropped in an early small-block and painted it ’64 Ford Phoenician Yellow with a beige interior.
Does my rear end look big in this? White seems to accentuate this ’66 Galaxie’s size.
Plain white Nova, fresh off the transporter. Just don’t lift the hood; it’s a COPO car. 427…
What did they call this, was it Old English White? Whenever I think of the E-type, this is how I picture it.
More off-white, this Mercedes 450SLC is an old Otaki motorised kit. Apparently these early Japanese kits are quite sought after by Japanese modellers nowadays.
Here’s a Nissan Silvia S14 (240SX), as modified by Autech. I gather they’re a sort-of semi-factory tuning house, perhaps a step up from Nismo. Or considering some of Nismo’s work, maybe a step sideways.
Ford’s GT90 concept car – quite a riot of edges and curves. Doesn’t look like a thirty-year-old design.
This one’s a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V, as modified by the tuning house Mine’s. Strange name, but the white with segmented upper-body stripes seems to be their style. I have some other Mine’s cars, but one’s enough for today.
Nissan Elgrand. Quite popular as used imports here. Rear drive V6, body-on-frame, but all the comfort and luxury you could want. There’s one just like this in my town.
We’ll finish up with some mad graphics! You wouldn’t miss seeing this Lancer Evo VII Ralliart on the road. Definitely not the usual 1.8 automatic!
Next time: more big block bruisers.
Blossom time in OZ used to see me finishing off pruning fruit trees and start blossom thinning stone fruit trees, there are nearly as many whites as there are greys when it comes to paint and trying to match them, I spent a couple of weeks making fresh battle scars disappear on some rental trucks all of them were white not all of them were the same white, Isuzu and Hino are quite different by model Toyota 101 is the easiest to get they havent changed it in 20 years and suits Hinos, Isuzus had to be matched, they all passed return inspection nobody could see where the filler was.
A friend of mine has a V6 Elgrande in white, nice to ride in and it goes along well same engine 3.5 as Skylines
Yes, a friend took the long bed off his Ranger to fit a short bed with a big chassis-mount tool box. The short bed he got from the wrecker (for the same model) was a different white from the cab – didn’t expect that! You’d wonder why they’d bother. Like he said to me, you;d think white was white! Trust good ol’ no-nonsense Toyota to keep the same white for their appliances!
A coupe of thoughts.
I have some model cars l need to finish restoring. They are the remnants of an extensive collection I once had. Must have built over 200 cars going back to my elementary school days. A few really nice cars are behind me on the shelf. We’re in a garage suite now so I’ve not got a lot of room to be displaying my cars. I’ve also been toying with the thought of buying a couple of kits to keep me busying this winter. Speaking of which, now officially Autumn in Canada the leaves are changing and we’re not looking forward to the white stuff coming (hopefully not until mid-December). Ugh! At least in the Calgary area we don’t usually get many heavy snowfalls.
Thanks for your post Peter. I want to bring out the paints and glue soon.
Garry, I am in awe (and perhaps a wee bit jealous) of the Canadian autumn. I had a friend in Nova Scotia who passed on earlier this year; we’d been exchanging calendars for about 20 years, and I was always delighted to see the autumn photos. There might be a handful of towns in my state that could put on an average Canadian autumn display.
Out here we’re on the edge of untouched native bushland, and renwned for our sugar gums. Apart from my fruit trees (and rose bushes) it’s only the ornamental trees in High Street which drop their leaves. But on the way into town there’s a village in a high-sided river valley which is renowned locally for the autumn display.
All the best for your restoration work.
Nice shot of the 62 Pontiac. Great selection of all these cars. Of the hundreds or thousands you must have built.
Thanks Lee. Normally I’ll shoot them on the bench, but I’ve taken a few outdoors, usually when I expect the sunlight will give an especial lift to the paint. Like on this Cuda, in (IIRC) a Kawasaki green, which really seems to be excited when the light hits it.
Hundreds or thousands – well, I’ll admit to, hmm, about 1200, though I don’t know for certain.
Looking at these models makes me realize how nice off-white and ivory can be for car colors. Similar to plain white, but so much more expressive. The Pontiac and the ’41 Plymouth look great in these off-white colors.
Also, I think it’s amusing that there are model kits of the Nissan Elgrand – I love it.
Thanks Eric. It’s really amazing what the Japanese choose to make models of, but equally amazing what they don’t. I’ve no idea whether it’s a reflection of a vehicle’s popularity in Japan or maybe how hard it is to work with a given manufacturer. Plenty of Nissans and Toyotas exist, but few Mazdas other than the MX5/Miata or RX7 – no sedans or hatches. I’d love to have built my ’05 3, but no. Luxury vans like the Elgrand seem popular subjects; the Toyota equivalents also seem popular (except with me), even to the point of having know custom houses’ versions available as models!
