'69 GTO, back to life . . .

[Steve Geer]

Old build -- completed back in 2013 -- this curbside ’69 GTO is a rescued MPC 1/25 promo that must have suffered as a child's toy.  It came with a completely flattened roof (a-pillars gone plus split/cracked c-pillar corners) missing windshield, dash, steering wheel, etc., body gouged and scratched all over.  Luckily the kids were apparently too young to have played with fire. LOL 

But . . . it was the first model car project I'd done in almost 20 years and the rebuild got me restarted in the hobby — something I've been doing ever since. 

·   Model Master "Go Mango" with Dupli-Color clear; polished. BMF trim.
·   Dashboard (modified), a-pillars, windows & complete chassis – all from an AMT 69 Chevelle
·   Seats - spares bin (origin unknown). Interior colors: Tamiya matte gray & black  
·   Shaved door handles and molded-on trim
·   Rear spoiler - (modified) Monogram 1/24 GTO
·   Decals – homemade; inkjet printed
·   Disc Brakes – Pegasus.
·   Wheels & Tires - Diecast Nissan 350Z

Thanks for looking!  Comments and questions are always welcome.

[Bainford]

Great save. Fine looking GTO. It must have been a bear getting the roof pillars sorted.

[espo]

Great looking save and the stance and wheels and tires look good. 

[Snake45]

Great work! Always good seeing one brought back from the dead. Well done and model on! 

[Dragonhawk1066]

Looks good! Would never know it was so traumatized.

[AMT68]

Great well detailed save. Rare to see an MPC '69 GTO. 

[br67]

Nice save Steve 

[Cool Hand]

Surprising how good it looks with those 350Z wheels, good idea using them.

[happy grumpy]

Great job saving this model. It looks super cool.

[grodudulle77]

Awesome look !! ??

[Koellefornia Kid]

Very nice rescue! Cool colour, nice wheels and just the right stance! ?

[Steve Geer]

23 hours ago, Bainford said:

Great save. Fine looking GTO. It must have been a bear getting the roof pillars sorted.

Thanks Trevor.   You're right, getting the roof pried up to stock height again was a real chore.  The styrene “memory” kept trying to force the top back down and bow the new pillars out.  Finally reinforced them with brass rod and called it done.  If you look at the roofline closely, it’s still just slightly lower than stock in the front – sort of a very subtle angle-chop appearance . . . which I decided was okay and I ended the struggle.   I’ll never tackle anything like that again but I’m glad you appreciate the work.

[Steve Geer]

22 hours ago, espo said:

Great looking save and the stance and wheels and tires look good. 

Thanks for kind words David - much appreciated.

[Steve Geer]

22 hours ago, Snake45 said:

Great work! Always good seeing one brought back from the dead. Well done and model on! 

 . . . and I had no idea what Snake-Fu was at that time.  Thanks for compliment -- means a lot coming from the master of rebuilds ?

[Steve Geer]

20 hours ago, Dragonhawk1066 said:

Looks good! Would never know it was so traumatized.

Thanks Craig.  Wish I'd taken some pix before I went to work on it but I wasn't even sure it could be rescued when I got it.

[Steve Geer]

18 hours ago, AMT68 said:

Great well detailed save. Rare to see an MPC '69 GTO. 

Thank you Tom.  I think the MPC promo body was re-released at least once in a Model King funny car but it'd be nice to see Round 2 reissue the full stock kit. 

[Steve Geer]

14 hours ago, br67 said:

Nice save Steve 

Thanks Brandon!  It's fun -- I've almost slipped into restoring old styrene over buying new these days.

[Steve Geer]

5 hours ago, Cool Hand said:

Surprising how good it looks with those 350Z wheels, good idea using them.

 

1 hour ago, Koellefornia Kid said:

Very nice rescue! Cool colour, nice wheels and just the right stance! ?

Thanks . . .  appreciate the kind compliments!

I’ve been using wheels & tires from discarded die-casts for a while.  IMO, a set of nice aftermarket resin or 3-D print wheels is costly when you can sometimes buy a whole car for fraction of that and the die-casts offer some unique designs that aren’t available elsewhere.  Glad you guys like the look.

[Steve Geer]

4 hours ago, happy grumpy said:

Great job saving this model. It looks super cool.

Thank you Mario!  Glad you liked it . . . as I frequently enjoy your many builds, the compliment means a lot.

[Steve Geer]

2 hours ago, grodudulle77 said:

Awesome look !! ??

Thank you Philippe, the kind words are appreciated.

[TransAmMike]

Very cool GTO Steve.  Really like the low (but not too low) stance and the wheels.?

[MeatMan]

Nice work!

[PappyD340]

Looks fantastic!

[slusher]

Beautiful GTO..

[Steve Geer]

On 2/5/2022 at 3:11 PM, TransAmMike said:

Very cool GTO Steve.  Really like the low (but not too low) stance and the wheels.?

 

On 2/6/2022 at 7:07 AM, PappyD340 said:

Looks fantastic!

 

6 hours ago, slusher said:

Beautiful GTO..

Thanks guys.  I'm grateful for the kind words and taking the time to comment.  Appreciated!