The Minnesota Street Rod Association’s annual Back to the ’50s Weekend celebrated its 49th year on Friday, June 23 through Sunday, June 25, 2023. Nearly 10,000 street rods, customs, classics, and restored vehicles dating from 1964 and older blanketed the streets of the Minnesota State Fairgrounds for the three-day event filled with automobiles, fun, music, and a scale model contest. More than 70 participants from across the U.S. showcased 218 models. Awards were presented in 16 judged categories and People’s Choice. Plus, this year, “Big Daddy” Ed Roth’s son, Cody Roth, presented special awards for his favorite “Roth Picks.” Here’s a sampling of what there was to see!
Tom Thoren of Minnetonka, Minnesota, built his custom ’59 Ford Galaxie convertible using an AMT 1/25 scale kit as a starting point. He augmented it with Continental skirts, louvers, and hood scoop. He draped the Galaxie in Tamiya Metallic Blue from the spray can.
This 1/24 scale ’69 ½ Dodge Super Bee A12 has a Revell-Monogram kit at its core, but Toby Halliday detailed the engine with plug wires, fuel line, and battery cable, and upgraded the tires and wheels with aftermarket goodies from Fireball Modelworks. He airbrushed the auto paint and finished with a 2K clear.
Ben Mossing’s ’32 Ford “El Mirage” racer rides on a ’34 Ford truck frame with a transverse leaf rear suspension. He modeled an Ardun OHV V8 engine up front and detailed with 3D-printed parts he designed, including license plates and a Fram-style oil filter.
Bob Hood transferred the suspension from a Revell ’29 Ford and the Hemi engine from a ’63 Nova to complete this sharp 1934 Ford hot-rod pickup. He painted the body Tamiya Metallic Blue lacquer straight from the can.
MPC’s 1/25 scale Racers Wedge saw some modifications at the hands of Paul Seppi. He got rid of the ’79 Chevy pickup cab and replaced it with a Dodge instead. Green enamels finished the job.
Troy Stahnke plumbed and wired the engine on his Revell 1/16 scale ’34 Ford coupe. The velocity stacks are turned aluminum, and he replaced the kit wheels and tires with 3D-printed resin.
Scott Glatstein loves to surprise, and what a surprise this little Gunze Sangyo Hi-Tech 1/24 scale 1955 Messerschmitt KR200 is! Built out of the box, Scott painted it with Splash Race Red under a 2K clear. He says the biggest challenge was lining the body with steel wire trim and the kit’s photo-etched metal details.
Does someone hear Motley Crue playing? This Monogram 1/24 scale ’39 Chevy sedan delivery wears color-changing fingernail polish and Parts by Park plug wires courtesy of Kevin Athmann from St. Cloud, Minnesota.
Austin Dean, 16, has become a regular at model car contests in the last couple of years. This time, he brought his custom AMT 1/25 scale 1963 Corvette. He’s added his own intake, airhorns on top, and upholstered the interior with felt.
Built box stock, this AMT 1/25 scale Ghostbusters Ecto-1 materialized with the arrival of Henry Haggenmiller. He, obviously, “ain’t 'fraid of no ghost.”
Scott Haggenmiller’s black Polar Lights 1/25 scale ’61 V-dub Beetle represents a 1/1 car he owns. He heated the front suspension to lower it to match his full-sized car, hand-painted the interior with Testors acrylic, and spray-painted the body.
“I installed felt for carpeting, necklace chain for tailgate supports, and full plumbing and wiring,” Mark Reilly says of his Revell 1/25 scale 1929 Ford pickup street rod. He gave the body a few coats of Testors Flat Black enamel from the spray can.
Brady Wallskog wowed with his 1/25 scale 1956 Ford Thunderbird. He scratchbuilt and flocked the interior, jammed a 3D-printed twin-turbo billet Toyota engine between the front wheel wells, and dropped it all on top of Aoshima 20-inch wheels and tires. That’s before talking about how he cut open the trunk and scratchbuilt the subwoofer box. The color is Splash Paints Ice Green, airbrushed on with a topcoat of 2K clear.
Jim Kampmann lowered the suspension and installed plug wires on his Revell 1/25 scale 1957 Ford Custom. He painted the two-tone scheme with Testors and Tamiya paints to match a car he’d seen at previous Back to the '50s shows. “The kit is engineered very well and goes together nicely,” Jim said.
This Revell 1/25 scale 1940 Ford Custom convertible with the nice Tamiya Racing White and Camel Yellow fade came to the show with Cameron Jamison. His first time painting a fade effect, Cameron nailed it with an airbrush and decanted spray paint over Tamiya primer.
Bill Read built a Revell 1/25 scale Foose FD-100 pickup out of the box and painted it Tamiya Black before hitting it with clear and polishing.
Wesley Dean, 12, rumbled in with this big, ol’ 1953 Ford F-100. “It has a shortened Chevy frame and a 440 Hemi,” he said, “I thought it was cool that it had a Chevy frame, a Ford body, and a Mopar engine.” He built the flatbed out back with real wood.
This Moebius Models 1/25 scale 1952 Hudson Hornet reminds us of smooth, rich, vanilla ice cream — understated and elegant. Steve Helfman built this model out of the box.
Cal Wood’s Lindberg 1/25 scale Parnelli Jones dirt modified racer sports various parts from his spares box and houses a Lincoln engine from an AMT kit. He custom-mixed lacquers for the right color and sprayed it with his Paasche airbrush.
Immaculate paint and a clean build elevate Jeff Johnson’s factory-stock 1/25 scale 1959 Chevy Impala. Besides the MCW Harbor Blue and Frost Blue lacquers, Jeff employed Detail Master photo-etched metal details, “lots of Bare-Metal Foil,” wire, and tubing. “I had never built a factory-stock kit before, so this was a fun first,” he said.
Deb Salmon built her “Tipsy” vintage race car from an AMT 1/25 scale ’29 Ford Model A kit. The decals came from her spares box, and the bright color is Testors Light Turquoise from the spray can.
The Revell 1/25 scale 1932 Ford high boy kit comes with a Chevy engine, and Jim Allen decided against that. Instead, he swapped in a Ford engine, wired it, and brought over steel wheels from a Revell ’29 Ford kit. Why? To make a simple, no-chrome, easy-to-maintain street rod.
“Take your parts box and have fun,” John Robinette said. “Rat rods have no rules!” His 1/25 scale rat is a kitbashed and spares box mishmash with a 1930 Ford touring frame, Chevy 427 with turbo, seat backs from a 1966 Chevy, a firewall covered in license plates, German cross decals on the doors, and 1955 Chevy hood trim.
Dean Kuiteunen opened the trunk and modified the interior to model a late-80s hobby stock dirt track car. He painted the body — even the sponsor markings — and interior with Tamiya acrylics and lacquers.
This AMT 1/25 scale 1965 Plymouth Barracuda built by Tyler Halliday grips the pavement with pie-crust cheater slicks wrapped around steel wheels from a ’78 Dodge pickup. Up front, Torque Thrust mags from a Revel ’57 Ford gasser steer this street machine. The finish is Dupli-Color Gold Metallic with 1K clear over the top.
Clayton Birkeland opted for different wheels, transmission, and license plates than the ones supplied with his AMT 1/25 scale 1958 Edsel. Other than that, it's just a rattle-can paint job and a straightforward build.