- Joined
- Jul 21, 2010
- Messages
- 1,015
- Reaction score
- 38
- Location
- Miami FL
- My Car
- 1972 Mach1, 2003 Cobra coupe
First the good and bad. I'll save the ugly for later.
The Danbury Mint 71 429 Mach1 in metallic blue is stunning.
From the pictures you can see they spent some time doing their research before letting the Chinese make them. I'm sure we could find a few things to nitpick but it is a beautiful built model - no assembly required. Even the trunk opens as do the doors. The bad news is the last one Ebay sold for $136 and these are not easy to find as they are out of production. They also did a 71 Boss 351 in pewter.
Now for the ugly. At first glance the black and yellow Testors metal kits look okay. I built them in a few days as the bodies are prepainted. From the side all looks okay - like a 71-72 Mach1. But - on the back on the yellow one there's the 73 Mach1 decal and the front has the 73 bumper but the 71-72 grille. Open the hood and there's a BOSS 429 engine, not a 429 or 351 (or even a 302). The rear spoiler is too high but I could fix that. Since these sell for about $20-$30 I might pick one up and repaint it and do some kit bashing and make a 73 Mach1 (with the correct grille) since I cannot remove the front metal bumper without a blow torch. The Testors kit was based on the AMT plastic kits except of course the Testors kits are metal and have opening hinged doors.
Speaking of those AMT/MPC plastic kits, they are pretty bad from an accuracy standpoint. Here's my ratings of these overpriced "collector" kits:
Body - 8 of 10, Interior - 7 of 10, Chassis - 5 of ten, Engine compartment - 3 of ten, Engine - 1 of ten (unless you are building a 302 version). With a lot of work you can build a respectable and accurate looking kit but be prepared to spend hours getting to something that looks as nice as the pics of that grabber lime Mach1 I posted. If you like the color just get one of those Franklin Mint models - it's well worth the price.
The Danbury Mint 71 429 Mach1 in metallic blue is stunning.
From the pictures you can see they spent some time doing their research before letting the Chinese make them. I'm sure we could find a few things to nitpick but it is a beautiful built model - no assembly required. Even the trunk opens as do the doors. The bad news is the last one Ebay sold for $136 and these are not easy to find as they are out of production. They also did a 71 Boss 351 in pewter.
Now for the ugly. At first glance the black and yellow Testors metal kits look okay. I built them in a few days as the bodies are prepainted. From the side all looks okay - like a 71-72 Mach1. But - on the back on the yellow one there's the 73 Mach1 decal and the front has the 73 bumper but the 71-72 grille. Open the hood and there's a BOSS 429 engine, not a 429 or 351 (or even a 302). The rear spoiler is too high but I could fix that. Since these sell for about $20-$30 I might pick one up and repaint it and do some kit bashing and make a 73 Mach1 (with the correct grille) since I cannot remove the front metal bumper without a blow torch. The Testors kit was based on the AMT plastic kits except of course the Testors kits are metal and have opening hinged doors.
Speaking of those AMT/MPC plastic kits, they are pretty bad from an accuracy standpoint. Here's my ratings of these overpriced "collector" kits:
Body - 8 of 10, Interior - 7 of 10, Chassis - 5 of ten, Engine compartment - 3 of ten, Engine - 1 of ten (unless you are building a 302 version). With a lot of work you can build a respectable and accurate looking kit but be prepared to spend hours getting to something that looks as nice as the pics of that grabber lime Mach1 I posted. If you like the color just get one of those Franklin Mint models - it's well worth the price.
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