Description
This extraordinary machine was modeled after a Dean Jeffries custom car built from an old Maserati Grand Prix chassis fitted with a modified Ford 289 c.i. engine. Issued in 1967, the model used a Fred Rannalli chassis made of two pieces of hinged aluminum, a motor bracket for the MPC “High Rise” motor and a new MPC guide flag.
The front wheels were the usual MPC narrow jobs with finned drum “brakes” fitted with the ribbed “O-Ring” tires, but the rear wheels were now fitted with white sponge tires coated with white silicone. Some had their sidewalls painted black for more “realism”, a curious term when the tread was obviously white.
The wheels first received the usual MPC sunburst hubcaps with separate 3-prong knock-offs, but later 1968 issues had a one-piece “Halibrand” kidney-bean insert. The bodies were blow-molded styrene painted in gold or metallic red, with a silver lower part. The blow molding technique allowed the use of separate injected and plated accessories such as engine detail and driver head. An injected clear-plastic canopy is also fitted.
The model was quite successful but while many have survived, few have retained their original box that also contained a spare set of rear sponge tires mounted on aluminum wheels. only one is known to have survived in sealed condition, the clear cellophane box covering hanging over a paint brush that formed the top edge of the box.
