DustyMojave

Beautiful model I never ran across that kit, not even in a catalog. And in the 1980s I worked for Mattel Toys when they owned Monogram. Great job building it, even if it was a quick build.

This build turned out definitely spectacular. Having worked as a fabricator and a crew member on sprint cars, super modifieds and midgets, I can say you've done an excellent job here. You've taken suggestions well, in a field where many take such suggestions as harsh criticism. You need not thank me for my comments here as you have for others. I thank you for sharing your build and the finished product with us.

I worked with John Morton on a '67 Mustang Shelby Trans Am car restoration a few years ago. I did fabrication and Prep, John was the driver. Still VERY sharp at the time. So I expect any info you got from talking to him was accurate.

Long way from Connecticut to any place to race on salt. I live within sight of El Mirage Dry Lake, where the salt flat racers race most of the year (even though El Mirage is not salt, but desert alkali dust leveled and compacted by winter and monsoon rains when they happen), except for during speedweek in August. In a lifetime of involvement in motorsports, the 1st race car I ever sat in was my dad's best friend Tom Beatty's belly tank, which is now in the Henry Ford Museum. I was 2 at the time, but remember it still at 66. Of course, at the time, dad had a 34 coupe in the garage that he sold to one of the Pierson brothers, famous for their 34 coupe. Not the same 34 coupe. At the Muroc Reunion in '96, dad asked the brothers what they had done with the coupe he sold them. They remembered him and buying a coupe from him, but couldn't remember what they had done with that one. But Dry Lakes '34 coupes are close to my heart. I have lots more to tell about such things if any are interested. But I'm not gonna take over this thread about a cool model build.

Just went and looked at it. Sure enough. I WAS WRONG. Sorry to get all your hopes up.

Well then you and I probably crossed paths back then. I grew up involved in sports car racing. Spending sometimes over 40 weekends/year at SoCal tracks. Riverside, Willow Springs, Pomona, Dodger Stadium, Ontario Motor Speedway, Goleta Airport (Santa Barbara), Paramount Ranch,Jack Murphy Stadium, Holtville AirField near El Centro, Taft, Hanford Speedway, Las Vegas, Phoenix. On off weekends we often went to circle track and dry lakes races that were my Dad's roots. He had owned and driven midgets, track roadsters and dry lakes cars. Ascot, Saugus Speedway, Irwindale, Whiteman Stadium, and of course, El Mirage dry lake (that I've lived near for the past 33 years). I grew up a mile away from San Fernando Drag Strip and went to lots of others. So I had a really well rounded exposure to racing of many sorts since the 50s. And all that time I was always involved, Not often a fan in the bleachers. I was up close and personal with the race cars. So I KNOW what these cars should be like. I see such alterations to "vintage race cars" of all sorts. It's like a once beautiful young actress that now has the terrible distortion of decades of plastic surgery. They're vintage race cars. They don't need aero tricks to make them faster. If those modifications look good to you, Go right on ahead and build your model like that if you want. But you won't see any of those sort of updates on any of my vintage models. OH...And Espo...Those bag lunches were made by the ladies of Cal Club (the SoCal region of SCCA). Not provided by the Raceway. The very stock 69 z-28s were probably there for a SOLO event (one car at a time against the clock).

Wow. Well done. I built one of these in 1969. It's in a box somewhere and I'm hoping the tires are still OK. I did NOT eliminate the battery box stuff, but I did for a rare instance use the kit driver figure, who, in spite of being a double amputee, is a fairly decent representation of Jean Pierre Beltoise. I added a face mask of fine cloth glued to his face and painted cream color. The kit was molded in a very different blue than yours and was much closer to French Blue, but looked rather slate blue. So I gave the body a light coat of Testors Candy Transparent blue over the kit plastic and it looked decent. I would rather, even then that the kit were an MS-10 provided with the Ford-Cosworth DFV engine, as that was what was used by Jackie Stewart to win the Championship.

Looks like a better chassis, engine and interior than I expected. Think I WILL buy one of these after all. BTW, the interior floor is stock Porsche steel. Same as Porsche off the showroom floor. Not aluminum. Although I DO like your dry brush effect. The underlying metal getting the paint abraded off would be steel, which would present as bright silver color until it rusts. Pretty much the same as if it were aluminum. So I approve.

