'69 Mustangs....

[mk11]

[mk11]

More Mustang forensics       ...blame it on a question from Mr Khils regarding the mpc original annual I recently came into possession of .

A quick comparison of the original mpc '69 Mustang body with the 'refurbished' version post Dick Trickle's car. Redone wheel openings are nowhere near as crisp as the original.

The horizontal molding under the door was faintly replicated on the redo and extended right to the wheel openings.

Original mold was altered to make Trickle's super stocker

and then returned to stockish condition in the '80s like some of the other butchered annuals.  

Not a bad job though the new body does bear evidence of the work done, like this sag in the fender bodyline...

and the grill opening; radiused nicely on the original and squared off on the reconstructed front end.

Chassis was widened slightly on the redo as well

Only thing on the chrome shots that changed were apparently the wheels and deletion of the chrome custom taillight backings.

The original body was very crisply molded and aside from the grill casting and incorrect shortened body length (in the doors), it was a nicely done car.

The refurbished ones seem to be softer styrene and are kinda fuzzy on detail, maybe due to wear on the molds. Nothing really collectible  about the oft reissued available everywhere 'restored' body so don't waste a lot of money on them, save it for the early pre-Trickle issues.

Not sure which was the first boxing of the redone body, but if you look closely at the box art with the minilight wheels, you'll see they used an original body instead the newish one.

 

 

Edited March 27 by mk11

[sfhess]

Attachments points for the fan and bumpers were changed.

[Carmak]

On 2/14/2019 at 5:32 PM, mk11 said:

Now, with three kits using the same '70 body - Blue Crescent and two Mach Won f/c issues, red box and blue box, taking the life of the mold into maybe the mid-seventies... is there even a glimmer of hope that the body cavity molds still survive somewhere or were they victims of a scrap drive ?

 

 

 

 

I just want to give you credit. Six years ago, you speculated the Mach Won tooling could still survive as it was reissued after the early 70's tooling purge and YOU NAILED IT! Well done. So glad you were right  

[Junkman]

Stupid question amnesty, please - were Cragars still a thing in 1969?

[tim boyd]

1 hour ago, Junkman said:

Stupid question amnesty, please - were Cragars still a thing in 1969?

Yes, absolutely.

Further to your question, Cragars were very expensive back in the day, so they spawned a number of look-alikes in the early to mid 1970s', including Rocket wheels and a pseudo Cragar like all-steel replica from Appliance.  And yes, I ran both those on my cars back then to get the Cragar looko without the Cragar expense. 

The Rockets were mega cool but the chrome was not long lasting. 

So my take is that Cragars would be appropriate for most models depicting mid 1960s through mid 1970s. 

Others, weigh in if you see it differently.   TB  

[mikos]

1 hour ago, Junkman said:

Stupid question amnesty, please - were Cragars still a thing in 1969?

Like Tim mentioned, Cragars were a thing way into the 1970’s.  They were heavy as lead too.  

[Junkman]

Thank you, both.

I remember Rockets. I ran their Daisies on a '61 Imperial back in the 90s.
Yeah, we've all been young somewhen.

 

[mk11]

On 3/25/2025 at 8:16 AM, Carmak said:

you speculated the Mach Won tooling could still survive ... So glad you were right  

Thanks! Me, too. Let's give the credit where it's due, to Mr Goldman for making it happen 

Starting to feel like I've inadvertently opened a big can of worms here; looks like tracing the mpc kit evolution is going to be more involved than the amt '69 

First, a pic of the super stocker body, looking like the amt '70.

Real car was a '69; so (speculating again) maybe the mpc '69 body became the '70 and after they did the regular '70 and the Kalitta car, they butchered it for Trickles car and did that side kickup to approximate the '69 scoop  

Edited March 27 by mk11

[mk11]

On 3/24/2025 at 10:17 PM, sfhess said:

Attachments points for the fan and bumpers were changed.

Another look at it also reveals that most of the stuff on the rh side has been shifted around too, with the horns and three other small parts being deleted from the chrome.

Edited March 27 by mk11

[mk11]

Looks like mpc got extra mileage out the original '69 and '70 bodies, like amt did with theirs.

 

Edited April 7 by mk11

[Chris V]

58 minutes ago, mk11 said:

Looks like mpc got extra mileage out the original '69 and '70 bodies, like amt did with theirs.

If I’m not mistaken, the Mr. Gasket Gasser was a unique tooling to reflect the features of the real car and enable the body to be molded in clear styrene.

[Carmak]

12 hours ago, mk11 said:

Looks like mpc got extra mileage out the original '69 and '70 bodies, like amt did with theirs.

 

 

Starting in about 68 and lasting well into the 70's it was very common for MPC to release "Funny Car" kits using essentially stock kit or promo bodies typically with the screw posts removed on top of tube style funny car chassis.

These should not be confused with the MPC "Street Funny" series of 71 which used essentially stock annual kit chassis rather than a tube style chassis.

[Ragtop Man]

13 hours ago, mk11 said:

Looks like mpc got extra mileage out the original '69 and '70 bodies, like amt did with theirs.

Aghhh.... the clear body Gassers were STACKED at the local K Marts for $2.00 a pop back in the day. We thought the clear body was a stupid gimmick! Incredibly, while packing for our move and briefly sussing each kit boxes' contents, a fresh '69 clear body popped up. I'm gettng old... had 0.00% recall of where it came from or how it got there.  Earnestly considering a 'box build' using all the illustrator's colors assuming I can find all the other bits; somewhere there is a chrome tree from the original  kit with most of the parts intact, and the Boss 429 is not a big lift to find.

