AMT 1:25 Nova SS Pro Stocker
This week we’ll highlight the AMT Nova SS kit. I have bought several Nova’s to try my hand at oval racing as the Nova chassis is one of the best cars due to the wide wheel base.
AMT offers the Nova SS Pro-Street for the out-of-the-box builder.
"Trends" is a word that comes to mind when describing the evolution or the state of the various forms of expression automotive enthusiasts have demonstrated throughout the history of the automobile. One such trend currently blossoming in the field of street machining is "Pro-Street". Originally, this type of street machine was an emulation of those quarter-pounders, the Pro-Stock drag cars. Some of the early Pro Streeters were actually Pro Stockers "retired" to the streets; any similarity between these and a street legal machine was purely coincidental! Subsequent "scratch built" Pro-Streeters still follow the drag strip theory of design and construction, utilizing race car components and equipment combinations even more outrageous than the dragsters. The idea was to get attention at the car shows and meets.
Somewhere along the line, however, some folks realized they were making major investments in spark plugs and cooling systems just to make a few passes around the fairgrounds or shopping mall parking lots, buckin 'n stompin, trying to keep the engine cleaned out. This was definitely not where it was at! With all the time, effort and dollars invested in these attention - getters, folks reasoned they should be seen where the name implies; after all, these weren't "Pro-Parking" machines!
This brings us to the most recent development In Pro-Street machines; mainly, the rediscovery of reality. Real Pro-Stockers are designed to travel 1320 feet straight and fast, and many concessions are made to this end. Pro-Street cruisin' requires concessions as well, but in the opposite direction. Today's ProStreeters should give the appearance of drag strip seriousness and yet be able to negotiate turns, driveways, and other such obstacles found on real streets. Driving to and from a show or meet, or just plain cruisin', requires manageable horsepower, working suspensions, and some sort of creature comforts on the inside. Fabricated aluminum engine rooms, interiors, floor pans, and trunks look dynamite on a show car, are de rigueur at the strip, but can be hazardous to your sanity on a functional street machine. Undercoating outside and sound deadening inside can eliminate a lot of the grief. "Form follows function" is still a very good rule of thumb.
It is with all of the aforementioned in mind that we offer the Nova SS Pro- Street; for the out-of-the-box builder, a clean, sensible street machine with building / display options. For the kit bashers and putty throwers, the same, plus a point of debarkation-to go wherever imagination and creativity leads. For example, the detailed accessory engine can be grafted onto the bell housing / transmission of tin two-piece "main" engine block assembly. The detailed cylinder heads can he installed on either engine, on the engine stand or, as just mentioned, in the car as an "in progress" assembly. If you choose to open the trunk, recesses are provided for batteries and fuel cell detailing, and the wheel tub rolled beads are already there. You will also be surprised at how many AMT/MPC Camara, Chevelle, Nova bodies will accept the "Pro" chassis with little or no modification. These are but a few of the many possibilities available through both the subject matter and components offered in this kit. We hope you will enjoy building many mild to wild Pro-Streeters.
GaelHobbies features the classic 1/25 AMT Steve McGee Dragster. Steve McGeeraced at various dragstrips and car classes throughout his career from the 1970s to the ’90s. He set West Coast records from Boise to Pomona, competing in the C Gas and A Gas categories, jumping to Top Fuel dragster, and making a real mark in the Northwest as an Alcohol Funny Car dominator.
That was a quantum leap from his teenage days, when McGee tore up the back roads near Pendleton, as aggressive as an ornery steer from the town’s famous rodeos, in hi 1949 Mercury Lead Sled. He entered that battleship with the 331-cubic-inch Chrysler Hemi engine in his first drag race and wisely dialed down to a 283-ci Chevy-powered 1940 Ford his dad helped him buy. He set both ends of the C Gas national record in that car.
After five years racing that, he opted to build for the A Gas class a 1933 Willys – this time going whole-hog with a hunkin’ 480-ci Hemi. With that, he was the man to beat across the Northwest and Western Canada for the next five seasons.
Eventually he caught the nitro bug and entered the Top Fuel ranks in the mid-1970s. In his first race, at Eugene, Ore., McGee defeated Gary Beck and Jeb Allen, both established headliners. Hard to forget from those days was the record-setting tuner-driver’s Black Beauty wedge dragster, a rare design. Unfortunately, costs then were just as burdensome, proportionately, as they are today. So McGee joined forces with buddy Norm Christiansen.
