Highway 61 1:18 1965 Plymouth Belvedere S/SA Driver Grumpy Jenkins It's pretty clear that Rich is dreaming of a White Christmas.... Review by Richard Sufficool

Overview

Although Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins is primarily known for his Chevy drag cars, following Chevrolet's exit from racing in 1963, he switched to Mopars. In 1965 he ran aHemi powered '65 Plymouth Belvedere known as the "Black Arrow" in the S/SA class and won his first National Event taking the Winternationals Stock Eliminator crown running ETs in the 11.30's at 126mph in the quarter mile. His relationship with Chrysler ended a year later when they could not reach an agreement on factory support, and he switched back to Chevrolet.

Having owned a '65 Satellite, I was hoping for 5 star production. While there are excellent points about the model, I found some of the quality control lacking and more typical of early Highway-61 than some of their recent efforts. The finish is relatively smooth but has a few inclusions and chips. The chrome is excellent. The foil applications on the other hand are rippled and ugly. Part of the foil on the right drip sill is rubbed to the carrier probably from the clear plastic clamshell Highway-61 uses to suspend the model in the box. The grill is an absolute masterpiece of modeling and looks dead on real. The front and rear "Plymouth" lettering as well as the fender "Belvedere ll" script are photo-etched metal applied with a thick carrier strip that both seals and ensures proper spacing of the letters. While picture of this was taken at a harsh light angle to accentuate the carrier film, under normal lighting, it's not noticeable.

There's an active suspension that supports "steel" wheels with undersized lugnuts shod in generic front skinnies and rear slicks that are way too shiny and waxy. The rear wheels appear mounted a bit too rearward in the wheel wells. As to the wheels, I remember larger elliptical cutout vents than the tiny ones modeled here. I broke down the surface finish with a harsh solvent and rubbed pastel into the finish to tone it down. The panel fit is excellent with all the hardware chromed but the door lock escutcheons are undersized tampos that could be covered in foil. The hood lacks any type of locking mechanism and the intake scoop suround is too thick compared to photos of the actual car.

The undercarriage is adequate but rather plasticy with a hint of molded in brake lines being the sole attempt at plumbing. The classic overspray is duplicated. I did rub some bronze and aluminum powders into the some of the chassis components to make the whole thing look a little more realistic. The engine compartment is a simple affair as expected with heater delete and lack of power assists. The "SuperStock 426" engine looks great and has basic plumbing and wiring with secondary electricals molded into the firewall and picked out with a paint pad. The spring assisted dual arc hood hinges are great and offer flawless operation. Pop the trunk if you're looking for the battery and open the license plate mount to find the fuel filler.

The interior is well done right down to the acoustic dimples on the headliner. And yes, they got the radio delete dash correct with readable gauge dial detailing. Curiously, there's no tachometer and gone missing is the script plate that should be on the glove box door. The column shift lever is a bit over-scaled. The front buckets have cloth belts with die cut buckles (for some unknown reason, all buckles are males). The rear bench seat is removed with convenient simulated (flocked) carpeting throughout the rear so the metal floorboards did not have to be modeled. You would expect to see the rear open to the trunk area as there were only diagonal support beams with no bulkhead other than the seat back. The textured upholstery and side panels are more opulent than the cheesy original vinyl I remember.

While it’s not an award winner, it’s a nice model with the vibrant graphics of a Bill Jenkins racer. Can’t be Grumpy about that now can we?