[Ragtop Man]

On 3/15/2015 at 9:18 PM, tim boyd said:

One of the first products from Missing Link Resin (bought my copy in 2005) was a rebop of the AMT 1969 Mustang body, which is clearly the best of the lot as illustrated by the pictures from Mike above.

 

Surprisingly to me, apparently it didn't sell that well and it's been out of their catalog now for a number of years.

 

One has to wonder if the AMT 1970 body mold (last seen as the "Mach Won" funny car) still exists in the vast AMT/Ertl (now Round 2) toollng archives. Still, even if it did, returning to 1969 status would be problematic (the body was hogged out for the rear funny car slicks, and the rear quarter panel scoop was redone - incorrectly as it turns out - to replicate the ventless 1/1 scale 1970 body....).

 

TIM

I think it is testimony to the quality of the original design that it is so hard to capture accurately in scale. All these years later, there's still not a bang-on replica of the '69 in plastic or diecast.  This build of the MLRC AMT '69  is by Tom Mooty, who was working from the attached reference. IMO, pretty darn close. The bright grille surround is absent, and does much to define that aggressive grille.  I'm overdue to take a pop at the recent Revell '69 B302, which sure seems to be a hit, seeing it at both the LHS' and chain store aisles.

[mikos]

9 hours ago, Ragtop Man said:

I think it is testimony to the quality of the original design that it is so hard to capture accurately in scale. All these years later, there's still not a bang-on replica of the '69 in plastic or diecast.  This build of the MLRC AMT '69  is by Tom Mooty, who was working from the attached reference. IMO, pretty darn close. The bright grille surround is absent, and does much to define that aggressive grille.  I'm overdue to take a pop at the recent Revell '69 B302, which sure seems to be a hit, seeing it at both the LHS' and chain store aisles.

That built model is screaming for body side mirrors. lol!  The ‘69-‘70 Mustangs are my favorite years.  Hopefully, Round2 will see fit to do a stock ‘70 out of the Mach Won kit.

[vamach1]

On 3/27/2025 at 4:23 PM, mikos said:

That built model is screaming for body side mirrors. lol!  The ‘69-‘70 Mustangs are my favorite years.  Hopefully, Round2 will see fit to do a stock ‘70 out of the Mach Won kit.

That would be great so never say never but they should redo the interior and chassis to 1970 specs instead of using carryover parts from early Mustang kits.

[Luc Janssens]

58 minutes ago, vamach1 said:

That would be great so never say never but they should redo the interior and chassis to 1970 specs instead of using carryover parts from early Mustang kits.

An all new '69-'70 would even be better, a clean start for many versions....

[mikos]

I would like to see Round2 clone the AMT ‘69 Mustang.  That would give modelers a relatively accurate ‘69 Mustang to go along with the full detail “Mach Won” ‘70 kit.  A new release based on the “Mach Won” could be made with the necessary parts to make a stock ‘70 out of it.  That would be the cheapest most effective way to get both model years represented on the shelves.  Some might say they can just reissue the MPC ‘69 again.  However, with the issues that one seems to have regarding the body, I’d rather see them clone the AMT ‘69 from an old promo/kit and use that one instead.
 

 

Edited April 2 by mikos

[Motor City]

Does anyone know if the promo came in any colors other than red and black?

[mikos]

19 hours ago, Motor City said:

Does anyone know if the promo came in any colors other than red and black?

No black, just red only for ‘69.

[Motor City]

16 hours ago, mikos said:

No black, just red only for ‘69.

you are incorrect; I saw one at a Dearborn show (predecessor of the Toledo show) in 1978; the guy wanted $25.00 for it when a mint purple '70 Cuda model sold for $10.00; the Mach 1 was talked about by many of us sellers at the show and sold quickly

[tim boyd]

When I was promoted to my first (of many later) jobs at Ford Division headquarters in 1982, a much higher level Ford exec there heard I was interested in model cars and wanted to sell me his entire collection of promos, mostly Fords.  I was not then, and not now, a collector of Promos. 

I referred him to the famous (for us modelers back then) Automotive Miniatures store in a Detroit suburb, but he wasn't interested.  Then he offered me such a low price for it all that I said, what the hey, and bought it.  Yes, one of the cars was a red 1969 Mustang promo.  I recall selling that one alone to Herb and Bill at Automotive Miniatures shortly thereafter for the then outrageous price of $90....and they quickly retailed if for more, I understand.  That more than paid me back for the cost of buying the entire collection, which I recall being around 15-20 units.  That $90 in 1982, btw, is equivalent to $295 today. 

So even back then, as Jim suggests above, 1969 Mustang promos were apparently very, very rare and very highly valued even when less than 10 to 13 years old.  BTW, sold most of the rest of the collection just a few years ago to one of the premier old kit vendors.  One of those cars was a pretty mediocre condition 1964 1/2 Mustang Indy Pace Car (I rean a picture of it in one of my books).  He didn't give me an individual value on that one, but I am sure it was one of the more desirable pieces I sold that day, and another payoff for that 1982 transaction nearly four decades later...TB   

[mikos]

6 hours ago, Motor City said:

you are incorrect; I saw one at a Dearborn show (predecessor of the Toledo show) in 1978; the guy wanted $25.00 for it when a mint purple '70 Cuda model sold for $10.00; the Mach 1 was talked about by many of us sellers at the show and sold quickly

Unless it was a test shot, which I find highly unlikely even at $25 that “some guy” was selling at the Dearborn show over 45 years ago, they only came in Candy Apple Red.  Nice try though.

 

[Motor City]

4 hours ago, mikos said:

Unless it was a test shot, which I find highly unlikely even at $25 that “some guy” was selling at the Dearborn show over 45 years ago, they only came in Candy Apple Red.  Nice try though.

 

Believe what you want.  🙄