Cougar Funny Car Kits

[afx]

Are these two kits essentially the same?

Edited March 3, 2017 by afx

[Mark]

No.  The '69 was an AMT kit, the '68 was an MPC kit.  When those kits were first manufactured, AMT and MPC were competing companies, not separate brands with one owner as has been the case since 1985.

 

[afx]

So these kits are essentially the same?

Edited March 3, 2017 by afx

[Snake45]

I think so. I have the STP set, and can tell you that the body is pretty close to stock, except for the rear wheel openings, which are way oversized.

[Mark]

Those are all essentially the same (MPC) kit.  The Cougar Country version (with the clear body) was the first one.  At some point the body was altered a bit to put a separate escape hatch into the roof.  I'm not sure when that was done.  There may have been other minor changes like engine parts, nothing major though.

If you wanted a '69 Cougar funny car, you could get the body from the stock '69 and drop it over the '68 chassis with some tweaking.  The AMT '69 used the stock body with a couple of alterations, which were reversed when they put the stock version back together later.

Edited March 3, 2017 by Mark
missing info

[afx]

I have a Cougar funny car (partial built up) that bought several years ago.  It's a '69 and the front wheel openings are elongated from stock (I will post pictures later today), does this sound like the AMT body?

Edited March 3, 2017 by afx

[Mark]

The AMT body had the rear wheel openings messed with, not sure about the fronts.  Let's see those pictures!

[Don Sikora II]

Those are all essentially the same (MPC) kit.  The Cougar Country version (with the clear body) was the first one.  At some point the body was altered a bit to put a separate escape hatch into the roof.  I'm not sure when that was done.  There may have been other minor changes like engine parts, nothing major though.

If you wanted a '69 Cougar funny car, you could get the body from the stock '69 and drop it over the '68 chassis with some tweaking.  The AMT '69 used the stock body with a couple of alterations, which were reversed when they put the stock version back together later.

The three original MPC kits all have some differences in how the scoop area/hood cutout is handled. From memory, the changes also impact the windshield so all three versions are a little different. Would need to dig out my kits to check, but if I remember correctly the parts in the Model King reissues are closest to the Rattler.

[afx]

Was the AMT kit only issued once?  I can't find any pictures of the AMT body.

[Mark]

The AMT '69 funny car was issued only once, though I believe it was in a couple of catalogs so it was available for two years or so.

The body is from the stock annual kit, but the rear wheel openings were messed with a bit.  If you have access to the box from the Countdown Series '69 Cougar, the custom version pictured on that box still has the modified rear wheel openings.  The stock version on that box was an illustration.  That was the first reissue of the stock version, and the first time that body was used after the funny car issue.  At the time the box art for that kit was done, they probably hadn't changed the body back to stock (or maybe they weren't aware that there was a need to do so).

[afx]

Here are the promised photos

Unknown body:

Stock '69 AMT Body:

 

[Mark]

That body is from the AMT funny car kit.  I never had one but I've seen a few of them; I remember the radiused rear wheel openings but not the altered front ones.  They probably had to do that so the body would fit a chassis that was shared with two other kits at the time (a '70 Mustang, and a '69 Camaro).

The Countdown issue box art is doctored up to put the stock wheel lip trim back on, but it does look like the front wheel openings are the elongated ones left over from the funny car.  Whoever built the box art car probably had to work with the combination of the funny car body and annual kit interior and chassis.

[Snake45]

That "funny business" with the wheel openings looks very much like what they did with the original annual '69 Camaro body, too, and it lives that way to this day as the "Funny Hugger 2" body. Would love to see R2 take that one back to stock, as the RS front end is much more accurate than the one in the Revell Z/28 kits.

[gtx6970]

For some reason I'm thinking the Air Lift  Rattler is a 69 Body. ?

I've got one around here somewhere ,,,need to dig it out to be sure . 

Its the easiest one to pick out ,,,,,That one was molded in a pearl yellow btw

[afx]

For some reason I'm thinking the Air Lift  Rattler is a 69 Body. ?

I've got one around here somewhere ,,,need to dig it out to be sure . 

Its the easiest one to pick out ,,,,,That one was molded in a pearl yellow btw

Hard to tell for certain from this picture but looks like a '67/'68

[vintagercr]

I have the Cougar Country with clear body.

[Mark]

That "funny business" with the wheel openings looks very much like what they did with the original annual '69 Camaro body, too, and it lives that way to this day as the "Funny Hugger 2" body. Would love to see R2 take that one back to stock, as the RS front end is much more accurate than the one in the Revell Z/28 kits.

The first Funny Hugger had the early style chassis (shared with the Mustang and Cougar, and with longer frame rails in the Gas Ronda Longnose Mustang).  The Camaro body was stock except for those butchered rear wheel openings.  They were cut way bigger than they needed to be.  The box art shows the body with stock-looking wheel openings.  I'd bet most kids were surprised when they opened the box and saw the body. 

The Funny Hugger II body has more modifications unfortunately, including front wheel openings that are shifted forward.  It's too bad really, the AMT body looked pretty good.  But the Revell '69 kits are good too. 

I wanted the first Funny Hugger kit, had started piling up parts for one including a Revell body (I wasn't going to butcher the wheel openings) and a parts box chassis.  I gradually turned up original chassis parts, as well as the interior "tin" (which I think is exactly the same as the Mustang/Cougar piece).  Later I bought a messed-with annual kit to get the interior bucket for another AMT annual, leaving the spare body for the funny car.  And I'm still not going to cut the wheel openings...might have to tweak the rear suspension or use smaller slicks so that the body will tilt up and down, though... 

