CMC Nostalgia

Found a new to me web site as I surfed to the end of the WWW (I think when SO was down). It's www.vwkitcars.com. They have a couple nostalgic pictures of the CMC headquarters and factory that was located in Miami FL. Old timers will recall seeing their products in nearly every major airport - its what hooked me! The facility was 160,000 square feet. It had a 45 foot steel tower with a rotating platform that displayed cars. Building was torn down years ago to make way for another mall (wonder how the mall is doing with current recession?)

I especially like the one of folks picking up their kits (with missing backordered parts) to avoid the $1400 shipping fee!

That is pretty cool.

I had no idea they were that big. Cool link!

Here's what Greg found when he reached the end of the World Wide Web:

http://www.agentz.com/eoti.html

The cars in "CMC Gazelle Delivery" are not Gazelles.
They are Classic Roadsters Ltd. "Barons"

So these pics were taken after CMC bought out Classic Roadsters, ultimately killing a great company and product line.

So sad.

The turret rotated and had a number of cars in it...

Paul - They came from a photo album that came with a Gazelle a guy bought. They are from when the original owner picked it up. I know they had other pimp mobiles - but think that is a CMC Gazelle.

http://jalopnik.com/321293/1988-cmc-gazelle

Yup a Gazelle, built two and owned four.

I would love to know where that building is.. That's very cool!

Its probably a Wal Mart parking lot now.

It's the new home for Obama's Economic Recovery Board..... Same people mentaly.

Wolfgang states in his original post..."Building was torn down years ago to make way for another mall (wonder how the mall is doing with current recession?)"

There is a very similar tower on a much smaller building up along I95 Northbound in PA just before the Jersey Delaware bridge - think it's a Harley dealership.

Paul might be right about the cars shown in the CMC Delivery photo. I built a Gazelle many moons ago and they did not have a model with the spare tire mounted on the front fender, it was on the rear continental style. The other photo is a Gazelle with the flat bumpers instead of the round ones. I used to drive by that building everyday on my way to work in Miami. They were originally located across the street from the Hialeah race track prior to being in that big building.

Trust me guys, the cars in the photo captioned "CMC Gazelle Delivery" are not Gazelles. They are Classic Roadsters Ltd. Barons:

http://www.bobsclassics.com/36mk1.jpg

http://mgmagic.intuitwebsites.com/Baron_SSK-Classic_Roadster.jpg

The car in the "CMC Gazelle Factory Floor" photo is a Gazelle.

Yep, you can tell by the headlights. Closer together on the Baron.

Astonishing nerdiness here...

Bwaaaaaaaaa Haaaaaaaaaa....

Careful what you say about nerds there Ed, you may end up working for one one day.

Having built a few factories and office complexes in my time, I find it interesting that, in the picture of the CMC site, the "factory" part is a bit smaller than the office part, where all of the Tele-Marketeers worked. THAT explains a lot.

Excuse me Ed,

Knowing when the Commodore computer was introduced, THAT is nerdiness.

Knowledge of the replica/reproduction/kit car hobby is most definitely NOT nerdiness! Gimme a break...been around this stuff for 30 years. I finally get to use some of that knowledge.

And that said...I erred and copied a wrong link in my earlier post. The first link is the Classic Roadsters Ltd. Marlene; basically a 7/8th scale Mercedes 500. The second link IS a Baron. I'm REALLY surprised none of you called me out on that one!

...We just let it slide Paul, bwaaahahaha
Hey do you remember tha nice 5.0 powered white with gray leather Marlene I bought some 10-11 years ago from Greg Grobles, had like 33 miles on it?

Where I work, "nerd" is a compliment, not an insult. And don't I wish i worked for one!

Carry on. You know I'm looking at all these pics and taking notes.

Paul, Ed bought his TD because he thought it was a Speedster. You're confusing him with all this Gazelle business. Clearly, the young lad needs better glasses.

Don't tell him it's one of them Ghias, or he'll be crushed.

Every once in awhile you see a CMC with Windup windows and a high bow top. Just now noticed it also had a larger rear window. When I bought mine in 1989 it was a $995 add on cost. This tid bit was posted over in Yahoo Fiberfab/CMC group by Ben Ross:


Another bit of info you might want to park somewhere concerns the CMC/Fiberfab Speedster and 359 Windshield.

