Stan Towne Porsche Speedster

[Scale-Master]

I picked this kit up a long time ago. From what I have read it appears the real car was a 1967 Targa that was wrecked and built into this custom in the early ‘70s by Stan Towne. It can be found in different configurations like the later (possibly current owner) had put Fuch’s on it, but the mags really make the car so I’ll be doing the early original version. Some photos show it with a Tornado style side view mirror too, but early on it only had the windshield mounted one, much cleaner looking…

I saw the car once a long time ago and when I saw the kit I had to get it.

I found it interesting that the box says “Made in England” and the chassis has “Made in France” cast into it, while the instructions are in German including the address and phone number.

The body was relatively cleanly cast, but had a mold line that deep enough to need to be filled around each fender opening. I used 2 part polyester filler to remedy that. Here it is before filling:

The wheels were not as crisply rendered as I hoped, and they are a big part of what made it look cool to me. So the kit sat for decades until I could come up with a better alternative for the mags.

I found a workable pattern and had these wheels cast by a good friend. He did a really nice job casting the centers and rims, but since the outer rims were supposed to be polished, I machined a set from aluminum.

The tires suffered from their long term confinement and ended up being distorted and having some deep impressions in them. I re-purposed (and resized) two pairs of Precision Miniatures front tires intended for a TR 250 to replace them.

I shot a coat of silver that shows I need to give more attention to the filled areas… Looked good in primer, but silver is not forgiving.

[surfjunke]

Looks nice so far. Nice job in the wheels.

[Dr. Cranky]

Neat little subject.

[Modelmartin]

Looking good! I always loved this car. I had this same kit at one time. Never built it.

I think the box was printed in England. Danhausen had Western produce a lot of their kits in addition to AMR. That box looks just like a Western or Brooklin box. I see the Andre M Ruf signature on the baseplate. That's an AMR kit. I guess you could say it's a Franco-German-British production of an American modified German car.

[Scale-Master]

I repainted the silver after addressing the bodywork issues, used Tamiya Gloss Aluminum. The decals are kit supplied. The tail lights and parking lights were not engraved in some places and lacked some detail so I just hand painted what was there.

[Beerman86GT]

That's a really cool little car right there! Nice job so far!

[W-409]

What scale is it? Really good looking so far. Paintjob looks very nice, as usual. Yes, those wheels just look right. Keep it going, I'll be watching this one.

[The Creative Explorer]

Check the box in the first picture ;-)

[W-409]

Check the box in the first picture ;-)

Whoops! I was just looking for those instructions.