The Flying Car
Some time in 2007 or 2008, I built the model of the Auburn boat-tail seen on the right of this poster. That construction was modified quite a bit from the original as I wanted a model reflecting a vehicle from a year prior to 1935, which the model was supposed to be. Such things as custom-built bumpers (they're bent and soldered wire) and a reconfigured front grille. The teardrop fenders and overall shape of the thing made me think that it might be interesting to build a model that represented a flying car. The Auburn was not on the shelf when I went back to the hobby store, but a 1934 Mercedes-Benz 500K was. As it had the long lines and swept fenders of sports cars of that era, I bought it, thinking "I can do something with this." My inspiration for these, the 500 especially, was the work that the model makers did for the special effects company Industrial Light and Magic, back when their "bread and butter" was, among other things, constructing actual models for filming in front of blue screens, for the vehicles seen in the Star Wars series and so many other films.
In short, I was going to "kit bash" the flying car. After lengthy consideration of how the body pieces worked together, I started assembling parts from the 500K, parts from a Ford pickup truck, parts from a German tank of WWII, and bits and pieces that I had in my own collection of, well, bits and pieces. Together with a lot of body filler, I eventually created the 500LA.