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TONIGHT, LIONS DRAG STRIP IN LONG BEACH, STONE, WOODS, & COOK BATTLES BIG JOHN" MAZMANIAN IN A MATCH RACE TO PROVE WHO'S GOT THE MEANEST GASSER ON THE WEST COAST! BE THERE!!!!! Those were exciting times….. the Gasser Wars….. K.S. Pittman, Johnny Loper, "Ohio George" Montgomery, Jr. Thompson and the two most famous match racers of all: Stone, Woods, & Cook and "Big John" Mazmanian. It was Isky against Engle, Olds against Chrysler, in match races held all over the country. The time was the mid-late '60's and these guys were learning that a little hype and faux hostility could bring big crowds and lots of money through the gates to watch the combatants go at it. Hey, maybe you can even make a living at this drag racing thing!
Revell made a 1:25 scale model of the SW&C Olds-powered '41 Willys "Swindler II" and Yat Ming/Precision Miniatures has duplicated that model part by part in creating this limited edition gasser. It had to happen: Yat Ming has been selling this re-size without livery for a few years.
The quality of this Supercars commissioned car is better than a lot of the Yat Ming offerings, but seems a little inconsistent. The detail on the hood ornament is outstanding, the car comes with a small "Moon" fuel tank mounted ahead of the radiator that's almost invisible unless you really look for it and the tampo lettering on the car is a good copy of the original, but the car is missing the front and rear brakes so important on a 150 mph charge through the lights. Also they have done their best to make the stock grille opening of the "generic" '41 look like SW&C's custom grille. Overall, though, it's a good price/value car even though this probably means that some higher-quality manufacturer will not make a really great '41 Willys. For me, it came with lots of wonderful memories of times at drags when racers raced real cars and drag racing was a little more innocent and a lot more interesting,
(09/16/2001)
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