60 replies to this topic

[rssschris]

Everyone see the Round2 newsleter today - vol 4 issue 2 ? Sounds like they are reissuing Some of Ohio`s cars.
Fisrt a Snap Dragons willys with Malco Gasser markings. Then the 1/25 glue Willys, They are looking in to see about the Malco Mustang , & they said they might of found the tool for the Mr Gasket Mustang. Great news !
Chris

[Casey]

I can't believe the '33 Willy tooling isn't completely worn out by now, but it would be nice to see it reissued with original box art and correct Ohio George decals. That said, Round2 ABSOLUTLEY NEEDS TO update the wheels (basically narrow the backing rings) and include better tires, as the off-road looking Goodyear Rally GT tire the kit has included since the '70s are horrible.

Edited by Casey, 08 March 2012 - 07:16 AM.

[Draggon]

Agreed, Casey!

[Casey]

I think the injector scoop needs to be changed back to original, too.

[iBorg]

Can you provide a link?

Mike

[Speedster]

Can't wait!

[kataranga]

Seems to me like the MPC kit has a chopped roof...?

[High octane]

The AMT (not MPC) kit did come with a chopped roof. If you check Gasser Wars publication by Larry Davis you will see that Ohio George ran a chopped version at on time and also a Stock height roof at one time also. As you can see from my avatar I used a resin body to build mine.

[doggie427]

This is potentially a momentus series of re-releases ! The Malco mustang (if it could e backdated to it's original release) alone would make my year, the Mr. Gasket car would make my decade !
Please please Round 2 do not re-issue it in clear plastic .

[kataranga]

Aha, my bad. For some reason I though the most recent reissue was boxed as MPC; just looked and its AMT all the way!

[paul alflen]

KOOL NEWS! ROUND 2, CAN WE SEE THE MPC MOLDED MULTI-MAVERICK AGAIN WITH OHIO GEORGE DECALS IN IT AGAIN? THE MALCO GASSER AND THE MR GASKET CAR USED THE SAME CHASSIS IN THOSE KITS.FOR THE MR GASKET MUSTANG, HOW ABOUT DOING A MOLDED CLEAR BODY EXCLUSIVE FOR THE ROUND 2 STORE? ALSO RELEASE AT RANDOM A PLASTIC MOLDED METALLIC RED MR GASKET BODY, ONE TO A CASE, LIKE THE MEYERS MANX DUNE BUGGY YOU DID.FINALLY GIVE US AN UPDATED VERSION OF THE MR GASKET MUSTANG WITH A TWIN-TURBO BOSS 429 IN IT. DO THE 33 WILLYS WITH A STOCK ROOF HEIGHT, ALSO.THANKS FOR LSTENING ROUND 2!!!1

[Casey]

This is potentially a momentus series of re-releases ! The Malco mustang (if it could e backdated to it's original release) alone would make my year, the Mr. Gasket car would make my decade!

Did the Mr. Gasket Mustang evolve into the "Street Freak" Mustang kit, which I think was re-issued as part of the Blueprinter series 20+ years ago?

[Chitown]

The Mustang Street Freak was originally one of the series of altered wheel base funny cars put out by AMT that included the "Twister" Nova, "Time Machine" Chevelle, Ford Falcon, Pontiac Tempest, etc. They shared numerous parts such as the white plastic molded tires and may have all had the same wheelbase and chassis. They got a lot of mileage out of those toolings!
I'm sure everyone's seen the Model King re-issues of the Falcon, Nova and Comet, it would be great if they did the Chevelle too.

The Mr. Gasket car was an MPC release based on the original Malco Gasser Mustang chassis with an updated body molded in clear and was a more sophisticated kit than the AMT offerings.

[Casey]

The Mr. Gasket car was an MPC release based on the original Malco Gasser Mustang chassis with an updated body molded in clear and was a more sophisticated kit than the AMT offerings.

Gah, I should've noticed the kit was from MPC, not AMT.

[mr68gts]

As a matter of fact the clear body 69 Malco and the regular MPC 69 Mustang is the same body but molded in regular plastic. (I've compared the 2 and there is only minor differences like how the gas cap tab is and such. If one wanted to take the street machine mustang issued a few years ago and this body they could do the Malco 69 car with the Boss 429. Things to change would be the wheels and decals.
Paul

The Mustang Street Freak was originally one of the series of altered wheel base funny cars put out by AMT that included the "Twister" Nova, "Time Machine" Chevelle, Ford Falcon, Pontiac Tempest, etc. They shared numerous parts such as the white plastic molded tires and may have all had the same wheelbase and chassis. They got a lot of mileage out of those toolings!
I'm sure everyone's seen the Model King re-issues of the Falcon, Nova and Comet, it would be great if they did the Chevelle too.

The Mr. Gasket car was an MPC release based on the original Malco Gasser Mustang chassis with an updated body molded in clear and was a more sophisticated kit than the AMT offerings.

[1930fordpickup]

The last time I was at The Henry Ford the Willys was on display . That car has a ton of chrome for a drag car.

