USA-1 Camaro Funny Car

[tbusch]

Is this a 70

from NHRA.com

It has a digger style chassis

[Chris in Berwyn]

Yep, that is the 1970 that the MPC kit was supposed to be a model of (except for the stock body and I think it had a logghe chassis.) If Bruce could get Revell to tool up this body and put in on their existing 70s digger chassis I would be a happy modeler!! But wonder if they will be investing any more tooling dollars in new "nostalgia" nitro burners......

[GoatGuy]

Bruce says the 70 car was the same Logghe chassis as the 68 Camaro. In one of the pics I posted you can see the levers in the driver's area, to the right of the seat. The black knobbed lever was for the chute, the red lever in front of that was the fuel shut-off and the knob labeled "Air Heater" was actually connected to a primer pump instead of using a squirt bottle to prime the engine for starting.

[stump]

Dave, they have to be some of the most awesome shots anyone could ask for, specially the guys building nostalgic cars.

Nice work man.

[GoatGuy]

Work ?? It was pure fun. I know what you mean. Wish all you guys could have been there.

[stump]

I can just imagine the fun you had mate, thanks.

[Chris in Berwyn]

So if Bruce and Revell are serious, they have a number of options:

1) Take the Logghe chassis from the Hawaiian and tool a '68 Camaro body and a new Chevy engine

2) Same as 1, but tool a '70 Camaro body. Don't know if this car ran a Chevy or a hemi.

3) Take the 70s digger FC chassis and tool a 71 or whatever the Camaro body is in Tbusch's pic above. This has an advantage in that the kit already has a hemi, which is what Tbusch's prototype pic shows.

[GoatGuy]

Here's the later Camaro as it sits in Bruce's barn now. He bought the body from someone who had repainted it years ago for a different car.

[iBorg]

Actually the '70 Camaro was both the wide Logghe style and the digger style chassis. First the '70 body was added to the older chassis to make the car more bookable. Then the digger chassis replaced the older chassis to make the car more competitive. The '70 car did run a hemi near the end of its career. I don't know if it debuted with a Chevy or a hemi. My guess is it debutted with a Chevy (just a simple rebody) and then was swapped to the hemi either when the chassis was changed or later. This wasn't totally unknown. Jungle Jim's Camaro had a big block Chevy in it and then was swapped to the hemi. The BB Chevy was a very good race motor. What it lacked was durability. When it ran well, it was very competitive with the hemi. When it wasn't running well it was splitting parts.

[kitswapper]

Here's some more shots for reference, The revell 70's digger style Chassis thats in the Mongoose kit would be correct, with a new body and engine would be the way to go if you study these pictures for the newer Camaro Body.The 68 Camaro would need the Hawaiian Chassis and Chevy motor.The first new 70 Camaro body was on the old space frame logghe style chassis and even had a opening drivers side fiberglass door to get in and out, then Bruce to be competitive had a new digger style chassis built, and a lighter mini style Camaro body, if you look close you'll see the differences between the two 1970 Camaro bodies.

Edited May 7, 2012 by kitswapper

[Casey]

Round2 really needs to release this one, and make it a combo kit with the matching '70 SS tow car.

Those are some fantastic images, Jim. I dig those star spangled pants!

[kitswapper]

The original MPC kit is not even close to accurate it's a logghe style chassis with a stock promo Camaro body on it with the hood molded shut and not close to the real car, it's just a stock body over their standard chassis they put in the kits back then..

[Bowtienutz]

Jim White is correct The first 70 Cmaro FC that Bruce had was the one with the opening driver door. It is the body he has in his shop, It used on the early frame. The later body without was used on the newer chassis.

[Dragracer]

Also notice the different rear wheels on the 2 chassises, the space-frame logghe was running American "Daisy" wheels while the later "mini" car with the digger chassis was running the "Bearclaw" style wheels, but both were running the BBC.

[GoatGuy]

Excellent additions guys. Thanks.

kitswapper- I'll ask him why the MPC kit is incorrect since they sent him a prototype to approve.

Edited May 7, 2012 by GoatGuy

[kitswapper]

A lot of MPC funny cars back then were "stock wheelbase unaltered promo bodies" put over this Logghe style space frame chassis or a painted box art that showed what appeared to be altered body that really wasn't at all or a airbrushed photo of the car putting it back to a "stock wheelbase body"... AMT MPC and JOHAN all put stock bodies in some of their funny car kits at some point back then, it was cheap and easy instead of tooling a one off funny car body, but in my opinion MPC was the worse and the best !!....How you ask... MPC did some really accurate funny car kits such as the original 1966/67 Color Me Gone Dodge charger kit the 1969 Dick Harrell Camaro funny car kit and the Charlie Allen Saddleback 1969 Dodge Dart kit none of which was ever reissued!!!! .I have put up some pictures not that good quality so you guys can see what I'm talking about, how these kits are all over the place but basically all on the same chassis as the Bruce Larson kit (which showed a long nose Camaro FC body on the box art and wasn't... same deal as Kalitta's Bounty Hunter 1969 Mustang kit showing the from wheel wells moved forward) the bulk of the boxes were either a painted box art or a altered photograph but all were promo stock bodies inside and not accurate funny car bodies..In fact the Don Schmacher and the Hawaiian kits shown all had a digger style chassis in the real car and MPC gave you a space frame Logghe style chassis kit in the box. Back then I ran to the hobby shop all excited and bought theses kits for my 2 bucks each and got home and was very disappointed they were not like the real cars so I used them for parts LOL, today they are highly prized by collectors and very very expensive.

Edited May 7, 2012 by kitswapper

[iBorg]

I love it when photos are shown to prove your point! The pictures posted by kitswapper show in pictures one and two the wider Logghe chassis. Then another Camaro, which seems almost identical to the first without the opening door is built. There's very minor paint differences around the windows. This shows as Chevy powered but in the later picture shared by tbusch, the engine has the tell-tale distrubutor up front and valve covers of a Hemi.

[GoatGuy]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/studio_782/sets/72157629626903740/

Here are a couple pics of some of the models given to Bruce over the years, including the MPC Camaro prototype that he built (on the plate). We were fixing loose parts. You can see the Vega Pro Stock has lost some of the decals over time.

Also one of his '32 Ford coupe.

[iBorg]

One thing to remember is that in this era, the racers thought it was an honor to have a model made of their car. Today, a "replica" is another revenue stream. I don't have a clue what they're paid today but have to believe that the licensing is a whole lot more than what was standard during the '70s. In Funny Car Summer, Mike Dunn says his father received $500 plus 1.5% percent of the sales. Think John Force would settle for that?