Reissue of Warren Tope's '73 Trans-Am Mustang

[vamach1]

5 hours ago, alexis said:

Man, what a bloated, ugly version of the car.

At least MPC did not tool THIS body up for the kit. 

They would have not spent the money to change the molds.  Like many race cars this car evolved over its race life from the intention of being a replacement for the 67/70 Boss T/A race cars to running in IMSA and SCCA events in the mid 70’s.  Once the T/A series lost favor with the Big three racers still wanted to race so there were a lot of Independent teams to pick up the slack.  I always wondered what happened to this race car that was too little (or maybe large) too late and an internet search found the car is still around (as of 2019) and is supposed to be restored as in its present state it has a mix of the original configuration and later modifications.  It was raced in 1979 and 1980 by William Maier under #25 against faster Corvettes in its class.

Edited January 18, 2022 by vamach1

[vamach1]

I spoke to the owner tonight.  Very interesting history of how the car was conceived and would have been a replacement for the 69/70 “Boss” Mustangs raced in the T/A series but after Ford lost interest and did not want to pay the top racers things were drastically scaled down and only kept going thanks to some dedicated racing enthusiasts that still had some backing by Ford.  Anyway, we talked for 90 minutes and I hope to get more pictures of the car and he plays to try to bring it back to how it appears in the mid 1970’s.  I may have mentioned before there was a 2nd car that was built and entered a few races and was “restored” ad repainted orange but sold for a measly $50K at auction.  The story goes that that is what the car would have looked like if the T/A series still had Ford’s full support but obviously the bidders were not impressed with a “what if” race car with little racing history.

[afx]

6 hours ago, vamach1 said:

I spoke to the owner tonight.  Very interesting history of how the car was conceived and would have been a replacement for the 69/70 “Boss” Mustangs raced in the T/A series but after Ford lost interest and did not want to pay the top racers things were drastically scaled down and only kept going thanks to some dedicated racing enthusiasts that still had some backing by Ford.  Anyway, we talked for 90 minutes and I hope to get more pictures of the car and he plays to try to bring it back to how it appears in the mid 1970’s.  I may have mentioned before there was a 2nd car that was built and entered a few races and was “restored” ad repainted orange but sold for a measly $50K at auction.  The story goes that that is what the car would have looked like if the T/A series still had Ford’s full support but obviously the bidders were not impressed with a “what if” race car with little racing history.

I would be interested in seeing those photos if you care to share them.

[vamach1]

3 hours ago, afx said:

I would be interested in seeing those photos if you care to share them.

Will do JC. ?

[vamach1]

On 1/20/2022 at 6:51 AM, afx said:

I would be interested in seeing those photos if you care to share them.

Here’s what Gus (the current owner) sent me.  Not sure the time frame but it’s probably mid to late 70’s.

[stavanzer]

I wonder about that really Odd Aircleaner that MPC tried to reproduce. It never fits, in any way.

[vamach1]

22 minutes ago, alexis said:

I wonder about that really Odd Aircleaner that MPC tried to reproduce. It never fits, in any way.

Do you mean this one?  Although I do not have engine pictures yet of the Tope 73 from back in the day, the car used many of the same parts as the 70 TA 302s so I’m guessing that is what they based it on.

[stavanzer]

Yes, I think that is the one.

[vamach1]

I finally started on two bodies which the plan is to make look as close as possible to these racing Mustangs from back in the early 1970’s.  They both start with the stock body but of course the Tope car has radically widened fenders and a gas filler in the Tope of the trunk.  The Wayne Andrews stock car has the front fenders cut out quite a lot plus the gas filler on the rear quarter panel and a rear spoiler.  Once I get the chassis built for each I’ll post mock up pictures.

Edited February 15, 2022 by vamach1

[stavanzer]

Good Luck!