Last winter I did a somewhat exhaustive post on the fun I had rejuvenating a lot of 4 distressed T-Jets that I bought on a whim on “the ‘bay” for a bargain. I’m happy to say I was just able to make a very similar purchase again. This time, however, the price was significantly higher because the tetragrammaton of 4 cars were models that are quite a bit older and more desirable than my last round of “Junkyard Dogs.” As a result, its hard to call these a “bargain”, exactly, although once they are cleaned up I hope their current market value will equal what I gave for them. But let’s be honest: while I don’t want to waste money, the real goal here is not profit: anyone who thinks they’re going to make money rebuilding old cars is in for an unpleasant shock whether we’re talking about real 1:1 scale cars or HO scale toys! This has to be a labor of love, and since building or rebuilding the cars is my favorite part of this hobby, here’s a sequel to that previous long post, from the unboxing and assessment to the disassembly and cleaning and reassembly and troubleshooting!
The lot of 4 were all closed-rivet cars that appear to date from the mid to late 1960’s. The idea was to add all 4 of these cars to the vintage Road Crew, and thus to keep them completely stock: we have a Jaguar E-Type in yellow, a Buick Riviera in red, and a split-window ’63 Stingray and a Mako Shark, both in turquoise. I already have a good yellow E-Type but I’ve modified it for use in the numbered racing fleet, and although I like it, I know the modifications I made to mount it on the Ultra-G chassis destroyed its collectible value. The Riviera is one of my all-time favorite T-Jets because I love the real car; I have an idea that I’d like to own a copy of each color it was made in, so while I don’t think it looks great in red, its still a nice addition to my collection. The Mako Shark will be the 2nd such body in the Road Crew in addition to the green one, and I also have a white one in the numbered racing fleet, making it my 3rd overall. The Stingray is the most interesting because it’s a model I don’t own in any capacity. If you’re wondering why that is, I’ve alluded to it before: I’ve always felt the dimensions of the T-Jet body are poorly done; it looks nothing like the real car, especially the strange squared off wheel arches (also seen on the Jaguar). So, to be frank, I never really wanted to own one! But since I’m getting more interested in collecting these, and since I got this one for a reasonable price, I figured, why not?
All 4 cars looked complete except for the Stingray which I could see from the listing was missing its window insert. That was easily remedied by placing an order for a reproduction part from one of every T-Jet fan’s favorite ePay vendors “ratherboring” in Palm Springs, CA. Thus I did so right after paying for the lot, as there was no question I would need it. The other thing I could see was that the Jaguar had a damaged roof, looking like it was dropped or stepped on at one point. We see this frequently with old abused T-Jets, and I often pass on them, but this one looked like the damage was not so bad that it couldn’t be repaired. Of course the Mako has cracked and bent A-pillars as well, but don’t they all? I haven’t seen more than a few that don’t, even some models in near mint condition! What was important is that the posts were still there, which to me, for this model, qualifies as “good.” The Riviera appeared to be the most complete, showing no actual body damage or missing parts.
I’ve mentioned recently in a couple of posts that suddenly stock chrome wheels appear to be in short supply. All 4 of these junkers came with all their wheels, but they are corroded and yellowed with age. Since good replacements do not appear to be available at this time, and I’ve depleted by supply of them, I knew I would have to do the best I could via a mixture of poor quality reproductions (using the best of a bad lot) and touch-ups to the originals with my chrome pen. Hopefully better wheels will be available in the future and I’ll be able to spruce them up even more.
So as you can see in the accompanying photos, all of the chassis were green with corrosion and only one of them even tried to turn when touched to a battery. So after disassembly I went to town with the procedure I outlined here, while the bodies went into a warm water dip with tri-sodium phosphate and got scrubbed with a toothbrush. I did a little polishing on the bodies as well using a new method which I plan on elaborating on in a subsequent post, but take a look at the results! 4 more members of the Road Crew fleet are now running around the track on their original chassis like they were new! Sure, some of the wheels need replacing and the Jag has that bent roof, but the Stingray’s windows look as new as they are and all 4 cars are now running fine, original right down to their all-black magnets and brushes! So this lot wasn’t cheap, but in the end it wasn’t a bad deal! You can’t ask for much more than that in the world of 1:64/HO-scale collectibles!
