AMT #2164-200, 1/25 scale, Designed by Joe Wilhelm and Don Tognotti
Hall of Famer Joe Wilhelm crafted his Wild Dream body almost entirely from aluminum sheet. The exposed T roots are highlighted with scratch-fabbed track roadster and Indy car elements for a winning combo that swept hundreds of podiums on its way to AMBR glory in 1968. (Photo Courtesy Mark Gustavson)
Two seminal show cars in one box! You can argue all day over whether these traditional 1964 customs belong with the scale show rods in this book, but Wild Dream and King T were still winning car shows from coast to coast in 1965, and the kits were selling well. Consider this double kit George Toteff’s unintentional gift to modelers and to AMT.
The former AMT vice president (“I was their first employee”) jumped ship in 1963 to start his own MPC enterprise, with an agreement that AMT got first refusal on any of his molds originally made for AMT. After AMT’s release of said kits, MPC was free to market its own version. But Toteff decided, “I didn’t want to release the same kits as AMT,” and for reasons unknown, AMT never re-issued the popular double kit, making it one of the rarest in today’s market. If you find one of these, you’ll pay, but you probably won’t complain.
Chuck Darnell built the double kit and doubled his pleasure. Already an AMBR winner in 1964, speed shop owner Don Tognotti’s full-fendered King T also won the top awards at every show it entered. Both cars had been studied in dozens of magazine features by 1965 when AMT rolled out their double kit, complete with respective display stands. (Photos Courtesy Chuck Darnell)
MPC # 505-200, 1965, 1/25 scale, Designed by Darryl Starbird
Dave Rasmussen quips, “Double your bubble, double your fun!” Dismissed by many as a factory design exercise at first glance, Cosma Ray was deemed another “not ready for show rod status” entry. It’s actually a unique document of a most unusual day in show rodding. A novel collaboration between Starbird and Barris produced this show packer that got MPC’s attention. Production was limited, and no re-issue has been released. (Photo Courtesy Dave’s Show Rod Rally)
Independent resin caster Greg Wann whipped up some Cosma Rays featuring a plethora of individual parts, but those kits are only made sporadically. Priced at $75, builders declare them “Well worth that, and more!” Originally featuring a “beak” nose treatment and frenched antenna, Starbird changed those elements for Cosma Ray’s sophomore season on the circuit. MPC modeled their kit after that second iteration. Box art claims, “This model sports a 427 Chevy engine,” but a Rochester-injected small-block was in the box. (Photo Courtesy Dave’s Show Rod Rally)
Built for customer Bobby Green-wade, Starbird’s Cosma Ray was a Grand National Sweepstakes winner and was later used in Robert Petersen’s Wonderful World of Wheels TV show. The most prominent features were the double bubble (reminiscent of Silhouette) and peaked nose. Period touches included walnut inserts in the interior and even in the side pipe covers. George Barris shot the apricot pearl and tangerine metalflake. Since Starbird was under contract to Monogram, there’s no mention of him on the box art, or anywhere else in MPC’s kit. It is unknown why Monogram passed on kitting the car.
With the imminent arrival of a 1968 ’Vette restyle looming, MPC got some extra mileage from their earlier Corvette tooling with Cosma Ray, but curious decisions like opening the rear of the body to expose the interior tub and excluding the signature side exhaust run on the actual car remain unsolved mysteries today.
A rare view of a rare bird: John Teresi’s completed Cosma Ray, sunning in the back yard. It appears to be scanning the area for lawn sprinklers and other birds. (Photo Courtesy John Teresi)
Warren Willis caught the Cosma Ray in “action” at the 1966 Oakland Roadster Show (in the Cow Palace), while just a pup himself. (Photo Courtesy OldBlueWebDesigns.com)
AMT # 2166-200, 1965, 1/25 scale, Designed by Tom Daniel, Re-issued 1968 (as Surf Rod), 1969 (as Denny McLain’s Horse Hide Hauler), and later in 1969 (as Surf’n Van)
The beach party on wheels is the star of this AMT 3-in-1 kit, but many extra boxes were sold to fans of the optional Street Rod roadster and Surf Hearse delivery. The swing-axle rear end is a multi-piece assembly and the twin Paxton blowers are nicely detailed as well. Round 2 later re-issued slightly modified versions that included an even teensier scale copy, complete with miniature box. Alas, AMT did not include a scale version of the wildly popular motorized surfboard that accompanied Surf Woody on tour, but did add a coffin-shaped surfboard that matches the car’s scale nicely. (Photo Courtesy Dave’s Show Rod Rally)
Yet another guest on Robert Petersen’s Wonderful World of Wheels TV program, the Tom Daniel–designed and Dick Dean–built Surf Woody was another Barris Kustoms project, targeting the surf culture’s tentative tiptoe into the mainstream. George Barris was under contract to AMT, which had a deal with Ford, and Surf Woody was created expressly for Ford’s Custom Car Caravan tour. George Toteff had just left AMT for MPC, but reminds us posthumously, “We were car people. We didn’t have marketing executives deciding what we produced. Our engineers and designers got together and pitched ideas to the sales department. That’s how we chose our kits.”
AMT’s instruction sheet for Surf Woody. Has anyone anywhere ever read this document? (Photo Courtesy Scotty Gosson Collection)
Surf Woody was re-issued in the 1960s as Surf Rod, then again in 1968 as Denny McLain’s Horse Hide Hauler, and yet again shortly thereafter as Surf’n Van. A New Zealand issue featured a somewhat cobbled amalgam of Horse Hide Hauler and Surf’n Van box art, called Surf-n-Go Wagon, with “AMT Made under license in New Zealand by Tonka Manufacturing Limited” signage on the box side. Howard Cohen’s assembled Surf Woody plays it straight for the camera. (Photo Courtesy Howard Cohen)