They switched to the Alcohol Funny Car division and put together a Chevy Monza that brought the lion’s share of trophies in the Northwest for another five years. In 1978, Jeff Yardley bought into the operation – which became M.C.Y. Racing – and introduced the computer age to McGee’s efforts. Back before Hot Rod Fuller had his DiGiorno sponsorship and Leah Pritchett coaxed drag-racing-enthusiast entrepreneur John Schnatter away from his Papa John’s Pizza empire and back to the dragstrip, McGee delivered in a quick Z-28 Camaro for sponsor Tom Devlin and his SunShine Pizza Exchange, out of Wilsonville, Ore.
The media loved that sponsor. A Drag Racing magazine article from 1985 used all the same catch phrases modern journalists have done with Pritchett: a headline that screamed, “He Delivers!” and a subhead that read, “All Steve McGee Ever Needed Was A Little Bit Of Dough.” He was, by comparison, underfunded.
But no matter how anyone sliced it, McGee gave “Bad Brad” Anderson and the Northwest’s iconic Austins, the top guns of the day, an honest run for their money.
One of his proudest accomplishments was his performances in the mid-1990s with his AA/Gas class car on the Super Chevy Tour. In 1996, he won every round of racing and recorded low elapsed times and tops speeds. The history books point to 64 rounds – a record that has been challenged since but never broken.
Plastic model kit. Requires paint and cement for assembly (not included)Easy to Assemble and Finish
Accurate Scale Model
Full Instructions Provided
Skill level 2, paint and cement required
Molded in black plastic with gleaming chrome parts
Authentic recreation, better than the 1970s original kit
New body configuration with doubled ribbed nose piece
Pad-printed drag slicks
Authentic decal artwork
Retro Deluxe™ vintage AMT packaging reproduction
GaelHobbies features a CLASSIC CUSTOM DRAGSTER KIT FOR THE FAST LANE: AMT’s 1/25 scale Stingaree is a great project for experienced modelers who enjoy cool, custom dragster builds. Add it to your collection today!
FEATURE PACKED: Stingaree, an iconic kit from the kats at AMT! Fully paintable, it features an expanded sheet of water-slide decals loaded with colorful options. Features include a blown mega-engine with heavy-duty zoomie megaphone headers, super-long frame with customized radius arms, pad printed rear slicks, and more. Wrapped up nicely in eye-popping vintage-styled packaging!
QUICK SPECS: 1/25 Scale, 90+ Parts, 10 Inches long once assembled. Parts molded in white and clear and transparent aqua with black vinyl tires. Some parts are chrome plated. Plastic model kit paint and cement required (Testors or Tamiya brands are recommended). Skill Level 2. For ages 10+
THE PERFECT PRESENT: Don't know what to get your Dad or favorite Uncle for his birthday? Want to say ‘thank you’ in a special way? Or maybe you have an avid hobbyist or collector in your life. This model kit makes an ideal gift for any occasion!
GaelHobbies features the 1/25 AMT Tommy Ivo Rear Engine AA Fueler with Bonus Mini Art Print #1253/12. The 1/25 AMT Tommy Ivo Rear Engine AA/Fueler Dragster is a model car kit that is part of the AMT Models collection. The kit is designed to be fully paintable and comes with an expanded and improved sheet of water-slide decals with authentic markings. The kit features a supercharged 426 HEMI engine, air foils, Deist drag chutes, super-slim dragster wheels, and big slicks with pad-printed lettering. The air-cheating body shell has been recreated from all new tooling and assembles more easily than before. The kit is 10 inches long once assembled and includes 95 parts. Some parts are chrome plated. The kit also comes with a BONUS Original Art™ 9”x 6” mini print as a part of AMT’s Original Art Series.
See Builders Note Below
In 1957, Don Yenko started selling aftermarket performance car parts at the dealership started by his father in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. In the 60s, this was expanded to selling fully modified cars with SYC (Yenko Super Car (TM)) name on the hood. In 1969, Yenko ordered COPO Novas with factory installed 427 cubic inch engines. Yenko then added other modifications to make it a SYC.
Hook opens to view the detailed engine
Separate door handles and wipers
Detailed suspension and exhaust system
Molded in white and clear with chrome plated parts and soft black tires