AMT Piranha Hemi Dragster Out Soon

[regular guy]

 

Surprise! Corvair powered Piranha came out about a year ago and now the big gun. HEMI POWERED!

Would I drive it down the 1/4 mile? No. Give me a much longer wheelbase and wider track please.

Here's pic of one. Looks like it is in Don Garlits museum.

How many Hemi Piranhas were there? Anybody got the answer?

[unclescott58]

One. The one in Garlits' museum is the only one. 

Edited August 19, 2018 by unclescott58

[regular guy]

' One. The one in Garlits' museum is the only one. '

Okay. Now there is only one you know of.

How about when AMT was campaigning the car?

Did they have more than one for appearances and drag meets?

Seems like they would.

How many Corvair Piranha's were there that AMT used for business?

Be cool to find one of those in a garage somewhere.

[kitswapper]

There was only one made for drag racing period

[regular guy]

 

Here's a search. 'How many AMT piranhas were built?'

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+many+AMT+piranhas+were+built%3F&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1

Looks like somebody here in California beat me to one.

I thought I felt a disturbance in The Force.:)

[regular guy]

' There was only one made for drag racing period '

Well.If it's okay with you I will keep my eyes open for one.

Info from '68 can be iffy. What is that? 50 years ago?

Anything's possible.Could be partial chassis or something kicking around.

Definitely would be worth dragging home.

[Snake45]

[Daddyfink]

[Force]

This is not such a sought after kit anymore as RC2 reissued it back in 2005 when they owned AMT in the Buyers Choice series (it has wrong front wheels tho'), I allready have two of them and will not buy more.

[regular guy]

Did a search for 'rear engine hemi funny cars'.

Here's pic of early one.The guy gets Manly Man points for driving that.

Did see kits you can build if you are into rear engine Hemis.

LA Dart and Hemi under glass.

Hemi under glass and that pickup truck one Little Red Wagon were HUGELY popular then.

Every kid new what they were.

Edited August 19, 2018 by regular guy

[unclescott58]

On 8/18/2018 at 9:47 PM, Snake45 said:

Yea! 

[250 Testa Rossa]

Gonna get this one as well

[Casey]

On 8/18/2018 at 10:05 PM, Force said:

This is not such a sought after kit anymore as RC2 reissued it back in 2005 when they owned AMT in the Buyers Choice series (it has wrong front wheels tho')

I wonder if something happened to a mold insert(?) or similar at some point. The AMT 'Mr. Speed' '53 Studebaker Funny Car and Sand Kat kits both used the same Piranha dragster frame and running gear, but both the Mr. Speed kit seem to have included (Mark or anyone else know for sure?) the American 12-spoke wheels. I know for sure the RC2 reissue of the dragster included the 5-spoke spindle mount front wheels, so I guess we'll have to wait and see what Round2 decides to change/backdate/improve as far as the front wheels are concerned.

Edited August 20, 2018 by Casey

[gtx6970]

I've had the Piranha kit in my hands a few times over the years. And I always put it back for some reason, Ive just  never had that much interest to  maybe build one. its intriguing just enough to be neat . And I MIGHT pull the trigger on one of these,,,MIGHT

[regular guy]

This kit fits in with AMT/MPC putting out Funny Car series again.

Chezoom, the Cougar that just came out and this one.

If you compare what they have put out last couple years it looks like somebody said

'What about the Funny Cars?'.

See. That's the system they use.:)

The Judge GTO.That is from old Funny Car sries.

Says it at bottom of artwork on boxtop.

On the old kits.

Edited August 20, 2018 by regular guy

[Muncie]

1 hour ago, Casey said:

I wonder if something happened to a mold insert(?) or similar at some point. The AMT 'Mr. Speed' '53 Studebaker Funny Car and Sand Kat kits both used the same Piranha dragster frame and running gear, but both the Mr. Speed kit seem to have included (Mark or anyone else know for sure?) the American 12-spoke wheels. I know for sure the RC2 reissue of the dragster included the 5-spoke spindle mount front wheels, so I guess we'll have to wait and see what Round2 decides to change/backdate/improve as far as the front wheels are concerned.

I don't have the kit in question in hand, but I believe the front wheels on the Piranha chassis were changed to spindle mount five spokes when the chassis was used under the Big Jim Dunn rear engine funny car. It matches pictures I've seen on the past.  However, the 12 spokes were molded in two halves and only one half of each wheel was retooled for the five spokes.  The spindle mount 5-spokes and two halves of the 12 spokes are still on the chrome tree in the last issue of the Piranha.  Two kits equals enough 12 spoke halves to make a pair of wheels for the Piranha -  plus a two pairs of the beautiful AMT spindle mount five spokes and a lot of good 1/4 mile parts for other projects.

