Meet the Fleet – Muscle Cars: ’65 Mustang fastback

• BODY, WHEELS, & TIRES: Road Race Replicas

This particular car holds a special place in my heart; its one of my favorites, and its significant in being one of the milestones that launched me on this hobby.

Although I am a GM loyalist at heart, I have always loved early Mustangs; a real one is still on the short list of cars I’m considering the financial outlay to put in my garage. In the meantime, I have copious amounts of scale models of them from nearly every manufacturer that made one in 1:87 – 1:64.

But there is an exception: the original Aurora body, which I don’t like because it’s poorly proportioned and, frankly, goofy looking. When I found Road Race Replicas was making a new, correctly proportioned body, and a fastback no less, I had to have one. This was the 7^th Thunderjet I bought, but it was the first one I had ever purchased as a body only from a “boutique” manufacturer that had to be assembled in the way I am now so used to doing. The bodies were offered in colors touted as historically correct 1965 Ford paint codes; most of the more popular colors were sold out by the time I found them, so I selected this one in “Honey Gold” for my first real slot car “build.” I fitted my own chassis, wheels, axles and tires according to the scheme I had chosen.

It wasn’t easy! RRR designs their bodies for the original Aurora or identically sized Dash Motorsports chassis, and not for the slightly larger AW Ultra-G platform, so there was a LOT of little modifications to be made: first I had to cut down the rear frame rails on the chassis, then had to find the right shims to give the body enough clearance, but still had to grind down the bottom edge of the rear window insert where it tucks under the sill to clear the rear gear, and then I had to deepen the rear screw post notch on the chassis, and thus I then had to shave a little off the rear post, and even with the low profile tires I had to grind just a hair out of the front edges of the front wheel wells…

All this was daunting for a noob, but I saw the potential in it, and I wanted it to work so badly that I held on to the patience necessary, determined to make it work. It took many hours of experimentation and test fitting, and I must have taken the chassis off and screwed it back on 20 times. When I finally made my first successful run around the track, I stepped back and looked at the best looking slot car I had ever seen, one that looked just like a real Mustang…and I smiled, because it was mine!

I’ve since raced the hell out of this car; it was the second one I burned the motor out on, but I just replaced it and kept on racing! Stylistically, it’s never changed; it has always been fitted with the chrome reverse wheels and low profile tires. At one point I did affix a set of white racing stripes to it, but later took them off; I think it looks fine just the way it left the factory! There may come a day in the future when I decide to sell some or even most of my collection, but I’m quite sure that this is one that I’ll never part with.