Having followed Ken’s great build of the Renault RE-20 and his WIP on the Lotus 78 and Joel’s Lotus 79 I thought I would post some photos of a Ferrari F1 car I built for the 'Heart of Beast Campaign" It seems not too many get over to the group builds site but if you want to see the build detail it’s all there. These are just the finished photos.
The car is based on the Monza version that New Zealander Chris Amon drove. It has a 3 litre V12. It wasn’t a great year for Ferrari, with their rising star, Lorenzo Bandini being killed at Monte Carlo earlier in the season. The car was not competitive and Amon finished 7th at Monza.
Beautiful job Michael - I almost pulled the trigger on MFH Alfetta kit a few months back but chickened out ($$$) . Looking at what you’ve done here has gotten me thinking again …
Michael,
I’ve followed your build from day 1 of the GB and marveled at your modeling skill to work your way through a MFH multi media kit. I only wish I had your skills as a 1/20 scale model of Gurney’s 1967 Spa winning AAR Eagle is a dream of mine, but some dreams are never meant to be.
Your 1967 Ferrari 312 is absolutely magnificent with every detail brought to life. You certainly did that old Prancing Horse justice. What’s more, every time I look at your pictures it brings back some very fond and special memories for me.
Way, and I mean way back in Oct 1967 my MG group drove our cars up to Watkins Glen for the Grand Prix weekend. Back in those days we had easy access to the pits, the cars, and in many cases the drivers. After all this time I really only remember meeting Dan Gurney, Jim Clark, and Graham Hill, but I did meet most of the drivers. What I do remember is the cars and their individual engine sounds. You could tell whose coming into view around track that was nicknamed The Boot because it looked like one turned upside down by their engine sounds. And none sounded better then the Ferrari 3 liter V12. To bad that sound doesn’t equate to speed, nor the killer looks of the car into handling, as Amon’s car didn’t finish nor did my hero Gurney’s car. But Clark won and Hill came in 2nd in their Lotus 49s.
Ah Joel, I am highly envious that you got to see these cars in action. Though I was a fan from my teenage years, the mid-70s I didn’t get to see F1 in anger till I saw Mansell vs. Senna in 92 at Monaco. I was a Senna fan and seeing him stop Mansell’s run of victories was amazing. I was living in London and I took my brother who was not a F1 fan. He wanted to leave after the morning practice because of the noise! And then he was afraid we would be lynched by the Mansell fans (I had bought the tickets in the UK) because I was out of my seat cheering on Senna over the last five laps. Probably the only one in that particular grandstand!
On the Gurney Eagle, when I first heard about MFH, that was going to be my first choice to try but I ended up with the Pink Porsche instead and now this. I may still go back to it since the 60s and 70s are my favourite F1 cars and that is one of the best looking F1 cars of the era.
Michael, a simply stunning build my friend. Turning it around from a paint/decal disaster to your best build to date is an awesome achievement.
I was 6 months old! My earlies experience of auto racing was watching my father racing stock cars. He had a wild Zephyr called “The Purple Petrol Eater” and really threw it around the track. We also went to the Sprint Cars a few times I recall. Like the others, I’m insanely jealous of your first hand experiences Joel. It’s easy to see where your current passion stems from.
Michael,
Wow!! you got to Monaco for a GP. Now that’s something. And seeing that epic Senna Mansell battle must have been something for sure. I was a huge Mansell but not so much a Senna fan as he drove with the attitude that he owned the road, and took out drivers all the time. Hard to say that his battles with then teammate Prost at McLaren were friendly affairs. Still I considered him one of the very best.
D,
Having a Dad whose into cars and racing must have been really something. My Dad knew almost nothing about cars nor did he care for auto racing in any form.
