Revell Tommy Ivo Showboat / Mickey Thompson Challenger

[Greg Myers]

With a couple of these in the stash and knowing one can get them at a good price at just about any show or swap and having looked inside and perused the instructions one has to wonder what to do with all those gorgeous parts?

I could build these monsters with a great deal of patience. 

 There are four greatly detailed Buick Nailheads and four old school HEMIs.

Or maybe one of these ? 

Edited April 29, 2016 by Greg Myers

[Ace-Garageguy]

Couple years back, I built an 'unfinished' version of the first un-supercharged Challenger I, using the Revell kit as a starting point. My model represents the car as it was introduced to the press, before it was painted or had made its first run on the salt. I'm still getting all the mods done on the Hilborn-injected Pontiac engines. Considerably different than what's in the kit (though the kit includes 4 blown Pontiac engines, not "old school HEMIS")    

Build thread here:   http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/65965-mickey-thompsons-challenger-one-still-alive-feb-8/

 

Edited April 29, 2016 by Ace-Garageguy

[Crazy Ed]

With a couple of these in the stash and knowing one can get them at a good price at just about any show or swap and having looked inside and perused the instructions one has to wonder what to do with all those gorgeous parts?

I could build these monsters with a great deal of patients. 

 There are four greatly detailed Buick Nailheads and four old school HEMIs.

Or maybe one of these ? 

 

      Greg, I'm pretty sure the Challanger 1 ran Pontiac Engines, not Hemi's. The bottom picrue was taken at my Old Stoompin' Grounds. The Track is the (rip) San Fernando Dragstrip. The Grey "V" to the right of Mickey's head is the Pacoima Res., the Hay Bales on the left of the Track were to keep folks from driving into the Wash that's behind 'em (which some still managed to do. I couldn't afford Tickets so I watched from the overpass at the end of the track.

[Ace-Garageguy]

      Greg, I'm pretty sure the Challanger 1 ran Pontiac Engines, not Hemi's.      Yup. Pontiacs.  

The Grey "V" to the right of Mickey's head is the Pacoima Res.   Except that's Tony Nancy with Tommy Ivo, not Mickey Thompson. 

[Harry P.]

I could build these monsters with a great deal of patients...

Only if you're a doctor...

[Crazy Ed]

Whhhoooooooppppssssssssss. Hey from where I used to sit they were all dots

[Greg Myers]

OK, my bad,haven't opened one of these up in awhile, Pontiac not HEMI. However I never identified Tony Nancy as Micky Thompson. Grabin' at straws there. "Let's make fun of Greg"  or " Same Group" ? 

[Greg Myers]

And Bill Aced it with that "Early" build. 

[RAT-T]

DID THE MT CHALLENGER MAYBE COME WITH HEMI HEAD PONTIAC'S? I KNOW THEY EXISTED, JUST NOT SURE OF THE DATE.

I FOUND THIS THREAD, DIDN'T READ THE WHOLE THING, BUT SOME COOL PICS

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/pontiac-hemi-thread-mickey-thompson-jack-gifford-steve-barcak.316668/

[Phirewriter]

Maybe thinking of the Summers Brothers Goldenrod Bonneville car? That one ran a quartet of hemis.

[Daddyfink]

DID THE MT CHALLENGER MAYBE COME WITH HEMI HEAD PONTIAC'S? I KNOW THEY EXISTED, JUST NOT SURE OF THE DATE.

I FOUND THIS THREAD, DIDN'T READ THE WHOLE THING, BUT SOME COOL PICS

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/pontiac-hemi-thread-mickey-thompson-jack-gifford-steve-barcak.316668/

To the best of my knowledge, the Challenger never ran the M/T Hemi Heads  

[Ace-Garageguy]

DID THE MT CHALLENGER MAYBE COME WITH HEMI HEAD PONTIAC'S? 

To the best of my knowledge, the Challenger never ran the M/T Hemi Heads  

Correct. The Pontiacs in both versions of the Challenger I were garden-variety. Though Pontiac wasn't an 'official' sponsor of the Challenger, the engines were supplied by Pontiac. One story is that they were used test-engines that had a lot of hard time on them, and an engine failure may have been to blame for Thompson's inability to make the return run and clinch the official land speed record. At the time, it's said, Thompson blamed a broken driveline part, in order to avoid casting Pontiac in an unflattering light as far as reliability.

Still, he managed to break the existing record, running 406.6 MPH in a car that was very much an owner-built hot-rod in the best sense of the word.

The Revell Challenger I kit engines are almost identical to the Revell parts-pack Pontiac engines, except for the blower drives, oil pans, and a few other small parts.