Looks like a great start. I checked out the Maple Leaf page and like what I saw there too. I have some hotrod projects lined up and wanted some vintage style rear axles other than the modern stuff that Revell provides.

I recently acquired a frame and chassis set for a Revell issue GS Vette from one of the guys who sells model parts on evilbay, and was very pleased to find the frame rails do NOT have the shrinkage relief slots.

As a guy who made much of his career fabricating on, mechanicing on, and restoring vintage race cars, I'm appalled at the re-shaping of the bodies of these vintage race cars. The Talladega in particular. I saw these cars in person at Riverside Raceway in 1969/70. I was an Official for the local SCCA Sports Car Club. SCCA races were "support" races for the NASCAR Big Event. So I was in the garages right up close and personal. These cars in the pictures look SO wrong. Look at pictures of these same cars in races in those days and note the differences. And since they are many decades beyond competitive use, there's no justifiable reason to modernize or upgrade the aero of these cars. They are best if they are the same as they were in their day. This sort of alterations of something that has historical significance is what I call "Creative Memory". It's how someone who has the money and someone else who has the know-how can modify something to how they THINK it should be. And usually those people are guys who were not even alive when those cars were being raced. It's like painting hieroglyphics in an Egyptian tomb of a Pharaoh cruising down the Nile in a speedboat. Look at the depth of the hood recesses on the 3 Daytonas. Each is different. Note that they do NOT have separate nose pieces. Only 1 has any semblance of a separation line fro the nose, but it's not actually separate. Note the fully fabricated dash board and top and lack of seat belts in the #22 car. Note the modern seat in the #42. Note the air vents in the tail panel of the #71. Note the subtly reshaped rear fenders and chin spoiler under the #71. Modern Basset wheels and wider tires on the #71 also. Lack of headlight panels on #22 and 71. Difference in amount of fender above the wheel opening in the 3 Daytonas. The Talladega front clip is nearly TOTALLY re-shaped. Those mods would NEVER have gotten past the NASCAR Tech Inspectors in the day. Before I retired from race car fabricating and restoration, I worked on restoring a '67 Mustang Trans Am race car. It had been bought back by its original owner who bought it new from Shelby, whose shop built it, just like the Mustang that took the Championship that year. He paid over $100K to get it back, less engine and trans and badly rusted. Although he sold it race ready for less than $4K back in about 1970. He was expecting the car to have a market value of over $400K when we were done. So we were were about $100K into restoration when I was away for a few days. I return and the rear 1/4s have big new nicely done fender flares wider than my hand (when the car was raced fender flares were not allowed), there new tubular fabricated front control arms sitting beside it, new Wilwood big disc brakes, new wider wheels, new Kirkey racing seat, and lots of other stuff. Right after I got there, the car owner showed up. I asked what the plan was with the new stuff instead of the original parts. He told me he had been talking to some of the other guys racing the "Vintage Trans Am Series" (not real racing, but vintage cars going around the track at speed), and they told him that he should be upgrading such things. So I told him and the guy I was working with about a '68 Mustang that had been modified just as they were planning to do and had it for sale on the internet for $30K for 2 years. I went to the shop computer and showed the ad for the other Mustang to them. I told them if they wanted to modify the car like that, it was up to the owner. But he would then own a Mustang that he had spent $300K on which would not sell for $30K, just like the one on the internet. It was clear I was NOT a popular person in the shop that day, so I went off and worked on another project. A couple of days later, I walked in and found all those parts sitting in boxes next to the front door. The nicely flared rear fender panels were laying on the ground, having been cut out with a plasma torch. I was told the plan was to restore the car as it was in 1967. But I was hardly spoken to for the next month. John Morton drove it for a while in Vintage Trans Am after we finished it. So if you want to build a historically accurate model of one of those cars, or others... I suggest you are better off using vintage photos of the original race car for reference rather than new photos of the "RESTORED" car. If, on the other hand, you LIKE the way these modernized race cars look, then by ALL MEANS, build your model that way. Don't ANYBODY DARE to think that I'm trying to tell people HOW they HAVE TO build their model.

