A while ago I wrote several episodes about Mustangs, and some of you expressed interest in Mustang IIs, wondering what I might have. So I went looking, and found a few more than I had remembered. Quite a few.
That still didn’t leave enough for a story though, so I kept looking. Throw in a few Fox bodies (mine seem to be all first-year cars) and – well, let’s see where we wind up.
Mustang II
The first one we come to is this AMT ’75 Mach 1, with the V6. They weren’t at the top of their game when they tooled up this one; the body was good, but the chassis/floorpan seems very flat, suspension parts seem simplified and blocky rather than being shaped properly; overall I was quite disappointed. Especially when a cousin had an MPC kit of the Mustang II – it was far better.
AMT reissued the kit about ten years ago, so I thought I’d get another and see if the ’77 was better than the ‘75, and what I could do to improve its appearance. The interior seemed a bit better, but I concentrated on colour; I’d found a photo of an orange one in a magazine, so…
MPC did a lot of Pro Stock drag kits throughout the seventies, then once they were no longer current, changed a few bits to turn them into street machines of questionable legality. This was the only way I could get an MPC Mustang. Much better chassis detail than the AMT; the body detail seemed crisper too.
Here’s an oddity. The Japanese company Nitto produced a 1/16 scale Mustang II – but as well as the Mach 1, they unusually did the Ghia coupe – both with opening everything, and working steering and even suspension. I had a chance to pick one up for a good price, but found it a real pain. Body proportions were off, which made the poor little thing look more awkward than ever, but it was a coupe, and it had the V8. Rather generic and approximate, but it was a V8. There were a few unexpected assembly ‘challenges’. I tried enlarging the rear windows, not realising that later ones like this had opera windows, and that the kit was right.
Another Japanese kit, this time from Gunze Sangyo. This racing Cobra II, the 1976 Charlie Kemp car, is quite a startling looking machine. It had no chassis detail to speak of, as it was motorised, but the body was beautifully done.
Possibly the worst Mustang II kit I have, is this Monroe Handler from Revell. I had seen the real car in magazine adverts (for Monroe shocks), and thought it looked cool. I hadn’t taken into account that Revell seemed to be going down the gurgler product-wise for the last few years. While the body seemed accurate, the chassis was approximate to the point of being unrealistic – and possibly shared with other kits. Cool body though.
Now we have a bit of confusion – on my part. I have these both listed as the same kit, but a second look shows they’re not. The red one sits higher, and has the lower door trim of the AMT kit; the yellow one sits lower, has the regular front bumper, lacks the lower door trim and has differently shaped front fender, and a totally different (as in, realistic for once!) underhood appearance. I’m pretty sure this is an MPC kit.
Fox bodies
Now we move forward a generation. Rather than looking to past glories and styling themes and trying to force-fit them to new realities, Ford reached for the future, with a startling new coupe that looked unquestionably modern, and not like anything else. The only things identifying it as a Mustang were the horse and the name badge. Where the Mustang II had been a super-early instance of retro, this new one was futuristic. Good call, product guys.
Monogram seemed to be the main force here. They made two versions: one with the turbo four, one with the V8. Wouldn’t you know I have both of them! The orange one is a Cobra Turbo, showing the simple turbo setup common in these early days.
The blue one is an Indy Pace car kit, with a few mods. For a start it’s not silver with stripes, but does have the ‘horses’ part of the pace car decals on the door. This one comes with the V8, the TRX wheel/tyre package, a different grille and different front and rear spoilers. I made the headlight covers.
Great kits, both.
But now we come to the ‘why on earth did you buy it?’ section.
Revell’s Dark Ages strikes again. Supposedly a Cobra turbo, so supposedly the came as the orange one above – but how different! The body seems more blocky, not as sleek as the original, the wheels are smaller, the tyre sidewalls are way too tall and the profile looks nothing like a TRX or indeed any other radial. And there’s no chrome. Okay, arguably there isn’t much on the real car, but there was some – just look at Monogram’s rendition. Detail is soft overall: Revell’s feels like it was done on the cheap.
But Monogram had yet another Mustang kit up their sleeves.
And what a car! This IMSA Mustang was a totally new kit, nothing being usable from the ones above. It had an amazingly detailed turbo four, front end frame and suspension under the lift-off hood and seemed right up there with the best Tamiya kits for detail. This was the Ford Motorsport car; a Miller-sponsored one was also available.
Unfortunately, Monogram were about to be gobbled up by a newly-revitalised Revell. Revell needed revitalising, but…
There were plenty of other Fox Mustang kits, these are the only ones I have.
SN95
Moving forward one generation, I have only one. I never liked the later SN95s. Several companies kitted the Mustang; this is an AMT. Being a ’94, this GT has a nicely detailed Windsor engine. Being the nineties, it had to be that #1 hot colour…
S197
Now this was more like it! Ford seemed to have reprised the late-sixties car just in time to hit the peak of the Retro wave. I really like this shape.
Revell made these kits. First up is a 2006. I don’t recall why I painted it pink – blame the meds.
Then the Bullitt car of 2008. Not actually Highland Green, but I painted this one the darkest green I could find.
