Built by: Ira Dahm in Cotati, California

The FANTA - C was designed to be a little Custom Beach Buggy, inspired by Ed Roth's "Surfite". I imagined this little Surf Buggy would be powered by a Hydrogen engine, so I added an exhaust pipe from an old MPC "Zinger" Kit. Most of the parts for the FANTA - C are from Revell Monogram's Pie Wagon. The front end is from the AMT 1965 Corvette. The seats, wheels and "Flame Tread" Tires are from Revell's Sidewinder Show Truck. Revell's "Road Agent" by Ed Roth supplied the hood ornament and wild roof fins. The rear axle is from Monogram's Cherry Bomb.

First the top of the Pie Wagon was chopped, 1/4" at the front and 1/16" at the rear/top. Then the front of the body was cut off 1/2" in front of the windshield. I removed the gas tank and pie rack supports from the Pie Wagon's floor. Then I filled the holes with sheet plastic and putty. This gave me a flat area behind the seats. The flat area was then fit with a plastic "diamond" pattern piece, cut from a plastic tray found in a package of cookies.

The Pie Wagon body was then glued together with the interior floorboard in place. I cut the front end off an AMT 1965 Corvette and then narrowed it by an inch to match the width of the front of the Pie Wagon. This area was then ground down with the Dremel Tool to make the Corvette and the Pie Wagon contours line up. Then sheet plastic and putty was used to blend the body sections together.

Next I needed a surf board, so I carved one from sheet plastic. I added the "Road Agent" roof fins and then cut a slot in the roof for the surf board. A small surf board shelf was then added in the interior to hold it steady. Some of the indentations in the bottom of the Pie Wagon were filled with sheet and strip plastic. The Pie Wagon front axle mount was cut from the discarded front/bottom section of the body and attached right behind the Corvette front end. The bottom/rear of the Pie Wagon was carved out to fit the Monogram's "Cherry Bomb" rear axle. A small piece of plastic tubing was used as a base for the hood ornament. Aluminum tubing was cut in 1/4" lengths to widen the axles, for body clearance. The Sidewinder wheels then were drilled out to fit over the aluminum tubing extensions.

The body was then puttied, sanded smooth and primed. New door lines were scribed in and the final coat of white primer was applied. The body was then painted with Model Masters Champagne Gold. Testors Candy Red was sprayed over the gold and Testors Glosscote was applied over the red. After the paint dried the finish was beautiful but bumpy. Fortunately my good friend Paul Burke showed me how to use Detail Master's "super-fine" sandpaper system to smooth the finish. After a lot of sanding the finish was smooth, but dull, then Paul showed me the Novus polishes. With a little polishing the finish was smooth and shiny. Thanks again Paul, that really worked great!

The interior was painted with Testors Flat White and Flat Red. The seats are from Revell's Sidewinder and the apple on the Pie Wagon shifter was painted to look like an eyeball. The "FANTA-C" license plate is custom made by Slippery Arts.