AMT's Tournament of Thrills series.

[HotRodaSaurus]

I just wodered, is this/was a real group of stunt men or just a kit theme.

Are the kits that collectable or really just as good as a builder.

I have the Mercury which looks like the normal issue but has no custom parts, just a set of jump ramps and decals.

Cheers, John

[RodBurNeR]

it was real. back in them days, the companies would go on tour and show off how durable and exciting their cars were by doing stunts.

check these videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abHI3FkOrE8

[PatRedmond]

As Bob says above, Tournament of Thrills really existed.

The AMT kits are standard kits with the ramps and decals added.

Collectible? Yes, but not obscenely rare. Yet. I missed the trailer in original box in Toledo due to $$ shortage.

[HotRodaSaurus]

I was maybe 9-10 years old & a friend of my mom's was dating Jack Kochman, so when they came to the fair that year, I got an "insiders look" at the operation, & got to meet all the drivers. The act that always fascinated me was the two wheel driving, & Fleenor had a driver that was especially adept at that, able to go 3-4 laps around that 1/3rd mile dirt track on two wheels. Well imagine my surprise when I got to meet him & it was a really young guy from Denmark!!

I used to be able to do the two wheeled thing on my motorcycle and sidecar(what do you guys in te US call this vehicle?),turn the front wheel into the side car, a flick of the throttle and up the s/c went. I could drive this on 2 wheels for ages,do figure 8s even with my mates mum in it She did hit me when we came back to earth though.

If I find a photo ill post it, I know a friend took one.

[Casey]

 

Edited April 9, 2020 by Casey

[Mark]

There's an article on thrill shows in an early issue of the old Special Interest Autos magazine.  The AMT illustration showing the '49 Ford jumping over the '50 duplicates one of the photos in that article.  That particular show did use '49 and '50 Fords, but all of the cars would have been from the current year, whichever it was.  They did use a convertible or two, but they used sedans and not coupes.

[SSNJim]

On ‎10‎/‎16‎/‎2008 at 4:30 PM, HotRodaSaurus said:

I used to be able to do the two wheeled thing on my motorcycle and sidecar(what do you guys in te US call this vehicle?),turn the front wheel into the side car, a flick of the throttle and up the s/c went. I could drive this on 2 wheels for ages,do figure 8s even with my mates mum in it She did hit me when we came back to earth though.

If I find a photo ill post it, I know a friend took one.

I don't know what it is about sidecars. I had a buddy with a sidecar equipped Goldwing. Woe be the passenger who was gullible enough to get in it. He'd "fly" the sidecar (what you were describing), spin the bike out, lock the brakes, and all sorts of crazy stuff. He called it the E-ticket ride.I knew better than to get in it.

[wku88]

Joie Chitwood thrill show.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xhmPectY9U

[slusher]

That would be a cool kit to have that Casey posted!

[Casey]

[Casey]

 

The unique ramps which were included in only these three kits:

 

Edited March 2, 2022 by Casey

[keyser]

Weren’t they in the Mustang 2 and something else? 
Doubt 49 merc front spindles will hold up to play action. ???‍♂️
New Avatar awesome. 

[Mark]

The Camaro and Mustang II had printed cardstock ramps.  The box side panel artwork showing the ramps was reworked a bit, to make them look different from the ones in the Ford and Mercury kits.

[keyser]

Cool. Always the breathing archive. Never had this batch, looked at them though. Thx Mark and Casey, yet again.