Gramps46

The late Wayne Moyer of this magazine once told me the winning Mazda's color and graphics were actually a wrap.

Oh great! Another must have. Edit: found one in Italy. Blue. Let's see now. The modeling budget says no deserts and travel in the slow lane till Christmas to save gas.

Your posts have been very enlightening. Thank you.

You nailed the look my friend. Thanks for bring us up to date.

The wheels look like the early AMT Cobra kit. Maybe I will do a From The Archive review of the model in a separate thread. I see I am missing the grille's white surround.

Now this brings back memories of the '70s before there were any Ferrari kits and I was carving my own Barchetta with wood. I built a jig to hold my Dremel to cut the slots in plastic bars for the grille. Photo etch, phooey. ?

You are correct, the MKIV is the evolution of the J Car. After the death of Ken Miles in a J Car prototype while testing at Riverside the chassis was strengthened, a roll bar installed, and aero changes made to call it the MKIV in 1967.

Ford J Car 1966 Le Mans Trials Ford leadership decided in 1965 they needed a new, made in the USA, lighter and more aerodynamic GT for Le Mans. They teamed with Kar Kraft and Brunswick to build an aluminum honeycomb chassis and Ford Styling came up with a dramatic new body shape. For the Le Mans trials in April 1966 the all new J Car was introduced and dubbed the Pickle Fork (your grandmother or mechanic will know what that means). Here as it arrived at the local Peugeot dealership where Ford rented garage space for their J Car and MK IIs. During the trials it was found the rear end was lifting and a spoiler was fitted. I also believe IBM used it as a test bed for their new electronic timing system. The MPC 1/25th J Car Model. The MPC model was unique in that it had a body molded in clear plastic and had a detailed chassis. I got this model as a built up with a chassis painted to match the box art. There was damage to the suspension which had to be fixed and glue smudges to the windows had to be fixed. A periscope rear view mirror was missing and had to be made. I had decided to paint it to match the J Car as it was at the trials. The rear end needed to be revised to match its configuration at the trials. The taillights were changed, the spoiler was added, and the tacked-on IBM transponder attached. Decals came from the parts box. Thanks for looking and comments are welcome. There is a WIP thread too. Oops, just noticed the NACA ducts are missing in the tail.

Me too.

I recommend the IMC Cougar chassis. It has the correct wheelbase for the 1/24 body plus poseable front end. I used one for the Lindberg Daytona I built.

I almost shorted out my phone salivating on it. Hand laced wheels?

Really looking forward to watching this journey.

I built an Alfa 8C 2300 eons ago from a Frog-Union kit and intended to build another like yours so am very interested.

Truly significant accomplishment. Thanks so much for sharing it with us.

Interesting choice of chassis to replicate. Will be watching.

Double nice Phil.

You picked a good one.

Super build Bruce.

After over a month of searching I finally figured why the spoiler would not fit. The middle opening in the tail was too high! Fixed that and here is the spoiler mounted. Here is a mock up before gluing the body in place. And now gluing the body to the chassis using the world's oldest XACTO clamps. The next photos will be in the Under Glass section. Thank you all for watching this long project.

Outstandingly beautiful build

Excellent build Rich. I don't have the MFH kit but it certainly is a worthy choice for your Martini collection. The background is a nice fit too.

Thanks for posting. Wish I could have joined you

The Corvette is a Franklin Mint model.

Franklin Mint

It is 1955 and I am a very happy guy.