And it you have time to kill, a look at a Japanese website like plazajapan.com will show all sorts of unlikely subjects.
So now, instead of doing some writing tonight, I fell down the plazajapan.com rabbit hole. Some fascinating stuff there… both cars and otherwise. I never thought I’d see a model of an early Mazda Familia sedan, but there it is. Thanks for the entertainment tonight!
And that’s just one Japanese online shop!
I think that Familia was a joint project between Fujimi and Academy of South Korea, where it was assembled as the Kia Brisa. The kit seems the same except for grille, lights and badges. Academy has done a few more modern Kias and Hyundais. No I haven’t built any!
While it doesn’t seem that long ago that the blossom was arriving, it’s now almost half a year ago: even too late to pick fruit now (guess the next lot of Damson jam will have to wait until 2026).
Yes, so many whites: Glacier, Diamond, Snowberry, Monaco, Polar, Foam, Old English, Arctic, Grecian, Fossil to name just a few. I guess if you have pure white in the middle most other whites tend to either grey or cream.
Here you’ve certainly given us a grand selection, Peter, colours, makes and ages, all beautifully built and finsihed. Locally I reckon it’s either the Evo or the Elgrand is probably I’ve see most often, though the latter are usually metallic grey or similar.
Thanks Bernard. I tended to think of white as white (and rarely use it), but car manufacturers certainly seem to find ways to vary it. But it’s only when we see one white car alongside another white car that we tend to notice the differences. Otherwise it’s like my eyes go “white, meh, nothing to see here…” and go looking for something colourful.
With each year that passes I get more in touch with my surroundings, possibly because I’m spending less time online and more time in the garden. At the moment the rain is pouring down, but I’m always amazed how persistent the blossom is. It’ll hang on until it’s good and ready despite the wind, despite the rain. Our fruit trees know their job, and they do it!
Since writing today’s piece the pear has started blossoming, and buds are just appearing on the early apples (we have six varieties). I’ll have to go and brave the rain soon, as the poultry are complaining.
Yes white blossom, my shire council loves white blossom, I think they are ornamental pears, and they are everywhere. Yes there is a place for them, in parks, peoples gardens, down the main street they look good, beautiful in Autumn, Thankfully the town is surrounded by state forests, where I walk everyday for some respite from them. End of rant.
White cars, I should be sick of them, I have owned a lot, but on older cars I think it looks nice.
A former coworker had a depressingly dark blue early 2000s Honda Civic, then one day I saw a white one, what a difference it made, so much brighter and cheerful somehow.
Love the 2 Plymouths, I half built the 41, but its long gone now.
The 62s are polarizing but was the first of what was to be some great cars to come. I think the Valiant like styling works much better on this size of car, and for once I actually prefer the 4 door.
We get prunuses (pl?) in my town, or birdberries as the kids used to call them. Last year I almost had a head-on with a rainbow lorikeet that came blasting out of the foliage of one as I approached on foot. The native species seem to really like them.
Funny how an unexpected colour can cause you to re-evaluate a design, even if it is white. I do have a dark blue Civic like you coworker’s one – but I’ll spare you…
I did want that to be “pruni”, as it sounds amusing (like some ocular condition got by too much time sunbaking), but alas, it’s just prunus for singular and plural.
Sandy Stone (aka Barry Humphries), as part of an hilarious recounting of a picnic near the Ballarat Floral Clock – Beryl ends up falling over the big hand chasing an errant wrapping – described himself and his wife Beryl “picknicking with our thermos, and the other couples with their thermi..”
Earlier today on CC, JPC wrote about a Ford Country Squire, and the fact that the classic color for those vehicles seemed to be white. In response, I made some comment about how white doesn’t do many older cars any favors given that white tends to highlight flaws and damage.
I’ll take all that back in relation to scale model cars. In fact, I think that these white models look even more realistic than the the various multi-colored models that you’ve featured in previous posts (and I love those!). I don’t know what it is, but white suits these and doesn’t make them pop in the way colors do…and that may lend to the realism. The 1962 Pontiac photo could pass for photo of a full-sized car if I didn’t know otherwise.
I’m jealous that it’s Spring down there. Just getting used to the idea that it’s Fall here and buckling in for the Winter that must surely follow.
Thanks Jeff. The problem with doing a model white is that unless it’s especially shiny, it ‘can’ just look like you didn’t paint the plastic. I’ll admit some of my colour choices are a bit out there to the point of being unrealistic (metallic purple ’59 El Camino) but that’s nothing compared to what some guys do.
That’s why I’m more inclined to use an off-white, pearl white (the Elgrand) or a bright white with lots of graphics. Just makes things a bit more visually interesting.
This is a very nice selection of models in various shades of white and white-adjacent! My favorites are the ’41 Plymouth, ’54? Hudson, and ’62 Pontiac.
Thanks, Yep, the Hudson’s a ’54.
