1984/85 Mustang hardtop kit?

[7th_skyline]

All I've found so far is a 1987 Mustang by AMT.
Is there any kits of the early 80's mustangs, or any easy way to backdate the '87 one to '84 or '85 styling? Sometime in the future I want to build a replica of Dick Johnson's group A Zakspeed Mustang, which was '84 then updated to '85 styling.

[73superduty]

Not sure, I haven't looked, but didn't MPC do an 85?
Chris

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

Originally Posted by 73superduty

Not sure, I haven't looked, but didn't MPC do an 85?
Chris

MPC did annual kits every year through at least '88. Monogram did the '83 convertible, later updated to the Monkeemobile and later made into a more accurate GT convertible, Monogram/MPC both made SVO's, and nobody made the LX sedans other than in resin or Monogram's 1/32 scale version.

[robertwhall]

Originally Posted by 73superduty

Not sure, I haven't looked, but didn't MPC do an 85?
Chris

MPC did the SVO for '85 and '86. Unfortunately, no one did an '85/86 GT, which I thought was the best looking of the pre-'87 Fox Mustangs. I have a builtup MPC '83/84 that someone converted into an '85 GT..turned out pretty nice.

[7th_skyline]

Crap, I think the '85 season car was updated from '84 to look like an '85 GT. I'm no expert on mustang trim levels, is there a lot of difference in the bodywork between GT and SVO?

[robertwhall]

Originally Posted by 7th_skyline

Crap, I think the '85 season car was updated from '84 to look like an '85 GT. I'm no expert on mustang trim levels, is there a lot of difference in the bodywork between GT and SVO?

Quite a bit..the hood, front fascia, headlights, wheels, side trim, rear wing, taillights differ..

[7th_skyline]

Ok, have found a few of the MPC "20th Anniversary" 1984 Mustang kit - looks like it could be an ok base.

MPC - what trim level is this?


One of the Group A touring car Mustangs ; This is the pinepac car from NZ and is not the livery I want to replicate but it is the right spec for bodywork as far as I know c/f the Aussie Greens-Tuf 1985 car.






Will it be an uphill battle converting the above MPC car into the same body styling as the racecar? Are the taillights likely to be a lot different?
To my eye it looks like the front fenders are a bit curvier, obviously the nosecone will need rebuilding but that looks straighforward, and I will be able to fudge it with blanked headlights. Front indicators seem quite different but again, should be able to fudge something with clear styrene..

As for the rest of it, I should be able to sort the wheels, tyres, motor, interior with a little bit of fab, parts from Fujimi Group A cars, and aftermarket bits - I just need a mustang for the "big" bits like the body, chassis, dashboard and engine bay.

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

That's probably the closest you will get. You will have to modify the front fascia/grille (hood is the same), and revise/reshape the rear spoiler to match. Neither grille/fascia nor rear spoiler have been done in scale; unless you can find an MPC SVO to use for the lower part of the rear spoiler. I'd just work with styrene and/or epoxy putty.

I guess that MPC decided to go w/the SVO for a couple years instead of continuing w/GT's, which they went back to for '87-the MPC '85/'86 'Stangs were of the SVO variety.

Good luck, looks like a cool project.

[7th_skyline]

Here's hoping I can win the auction!

Oh and huge thanks to everyone for the advice, living in Australia I've never even seen one of those mustangs in the flesh - which makes it a tad difficult to judge things.

[robertwhall]

That race car looks like an '83-84 with an '85 front fascia (note the difference in the rubstrip on the front bumper vs. the rear). '83-86 all used the same taillights except the '83-84 had black housings and stripe down the middle and '85-86 were dark gray...all trivial stuff.

I know too much trivia about Fox Mustangs from having owned 2('86 LX, '87 GT) and grown up around them (my folks had 3 ('80, 79 GT, '90 LX 5.0) and my brother has had 3 ('79 Indy Pace Car, '82 GT, '86 GT).

[7th_skyline]

Ahh yeah I see that now, so that '84 kit probably is the go. As far as I know all these Zakspeed built Group A touring mustangs were based on '84 models to begin with, and slightly updated to resemble '85 spec later on (by '86-87 most teams were into Sierra XR4Ti/RS500s).