mrm

So, the Ferrari 575 GTZ was approved by Ferrari as the 575 group's swan song under the condition of not showing it at the Geneva Auto Salon at the same time as Ferrari was introducing their replacement for the 575M. That car was the Ferrari 599 GTB. Altho the overall formula of Front engined, rear wheel drive, V12 powered, two seat grand tourer remained the same, the new car could not be any more different than the previous 550/575 cars. It's engine based on the unit used in the Enzo supercar is good for 620hp @ 7600rpm (not bad for a big V12) and 205mph top speed, which at the time makes it the fastest production Ferrari. Since the company has already used the birthplace of the company- Modena and the factory's location- Maranello to name their recent models, the new flagship of the company was named Fiorano. For those not familiar with teh name, it is the racetrack adjacent to the factory in Maranello. Every road car, prototype or race car produced by Ferrari is developed and tested on their own private race track - Fiorano. FERRARI 599 GTB FIORANO - Mattel Elite

Thank you. I've been busy the last few days, but I have to get back on this before it finds itself in a forgotten box for who knows how long.

I am not 100% sure, but I don’t think there are any models of the 575Z in 1/24(5) by any manufacturer in metal, plastic or otherwise. As far as I know, the only other company to make any models of this car is Looksmart in 1:43.

I have zero attraction to the real car. Where the P1 is a visual masterpiece of perfectly flowing and balanced forms, the Senna looks to me like an origami gone bad. Seeing the car in person (one attends the local cars and coffee somewhat regularly) didn’t help either. Besides I find the use of Ayrton’s name very gimmicky. The model however picks my interest from time to time, more from engineering side of things and because the extensive potential for use of carbon fiber with combination of accent colors. I’ve seen a couple of these built at contests with great quality and I will definitely follow your progress on here. My local hobby shop has one of these kits on their shelf, but I never felt the urge to pull the trigger on it. Now, if Tamiya made the F1 or the P1 with opening doors to the level of detail of their Enzo or LaFerrari I would have been all over them. Perhaps your build can motivate me to get one of these.

Next the window seals were masked off. And the whole body was prepped to be sprayed. This is another reason to wash away the polishing paste. So paint can actually grip on. I have no idea why on the picture it looks like paint bled through. There is no such thing in person. In this kit window masks are not provided. I tried to put on Tamiya masking sheet to cut my own masks, but the contours were not pronounced enough to detect through the mask. So I was left with the only other option - paint by hand. I used Gundham black paint marker, which is unforgivable on clear plastic. It was the most nerve-wrecking part of the whole build so far. The entire light assemblies forth and aft are molded in clear. The rears had their centers masked with BMF, mounted on masking tape to cover their backs, sprayed with Tamiya clear red and then had BMF circles punched and mounted inside them. The front lights had the turn signals painted from behind with clear orange, then the entire light cluster was backed with BMF and then everything was painted black by hand, leaving only the lenses clear. The big driving lights were not working out this way, so they got some chrome into them, which makes them just like the 1:1. The headlight covers received black borders and the fog-lights too. The grille is one of the parts strangely molded in red. So, primer > Matt Black > BMF for the fog lights and the lenses attached with Canopy Glue. The prancing horse emblem in the center is just a decal in the kit, which looks awful. On the real car it is a nice tridimensional metal emblem. Miraculously I found some pieces from a 1:24 Bburago diecast Ferrari 550 and the front grille was amongst them. So I cut out the prancing horse from it, sanded the back flat to thin it as much as possible and glued it in the Fujimi grille. It had to be touched up a little with chrome marker, but you can't tell. It looks perfect. The taillights also received some black seals.

As i have said before, I am a true believer that great results can be achieved simply with care and a little elbow grease, without the need to spend money on special products or tools. A product that is simply a miracle worker and is inexpensive and readily available pretty much anywhere an automotive care island is present, is Meguiar's Ultimate Compound. One good wet sanding with 2500 and some buffing with this stuff is all it's needed to achieve a glass smooth finish. Immediately after I buff the whole body, I wash it with a clean sponge and dish soap. I use an old toothbrush to get into the body panel gaps. This way there is no dried buffing compound residue left, which is a pain to remove if left on for long time. Weirdly enough some parts were molded in red for no apparent reason. Like the upper dash (which is black on pretty much all 550s), while the lower dash half and the seats and remainder of interior are molded black (which are tan or red on most cars). I sprayed it with SEM black initially, which covered perfectly but created this weird ghost line in its shine, where the flow of the plastic could be seen. Hard to explain. so I sprayed Tamiya grey primer to rectify the issue, which will be followed by Tamiya flat black. Meanwhile I followed on the body with Maguiar's Ultimate Polish. I often skip this step as the Compound provides more than adequate shine on metallics, which is what I use most of the time. But this is a rich solid color which can benefit from some extra depth and besides, I love how the polish smells. LOL The pictures can't really show it, but the polish definitely gave it an extra degree of shine. Again, after polishing the body, it was washed really well. At this point it barely hold fingerprints and it beads water away.