I’ve always been a white car fan, although it’s essentially all coincidence that our three primary cars/vehicles are all white. It shows off the lines of a car rather than decorating it. That works better with some than others; the ’60 Ford Starliner looks good in white (and black).
And here’s that Starliner in black… 🙂
Tough to pick a favorite car or model here, but I think the best photo is the Nova. That low natural light just makes that one pop. With the other models in the dark background it feels like you’ve just opened the door at a warehouse full of cars.
That Nova shot was taken on my old ‘workbench’ in the study, with the low morning sun coming in from the left. I can’t get the natural light directly onto my bench like that now. Warehouse full of cars – yeah, it is a bit like that around here!
Every time I read one of your postings, Mr Wilding, I am astounded at the cars in your collection. Could you perhaps do an article that provides an overview of your fleet? How many cars there are, how long you have been building models, etc… I’d love to learn more.
Thanks John. An overview, eh? I kind of started off this series that way two-and-a-bit years ago.
here: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/uncategorized/cc-in-scale-welcome-to-my-daydream-part-1/
and here: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/miniatures-toys/cc-in-scale/
Basically, I’ve been building about 55-60 years, have somewhere around 1200 completed models, mostly 1/24 and 1/25 scale, all sorts of subjects (except drag or F1 cars), with the occasional non-automotive model as well. I covered my build process earlier this year. Usually I build CC-spec (or factory stock), sometimes with mild customization (usually limited to wheel swaps and mild engine upgrades). Oh, and sometimes odd colours. I’m a fairly private person, so no website, no you-tube channel. 🙂
I wouldn’t have guessed it before seeing your selections, but I’m taken by the cream shades. It seems each design you’ve applied them to wears the chosen color pretty gracefully. That Fairlane is an eye-catcher (but so are the ’41 Plymouth and the Pontiac in your driveway). Now I know cream shades are versatile. Interesting.
Somewhere I have a ’50 Olds model in cream, but I haven’t seen it for about ten years. It’s packed away somewhere in the shed, but my decreasing mobility makes it harder to get to things.
I can’t really claim credit for the Fairlane as it’s a Ford colour from that year, but I will take a bow for the Plymouth and the Pontiac, thank you.
As Eric mentioned, off-whites can be really nice. There’s a ’60’s Wimbledon White that Ford had (looked cream to my unreliable eyes) which was especially nice.
The curse of white, though, is its undying popularity in this country. It’s still by far the most popular color, and on moderns, it has no shiny bits edging or highlighting it. At least it tones down the sheer aggro in so many current car faces, I guess.
You like the ’60 Fords? I am glad you stoically defend, though I would politely hazard that your total band of fellow admirers might well be fully accomodated four-to-a-bench inside one.
Jeff Sun is right: the ’62 Pontiac photo could easily be a real car. Especially in Oz too, because none of the folks who could afford the big US machines EVER bought one in a flashy color.
Our single prunus in the backyard used to supply enough fruit for a whole year’s jam. Hated picking it, though. They’re hard to climb, and scratchy as buggery. And the blossoms are lovely, but used to swell up my nose, so between memories of abrasions and snot, I still regard them with a certain wariness.
Justy, there can be so many whites. The paint I use most often nowadays, Tamiya, has Pure White (the Ralliart Evo), Racing White (the ’60 Ford) Pearl White (the Elgrand) and US Navy Insignia White (which is more of a very pale grey, and matt into the bargain). I agree Wimbledon White had more of a creamish look to it, so if it’s your eyes then I share that ailment.
If I do a story on my ’60 Ford models, I’ll warn you beforehand so you can do something else that day. Personally I find the “Falcon + 40%” styling quite pleasing on the hardtops, less so on the sedans. But then you could probably count on one hand the number in this country (guesstimate only). Maybe I’ll cover some other multi-model cars first to give you a break from seeing them again- like, say, ’39-40 Fords, or ’56 Fords, or gen 2 Corvairs…
And yes, as the big US cars sold up against big Rovers, Humbers and the like down here, buyers with the ready tended to be older, had made their fortune and were more likely to be conservative in their colour choice. Besides, there was more than enough chrome to go around on the big Chevs and Pontiacs, they didn’t need bright colours too, surely? 🙂
Out of maybe 80 unbuilt model planes that I have I only have two model cars. The last aircraft I built was in 2001 then got busy on other hobbies. The last car built was maybe 1967 before I got interested in the real thing. The two models I currently have are Fords from the later 60s.
PS: I do love your work, Peter.
Thanks tbm3fan. Planes are something I’ve never been into. They’re way outside my areas of knowledge, and as with tanks and ships, there’s something in me that balks at the idea of ‘it has to be this colour’. With a non-racing car you can add personal touches and still be ‘correct’!
I (still!) haven’t built that ’67 Shelby, but here’s the ’68. Not white. 🙂