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60's Indy/Formula 1 Open Wheel and 2 Seat/2 Door Road Race Model Kits


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Limiting my replies to the suggested subject matter at hand of 1960's era of open wheelers and sports/endurance cars, this is not a comprehensive list by any means....    AMT kitted the Lotus 29 and the Lotus 92. I believe that IMC kitted the Lotus 38 Indy car as well. IMC also did the Ford GT40 MkII and MkIV, the Ford J car, and the Lola/Ford T70 Can Am Spyder. IMC kitted some Chaparrals also, maybe someone can fill in the gaps. MPC also kitted the Ford MkIV and the Ford J car, as well as the Howmet TX turbine gt prototype and its sister car the Howmet Can Am Spyder. Accurate Miniatures did a very nice McLaren M8B kit in 1/24. Monogram did a Porsche 904 curbside in the same series you show the box art for of the Ford GT roadster. Also in the same series of curbsides are the Chaparral 2D Coupe and the Reventlow Scarab USRRC Mid-Engined Modified Sports Racer. AMT did some 1/24 curbsides based on their slot car bodies too, including a Lola T70 Can Am spyder

Edited by garagepunk66
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Ebbro has done a lovely range of Lotus 49's, and have added a Brabham BT-18 F2 car to that range as well. Tamiya and Hasegawa have both offered kits of the Honda RA272, with Tamiya also producing a lovely kit of the Lotus 25. Fujimi produced the Ferrari 330P4 and Ford GT40 in both MkI and MkII guises. Heller also tackled the 330P4, which was also reissued at one point by Union. Heller's line also included a Porsche 907, a McLaren M7A, and a Brabham BT-33. 

There is actually quite a long list given how globally popular the source material is, with new kits being released all the time.

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16 hours ago, garagepunk66 said:

Limiting my replies to the suggested subject matter at hand of 1960's era of open wheelers and sports/endurance cars, this is not a comprehensive list by any means....    AMT kitted the Lotus 29 and the Lotus 92. I believe that IMC kitted the Lotus 38 Indy car as well. IMC also did the Ford GT40 MkII and MkIV, the Ford J car, and the Lola/Ford T70 Can Am Spyder. IMC kitted some Chaparrals also, maybe someone can fill in the gaps. MPC also kitted the Ford MkIV and the Ford J car, as well as the Howmet TX turbine gt prototype and its sister car the Howmet Can Am Spyder. Accurate Miniatures did a very nice McLaren M8B kit in 1/24. Monogram did a Porsche 904 curbside in the same series you show the box art for of the Ford GT roadster. Also in the same series of curbsides are the Chaparral 2D Coupe and the Reventlow Scarab USRRC Mid-Engined Modified Sports Racer. AMT did some 1/24 curbsides based on their slot car bodies too, including a Lola T70 Can Am spyder

IMC also made an original configuration GT-40. It was the one that had a huge aerodynamic lift problem. That and the MKIV were among the few kits I built as a kid in the '60s that somehow survived my mother cleaning out my stuff while I was in the Air Force. It might be because I had kept them in their boxes and she tossed kits but didn't toss the boxes. BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH shame I didn't keep my Tamiya 1/12 Ferrari 312B in a box :-).  I think the original 260 Cobra shown here was also an IMC? Nice kits with opening body panels and steerable wheels.

P1090061.JPG

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' AMT kitted the Lotus 29 and the Lotus 92 ' Plus all the kits you did mention.

Very interesting because there are about a dozen racing teams that built cars and different cars they built to investigate.

Then kitwise about a half dozen kit companies to follow those trails.Which kits of cars they built or didn't.

Like not every kit company came out with a Cobra or a Ford GT40.Trying to organize the system to look at this.

Seems like they went to a squarer shape as they progressed.

Edited by regular guy
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3 hours ago, Alfa158 said:

IMC also made an original configuration GT-40. It was the one that had a huge aerodynamic lift problem. That and the MKIV were among the few kits I built as a kid in the '60s that somehow survived my mother cleaning out my stuff while I was in the Air Force. It might be because I had kept them in their boxes and she tossed kits but didn't toss the boxes. BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH shame I didn't keep my Tamiya 1/12 Ferrari 312B in a box :-).  I think the original 260 Cobra shown here was also an IMC? Nice kits with opening body panels and steerable wheels.

P1090061.JPG

Those kits have survived pretty well for their age and still look very nice.

