Time for an update on the ever increasing Road Crew! Here’s a look at some of the latest additions to this non-racing fleet, as well as the exciting news that I recently obtained (at great expense, unfortunately) a large “junk lot” of vintage Aurora parts which included no less than 13 closed-rivet chassis pans (10 of which were useable), 15 motors (12 of which were salvageable) and stacks of pickup shoes, wheels, axles, magnets, clamps, and even a few original brushes! I’ve had hours of fun sorting, cleaning, building and testing, and so far have over 12 chassis completely built right down to the tires waiting for bodies, and more are on the way as soon as I get a few more parts in the mail!
MEV originals, here I come with my next paycheck! In the meantime, you can see there’s new stuff from Model Motoring and Dash Motorsports including a couple of rare ones I had to fight for but won!
So, onto the latest additions to THE ROAD CREW…
LEFT: Dash Motorsports VW “Bug” with a very appropos paint scheme; I made sure to mount this on my slowest Aurora chassis, which worked out great; runs like the real thing! … RIGHT: Model Motoring ’67 Plymouth Belvedere GTX in candy apple red metallic on a virgin “open rivet” chassisLEFT: ’63 Ford Falcon Sprint HT: Dash Motorsports reproduction of the Aurora original, now an out of production collector’s item in its own right … RIGHT: Model Motoring ’67 Camaro RS/SS in “Oxblood red” (or “burgundy” or “Cordovan” or some say “brown”; I say AWESOME no matter what its called)Dash Motorsports reproduction of the Aurora ’63 Ford Fairlane convertible, now almost as hard to find as the original! This copy is a gorgeous shade of “lipstick red” with white interior with matching red inserts and looks even better than the original! Driver by Road Race Replicas and added by yours truly.This pink ’59 Corvette is a Johnny Lightning copy of the original Aurora “Vibrator” body and is the exact same size as the original, odd since it won’t fit the Johnny Lightning/Auto World T-Jet chassis and is more at home on an Aurora T-Jet. Driver by Road Race Replicas and added by yours truly.It wasn’t cheap getting this red and near mint original ’63 “bullet-bird”, the 2nd copy of this body I have acquired. I had to have it though, and you can see why! This one came with its driver, but I did add the white wall tires. Not only is this a beautiful model, its also exceptionally fun to drive, as its a great “drifter.”Buick Riviera in hard-to-find “Olive Green:” Its not in great condition, but with a buffing wheel and a chrome pen I was able to spruce it up to look respectable enough. I’m still after the rarest one in “Slate Blue” if I can ever find a decent one at a price I’m willing to pay!The third in a trio of “high dollar” acquisitions, this red ’62 Ford Galaxie convertible came as a body only and, while it was originally a “Vibrator”, was promptly mounted on a good running “closed rivet” Thunderjet chassis which it drifts around on just fine!Fortunately I got a great deal on this very clean AMX in the Penske “tri-color” scheme; it’s not quite mint but close, and even though its presented as a racing car, I gave it over to the Road Crew since its an original, and I have an Auto World copy in this same color scheme in my Trans Am racing fleet. This one got an exceptionally fast chassis requiring a set of “Jel Claws” at the rear.Another defection from The Muscle Car Fleet! Since I had no fewer than 3 Model Motoring ’69 Camaros, I decided to migrate one to The Road Crew, and though choosing which one to move was tough, I decided it made the most sense to move the one presented as a top-up convertible. So, this bright blue RS/SS is mounted on an insanely fast scratch-built chassis with a “Mean Green” motor and got a set of Jel Claws for traction.Rounding out a trio of high performers, my last remaining set of 5-Lug MEV wheels went to this awsome ’67 Chevelle Malibu in lime green with a matte black top; this is one of my all-time favorite Model Motoring bodies, being a model of one of my all time favorite cars, and though I already have 3 of them in my Ultra-G Muscle Car racing fleet, I couldn’t resist adding another one for The Road Crew! This one also wears Jel Claws on the rear to get the power to the ground.The most expensive addition to the Road Crew to date, I got into a bidding war over this RARE ’68 Firebird; any version of this car prior to the “Tuff Ones” releases is amazingly hard to find, and there were 26 people who were determined to get this in addition to me, so I’ll let you imagine what it took. But it was worth it! It came from the original owner in its original box on a low-mileage open rivet chassis that still has the “Hong Kong” sticker on the side, and once it got cleaned and oiled, it slid around the track like new! A special shout-out to my ’68 F-boid shows the one concession I did make to originality: I added the tiny green and white Colorado license plate decals at the front and rear, since there was a place for them molded into both bumpers, and I was proud enough to own this one that I wanted to make sure I got it registered in my home state!And lastly, this one was just added tonight: we have one “back from the dead!” I retired this Dash Motorsports ’68 Yenko Chevelle from the muscle car fleet almost a year ago, as I was never happy with it. It went into the “sell pile” (and you know how that goes!) but, now flush with new chassis thanks to my recent building frenzy, I decided to take it out of mothballs. This one got mounted on a VERY high performance “Tuff Ones” chassis with the large rear pinion (I refer to this as the Thunderjet “Drag Pack”) and was fitted with a set of bright red tires that were salvaged from a wrecked Aurora Mustang that I bought in my young childhood; those tires have been hanging around in a shoebox since I was 9 years old waiting to be used on something, and tonight, I found a use for them! Its a screamer, too; yugotta love salvage cars that run like high-dollar racers!
So there’s the latest from the “HO Highway!” And, as Johnny Carson used to say, there’s “MORE TO COME.”
One thought on “We Are the Road Crew…Growing Like Wildfire!”
Wow, the shop there at Wardglenn does some good work and has all the supplies for any racing needs! The TBird is something else as well as the green Riviera! I can see why you had to have these. That is a great story about the tires you were able to finally use. You have always been an excellent archivist. It seems you received some good things in your most recent haul! That Firebird is an exceptionally cool original survivor!
Wow, the shop there at Wardglenn does some good work and has all the supplies for any racing needs! The TBird is something else as well as the green Riviera! I can see why you had to have these. That is a great story about the tires you were able to finally use. You have always been an excellent archivist. It seems you received some good things in your most recent haul! That Firebird is an exceptionally cool original survivor!