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Moebius Models Pro Stock Maverick


David Miller

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  • 2 weeks later...
6 hours ago, spike morelli said:

Judging from the oil filter location of the Dyno Don Maverick, I'd say it has a FE based SOHC engine, no?

Probably. Ford wanted DD to use the Boss 429 but DD couldn't make it work to suit him and stayed with the SOHC, which he had pretty well figgered out. 

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The engine block in the Jo-Han kit is a Boss 429, carried over from the original annual kit with the funny car version included.  Jo-Han tooled the OHC cam covers and other parts for the DD version, but kept the 429 block. 

They did that kind of thing for other engines too: the AMC V8 is another example.  That engine was 100% accurate for only one kit, the Marlin.  

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43 minutes ago, Mark said:

The engine block in the Jo-Han kit is a Boss 429, carried over from the original annual kit with the funny car version included.  Jo-Han tooled the OHC cam covers and other parts for the DD version, but kept the 429 block. 

They did that kind of thing for other engines too: the AMC V8 is another example.  That engine was 100% accurate for only one kit, the Marlin.  

The reissue I built in the '80s didn't have the SOHC, only the Boss 429. The reissue Comet kit (which I bought at the same time) did still contain the parts to build either engine, and I ended up putting the SOHC in the Maverick. 

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Referring back to the SOHC engine that Dyno Don ran, also note on the cars rear flanks, is the name Earl Wade. Earl was Dyno's engine builder. I have never met the man, and he has since passed, however, I had the opportunity to work on one of Earl Wade's "cammers" that is in a friend Larry Knapp's 65 Mustang, a Factory built AFX car named "Stampede".  It's amazing that Ford designed and built this in something like 30 days. They breathe like nobody's business. Here's a few shots of one of Wade's cammers that i worked on. I'll try to find the photo I have of the car with Earl Wade looking on.

IMG_3286.jpg

IMG_3287.jpg

IMG_3293.jpg

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Moebius is having great success with their 1960's/early 1970's pickup kits; I expect you will see them expand on that market segment before doing any further car projects beyond the '64/'65 Novas.  

As for me, I've been encouraging Round 2 to go searching for the tool sets that would allow them to reissue the Gapp and Roush Pinto and the Don Nicholson Pinto Pro Stock kits....they were by some measure the best of the MPC Pro Stock kit series, and certainly more accurate Pro Stockers (in total) than the Jo-Han Mavericks and Comets. 

(Cheap plug) most all of these early Pro Stock kits are referenced (and many are pictured, too) in my new book on Drag Racing Model Kits....along with a Sidebar on an additional series of early-mid 1970's Pro Stock kits that were apparently discussed by another player but never actually tooled....

TIM 

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2 hours ago, tim boyd said:

As for me, I've been encouraging Round 2 to go searching for the tool sets that would allow them to reissue the Gapp and Roush Pinto and the Don Nicholson Pinto Pro Stock kits....they were by some measure the best of the MPC Pro Stock kit series

The first Pinto kit that I built was the 1978 Sportabout MPC annual (when I was 8 years old) . In later years , I recognised the optional 351 with its "equal-length runners" induction , Dominator carburetors , headers , etc. However , weren't the P/S iterations' 351's backed with a Lenco ? The regular kit seems to have a generic TopLoader ---- and that miniscule , stock axle .

Heck , it'd be cool if Round2 backdated the Pinto wagon to a c.1972 (which MPC didn't offer) along with a backdate of the Sportabout P/S kits ! Add a period-correct trailer to the mix , and we could have a Pinto-pulling-a-Pinto to the track setup ! Heck , even a dusting-off of the 70's E-150 as a tow vehicle would be nice !

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10 hours ago, 1972coronet said:

The first Pinto kit that I built was the 1978 Sportabout MPC annual (when I was 8 years old) . In later years , I recognised the optional 351 with its "equal-length runners" induction , Dominator carburetors , headers , etc. However , weren't the P/S iterations' 351's backed with a Lenco ? The regular kit seems to have a generic TopLoader ---- and that miniscule , stock axle .

Heck , it'd be cool if Round2 backdated the Pinto wagon to a c.1972 (which MPC didn't offer) along with a backdate of the Sportabout P/S kits ! Add a period-correct trailer to the mix , and we could have a Pinto-pulling-a-Pinto to the track setup ! Heck , even a dusting-off of the 70's E-150 as a tow vehicle would be nice !

John...just checked; yes, the G&R and Nicholson Pinto kits included a Lenco and a very beefy rear differential.  

I cover the MPC Pro Stock kit series in quite a bit of detail in the new book.  On a continuum from "least accurate" to "most accurate",  I'd place the original Jenkins Vega on the left (least accurate) and the two MPC Pinto Pro Stocks on the far right (most accurate) with the others somewhere in the middle, with the even the ranking of the same tooling (e.g. the MPC Dusters) changing from year to year as MPC slightly enhanced the kits.   There were a lot more changes and details to the story than I expected, now all laid bare in the book.  BTW, the new MPC Jenkins Vega would move rightward on the continuum, based on the new body, hood scoops, and decals, maybe about a third of the way from the left to the right....

And even though the MPC Pintos were the best of the MPC Pro Stocks,  I would say they still might be a bit behind the original Jo-Han S&M 'cuda.  Then again, as comparatively good as the MPC Pintos were, not until Monogram's 1984 Pro Stocks, though, did we get a fully accurate Pro Stock kit that once again reflected the rapid advancements and changes of the real cars after 1971-72.  

TIM 

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