1/25 AMT Sprint Cars

[Casey]

These three initial kits in AMT's 1/25 scale Sprint Car series, first released in 1975, appear to be all which ever existed, as it doesn't appear the series ever expanded. The Grant King Sprint car was reissued multiple times, but I can't find anything which indicated either the Pole Cat nor Drifter kits were ever reissued.

I'm sure someone here is well versed in the differences and similarities between these three kits, but it seems to have been a major gamble in 1975 for AMT to create and release three similar-yet-unique appearing kits.

Here's the relevant page from the 1975 AMT catalog, showing all three kits:

 

T-170 Drifter Super Modified:

 

T-169 Pole-Cat Winged Sprint:

 

T-168 Grant King Sprint Racer:

 

T-567 Grant King Race Team:

 

1987 AMT/Ertl re-issue, #6511:

 

AMT/Ertl/Dirtrack Racecars re-issue, #1873P:

[Mark]

There was one more, the Groove Boss Supermodified.  Not sure if that was an accurate kit or just one of those "let's get another hit off of the tooling" deals though.

[keyser]

Really awful box art. Catalog drawings looked great, but when kits hit shelves, I took one look and passed. This one of those "Casey Coincidences"??

Groove Boss. Another ick box art

 

[Casey]

On 5/11/2020 at 11:36 AM, Mark said:

There was one more, the Groove Boss Supermodified.  Not sure if that was an accurate kit or just one of those "let's get another hit off of the tooling" deals though.

Thanks. I whiffed on that one. 

On 5/11/2020 at 12:29 PM, keyser said:

Groove Boss. Another ick box art

I have a bit of a soft spot for that mid-late 70s AMT box art, but yes, the Groove Boss art was, um, less appealing.

The Sprint cars appeared again in the 1976 AMT catalog, like so:

 

Ah, there the Groove Boss is, kit T-171, in the 1977 AMT catalog, along with the Grant King Race Team kit:

Edited March 8, 2022 by Casey

[Dave Van]

All the Sprint cars were the same other than bodies.....I built the King car....tough build and I never liked it........

[Casey]

On 5/11/2020 at 11:36 AM, Mark said:

There was one more, the Groove Boss Supermodified. 

Being reissued later this year, kit number 1329:

[Ace-Garageguy]

Nice to have more sources for dirt/asphalt short track builds...but the new illustrations don't show the wedgy body from the earlier "Drifter Super Modified". 

[Racephoto1]

The Groove Boss was based on a real car. Unfortunately it met its demise at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

[keyser]

@Ace-Garageguy

Edited April 19, 2022 by keyser
Another pic

[Ace-Garageguy]

^^^ Many thanks.

As an aside, something that's fascinated me for years now is the number of obsolete Indy cars that finished their days as supermodifieds, or had their components recycled into supermodified builds. It's another internet rabbit-hole I'd like to thoroughly research some day.

This is just one of many stories:

http://www.retrorockets.org/feature_restore_keenan-addy/feature_restore_keenan-addy.htm

[OldNYJim]

On 4/19/2022 at 4:43 PM, Racephoto1 said:

The Groove Boss was based on a real car. Unfortunately it met its demise at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Do you happen to know the driver?  Trying to find some pics of the 1:1 but not having much success…

[Racephoto1]

On 1/22/2025 at 9:24 PM, CabDriver said:

Do you happen to know the driver?  Trying to find some pics of the 1:1 but not having much success…

Let me ask around. Years ago it met its demise at Indianapolis Raceway Park. I saw a video a long time ago.

[Sledsel]

I really like the Groove Boss but was disappointed tho find it being way shorter than the box art depicts. 

 

[Justin Porter]

One of the interesting and not-often mentioned things about the AMT Grant King is that it's actually reasonably prototypical for one specific 70's sprint car as driven by Sheldon Kinser and owned by Galen Fox. Granted, there's still some really REALLY iffy things about the kit like how godawful its tires are, but if you put a little bit of extra work in you've actually got a pretty nice replica on your hands. 

[tim boyd]

2 hours ago, Justin Porter said:

 Granted, there's still some really REALLY iffy things about the kit like how godawful its tires are, but if you put a little bit of extra work in you've actually got a pretty nice replica on your hands. 

To Justin's point, this is an original issue 100% box stock build of the Grant King kit, which was the first of the series to be released c.1976....