As a VW guy, the aspect of this truck that I find most bizarre is the 2nd engine mounted upside down on top of the primary. The VW van and pickup were rated for 1 ton of cargo. So the truck can handle the weight just as well as an American truck could. But yeah, horsepower would be lacking in the 1500cc 53hp engine. But to mount another engine upside down???? The cooling tins on top suggest that the top engine is a 1960 or earlier 1200 rated at a whole 36hp. Same engine my '58 Bug started with. My '58 with a 1600 with bigger cylinders to make it 1835cc, with dual carbs and a cam makes more horsepower than his Frankenstein rig. My '58 Baja Bug as it is now. I met the car the day it was bought new in May 1958 and it now has 955K miles on it. Nearly 600K as an offroad Baja Bug. That's my son leaning on it. He's a veteran offroader. He and our team have won several offroad racing championships and even won their Baja Bug class in the Baja 1000 with a similar Bug.

That intake is looking awesome. Very good job.

I probably would have taken molds off the Fiat fender flares myself. Because I'm OCD that way. That's an interesting source. In the early 1980s, I worked at Mattel Toys as a Product Safety Engineer. The Hot Wheels line was my responsibility. Mattel released a series of 1/24 scale diecasts made by Bburago. That Fiat 131 was one of them. The red and yellow version. I still have some of the pre-production samples, including that Fiat and several of the F1 cars. I approved that Fiat for Production from a Safety standpoint. None of those were sold in the US market by Mattel though.

Way cool! Thanks for sharing those. Some of those cars are special to me. The MGs - A TC and a later TD. My dad when he met my mom at a sports car race in 1953 was driving a Singer Mk 9 sports car similar to those MGs. The Allard J2x - (dark red with separate front fenders and spare tires on both sides of the body) That's an early 50s British sports car with American V8 engine, from Ford Flathead to Buick, Olds or Cadillac. I used to see those racing here in SoCal when I was a little kid. The '73 Porsche 911 Carrera RS - (a few of them!) That model of Porsche was used for the 1st season of the IROC series (International Race Of Champions). They were prepped by Penske Racing. I was a Tech Inspector at their 1st event, which was at Riverside in 1973. The Devin - (Blue roadster with roll bar and side pipes) Manufactured in LA in the 50s and 60s as a kit car for various chassis. This one looks to me like a Devin-Healey, although the side pipes suggest a V8 engine in this one. There was a version for Corvette chassis, but the rear fender shapes suggest that this is not one of those. There was a version for Porsche, for VW, and for other chassis too. Ferrari Dino 206 - (Gray mid-engine Ferrari) My offroad race car with a VW 1.8l engine used a carb made for this model of Ferrari. I won a Championship with that car. The Cunningham - (white roadster with blue stripes) American designed and built sports car with American power (typically a Chrysler Hemi). When my parents met as mentioned above), dad was an official at that race, but his weekday job was working for Johnny von Neuman, sports car importer whose operation was later bought by VW to become VW of America and Porsche of America. Mom was at the race with her friend Maxine Elmer, who was there to drive one of Johnny's race cars in the ladies-only Powder Puff Race that weekend. Mom and dad got married 3 months later and Maxine later married Briggs Cunningham, who owned the company that built that Cunningham sports car. I remember private visits to Briggs Cunningham's Auto Museum in Orange County California. After Briggs passed away, most of his collection went to the Collier Museum in Florida. Fujimi made a kit of the '73 Porsche 911 Carrera RS and another of the Ferrari Dino 206 in their Enthusiast Model line. Most of these cars other than those would only be available in model kit form in 1/43 scale if at all. Gunze Sangyo did a Karmann Ghia and Revell and Hasegawa have done the VW Bus in 1/24 and 1/25th. The GT350 was done in 1/24th by Revell-Monogram. Corvette Stingray by Revell-Monogram in 1/24th as a '66 coupe and as a '67 Coupe or Roadster. By AMT in 1/25th in annual coupe and roadster versions from '63 to '67. The '63 Coupe version re-released MANY times. Jag XK120 was done in 1/24th by Revell of Germany. Ferrari Dino 206 was done by Fujimi, also in their Enthusiast Model series.

