Renwal '66 Stutz - Virgil Exner design updated with before pic 4/4

[realgone58]

Finally got one of these. These were designed by famous Chrysler stylist Virgil Exner, after he left Chrysler in 1963, and were shown as drawings in the December 1963 issue of Esquire magazine. Renwal kitted them in 1:25 scale, and called them the Renwal Revival Series '66 models. Got this one as a builtup glue-bomb on the 'Bay. It was complete however. I did not attempt to seperate the three piece body, because it was glued heavily. The interior is done in Krylon Maroon satin finish, and the body is black and red Rustoleum straight enamel. It actually shines better in person, and looks cleaner in person than the pics, due to quite a bit of reflection. All the chrome was shot, so it's done in Spaz-Stix. Now, I need to find an original box for it, and the rest of the cars in the series! Not an easy or inexpensive task, but what a neat display it would make when accomplished.

Edited April 4, 2014 by realgone58

[superbike-shaun]

It looks kinda like an early vette rear,with an amc matador front.cool model, really nice build!!!!!!! shaun.s

[Belugawrx]

"And now, for something completely different"....

Colour separation is nice, can you polish it?

Great save none the less

Cheers

[robertw]

Very cool. Have always wanted to build one of these Revival kits, just for fun. I wonder if the molds still survive?

rob

[Harry P.]

Now that's different!

[realgone58]

I've heard that the molds are long gone. Perhaps someone will chime confirming or negating that? As far as polishing it goes, it honestly doesn't need to be polished. It shines very well, it just looks bad in my photos. I have no idea why. I'll try getting some better shots tomorrow.

[PappyD340]

Different indeed, but Nice!!

[slusher]

Super nice build...

[Porscheman]

Alan,

You're the the guy that beat me on the Stutz These kits were pretty cool, but always suffered from fit problem. Nice save!!!

Edited April 2, 2014 by Porscheman

[Ace-Garageguy]

Boy, you don't see these very often. Nice find. Exner certainly had different ideas of what a car should look like. i wish you luck with getting the whole Revival series.

[Modelmartin]

Nice save, Alan. I hope you can find the rest of them. They are out there!

Those kits were very cool conceptually but suffered badly from poor kit engineering. I have one of the Bugattis built and the engine bay is silly. It is just an engine facsimile sitting on a flat bottom!

By the way, the Bugatti and the Mercer were replicas of actual cars. The real Mercer revival car had a cobra chassis under it. The Bugatti was a T101 with a new body built for it. The Bugatti owner was one Virgil Exner. The models do look like the actual cars.

I was always surprised that they did not do the Duesenberg to match the actual Duesenberg revival car which was built at the same time. The real one was based on a then current Imperial.

Edited April 3, 2014 by Modelmartin

[ChrisR]

Great build. I have a few Renwal kits but unfortunately not this one.

Edited April 3, 2014 by ChrisR

[Hard_2_Handle_454]

Very Cool!

[realgone58]

Nice save, Alan. I hope you can find the rest of them. They are out there!

Those kits were very cool conceptually but suffered badly from poor kit engineering. I have one of the Bugattis built and the engine bay is silly. It is just an engine facsimile sitting on a flat bottom!

By the way, the Bugatti and the Mercer were replicas of actual cars. The real Mercer revival car had a cobra chassis under it. The Bugatti was a T101 with a new body built for it. The Bugatti owner was one Virgil Exner. The models do look like the actual cars.

I was always surprised that they did not do the Duesenberg to match the actual Duesenberg revival car which was built at the same time. The real one was based on a then current Imperial.

The Duesenburg that was kitted was the '63 Exner design. They already had the kits tooled up when the real '66 version was commissioned. There is some type of V-8 engine in my build, but with the crude engine compartment, I felt it best to leave the hood on it.

[Guest]

Cool!

[geetee66]

Well, i've never seen one of these before.

Looks like you brought it back from the dead, with a lot of style!

I reckon its always good to rescue old kits and give them a good home. You did this one real justice.

[Danno]

Nice job on such a rare build. Good save.

[Jantrix]

Someone call Round2 and tell them there are more molds that need finding. Nice save on this.

[realgone58]

Here is a pic I forgot to post. This is how I got the kit. As you can see, I had to reverse the colors to make it correct per Exner's drawing.

Edited April 4, 2014 by realgone58

[unclescott58]

I'm very jealous. I don't know if I ever seen one of these kits in real life. But I remember reading about both the proposed cars and the model kits of the same back in early '70s. By that time it was too late to easily find the kits. (And to finding the money as young as I was at the time.) Someone on the web has a very good site showing the two full-size cars that were built, and each one of the models. I gone on that site many times a drooled over what I saw. I know they're fairly crude kits. But, looking at yours, it proves that with a little work they can turn out great. Now I need to find a complete set and the money to buy them.

Scott Aho

[Porscheman]

Alan,

Here is a copy of an ad of the models in the series from the past and a picture of my finished Packard I won on ebay a couple of months ago.

Al

[peekay]

Nice job. I did a couple of these when they where new, wish I still had them.

[unclescott58]

Rob Mattis indicated someone should contact Round 2 and have them find the molds. Rounds 2 would not have the old Renwal molds. If they exists any more, they would be owned by Revell. Revell is the owner of Renwal's stuff. Like the Visible V8 and others. So one needs to contact Revell, not Round 2.

Scott Aho

[Chromecop]

Really nice restore/build. These cars are really nice and I had to hunt for quite a while to get a full Collection. The Jordan seems to be the hardest one to get, along with the Bugatti!

[ChrisBcritter]

Funny how when the new Stutz Blackhawk was created in 1971, it looked a lot like the rear of the Stutz kit mated with the front of the Duesenberg kit.