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' still look very nice. '

To say the least.If that is the kind of work he did as a kid he must be wayyy out there now.

Did notice he said 1/12 Tamiya.Those are not mess around kits.

Can an AMT Cobra be built to look like that or is the body shape not authentic like this one?

 

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9 minutes ago, regular guy said:

Can this Piranha kit be built as a roadster?

Kit amtamt900-12

It's no Group 7 McLaren but fits the spirit of the thing.

5cb018e6edf04_AMTPiranha.jpg.04da25d2d9f39dd1922d642c1acd0172.jpgIt cannot be built as an open cockpit sports car out of the box, but perhaps with some kit bashing with the body parts from the Piranha drag car....  who knows?

I would open up and flare the wheel openings though, and look to the immediate pre-Can Am era of USRRC mid-engined sports roadsters like the Shelby American Cooper Monaco (AKA King Cobra) and the Huffaker Genie Mk10B "Vinegaroon" for inspiration. 

 

Edited by garagepunk66
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' pre-Can Am era of USRRC '

Looking at a Group 7 kit and then looking up Group 7 on wikipedia pulled it all together for me.

Otherwise I would still be 'in the dark' about road racing.

You know.You see a car you like and it says 'blah-blah'' class racing, then the next car you like will say ANOTHER class of racing.All these years it just looked like a big mess with no solution to it.

Right now. I discovered what Group 7 is and I know what Indy cars are.I'm holding there for awhile.

Edited by regular guy
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How about this for Piranha?

Cut roof off.Cut off sail planes on rear deck and top window frames gullwing doors.Glue door shut and fill.

Cut windshield frame off.Cutdown glass and make it look like Cobra above.

Flaring wheel wells is good idea.Allows for real racing wheels.I will probably wimp out and not do that.Good idea though.

Edited by regular guy
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' The Cobra pictured is an AMT kit.  Re-issued many times. '

Good.So even as a kid that guy added on to kit.Pretty good.

' AMT also did some repackaged Heller kits. '

Thanks.It's tough finding road race and indy car kits on ebay because they are scattered under different brand names.

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Ordered the AMT Pirahna kit this morning from Hobblinc.

Will look for the roadster version picture I've seen before and post it right here.

That is what we want to build it like.

Think pic was AMT racing team one.

5cb15e2275472_PiranhaRacer.jpg.7c79f3b310c416ec994fc336482ac07c.jpg

Edited by regular guy
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To make the kit look like picture will this work?

Cut roof off.

Cut off sail planes on rear deck.

Cut top window frames off of gullwing doors.

Glue doors shut and fill.

Cut windshield frame off.

Cut down windshield.

Edited by regular guy
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19 hours ago, Gramps46 said:

The Cobra pictured is an AMT kit.  Re-issued many times.

Ahah, I wasn’t sure about the Cobra. I still have the boxes for the two Ford GTs but not for the Cobra so I was trying to dredge which manufacturer it was from my ancient memories. What I need to do is go into the garage and find those boxes to verify what they were. I’ll post the photos once I get them down.

It’s amazing thinking back; in the mid sixties my family used to go to the beach under the take off pattern for LA International. That would take us up Imperial Highway and past the Shelby factory on the south end of the airport. I used to stare out the window of our ‘57 Ford and drool at the white with blue stripes GT350’s waiting to be shipped. I also once  recall a row of stripped AC’ s that must have just come off an air freight flight and were ready to be rolled in to the plant for conversion to Cobras.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/12/2019 at 2:26 AM, regular guy said:

' pre-Can Am era of USRRC '

Looking at a Group 7 kit and then looking up Group 7 on wikipedia pulled it all together for me.

Otherwise I would still be 'in the dark' about road racing.

You know.You see a car you like and it says 'blah-blah'' class racing, then the next car you like will say ANOTHER class of racing.All these years it just looked like a big mess with no solution to it.

Right now. I discovered what Group 7 is and I know what Indy cars are.I'm holding there for awhile

The SCCA created the Can Am series beginning in 1966 in order to have a prestigious race series for group 7 cars that would also attract sponsorships for big prize money and world class driving talent. The Can Am and the Trans Am series also represented the SCCA' s first attempts at a unified, professional race series under a standard set of rules, and a championship structure geared toward the car manufacturers.  Prior to 1966, the group 7 cars competed in USRRC sanctioned events. Cars like the Cooper Monaco essentially created the template for all of the Can Am/Group 7 cars to follow

Edited by garagepunk66
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