Then for 2010 I broke out a can of Ford Australia’s ‘Acid Rush’.
When they brought back the Boss stripes, I just had to get another. This colour was supposed to be more of an orange, but it had a great shine so I went with it.
And this is as new as it gets for Mustang models around here. Models of later ones exist; I just don’t have them.
Yet.
That IMSA Mustang is awesome; what an interesting time in Ford motorsports history.
Thanks Aaron. An interesting time indeed. Ford would have more credibility in racing if they were consistent rather than being “yes we will/no we won’t”. On the other hand, when they pull off a car like this one it makes all the more amazing because it’s so unexpected!
An absolutely awesome kit. Like the car itself, unexpected.
Always a pleasure to read through your latest work with my morning coffee. Thanks for sharing my guy.
Thank you, Newt.
In 1997, I almost bought a T-Bird in the color of your lone SN95 Mustang. There were two on the lot; one in this color, and one in Pacific Green Clearcoat Metallic, a darker teal. I chose the latter. I miss teal cars and hope that they make a comeback. You’re right though about it being “The Hot Color of the Nineties”… The fact that Ford offered two teals at that time was awesome.
And although that pink is an odd color for an S197, I kinda like it, but then I do have a bias to that generation, natch.
Another favorite of this lot is the green Fox-body wherein you did something a little different with the pace-car pony graphics. Personally, this generation’s lack of the pony emblem was a big oversight on Ford’s part IMHO.
Thanks Rick. For a while there it seemed as though Ford Australia was painting all their new cars teal! Anyone in the district who bought a new Ford, whether the farmer on the hill’s Falcon, Anne’s Festiva, or Dorothy’s Ka (and given time I could probably think of others) – invariably it was teal. Not that I heard anyone complain.
It’s funny if you look at colour charts, there are often several similar shades – like they’re clustered around a target. All aimed at the customer, of course: if you don’t like this variation, maybe you’ll buy that one.
Glad you like the ponies on that Fox – which is sort of a near-teal two decades early! I could never understand the appeal of having pace car graphics splashed all over your new car (maybe it’s an American thing?), and I think I only ever once built a model with them. Those ponies though – so cool, I just had to use them. And so appropriate on a car called Mustang.
These are all cool, though the MII stock car racer looks suspiciously way more Pinto than it probably did in real life. LOL.
The red MII hatchback looks a lot like the pretty press car I have seen pictures of.
Of all of these, though, my pick is the lead 1980 Cobra. What a cool-looking car, and like you mentioned, it was forward-looking and not a retread of familiar cues. I respect the Fox more and more for that reason, especially in its earliest forms.
Ah, I was wondering how you’d like these; IIRC you were one of the main questioners about what MIIs I had.
Sometimes it’s hard to choose an opening photo; this week there was no question. It was so surprising to see a car looking like this come out of Ford US, which had seemed mired in the slough of Broughamhood. MInd you, I couldn’t see GM or Mopar coming out with a car looking like this either – yet. That ultra-low waistline seemed amazing, as did the slanted front end with the angled-back headlight surrounds. And so surprising that they should make a turbo four and position it as the premium performance engine. And the graphics – strong but not corny.
Nothing wrong with pink, it looks a bit like the HQ Holden color Orchid.
One of my Dads mates brought a new Kingswood ute in that color, my conservative Dad just didn’t get it.
Those later Mustangs make great models.
It does look a bit like that, a neighbour over the road had an HQ that colour – weren’t a lot of them as I recall. That pink ute might have been one of one.
About the only thing wrong with those late Mustangs is they need to sit a bit lower. A bit more involved than the old wire-axle days when you just put the axle in a different hole!
I think the Nitto MII may be the same kit I bought for my brother back in the 1980s when he had a Ghia one (though looking under the bonnet and in the boot, it might have once been two Mustangs…) It never did get built though.
You might have dodged a bullet there, Bernard. Most parts go together fine, but I had awful troubles with the front suspension. I was sure I’d assembled it correctly (no guarantees fifty years later!) but there was no way it was going to fit the body. I wound up having to mount it backwards from what the instructions showed.
Peter: I always liked the Mustang II; the orange model is gorgeous! I have fond memories of a blue 4 cylinder, 4 speed coupe that belonged to a military friend and took us to our first training school. I have contemplated buying a v-8, 4 speed Mach 1, but somehow they all manage to slip away. The last one I looked at was an immaculate one owner car, that unfortunately the bidding outpaced my funds **SIGH**!. I never cared for the 1999 body, I always thought it looked like someone wearing a suit a little too big for them. The S197 model looks good, but I personally feel that the newest Mustangs have taken this look to an extreme, and the pricing as well!
Ah, I was trying to remember who the other Mustang II fan was who asked about them; seems it might have been you.
Yes, that orange one does take some beating. If I hadn’t put the orange Fox-body Cobra in ‘pole position’ today, it would have gone to the orange II.
I totally agree with your description of the ’99 – amusing but accurate.
After building those S197s (there’s actually a fifth one somewhere…), I never really got into the later ones – possibly because we get them here now, and they seem to attract, er, ‘sub-optimal’ drivers…