It wouldn’t make much sense for me to use top drawer parts in every respect to build a new car and then toss it aside as “overstock.” It wouldn’t make much sense, but that’s exactly what I did here. I acquired this green ’68 Torino fastback on my second visit to “Aladdin’s Cave,” making it the only non-Aurora car I picked up on that second visit. This is a very early Auto World issue from Release 2 and these days it is quite hard to come by. I liked the green color with the gold side stripes and it was offered to me at a bargain price, so I snapped it up.
It left the build shop last week on a brand new light brown Ultra-G chassis and wearing wicked looking deep dish chrome reverse wheels and beefy silicone tires via Road Race Replicas. The entire combination looks fantastic, however, this car has an usual feature that I have seen on only one other Auto World release, namely the yellow Chaparral 2F: the windows are tinted red. Strange!
Now, that reminds me something…I know there was another big bad car with Ford power that also had red tinted windows and chrome reverse wheels, something in the distant past…I’m sure it will come to me…
Oh, so that’s the reason the windows are red! What evil force drives…this ’68 Torino?
Well actually, at the moment, no one is driving it; I’m out of room in the muscle car fleet, so like the yellow ’69 Charger I profiled in our last “New Builds” post, this car is literally an “extra.” I probably should have built it with less than premium parts, but I just couldn’t see doing this one without that rust colored chassis, and the only chrome reverses I had left were brand new, so of course I used the tires that came with them. In truth, this car hasn’t even been track tested yet; since I don’t know what to do with it, I’m keeping it pristine on the off chance I might want to sell it (unlikely, but possible). These rust colored chassis have been some of my top performers-I’ve only had one that disappointed-so I expect its going to be a rocket, but of course it has a big and heavy body, so its hard to say how it will perform overall. Maybe I shouldn’t say it will be a rocket, more like a jet… a Cobra Jet, as in 428…because, as rare as that engine is under the hood of a ’68 Torino, that’s got to be what this car is packing.
“Bulldozer,” it’s red linemate that’s been in the fleet for well over a year, is a 390 powered version-still no slouch-but anything this mean looking can only be top of the line. Whether it’s a factory original CJ428 or an upgrade from a milder version remains to be seen as the lore develops, but as for a name, I’m already knocking around “Green Manalishi,” a song by Fleetwood Mac that most people know better from the cover version by Judas Priest; that would certainly jibe with my 80’s timeline!
Great post and I love that movie! Terrific job on the movie poster! Will that green machine be stalking the streets of Wardglenn in search of victims too! Moo Ha Ha!