Wow... I too thought of the pounce wheel. Was wondering if the sheet is a little on the hard side based on the"rivets" seeming to distort the metal around them. But you're doing AWESOME work.

Wow...Thank you. Note that this car, with the front axle not dropped, the belly of the body is not flattened but clears the ground by a few inches as visible in the side view. When these pictures were taken, I lived with my family in the San Fernando Valley, about 70 miles from El Mirage Dry Lake, on the other side of a range of 10,000 foot high Mountains, and Tom Beatty and his family lived there too. Now I can see the hills above El Mirage from my house in the Mojave Desert, only 10 miles from where the belly tank was parked in these pictures.

Purty BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH cool. I like those "welds". That worked pretty well. Gonna have to remember that one. For color of the manifold. the silver you had on it was good for texture and just needed a little wash with Tamiya panel accent. OR even old school wash with india ink and water. But then, as a guy on a VW offroad forum says..."my opinion is worth exactly what you pay for it.

In a lifetime involved in motorsports, this is the 1st race car I ever sat in. At 2 years old. Note that these photos were taken by my father of his best friend Tom Beatty with his belly tank. My dad, Tom and Fat Eddie have passed away. As such I claim copyright to these pictures. If I find them elsewhere on the internet, I will know they have been stolen. Tom's belly tank is one of the most famous. Built by Tom with help from Barney Navarro. The tank body is a P38 drop tank. The frame is made of 3" round tube rails. It was the 1st car to break 180mph at El Mirage Dry Lake when it was running a wrecking yard Ford flathead V8. Then it was the 1st car to break 200mph, when it was running a wrecking yard Olds Rocket 303ci pushrod V8. IIRC, the front axle is Model T. The rear axle is swingaxle (like a VW Bug or early Porsche) built using Ford parts. In these pics taken in the late 50s at El Mirage, the wheel covers were Moon discs. The car earlier rolled with wheel covers made from wringer washing machine lids. The car now resides in the Henry Ford Museum. The 40 Ford Sedan Delivery push truck holds a record at Bonneville, set while pushing the Arfons' Green Monster with an Allison Engine that wouldn't fire. Inside the sedan delivery were Tom and Fat Eddy ( big guy seen in these pics), Tom's rollaway tool chest, spare wheels and tires for the sedan delivery, the race car and the trailer, a couple of spare engines for the race car, ice chest, food, jack and jack stands, pieces to put together an a-frame type engine hoist, and various spare parts etc. GMC was trying to beat that record with their heavily engineered Syclone supercharged pickup in the early 90s. They failed.

Having read through this topic, I see there are some things that are poorly shaped or designed. Such as the low profile tires that should NOT be, the huge hub holes in the wheels. Yes, Halibrand knockoffs go in the centers of the wheels, butt these wheels appear to be designed for 1/18 scale Halibrand knockoffs. The engine has some strange aspects to it. Especially the front, timing cover, pulleys, water pump, front inner fender panels?????? What Chevelle were the designers looking at? The carb looks like it got left in the carb dip a few years too long. etc.... In many ways, the IMC Ford GT's of the 1960s that get so heavily dissed as tough to build come far closer to representing what's under the skin of a Ford GT. But I do believe I just put this car on my shopping list. Things like the 427 side oiler engine can be replaced with one from a Revell 427 Cobra.

