What are the very best drag racing model kits of all time?

[stavanzer]

The '49 Ford?

Never considered it a Drag Car, but the parts are there. Nice Thinking outside the box!

[Calb56]

19 hours ago, stavanzer said:

The '49 Ford?

Never considered it a Drag Car, but the parts are there. Nice Thinking outside the box!

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/drag-race-and-gasser-ford-shoebox-49-54-photos.1250342/

[espo]

Back in the early '60's most '49 thru '51 Fords could be purchased pretty cheap plus the were light weight with a fairly roomy engine compartment. Key reasons were minimal purchase price, readily available, and light weight. They also offered far less frontal area to push thru the wind and speeds were approaching where this was becoming a factor as well. 

[Shark]

I may have missed it, but I didn't see anyone mention the AMT 1962 Bel-Air Z-11 kits. I think it is an excellent kit (except the wheel backs) that can be built box stock with great results.

[TIP-TOP]

For me it was always the mpc Bill Jenkins, "Grumpys Toy" 1970 Camaro Pro Stock! My Holly Grail of most wanted re-release drag car kits!

[vairnut]

Always will have a liking for the Revell 1/16 funny cars. I was around 10 yrs old when these were first issued and ended up my best looking builds back then. Between the metallic molded bodies and the included wiring and plumbing they were stand outs.

[GMP440]

On 9/3/2022 at 11:26 PM, vairnut said:

Always will have a liking for the Revell 1/16 funny cars. I was around 10 yrs old when these were first issued and ended up my best looking builds back then. Between the metallic molded bodies and the included wiring and plumbing they were stand outs.

I agree.  I still have my Tom McEwen Revell/Army rear engine dragster from 1974. The build nice with all the wiring that comes in the kit.  Also, that kit came with the Tom Mc Ewen figure.

[Bugatti Fan]

I liked the Revell Ford Anglia 'Skippers Crittur' and the 'Simple Simon' Pie Van. Not the best kits but I just like them!

[Claude Thibodeau]

HI!

After years of styrene addiction, going back to the early 60's, I would say that "out of the box" best kits were the Johan Challenger FC (Gene Snow and derivatives) and the Monogram 85 TBird Pro-Stock (Iaconno & derivatives). They were very detailed, and assembled to the right stance with a modicum of attention. 

My two cents, FWIW...

CT

[Goose1957]

Kind of a loaded question and depends on your favorite era of racing. In my youth, I loved the emerging Pro Modified class from Top Sportsman. When Revell introduced their Top Sportsman (later Pro Mod) kits, I was in heaven. I bought and built them all. Very well made and detailed kits for the day. My biggest complaint was their ride height. They look like they're going fourwheeling. As I got older, I appreciated the early days of drag racing. I guess my dad's tales of racing at York US 30 back in the early 60's helped fuel this appreciation. He told me that one day, as he was next in line in the staging lanes to race, the crew held him back so that none other than Big Daddy Don Garlits could make an exhibition pass. Can you imagine being just behind the starting line as Big Daddy laid one down in front of you?! I think I'd be too embarrassed to be the next car off the line in my daily driver, lol. I think he told me that was in '62. Anyways, as I appreciate the older stuff now, I really like the Monogram slingster kits reissued several years ago. So many combinations can be made and the molding is clean and crisp. I also love the fuel altereds from MPC, now Round2. I believe the blown hemi in the Bantam Blast kit is one of the best early fuel hemis out there. I built about a dozen of the Bantam Blast and Winged Express kits as slot cars back when I was slot car drag racing about every Sat. night. We had a class for AA/FA and it was a hoot. Brought out the creativity in the racers to see what they could build for the class. Great fun.

Here's one of my AA/FA slot cars.

Jeff

[tim boyd]

12 hours ago, Claude Thibodeau said:

HI!

After years of styrene addiction, going back to the early 60's, I would say that "out of the box" best kits were the Johan Challenger FC (Gene Snow and derivatives) and the Monogram 85 TBird Pro-Stock (Iaconno & derivatives). They were very detailed, and assembled to the right stance with a modicum of attention. 

My two cents, FWIW...

