1/25 AMT 1966 Mercury Hardtop

[randyc]

I have a recent reiisue of this one - not the latest.   While it would fit right into my collection, just can't get inspired to build it.   Maybe someday.  Or maybe I'll sell it.  I am so neutral on it...

This kit would seem to have a very narrow market.   

[Snake45]

56 minutes ago, randyc said:

I have a recent reiisue of this one - not the latest.   While it would fit right into my collection, just can't get inspired to build it.   Maybe someday.  Or maybe I'll sell it.  I am so neutral on it...

This kit would seem to have a very narrow market.   

I know what you mean. I think I'm gonna do one with the kit custom parts. I seem to be collecting quite a few possible AMT '65-'68 custom projects. Might be fun to have six or eight of them displayed together. 

[Dave Darby]

1 hour ago, randyc said:

I have a recent reiisue of this one - not the latest.   While it would fit right into my collection, just can't get inspired to build it.   Maybe someday.  Or maybe I'll sell it.  I am so neutral on it...

This kit would seem to have a very narrow market.   

I agree. I'd be more excited about this kit if they would have retooled the original custom wheels. Luckily I got mine on clearance at Hobby Lobby. 

[Bob Ellis]

On 6/7/2018 at 1:30 PM, Bob Ellis said:

My Countdown issue has Firestone 500 tires

This kit has plastic pins instead of screws even 1966 annual issue

Original kit had plastic pins. AMT was practicing cost reductions in the 60s.

[my66s55]

7 hours ago, Dave Darby said:

I agree. I'd be more excited about this kit if they would have retooled the original custom wheels. Luckily I got mine on clearance at Hobby Lobby. 

Show me the original kit custom wheels. All I see are the stock wheel covers and the optional wire wheel covers. The kit has no real wheels, only wheel covers.

[Phirewriter]

The kit has stock wheel covers and the custom wheels are Kelsey Hayes spoked mags the name of which escapes me. The original had Hurst mags.

Edited September 3, 2019 by Phirewriter

[Casey]

?️

Edited March 20, 2022 by Casey

[Robberbaron]

2 hours ago, Phirewriter said:

The kit has stock wheel covers and the custom wheels are Kelsey Hayes spoked mags the name of which escapes me. The original had Hurst mags.

Those were Kelsey-Hayes "Stripper" wheels (yeah, seriously!).  They do nothing for me, but their main claim to fame is that Yenko installed them on some of their COPO Camaros, I believe.

Close up pics of the Hursts from the 1969 "Super Street Rod" reissue:

On 2/27/2018 at 11:49 PM, Robberbaron said:

 

...Will we actually get a new version of these?  I sure hope so, but my gut tells me it's more likely that they'll just include some of their newly tooled American-type mags they've been putting in some of their releases the last couple years.  The Hurst wheels are pretty prominent on the box art, though...

I believe the next reissue was the late-70s Countdown series, which replaced the Hursts with the K-Hs.

Pretty disappointed that they didn't retool the Hursts.  That would have been the only reason for me to pick up the new reissue.  While the Americans that they swapped in are nice, Torq-Thrust style wheels are a dime-a-dozen since they're in so many different kits.

[randyc]

22 hours ago, Dave Darby said:

I agree. I'd be more excited about this kit if they would have retooled the original custom wheels. Luckily I got mine on clearance at Hobby Lobby. 

Mine came from a long time ago, like 2000 ish when I owned a hobby shop.   So I'm sure I paid wholesale for it.   I think I had a case of 6 of them and still have 2 of them.   I should just do it as a quickie shelf model.   Black interior, nice body color and trim it out properly.   Look good up on a high shelf maybe? 

 

[Casey]

Another shot of the chrome parts from an original issue kit:

 

Box side:

[Casey]

16 hours ago, Robberbaron said:

Pretty disappointed that they didn't retool the Hursts.

I wonder if they were removed from this kit's tooling base and installed in another AMT kit's base? If so, they may still exist. 

Edited September 4, 2019 by Casey

[thatz4u]

3 minutes ago, Casey said:

I wonder if they were removed from this kit's tooling base and installed in another kit's? If so, they may still exist. 

they look like the mag wheels from the Johan Heavenly Hearse....

[Casey]

2 hours ago, thatz4u said:

they look like the mag wheels from the Johan Heavenly Hearse....

Yes, multiple kit companies included Hurst wheels, but considering how unlikely it would be for a mold insert to move between two different companies...I edited my above post for (hopefully even more) clarity. I don't want to get too off track from the AMT '66 Mercury, so I'll leave it at that.

[Casey]

Maybe Round2 simply didn't get the Hurst wheels re-created in time to include them in this reissue, as they were included with the later #1191 '65 GTO reissue:

Here are what the " Wrist Twist" steering parts look like:

Edited March 20, 2022 by Casey

[Robberbaron]

3 hours ago, Casey said:

Here are what the " Wrist Twist" steering parts look like:

Don't think anyone has posted this yet.  Here's a Ford promotional short showing the wrist twist in a '65 Park Lane:

 

[stavanzer]

What a Neat Video!

Thanks for posting that. I had never known exactly how it worked. Would be real nice to see something similar in todays smaller cars.