The GT350R in this topic is a car I Tech Inspected a few times when it was raced in SCCA events in SoCal. Yes. I was a kid. But I worked Tech with my folks. I grew up involved with SCCA racing. I see a few details on this car as presented, that are not correct. Like the door windows on aluminum rails. Rules then required at least one window open. Also removal of the wind wings was not allowed. But the spare tire...I never saw a GT350 raced with one. MAYBE in FIA sanctioned endurance races like Sebring. But in SCCA B/Production...Nah. In 1965, SCCA Production class rules required the stock right front seat, although the driver's seat could be replaced for driver comfort. Door interior panels were supposed to be full stock. The roll bar should have a diagonal brace and the rear braces should go to the rear fender wells. Not to the trunk. Oh...And for a car selling for $4million dollars, they COULD have spent $30 for a fire extinguisher that's not depleted. I see inaccuracies in the paint as well. Like the front valance stripes should end at the side of the lower radiator inlet. Not extend up the sides. I made a living for many years building race cars and restoring old race cars. I'm retired from that. I've seen LOTS of restorations to how the current owners think it should be, not how it was done originally. And when you're dealing with a car worth from a few hundred thousand to several million bucks, I have always felt that such details matter. I could tell you about the Shelby 67 Mustang Trans Am and when the owner talked to other "Vintage Racers" who were racing later era Trans AM cars and they talked him into putting on wider wheels and tires and flaring the fenders and replacing the front a-arms with tubular arms and coilovers. I walked in the shop one morning to find a stack of tubular arms, wider wheels and tires, new fender panels with really pretty flares (not allowed in 1967 Trans Am rules) welded and bolted on. I told the owner and the other fab guy abut a 1968 Mustang with no history, but built really nicely with all of those modifications that had been lollygagging on the internet for over a year with an asking price of $30K. The owner of the '67 I was working on was looking for a sale value of around $400K as his car had history. So I told them I could do such modifications. But I wouldn't like it. I went to the office and pulled that other Mustang on the computer for them to see. They were both pretty mad at me. Correct that...REALLY MAD! But the next Monday, the flared rear fenders were cut off, the flared front fenders were piled in the corner with the tubular arms, Wilwood 6-puck brakes, fabricated spindles and coilovers. I was told to start putting the stock suspension parts back on it and when the new fenders arrived to put them on the car. No other discussion about it. But many times there's nobody around that was there when the car was originally being raced who cares about how it's "restored". As for the wheels on that GT350 wannabe convertible, they are Cragar GT wheels. 1-piece cast aluminum, NOT cast aluminum centers welded to steel rims and then chrome plated like Cragar SS. I have an MPC 69 Coronet Super Bee with them on it. It's as I built it in '69. They may have come in that kit.

Very nice. I was born into and grew up around road racing in California from the mid 1950s on and later made a living building, mechanicing, pit crewing road race cars (lots of other race cars too!). So I have some special appreciation for these cars. I noted the "DM" class designation on the black Testarossa. For those who did NOT grow up around the American road racing environment, "DM" signifies "D" sub-class ("C" was highest, "H" was lowest) of "Modified" sports racing cars. Originally conceived as a category for race cars modified from production automobiles, such as an MG TC with a blower added to it, or a fiberglass sports car body on a Dodge frame with a hopped up engine, like the Victress I worked on a few years ago, or the "Bu-Merc, which was a Mercedes 300SL that had been crashed and got rebuilt with a new aluminum body and a Buick V8 engine etc. The "Modified" class also was home for pure purpose built race cars, like Ferraris, Maseratis and Scarabs. This category in the 60s morphed into "Sports Racing", signified with "SR" and was filled with Can Am cars. There actually WERE a few Ferrari Testarossas raced in SCCA and Cal Club amateur racing events. The 3.0l Testarossa was put in "D/M" in comparison with other cars like the 4.9 Ferraris and Masers and American V8 powered cars like Ol Yeller, again with a Buick engine that occupied "C/M".

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I actually have like 3 mis-match fabricated steel intake manifolds for fuel injection on a VW engine for a Midget from back in the 1970s when VWs were starting to take over as the engine of choice for midgets. that came to me from Johnny Parson's collection after he passed. Made from cold-rolled steel bar and DOM tube welded together. One is painted black, one painted silver, and the other painted gold. Since each has no match, and they're way obsolete, and nobody is building VW midget engines with the early fabricated stuff, since ready-made parts are available that are bigger tubing for bigger throttle bodies and aftermarket heads with far bigger ports, they're wall art for the shop, never to actually be used on an engine.

That looks really good. Should work great on roll cages too. Can I use it on my full scale projects? ? There's a Baja Bug waiting by the garage for good weather to coincide with schedule conflicts to get the roll cage welding finished. I suppose the plastic rod would need to be larger though...? And different glue too...