CT

Claude....glad to see your input....those all made by "best" list as well....TB 

[tim boyd]

8 hours ago, Goose1957 said:

Kind of a loaded question and depends on your favorite era of racing. In my youth, I loved the emerging Pro Modified class from Top Sportsman. When Revell introduced their Top Sportsman (later Pro Mod) kits, I was in heaven. I bought and built them all. Very well made and detailed kits for the day. My biggest complaint was their ride height. They look like they're going fourwheeling. As I got older, I appreciated the early days of drag racing. I guess my dad's tales of racing at York US 30 back in the early 60's helped fuel this appreciation. He told me that one day, as he was next in line in the staging lanes to race, the crew held him back so that none other than Big Daddy Don Garlits could make an exhibition pass. Can you imagine being just behind the starting line as Big Daddy laid one down in front of you?! I think I'd be too embarrassed to be the next car off the line in my daily driver, lol. I think he told me that was in '62. Anyways, as I appreciate the older stuff now, I really like the Monogram slingster kits reissued several years ago. So many combinations can be made and the molding is clean and crisp. I also love the fuel altereds from MPC, now Round2. I believe the blown hemi in the Bantam Blast kit is one of the best early fuel hemis out there. I built about a dozen of the Bantam Blast and Winged Express kits as slot cars back when I was slot car drag racing about every Sat. night. We had a class for AA/FA and it was a hoot. Brought out the creativity in the racers to see what they could build for the class. Great fun.

Here's one of my AA/FA slot cars.

Jeff

Jeff...thanks for sharing your memories.  Very cool.  Also glad to see your kits mentioned above were on my original list.  Particularly on board with your comments about the Bantam Blast Hemi....   Funny about your comment about ride height....that was a problem with so many kits from AMT-Ertl and Revell over the years....always wondered whether it was a MidWest interpretation of vehicle stance, or some fundamental kit engineering issue.  TB

[Hawk312]

On 8/30/2022 at 7:20 PM, tim boyd said:

- 2000’s – Polar Lights Funny Cars, Revell Chi-Town Hustler and Hawaiian 1969 Mini-Charger Funny Cars

 

Yep! This was a great kit:

 

Also, I really like the 80` Revell funny cars and dragsters, but all of them come with undersized tires that scale out to 30" (should be 36").

 

[Goose1957]

Thank you Tim. I've never scaled out the part sizes in the Pro Mod kits (or the related Pro Stock kits from the same era). But I have a theory on the ride height. Originally, Pro Mod cars used about the same rear tire as Pro Stock. These tires are slightly smaller in diameter that Top Fuel tires. Revell had the Top Fuel tires in their moldings already, and rather than make new tires for the new kits, just use whats available. Hence, the raised rear ends. The fronts I guess is just a scaling issue. I don't know, just my educated guess, could be way off. Thanks.

Jeff

[speedboy57]

jungle jim

[speedboy57]

jungle jim sox & martin

[afx]

I agree with Daddyfink (Jesse) I would think this kit should be on the list.

[Dragline]

For my money those two Revell funny cars that snuck up on me were the ones.

That "one use only" Chi Town car and Hawaiian have to be some of the best funny cars I have ever had the pleasure to put paint and glue to.

[Chuck Kourouklis]

One-use, but they did wring two versions out of the architectural differences under the skin.

Sure liked mine...

[Dragline]

20 hours ago, Chuck Kourouklis said:

One-use, but they did wring two versions out of the architectural differences under the skin.

Sure liked mine...

Hey! Those look vaguely familiar......

[tim boyd]

....and here are mine....box stock except for my own aerosol shade-faded paint schemes and "Rambunctious" (from Slixx) liveries....TB 

[Dragline]

Hey Hey, the gangs all here....

[1972coronet]

I likewise agree with the Revell Sox & Martin P/S 1970 Barracuda being one of the best. 

Not sure as to why Revell hasn't reissued it sans S&M livery -- lots of unique parts to this version!

[side bar: wasn't someone working on a resin conversion for this kit, to turn it into a 1972-1974 (i.e., front and rear fascia conversion)?] 

[iBorg]

38 minutes ago, 1972coronet said:

I likewise agree with the Revell Sox & Martin P/S 1970 Barracuda being one of the best. 

Not sure as to why Revell hasn't reissued it sans S&M livery -- lots of unique parts to this version!

[side bar: wasn't someone working on a resin conversion for this kit, to turn it into a 1972-1974 (i.e., front and rear fascia conversion)?] 

For my money, the Jo-Han Cuda is better. Revell's was a nice replica of the first S&M car while Jo-Han's was either a late season version or the next year. Both bodies are a bit funky.

[Dragline]

Oh yeah. This one too.