Accurate Miniatures Corvettes

[58 Impala]

Does anyone know how many versions they released? I'm guessing 3, but I'm not sure.

[38 Crush]

Only Two that I know of Because I've got both. One is white the other is blue. I can't think of the names right now. Both kit were actually the same just different decals and a few other items like the hood, I think.

38 Crush

[Brett Barrow]

I can think of 3 - but there were really only 2 unique kits - one with the crazy PE louvered hood and the one without.

#1 - Mecom (all blue) w/o PE hood louvers

#2 - All white version w/ PE hood louvers

#3 - white and blue version w/ PE hood louvers

[crispy]

I've had two of the three:

Their is one more out there though.

Chris

[38 Crush]

Boy, I've never heard of the white & Blue version and I've got a list of Accurate Miniatures kits and it's not on it.

38Crush

[Danno]

I wasn't aware there were three versions ... I've only ever seen the two and I have them both (#5000 and #5001).

Are the 'all blue' and the 'blue and white' one and the same?

Edited November 9, 2010 by Danno

[Crazy Ed]

Does anyone know how many versions they released? I'm guessing 3, but I'm not sure.

Right now there are 4 different versions on E-bay. 3 Blue Cars - '63 Mecon Racing Nassau Speed Week, '64 Sebring Penske/Hall and '65 Sebring and the White 5001 Kit.

Ed

[Danno]

That is correct ... there are four. The Mecom (blue) and Penske (white) cars were the original releases, and those are the ones with the black-dominant box art. The two additional versions with yellow/white-dominant box art came later. The later Penske/Hall car is actually blue and white. The other later version (all blue) is the only one that does not have the PE hood louvers.

Accurate at one announced it was going to do a roadster version, but, obviously, that never materialized.

Ken, do you know the kit numbers for the second round of kits?

[CAL]

I only know of two as well.

[Danno]

Right here, Dan ...

http://www.accurate-miniatures.com/catalog/corvetteseries.shtml

Interesting!

Thanks.

[Brett Barrow]

4 it is, I never knew the first Mecom kit had the louvered hood.

[38 Crush]

Does anyone have a picture of the box of either one of these kits?

38 Crush

[Peter Lombardo]

Does anyone have a picture of the box of either one of these kits?

38 Crush

Here you go.....Here is the top of the box of Accurate Miniatures Grand Sport kit # 24003….AKA the Blue and White One. One of these days I will built it.

Here is the bottom of the box…

Here is the side panel printing of a brief history of the Grand Sports

Here are the two Grand Sports that I build many, many moons ago. The coupe is kit # 5001 and the roadster conversion is kit # 5002. I built the roadster from a pictorial story in Road & Track many years ago……as a side note, the head rest fairing is a modified Bic pen cap.

if you look closely at the rear deck of the roadster, you can see a hard lesson I learned…..I used a putty that shrunk over time and created a sunken area. I’ve used Bondo from then on for that kind of work.

Edited November 10, 2010 by Peter Lombardo

[AzTom]

They were working on a roadster version a while back, wonder what happened to that?

AzTom

[38 Crush]

They were working on a roadster version a while back, wonder what happened to that?

AzTom

I think they probably went out of business before it could go to market. What I find interesting is the fact that the Accurate Miniatures logo on the top of the box doesn't have their name on it but the one on the bottom does.

38 Crush

[Lownslow]

i got the blue one with the crazy hood might build it next year

[38 Crush]

AM didn't go out of business; it's still around. The company changed hands in 2001 after filing for bankruptcy. Apparently, the original owners left the firm in pretty bad shape financially. The Grand Sport roadster was announced at the same time as the all-new FIA Cobra kits, which never made it to production, either. My guess is that the funds for the tooling simply could not be found.

So are they still producing Kits? Up here in the northwest their kits are going for a premium because there aren't any !

38 Crush

[Brett Barrow]

AM didn't go out of business; it's still around. The company changed hands in 2001 after filing for bankruptcy. Apparently, the original owners left the firm in pretty bad shape financially. The Grand Sport roadster was announced at the same time as the all-new FIA Cobra kits, which never made it to production, either. My guess is that the funds for the tooling simply could not be found.

They might not be out of business, but they're definitely not in business right now. They ceased operations a few months back. It's possible they'll come back.

[38 Crush]

Well, I thought they were not in business but then at my age I have a hard time thinking at all. I wish they would come back they had some pretty great stuff and not all were cars.

38 Crush

[torinobradley]

There were 5 original Grand Sport Corvettes (Chevy, not AM). Accurate made four different versions but fell before the roadster was done. There is a roadster in resin, or maybe 2? One is from Historic Racing Miniatures (http://www.islandcollectibles.net/prod022211.htm). They are conversion kits that use the AM GS as a base. Vintage Racing Miniatures (http://www.v-r-m.com/) also makes some beautiful decal sheets for these cars. Two sheets with 5 versions on each sheet meaning you can pretty much have over 10 different versions of this car to choose in building. Plus, the VRM sheets have lots of other goodies not on the kit decals like inspecion stickers, underhood labels and such. Well worth the $15! Historic Racing Miniatures does some resin pieces for this car as well such as better headers, upper control arms, wheels, Nassau hood, four barrel air cleaner and the like. Model Car Garage has a Photoetch and resin set for it too that includes a nicer transmission and differential cooler(http://www.modelcargarage.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=0&idproduct=181).

These are beautiful kits to start with, even with the finicky fit issues, though I have yet to complete one... I can say, on the one I am building, the frame looks awesome with the photo-etched bracketry.

If and when your ready to build, I have a lot of links for info on the actuall cars, including the restoration of one of them. Let me know if you need 'em...