A Throw-together... 66 Fairlane GT

[Kmb0319]

My interests in cars are mainly 1968-1973 muscle cars, with the occasional classic sports car here and there.  I like others, but to really put the time and effort involved into a build, those are the cars that make me want to do it.

In early January, I was at HL, seeing if they had anything new, and saw the rerelease of AMT’s 66 Fairlane.  It seemed like a decent kit, something different, and it had the new pad-printed Firestone Wide Ovals, which I was curious about, so I grabbed it.  

The tires were a disappointment.  They were (not unexpectedly) the L Goodyear Polyglas with different lettering... but brand new out of the box, the printing was all messed up, and what was there was flaking off.  Within 2 days,  they were almost complete black walls.

As for the kit, it wasn’t doing it for me.  Looking at reference pics, nothing stood out as something I’d want to do, the car itself wasn’t really exciting me, it didn’t have internal or external rear view mirrors in the box, there was no detail on the front shock towers, and my kit was somehow missing the steering column.  My whole reaction was “meh,” and it sat on the floor while I worked on other things.

I made a color choice... one of those 60s only combos.. Maroon with a red interior.  I painted it to see if that would get the excitement going... nope.

A couple weeks later, I resigned myself to the fact that I didn’t care about this enough to build it, and maybe I would use it for parts.

Then, a couple weeks ago, I picked it up and decided to go ahead with it.  The Fairlane wheels are nice, but might get used for a Mustang I’m working on, so I dug through the parts box and found some steelies.  Rather than paint them black or body color, I painted them silver.  The rest of the build is box stock other than the spark plug wires.  I didn’t do any of the other detailing things I generally do under the hood.  Paint is Testors Mythical Maroon, interior is Rustoleum Cardinal Red with dull coat.  As of my photos, I still needed to put the little GT emblems on the lower body, pick out the FORD across the hood and detail lug nuts and hubs on my wheels.  Found a side view mirror in the parts box.  In the end, it was fun and made a decent shelf model.  It’s funny that we have all the MOPAR and Chevy kits, but outside of the Mustang, not much Ford representation in the muscle car era when it comes to models.  Still waiting for Revell or Moebius to give us a good 72 Torino.... dream on.  Anyway, hope you like it.

[michelle]

nice work on what sounds like a very buggy kit 

[Rodent]

Scott @futurattraction casts copies of the original 67 upper shock mount. They are very nice!

 

[espo]

Your build turned out very nice despite your being reluctant to build it. I built one years ago when they first offered this kit. The only real problem I encountered  was with the wheel backs. They put the wheel and tires to far out side of the wheel well.  

[thatz4u]

here's one I built last year, some fit issues but a nice kit overall

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/137670-1966-ford-fairlane-rfe451/

 

[Kmb0319]

3 hours ago, thatz4u said:

here's one I built last year, some fit issues but a nice kit overall

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/137670-1966-ford-fairlane-rfe451/

 

Oooh, I like that!!! She looks MEAN, which is difficult with these mid 60s more formal, upright vehicles.  Nice job!!

[Geno]

I think you done a fine job with it Kevin. I always liked this bodystyle Fairlane, my cousin Steve had one with a 390 4 spd. Man that thing would scoot.

[crazyjim]

Looks pretty good to me.

[slusher]

Nice Fairlane!!!

[MININORTHFORDMAN]

awesome fairlane