 

 

Edited August 20, 2018 by Muncie

[Casey]

34 minutes ago, Muncie said:

I don't have the kit in question in hand, but I believe the front wheels on the Piranha chassis were changed to spindle mount five spokes when the chassis was used under the Big Jim Dunn rear engine funny car.

No kit of the Dunn & Reath R/E F/C was ever released AFAIK, only the F/E version by MPC.

Here are the original issue chrome plated parts from the Piranha dragster. Like the American 12-spokes found in the AMT '56 Ford Victoria, they are molded as an inner and outer half, with six spokes per half:

 

 

Looking at the RC2 reissue on eBay, the 12-spokes are still present, so I was wrong that the wheels were changed. It looks like only the box art model for the RC2 era reissue has the American 5-spokes up front. 

57 minutes ago, regular guy said:

This kit fits in with AMT/MPC putting out Funny Car series again. Chezoom, the Cougar that just came out and this one.

Except for one small problem-- it isn't a Funny Car. 

Now, had you said that because Round2 reissued the street/Man from U.N.C.L.E. version in two flavors not all that long ago, and are about to reissue two additional Piranha-related kits (the stand alone and combo kit), I would agree 100%.

[Muncie]

21 minutes ago, Casey said:

No kit of the Dunn & Reath R/E F/C was ever released AFAIK, only the F/E version by MPC.

Here are the original issue chrome plated parts from the Piranha dragster. Like the American 12-spokes found in the AMT '56 Ford Victoria, they are molded as an inner and outer half, with six spokes per half:

 

 

Looking at the RC2 reissue on eBay, the 12-spokes are still present, so I was wrong that the wheels were changed. It looks like only the box art model for the RC2 era reissue has the American 5-spokes up front. 

 

That makes sense, AMT didn't have a 'Cuda kit to turn into a funny car... looks like it was the AMT Scorpion kit that got the five spokes on the Piranha chassis.
The Piranha reissue I have has the 5-spokes and two halves for the 12 spokes.

 

[regular guy]

' Except for one small problem-- it isn't a Funny Car. '

Have no idea why that was said.Not a clue.

Here's box that says Funny Car. It's part of a series of them. Like Oval Stockers or whatever they are.

Here's ad from AMT who think it's a Funny Car.

What class can you run a Hemi powered reinforced go kart frame in?

[Jon Cole]

The car does not fit the traditional description of a funny car. AMT is / was a model company, not a dictionary. They may have called it a funny car, but lets refer to Google for a description of "funny car".
In part:
 

"Funny Car is a type of drag racing vehicle and a specific racing class in organized drag racing. Funny cars are characterized by having tilt-up fiberglass or carbon fiber automotive bodies over a custom-fabricated chassis, giving them an appearance vaguely approximating manufacturers' showroom models. They also have the engine placed in front of the driver, as opposed to dragsters, which place it behind the driver.^[1]

Funny car bodies typically reflect the models of newly available cars in the time period that the funny car was built. "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funny_Car

[Casey]

On 8/20/2018 at 8:11 PM, Muncie said:

 looks like it was the AMT Scorpion kit that got the five spokes on the Piranha chassis.

The Piranha reissue I have has the 5-spokes and two halves for the 12 spokes.

I forgot about the Scorpion, good catch. Maybe it's next?

Edited August 22, 2018 by Casey

[Daddyfink]

2 hours ago, Jon Cole said:

The car does not fit the traditional description of a funny car. AMT is / was a model company, not a dictionary. They may have called it a funny car, but lets refer to Google for a description of "funny car".
In part:
 

"Funny Car is a type of drag racing vehicle and a specific racing class in organized drag racing. Funny cars are characterized by having tilt-up fiberglass or carbon fiber automotive bodies over a custom-fabricated chassis, giving them an appearance vaguely approximating manufacturers' showroom models. They also have the engine placed in front of the driver, as opposed to dragsters, which place it behind the driver.^[1]

Funny car bodies typically reflect the models of newly available cars in the time period that the funny car was built. "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funny_Car

True, but, one must remember what was considered a funny car at the time, and not the modern interpretation 

[Brett Barrow]

Early Funny Cars were pretty much strictly match racers.  I don't think NHRA even had them as a class until 66 or 67 maybe AHRA did before that but most of the real odd ones (like Piranha) were match racers.  

[Daddyfink]

46 minutes ago, Brett Barrow said:

Early Funny Cars were pretty much strictly match racers.  I don't think NHRA even had them as a class until 66 or 67 maybe AHRA did before that but most of the real odd ones (like Piranha) were match racers.  

Well, they still looked "Funny"

"A dedicated funny car class was tried by NHRA at one 1966 national event, and at two in 1968, before Funny Car Eliminator was created in 1969."

Edited August 21, 2018 by Daddyfink

[gtx6970]

I believe the Phrase 'Funny car ' when first coined looked  nothing like the modern day interpretation