Thank you Doyle. I sure hope it will be nice when done. It got way more involved than initially planned.

So, what are the mods? Looks the same to me.

I’m sure you will figure the issues out, so I am completely ignoring them at the moment. What I see is one mean and lean, very unusual, cool as heck, super original hot rod, that I am jealous of (in the best possible way) that I didn’t think of. I absolutely love it. It makes me want to go find one and build something similar. (Not happening anytime soon). Keep on it. I can’t wait to see it finished.

With its siblings and the production car that it is based on...

Mattel made two more variations of the 575 Z. One was the all red one in their premium SE line, which I did not buy and our days is hard to find. The other I did get and I'm showing you bellow. It differs in having only one vent on the side of front fenders vs two, having US market side markers and rolling on different modular wheels.

Unfortunately, Mattel chose not to renew their license with Ferrari few years back. The company that picked the license is Bburago, which is owned by Maisto.

One has to commend Mattel for actually making the models faithful to their respective originals with minute differences, like the grilles and the different vents in the fenders.

The coolest thing about Hayashi-San is that not only he had the drive and means to get Zagato to make the cars, but he actually ordered two of them. The two-tone grey one was for his personal collection to admire and polish in private, while a second black example was made for him to drive and enjoy on the road. Later on the black one was sold and I believe subsequently repainted, but the very first one made, the two-toned one is still in his collection to this day with pretty much no miles on the odometer. FERRARI 575 GTZ - Mattel Elite

Wow. lovely car that I never knew existed in model form. For those who are not very well versed in Ferrari/Maserati code, this was basically based on a Ferrari Enzo chassis and engine. Thank you for showing this. Now I may have to chase one for my collection.

sweet

I have to say, this is the first time I’ve ever seen a woody VW bus. Brilliant!

Looking really nice. I just wished it had proper Rothmans markings.

I always loved this car. Your model is simply spectacular.

She's a beauty

I don’t know. I’ll try to figure it out next year and if they don’t have one, perhaps I can help organize it. By the way, you have quite few pictures of the model tables, but didn’t show your models and which won what. C’mon now, don’t be too modest. ?

When I saw the title of the thread I didn't quite expect what I find in it , but pretty close. I do get the price hike for certain things. Some are reasonable and some not so much. $30 for a model kit is, let's face it, a reality that we'll have to learn to get used to. But certain things are just ridiculous. and don't have anythig to do with inflation and should be regulated somehow or being plain criminal. I went with my wife to get her cars's oil changed in the dealership. I can't really complain about the price of that service and I think the overall experience is worth it. And yes, it is an experience. At least at Mercedes Benz of Music City. Now, what followed however, left me speechless. Not an easy thing to do. We were looking around while waiting for the car to be done. And my wife sees a G-wagon on the floor. We both know that it is not a car we can afford at this time, but it is her dream machine. It was red, with some tasty options and carbon fiber accents in the interior. The initial shock of the $180 000 sticker was quite powerful. This was not an AMG model. Just their regular G series model with the standard drivetrain. Apparently, there are X amount of these build to this exact spec of trim and color that rendered this a "limited edition" and therefore demanded something like $60K over the price of the same vehicle in grey for example, with wood veneer instead of carbon on its dash and different design wheels. Now that is a little steep even for a Benz. Four fender flares, a trim package and set of wheels for 60 Grand! And this is where the REAL SHOCK hit! There was an addendum sticker next to the factory window sticker on which with bold letters was printed: MARKET ADJUSTMENT $120 000 I sincerely thought this was a mistake and asked a salesperson, who reaffirmed with a smirk: "Yup! We can't keep these in stock, so that's what we're asking." That means that they are asking the price of their top of the line S class model in addition to the price of their SUV, just to sell you one! Or Think about it this way. Two brand new Corvettes ON TOP of sticker price! Call me crazy, but this BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH on the floor of official MB dealer is just offensive!

Interesting to see at least three Novitec Rosso Ferraris in one place.

I went to the Nashville Nats the last two years. Either I am not understanding where this is happening or Goodguys don't have a model show at their Nashville events. Thanks for the pictures.

The story of this car is very interesting. Andrea Zagato inherits the company, which has very rich history with Ferrari. For quite some time the company was waiting for the right time to release a Ferrari based model. In 2006 right before the 50the anniversary of Zagato's first Ferrari, the company received an inquiry from a Japanese collector - Mr. Hayashi, if they can build him a custom 12 cylinder Zagato bodied Ferrari. Andrea Zagato puts the wheels in motion, fully aware that there is huge difference between customer bought Ferrari that has its body changed and an official limited Ferrari model. Eventually he gets Ferrari's permission to use their name and badges and the car is given the green light as an official Ferrari product under one condition. Not to be shown at the Geneva Auto Salon the same year, as Ferrari was debuting their 575 replacement the 599. The car is met with great approval from both Ferrari and Mr Hayashi and actually represents the last series from the 575 family. FERRARI 575 GTZ sn127394 - Mattel Elite