CMC tried to come out with a roll-up window kit for both cars. They sold some as options but the project was never completely finished or developed. To save money and make it quicker they decided to try and copy the Porsche Convertible D set up. However, they were unaware that the contour of the cowl was different between both cars. They ended up making castings for the Windshield Posts from a convertible D but had to modify the base for a different mounting angle. Then they realized that the Speedster glass wouldn't work and neither would the Convertible D Glass. So they made up a fiberglass buck and had 50 windshields run. In any event they took back most of the conversion kits they shipped as most buyers couldn't get them to work. They replaced the whole windshield assembly with the Speedster 356 set-up However there are probably a handful of cars with the altered Convertible set up out there. The problem is that if they used the CMC su pplied glass and it breaks there is nothing that will fit or can be modified. Only solution is to build up the body to the Convertible D contour and modify the posts. Very expensive and difficult project. Can't think of the company that made the glass at the moment but it began with a V. When i remember it I will post it. The same company made some of their street rod windshields but they were flat.

Cheers
Ben

This is very intresting.

If anyone knows--are the molds that were used by CMC still being used by some makers today? I guess all the bodies are made somewhere else other than the makers these days?

I used to lust for a CMC back in those days---not as much as I lust for Al Shapiro's car but a lot. Saw them in airports as I was flying DC 3s, Martins and Electras East of the Miss early in my pharmaceutical career.

Gordon -- that link to the end of the web was a pisser. You are here. Yeah. You and Amelia Earhart. Thanks, man.

Jack - The molds don't last long before they become unusable. Suspect even more so for CMC since they popped out a finished color gelcoat product. They probably frequently made a new mold from a "plug" they keep locked up. I always laugh when the build manual references scribe marks for mount the lights and windshield as those marks quickly disappeared from the moulds. My bet is all new bodies come from South America where EPA/OSHA aren't involved. Have a friend in FL that has a complete wide body CMC set of molds.

Interesting--I wondered about molds. Thanks

Jack...Electras and Goony Birds man you go back a few weeks !

Love the Gooney bird... I read this thread and laughed. I'm only 34 years old and not only have I wasted many hours of gaming on a Commadore 64, but I too have legit time in a DC3... But only 2.5 hours of multiple tailwheel... Very cool.

Bucket List, need to catch a ride in B-17, had a chance 9 years ago for $350 should have grabbed that deal... but now it's tripled and that "ain't" cheap ~

Goonies are probably the best aircraft ever built. The ones in my life include meeting my wife's arrival in Germany in a Lufthansa DC-3 dressed out goonie with blue velvet seats, shuttles around Europe as a courier and the wildest goonie gunships in Vietnam.

DC-3 (C-47) one of my favorite aircraft, logged a little time as a young 2LT, also a little Martin 404 time with a Travel Club/Reality Company, and finally when I was with the FAA, a jump seat flight in a Electra (cargo) from Harrisburg to Willow Run. All of my favorite aircraft Jack.

dr clock, you can fly a B-17 out of Galveston for $425 these days

http://www.lsfm.org/ no affilation, just on my list too.....

Alan--I SAID early days! It is what it is.

Last year we flew Emirates A-380 from Sydney to Aauckland and It was by far, the best flight of my life (in terms of travel!!) Maximum luxury and smoothest flight I've ever experienced. This one was configured for 525 passengers but can carry 850 in a single configuration. A range of 8,300 miles too. Absolutely breathtaking aircraft. Quite a leap from the Dc-3 or Electra.

Jack, that sounds like a great ride but can that baby land by itself like legend has one goonie doing? I read where a goonie had both engines fail and the crew decided to bail out. The bird was placed in autopilot and everyone left her. It seems that the goonie landed intact in an empty field with nothing worse than some undercarriage dents and scrapes, other that the bent props everything else was in perfect shape. The aircraft was recovered, repaired and place back into service. Nothing was revealed as to the outcome of the crew.

The absolute highlight of the summer for us was our daughter's wedding in late September.

She got married in a field amidst the beautiful colors of Autumn in New England. The field was about 1 mile south of the western approach to Worcester (MA) airport and we would see a bunch of private aircraft coming in as we were getting things set up the day before the wedding.

Suddenly, we heard this low rumble coming from far off - the unmistakable sound of BIG radial engines but there was something more which we couldn't pinpoint. Then, over the tree line we saw a B-17 with a spitfire and a P-40 escort, making it's final approach to Worcester where they were supposed to appear in an air show that weekend. Everything in the field stopped as they all flew by.

Wicked Friggin Cool...

Gordon--that must have been awesome. Congrats on the wedding too!

Your story is happy with airplanes; mine is sad. This past summer we buried a dear friend here in Hot Springs, Major Leeroy Cooper who flew B 52s over Vietnam. Lee went downhill with Altzheimers in less than 6 months then passed away. At his burial service, a lone B 52 from Lousiana flew over the funeral party at the cemetary just as Lee was being lowered into his grave----like 160knots or so and 1,200 feet. As it passed us, the pilot poured the coals to it as it climbed and turned back towards Lousiana. Stirring to the max and I don't expect to ever see anything as moving as that tribute was in my lifetime.