[Lizard Racing]

BTW, Thompson did make some hemi heads for Pontiacs.  Jack Chrisman won a Top Eliminator title with one in a Dragmaster chassis.

Building my Challenger I was an exercise in patience.

The Ivo Buick dragster is still in existence.  I saw a feature on some TV show a while back.  Ivo was a bit pressed to contort himself into the cockpit.

[Greg Myers]

So my point here is these are pretty intense kits. If one doesn't have the patience , they are quite daunting. At that end you have a very nice box of parts. and as they say  " Parts is parts" So what do you do with all those engines, 4 injected Buick Nailheads and 4 Pontiacs with blowers , and a bunch of quick change rear ends ?

One more "point" Mickey Thompson may have broken a speed record with his car, however it was a one way run, not good enough to "Hold" the record. That would go to the Summers Brothers in their Goldenrod ( another four engine monster) with a two way win, holding their record for 26 years. And yes they were blown HEMIs. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

So my point here is these are pretty intense kits. If one doesn't have the patience , they are quite daunting. At that end you have a very nice box of parts. and as they say  " Parts is parts" So what do you do with all those engines, 4 injected Buick Nailheads and 4 Pontiacs with blowers , and a bunch of quick change rear ends ?

You have a very valid point. These kits really aren't 'hard' to build...but they DO take an unusual amount of patience and care to get good results. 

The Ivo car is without doubt easier than the Thompson car, primarily because the body shell in the Thompson car has some fit issues, and the instructions aren't the clearest...even contradictory at one point.

They're both GREAT parts sources for other things, but if you take your time and pay attention to fit, flash removal, and making things square and parallel, either kit will produce a stunning model.

One really cool thing in the Ivo kit is the front end, which represents steering Dodge truck 4WD axles (IIRC) coupled to a special quick-change Champ Car center section.

That's your Charger there next door to the Summers car, isn't it Greg?

Edited April 29, 2016 by Ace-Garageguy

[Ace-Garageguy]

Here's a build of the Tommy Ivo Showboat kit.     

[Daddyfink]

Mickey Thompson made both Ford and Pontiac Hemi Heads

[Lizard Racing]

I still have a few parts from the Challenger I tried to build in the '60s.  I did a better job on this one:

[Jon Haigwood]

Here is a few pics I took at the World of Wheels Museum a few months back (sorry for the somewhat crappy pic quality)

[Ace-Garageguy]

Thanks for the pix, Jon. These actually show some details of the coolant plumbing that I didn't have, from different angles.  

[TomZ]

Ace-Garageguy, those Challenger pics are gold! I have Googled high and low for reference pics in preparation for building this kit and found very little, certainly nothing this good. Do you have more?

I read Mickey Thompson's biography, Challenger, a while back. He was the first to ever take a hemi to Bonneville and blew it up four times in a single week. Don't know if he was doing something wrong or what, but he couldn't keep one together once it was modified for power. He loved the Pontiac engines and used them a lot because they had really strong bottom ends. I've seen it said that he was forced to use Pontiacs because they sponsored him, but he went to them because that was the engine he used.

 

[TomZ]

With a couple of these in the stash and knowing one can get them at a good price at just about any show or swap and having looked inside and perused the instructions one has to wonder what to do with all those gorgeous parts?

 

One thing you possibly could do is build the early unblown version of Challenger I and use the injectors and front covers off the Buicks on the Pontiacs. I'm gonna build that one day.

[Greg Myers]

That's your Charger there next door to the Summers car, isn't it Greg?

Yes , daily driver back in the eighties when I was working at the Sun City Post Office. Letter carrier came in and told me about the long car being painted on his route.  Got to meet Bill and look over the car, what we could see of it all masked off for paint. this was some time back in the early eighties.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Ace-Garageguy, those Challenger pics are gold! I have Googled high and low for reference pics in preparation for building this kit and found very little, certainly nothing this good. Do you have more?

I read Mickey Thompson's biography, Challenger, a while back. He was the first to ever take a hemi to Bonneville and blew it up four times in a single week. Don't know if he was doing something wrong or what, but he couldn't keep one together once it was modified for power. He loved the Pontiac engines and used them a lot because they had really strong bottom ends. I've seen it said that he was forced to use Pontiacs because they sponsored him, but he went to them because that was the engine he used.

 

Did you look through my build thread? There are several pix there pulled from the web, and I have some more on my hard drive. Let me know what you need photos of and I'll see if I have them.

Challenger I build thread    http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/65965-mickey-thompsons-challenger-one-still-alive-feb-8/

Thompson had a very fruitful relationship with Pontiac, setting many records...some of which I believe still stand.

[Crazy Ed]

 However I never identified Tony Nancy as Micky Thompson.

  Now there's a Statement I Will Never be able to make for the rest of my Life