’67 Shelby GT500

[Snake45]

Revell evidently did a nice ’67 Shelby diecast but I think it came and went before I got into diecasts. This one is a Johnny Lightning. I already had a JL ’67 Shelby painted a strange but attractive candy green unlike any Ford factory color for 1967, or any other year for that matter. Couple years ago I bought this blue one at the local toy show, which looks much more authentic than the green one. The toy show vendor let me know this one was from his “personal collection” (as if that mattered to me) and though it was in its original box, I could see visible dust on it, so it had sat out at some time. I mentioned this to him but I don’t remember if it brought down the $20 asking price or not. Whatever the price, it was paid quite a while ago. I stashed it in the Snakepit and pressed on with other projects. When I saw that the January 2020 Mustang Calendar car was a blue ’67 Shelby, I knew the time had come to dig it out.

The dust was even worse than it first appeared. The thing must have sat open for over a year, at least. Additionally, the finish on the driver’s door was screwed up in some way. I thought I could see a fingerprint in it, and thought it might be some kind of spill or slop. But nothing would wipe the ick off—not water, not Windex, not rubbing alcohol.  Fortunately, I was able to polish it out with Wright’s Silver Cream, with no apparent damage to the paint underneath.

From there on it was simple Snake-Fu: White-spot the headlight and turn signal stems and touch up the window trim with Silver Sharpie, and add a coat of Model Master Acryl Clear Red to the thin red coloring on the Thunderbird taillights. Much as I’ve enjoyed my old green one, I like this one even more! 

[THarrison351]

Looks really sharp Snake!

[madhorseman]

Nice Snake!

And the paint is rather cool too. What I've been using to polish is Turtle wax head light repair polish, I didn't know silver polish would work.

JL's are pretty nice, imo the Revell would be much nicer if they had opening doors.

Snake-FUing red on those Cougar tail lights makes them look lots better.

[Snake45]

9 hours ago, madhorseman said:

What I've been using to polish is Turtle wax head light repair polish, I didn't know silver polish would work.

Wright's Silver Cream--available at Walmart, Target, CVS, anywhere household cleaning stuff is sold--is my go-to polish. I use it on enamel, lacquer, diecast paint, colored plastic, and clear plastic. About the only thing you can't polish with it is kit chrome--it'll just take that off. Good stuff!

[randyc]

Looks great!  I still love my green one.  Er, that's a factory custom order color.  lol  Goes well with the wife's AMT 66 stock coupe on our mantel.  I would love this one if it had the white stripes.  Just me.  

As for polishes, I have Turtle Wax metal polish, scratch remover and plastic headlight lens polish.  One of them usually does the trick, or a combination.  The metal polish does have a heavier grit to it than the others.  

Great car!

[Snake45]

13 minutes ago, randyc said:

 I still love my green one.  Er, that's a factory custom order color.  lol  

Was just going to ask you if your tongue was in your cheek, then saw the "lol." So, evidently. 

[vamach1]

Nice job on the extra detailing.  Do you have any plans for doing anything to the wheels?

[Geno]

Nicely done Rich, it looks great. Love those Shelby Mustangs.

[Snake45]

4 hours ago, vamach1 said:

Do you have any plans for doing anything to the wheels?

I did hit the lug recesses with black paint, but I was in a hurry to get it down to the office by the first of the month and didn't have time to do my usual wheel job. I plan to paint the recessed areas with a dark flat gray and the spoke faces with flat aluminum,  same as I did on that green one years ago, but at this point it's not a high-priority item.  Come to think of it, easiest way to GITTER DONE would be to just swap chassis with the green one, since I doubt I'll ever display that one again.