[afx]

Is the GT-E hood scoop available anywhere?  Its shown on the Model King box art but is not included in the kit.

[Mark]

No.  I've got a Mini Exotics GT-E from the mid-Eighties, but it's based on the AMT stock/custom annual kit.  The GT-E scoop is cast as part of the hood, not as a separate piece.  It shouldn't be too tough to fake one up for the funny car body, though.

[Ron Hamilton]

Is the GT-E hood scoop available anywhere?  Its shown on the Model King box art but is not included in the kit.

Richard Wilson was casting the hood.

[Snake45]

The first Funny Hugger had the early style chassis (shared with the Mustang and Cougar, and with longer frame rails in the Gas Ronda Longnose Mustang).  The Camaro body was stock except for those butchered rear wheel openings.  They were cut way bigger than they needed to be.  The box art shows the body with stock-looking wheel openings.  I'd bet most kids were surprised when they opened the box and saw the body. 

The Funny Hugger II body has more modifications unfortunately, including front wheel openings that are shifted forward.  It's too bad really, the AMT body looked pretty good.  But the Revell '69 kits are good too. 

I wanted the first Funny Hugger kit, had started piling up parts for one including a Revell body (I wasn't going to butcher the wheel openings) and a parts box chassis.  I gradually turned up original chassis parts, as well as the interior "tin" (which I think is exactly the same as the Mustang/Cougar piece).  Later I bought a messed-with annual kit to get the interior bucket for another AMT annual, leaving the spare body for the funny car.  And I'm still not going to cut the wheel openings...might have to tweak the rear suspension or use smaller slicks so that the body will tilt up and down, though... 

Just use a common Revell body and do what you have to do to make it fit and leave the nice AMT body alone. The AMT RS front end is MUCH more accurate than Revell's.

Interestingly, most if not all of the real '69 Camaros had stretched wheelbases (and probably bodies). Factory Camaro wheelbase was 108" and I believe most of the funny cars in 1969 were running about 120" wheelbases. The rear axle might have actually been moved rearward a couple inches to accomplish this while leaving the front edge of the rear wheel opening about where it would be on a stock car, with the opening lengthened a bit to the rear. I never saw a '69 Camaro funny with the rear wheel openings radiused like they are on the Funny Hugger body.

[Snake45]

And just since I have the pic on Photobucket, in case anyone has a '68 Cougar FC body and would like to alter the rear wheel openings back to stock shape and size, here's a photo with handy ruler for scale which should be helpful:

 

[Mark]

Converting that MPC Cougar funny car body to stock looks like an interesting project, but I've got an AMT kit for each year plus a Mini Exotics '68 GT-E.  In fact, I've lucked into a couple more AMT '67-'68 Cougars in recent years as parts of small collections and large parts boxes, and resold those to help get back what I'd paid for the things I intended to keep.

The Mini Exotics kit has the grilles altered to add the horizontal dividers, but for some reason they separated AMT's bumper/grilles unit into three separate parts that don't fit together too well.  I've probably stashed a spare AMT part or two, to which I'll have to add that GT-E trim.

The funny car bodies weren't usually tweaked too much back then, other than adjusting the wheelbase and pulling the roof down a bit in front.  Some were stretched a few inches in the front too.  Back then they were still pulling molds off of stock vehicles to do the bodies.  The first ones to get really reworked were the '68-'69 Chargers.  The all-out reworking started in '71 when NHRA allowed the subcompact car bodies.  They let the guys using bodies from larger cars to cut them down to the width of the subcompacts, otherwise they'd have had all Vega/Pinto fields at every meet.

[fairlane1320]

Converting that MPC Cougar funny car body to stock looks like an interesting project, but I've got an AMT kit for each year plus a Mini Exotics '68 GT-E.  In fact, I've lucked into a couple more AMT '67-'68 Cougars in recent years as parts of small collections and large parts boxes, and resold those to help get back what I'd paid for the things I intended to keep.

The Mini Exotics kit has the grilles altered to add the horizontal dividers, but for some reason they separated AMT's bumper/grilles unit into three separate parts that don't fit together too well.  I've probably stashed a spare AMT part or two, to which I'll have to add that GT-E trim.

The funny car bodies weren't usually tweaked too much back then, other than adjusting the wheelbase and pulling the roof down a bit in front.  Some were stretched a few inches in the front too.  Back then they were still pulling molds off of stock vehicles to do the bodies.  The first ones to get really reworked were the '68-'69 Chargers.  The all-out reworking started in '71 when NHRA allowed the subcompact car bodies.  They let the guys using bodies from larger cars to cut them down to the width of the subcompacts, otherwise they'd have had all Vega/Pinto fields at every meet.

Any idea where I might find a GTE grill?

[Mark]

Any idea where I might find a GTE grill?

The Mini Exotics one that I have (that came with the kit) isn't up to the standards of the rest of the kit.  It's molded in three pieces (individual grilles, and bumper) but the pieces don't fit together well, there seems to be gaps between the grilles and bumper.  I'll probably convert a standard kit piece to get one.  I'm not aware of anyone else offering a GT-E kit or conversion parts.