It was the mid-to-late '70s when I first saw the T-Bone Stake on a Revell Master Modelers' Club membership card, and it's stuck with me ever since. Over the years, I sketched several different variants of the rear-engined horseless-carriage - most being Volkswagen power - but the little C-cab stake truck was always at the top of the list. In November, I had the chance to trade for a partially-built T-Bone Stake, and I jumped at it.

Starting with the chassis, I cut away the supports for the running boards/fenders and the front spring perch/headlight mount. I shortened the rear engine/transmission mount and installed Evergreen plastic tubing to replicate a torsion housing before I installed the Tamiya Candy Lime-painted VW Type 3 drivetrain/suspension from the Monogeam Lil' Van dune buggy. Staying with the torsion bar theme, I pirated the front suspension from a Barris T-Buggy, but kept the control arms from the T-Bone Stake, albeit turning them on their sides.

The basic body structure remained kit-stock, though I replaced the front gas filler cap with a parts-box motometer. In my version, the front "hood" would only house a battery, brake and clutch master cylinders and the steering shaft. Since I had decided on the "Vitamin C" theme, I painted the entire body with Testors spray lacquers, fading from Grabber Orange at the bottom to Daytona Yellow at the top. No airbrush on this one - I did it low tech, the spray-bomb way, before overcoating it with Tamiya Clear Gloss.

The little truck included Lime, Orange and Lemon, but I still needed a way to re-inforce my theme. Augmenting the pickup is a shortened rear payload from an AMT '25 T Fruitwagon that I scored back in March of '04. I painted the fruit by drybrushing a lot of acrylic colors, then over-coating the wood with Testors Turn Signal Amber enamel. This gives some real "life" to the wood, and is a tip I've been happy to use for the last two or three years. To finish off the theme, I modified and painted the shift knob to resemble a lemon.

Finishing touches include headlights, hand-brake and gauges from the Monogram Fire Iron, Gas tank from the aforementioned Lil Van, scratchbuilt windwings, front brakes from the motorcycle included in the R-M Harley Edition Ford F-150, and wheels/tires from the Revell Mysterion.

All it took was three weeks of work and almost thirty years of waiting, but I now have a dream car in my collection, and a "holy grail" marked off my list.

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