July 13: She's at it again

There she is, the dear little, hard working Car Modeling Cat, aka the CMC. Plum tuckered out after working with me on our latest model. This was a re-pop of a kit from fifty years ago and that it was an effort, is putting it mildly. Poor instructions and poor quality. Hey, it was an ancient kit and what passed for good quality then, wouldn't today, like many other things. But she and I struggled thru it and were very pleased with the result (if she woke up to see it).

So what was this monster build? Sharp eyes can see it in the background.

Way back in 1967 Mercury needed a entry in the booming, so called pony car field. You know that niche market being steamrolled by the Mustang and what would soon include the Camaro, the Firebird, the Barracuda and many others. Mercury's Cougar was their answer, a more upscale pony car to serve those who felt the Mustang just didn't have enough stature or maybe that it appealed to much to the fairer sex.........

And this was also the dawn of the Funny Car era. Those street car looking dragsters, with 1500 hp motors, that also were taking the drag racing world by storm. The early ones were carbon copy, fiberglass replicas of the street car, but with a tube chassis, a parachute, wheelie bars and that thumping power plant. They were a handful to drive. There were two or three Cougar Funny Cars and the CMC and I struggled with this one........

This was also the time when these machines were towed to the track on a small trailer, usually pulled by a station wagon, nothing like the huge painted up semi trailers, that populate the pits these days with their multi million dollar cargoes. Our model was Kunz and Leslie's High Country Cougar out of Colorado.........

 

 .....and now the real deal........

So, did the cat and I nail it?

 Of course, we did. With her enthusiasm and my perseverance, we hung in there until the final result materialized before us on our work bench. Would we want to make another one? Not a chance. We only have so much patience to go around.

A not so funny Funny Car.

Until next time......