Early 60s Indycars -- Watson Roadsters

[Matt Bacon]

This is very much not my comfort zone. Can anyone tell me how different this:

Is from the  1963 Wllard Battery model available in the AMT/Revel Indianapolis 500 Hall of Fame model set:

Indycals has the '62 Leader Card decals, so if it's just a paint conversion or some minor plastic fettling, then it might be do-able...

best,

M.

Edited June 18, 2024 by Matt Bacon

[robdebie]

Here's a great build report of the Lotus-Ford on another forum:

https://forum.f1m.com/viewtopic.php?t=33637

I would try to replace the thick glass with a vacform piece.

Rob

[Eagle36]

Ward's car had the skinny 16 inch diameter front and 18 inch diameter rear wheels and tires.  The AMT kit has the wider 15 inch wheels popularized in 1963 by Lotus.  The Jones AMT car has a large air scoop on top of the nose that must be filled in for the Ward car.  The Ward car has the smaller "ham" oil tank while the AMT kit has a much longer oil tank peculiar to the Jones car.  The Ward car has a flat hood while the AMT Jones car has a bulged hood.  There probably are also a number of small differences with air scoops and vents, etc.  Not to worry, the aftermarket has all of this covered.

Edited June 19, 2024 by Eagle36

[Mark]

All of those cars differ in seemingly minor ways from year to year, and definitely from car to car.  The AMT Watson was modeled on the 1963 winning car, but reviews I have read mention that it wasn't 100% accurate to even that car as the model was finalized before the real one was.  Depending on which car you want to build, figure on changing the nose section, possibly the hood, maybe the tail section and the exhaust, and probably the wheels.

[Ace-Garageguy]

3 hours ago, Matt Bacon said:

This is very much not my comfort zone. Can anyone tell me how different this:

Is from the  1963 Wllard Battery model available in the AMT/Revel Indianapolis 500 Hall of Fame model set:

Indycals has the '62 Leader Card decals, so if it's just a paint conversion or some minor plastic fettling, then it might be do-able...

The Watson front-engined cars were heavily influenced by the Frank Kurtis "roadsters" that preceded them.

For in-depth info on the Watson cars, I'd suggest you start here...

EDIT: That twin-nostril nose, by the way, was a Watson trademark that appeared on many of his cars in various iterations, and a f'glass repop of it was even offered in the wayback in full scale as part of a "kit" to build a T-tub-based street roadster. Though I've never seen one completed, I have an ad for the kit in a '60s Hot Rod mag, and its 1/25 scale version is on the shelf in the "parts acquisition/research" section.

Edited June 19, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy
CLARITY and ACCURACY

[Mark]

I don't know if the "kit" played a part, but I do remember one T roadster with the Watson style nose.  A guy named Chauvin Emmons owned it (he was an upholsterer, as I recall).  I think it had an injected Olds V8 that resembled the setup in the AMT '40 Ford sedan kit, and I'm pretty sure the car made the cover of Hot Rod in the early/mid-Sixties.  

Watson seemed to be the dominant roadster builder in the early Sixties, the end of that era.  Frank Kurtis absolutely dominated Indy in the Fifties, he was so busy that he let a couple other guys build copies of his design.  I remember reading that he got burned out on Indy cars in the early Sixties when he went there one year and noticed that half of the guys he ran into in the pits still owed him money for cars already built.  There's a late Sixties Rod & Custom article about him and his later activities, he was building vehicles with starters for jet engines for the military.  They paid on time...

[Mark]

Too, the old Motor Racing Replica News magazine did a pretty extensive article on correcting the AMT Watson kit, and the changes needed to build replicas of other Watson cars.  I understand that someone was selling a CD with all 41 issues on it, you might look into finding either that or the actual issues.  I'd try to get the CD if possible...well worth the effort.

[Rattlecan Dan]

Love to be able to find a 1:25 scale Watson Indy car for less than $$$ or a Kurtis for less than $$$$.

[Ace-Garageguy]

6 hours ago, Rattlecan Dan said:

Love to be able to find a 1:25 scale Watson Indy car for less than $$$ or a Kurtis for less than $$$$.

Seek no more...$30, free shipping

https://www.ebay.com/itm/405044054893?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/126534005903?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/256543899704?

Edited June 19, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy

[Leo64]

8 hours ago, Mark said:

Too, the old Motor Racing Replica News magazine did a pretty extensive article on correcting the AMT Watson kit, and the changes needed to build replicas of other Watson cars.  I understand that someone was selling a CD with all 41 issues on it, you might look into finding either that or the actual issues.  I'd try to get the CD if possible...well worth the effort.

My friend Curt Raitz and myself had all the issues of Motor Racing Replica News, and I scanned them into PDF files.  Curt happened to know Mike Quarterman(sp) and got permission from him to sell them on CDs.  If you find Curt's profile on here, you can send him a message asking about how to get the CD.  On the CD I created one file that has a scan of the cover and table of content of each issue, so you can open that file and look for a certain article, then open the file for that issue.

Steve A.

[Eagle36]

MRRN, whether the original hard copies, which I have, or the CD, is an incredible resource.

[Exotics_Builder]

Matt, I sent you a PM.  I do have that triple kit set unbuilt and, if you do not have it, can photo the parts of the Watson Roadster for you.  The only model in that set I plan on doing is the Lotus.