[Modelmartin]

The history of Ohio George's cars is very interesting. I researched through my magazine collection once. His first Drag car was a 34 Ford 3-window in a familiar shade of light blue. He built the Willys in 59 and he won the NHRA nats drag race AND car show first time out! His cars were always show quality. It had a Caddy engine with a chain drive for the blower, full body including running boards and moon discs. As he developed the car he raised the chassis height, used alloy wheels, and started to trim the body. In about '62 or so he switched to a small block Chevy stroked out. Later he switched to the Cammer when he got Ford sponsorship. He finally had to change from a Ford banjo rear end to a more modern diff to hold up to power of the Cammer. it was a miracle that the old rear end lasted with a blown Caddy and Chevy engine in it!! After about a year with the Cammer he chopped the top. The AMT kit was the ultimate development of the car and is an outstanding and accurate kit.

The Malco gasser was built with a Willys frame under it. Gas class rules called for a frame and the Mustang was unibody and George already knew what to do with a Willys Frame to make it go! The MPC kit is actually pretty poor for one big reason. They modified the 66 Mustang tooling to try to make it look like a 67. It ddidn't work very well. The chassis and everything else is pretty good. If one would adapt a real 67 body to the MPC kit they would have a nice accurate model.

I never examined the Mr. Gasket Gasser kit so I can't comment on it. I do believ the kit is the mechanically supercharged version. George changed it over twin turbos a few years later.

The Multi-maverick kit has the reverse problem of the Malco gasser! The body is great but it has totally the wrong chassis under it. MPC slipped one of their generic full round tube funny car frames under it. Gas class rules at that time called for rectangular tube frames. George built his own which does not even resemble the kit frame.

After those cars George ran an alcohol funny car with twin turbos which NHRA would not let him run. He also built a turbocharged AA/MC (modified compact) Pinto which was featured in old Car Craft mag.

I believe he quit racing at that point ( mid 70s) and ran his machine shop. He ended up supplying engines for the Buick V-6 Indy car series for many years.

Check out his website http://www.georgessp...ge/Welcome.html

[mr68gts]

Martin,
Actually the Multi Maverick has a exact frame but the body is wrong. (with exception to the cage i think) The body has that stupid hood scoop on it and the spoiler is wrong along with the roof line. At one point I was building a master for this car also but it got shelved as there was no interest at the time. By the time the Multi Maverick came about the rules has changed to alow the use of box tubing for frames as the stock willys frames were getting used up and also because of unibody constuction of cars.
Your corect on the 67. That thing was an atrocity to a 67 Mustang. I did the correct body years ago and it actually fit the original Malco gasser Mustang with only a bit of modifying. This body is no longer available however as Fremont racing is no longer, but I still have the master and it's being reworked. FWIW, many consider this car to be the downfall of AA/GS and a real game changer in the class.
Someday I will build all the cars he's ran over the years as I think it would make a neat display.
Paul

[Chitown]

Competition Resins recently came out with a new body for the Malco Gasser Mustang that looks pretty good in the small photos I've seen.
This could finally be a readily available solution for that funky MPC thing.
Anybody seen one up close yet?

[Mark]

The only "old" part of the banjo rear axle was the center section; all of the stuff inside was new. The reason for keeping the center section was that it had a torque tube and not a driveshaft with universal joints. The torque tube acted as a third traction bar. When the Pontiac rear axle was installed, the torque tube setup was retained. The Chevy engine/early Ford "banjo" rear axle setup seems to have been transplanted into George's "Hurst Gasser Passer" English Ford Prefect.

Both Mustangs have fiberglass bodies. The '67 body is said to be a Ford Engineering piece, the same one that was used to design the body dies. It would have been used to determine where the steel body panels would be joined, where the spot welds would be, where the hinges would be placed, where access holes would be needed for routing wires on the assembly line, things like that. While the first Mustang was under construction, the rules still required a production car frame. Shortly after it was finished, fully fabricated frames were allowed in the interest of safety. The '69 Mustang used a Willys frame again because George simply stuck with what he knew would work. The '69 body is a "splash" taken from a pre-production car.

There's a 1971 issue of HOT ROD with a feature article on the Multi-Maverick. The kit chassis is pretty much spot-on (mostly rectangular tubing, not round). There's also an interview with George somewhere out there, where he stated that MPC bankrolled the construction of the 1:1 car in exchange for the rights to make the model. (Not farfetched: MPC did kits of three of George's cars, and each was in the catalog for a long time.) The body is off, particularly in the areas of the hood and rear wheel openings. Like the AMT XR-6 Dodge Deora kits, the development of the kit went hand-in-hand with the construction of the 1:1 car, and occasionally got ahead of it to the point where some details don't match. There is another MPC Maverick kit (Jolly Roger funny car) that uses the Multi-Maverick body with a flat hood (the JR has a different chassis that places the engine entirely inside the body). One of those, even a built one, could supply the unscooped hood to help correct the Multi-Maverick. Neither issue of the MM had decals that got close to the look of the 1:1 car either.