Quote:
Originally Posted by Gunner
Aren't these all pretty much iterations of the same thing - even more so than with Cobra bodies and molds, these bodies went from maker to maker for years, with little or no variation except in the finish details. Some, IIRC, had five or six major names and instances, few of which turned out more than a few dozen copies. Kits have always been a flaky and unstable business and one guy who had the skill to turn out a good mold was often the g'g'g'grandfather of a whole dynasty of identical-but-different kits.
You can call the one on eBay anything you like, but I don't see any notable variation from the Avenger - which is the one of this series that I recall best.
|
Actually IT IS COMPLETELY different than an Avenger. The Avenger was a Fiberfab car ansd was kind of bizarre in relationship to it's lines. The headlights were slanted the rear fender line went up and back at and extreme line. 2 completely different cars, nothing alike with the exception that they were both based on VW chassis and had V8 chassis options. The Avenger doesn't have the doors cut into the roof and used '65-'66 Mustang glass, which is very different than the Corvair glass. Even a two second look at the 2 would, to any discerning eye, easily illustrate the difference. If you check out the link I posted and go to the Avenger and the GT40K the differences are night and day. Kind of like comparing a Triumph to an MG, they are both front engined british cars, but that's about the only connection( that and the crappy british electrics).
Kellison splashed this and made the molds, and they have made the rounds, T-3,L.A. Exotics as well as others...I think the most recent may have been the Melson GT. The windshield line and front edge of the door and hood are the giveaways. Some tweaking has been done by various companies, but they never eliminated that telltale design weakness. Kellison was the first and, until a few decades later, the only one that used this particular body/mold. There was a really nice kit built in the mid 60s, which I have yet to see in person or track down, that was called the Sebring GT, I think the company was called Perfection(have to get out me '67 Car & Driver ad) Plastics. Never saw one then and haven't seen any for sale used. Not sure if they built any other than the one in the ad( so there is one somewhere).
A side note, Jim Kellison was also the main archetect of the Kelmark GT, which many may be familiar with ( sort of Dino looking). The Kel part of the name, of course, was Kellison.
Since I fell in love with the Kellison in high school and thought the Avenger a little grotesque, I can't even see how the two could be confused for one another. The V8 Avenger was called the Valkyrie and it is being reproduced again...still grotesque. The GT40K has all the main GT40 styling ques such as the doors into the roof, pontoons below the door. The Avenger has neither of those or any other ones, with the single exception of the side scoops.