They even look better in person!

I remember back when I was a kid, every year around the middle of September all the kids that had gasoline running in their veins would hang around the automobile dealerships and peek through the back windows to see the new models when they came out. I still remember the sight of my first '55 Chevy Bel Air after all those stodgey '54s and to this day it may still be my favorite. Sure, we had pictures maybe the week before, but the real thing is the real thing.

Which comes to our description of thre new Revell/Monogram Lola T-70s. I got a sneak peak.

Here they are. The first to be released, probably around the end of March, is the red number 7 Surtees 1966 CanAm champ. The ones they gave me are pre-production, but I think the cars are flawless. Mechanically it's the good old Revell high revving Mabuchi with no brakes, sigh.

Mounted as a sidewinder with 14 to 37 teeth. Same as their old Galaxies. The tires are plenty wide enough. I griped a lot about their Chaparral rears and now they've compensated. Maybe overly. They magnet is about what they had in their March GTP cars. I intend to remove mine I told them. Take a look at the engine and interior details. Magnificent. The 6 Lolas they will produce in total (they hope) will be 3 Chevy powered and 3 Ford powered. These 2 are the Chevvies of course, with sidedraft Webers, their Fords will have down drafts.

The blue car is of course a Mark Donohue driven Roger Penske owned car with yellow pinstriping, wheels and exhaust pipes. This will follow the Surtees car by about a month. And next after that will be a light blue metallic Lola driven by George Follmer, number 16. Hopefully another month away. The size seems a little larger than the old Lola T-70 they made in the sixties as a companion to the Chaparral. But remember, it's not size that counts. Rumor has it that the old tooling was in need of repair and they also wanted to take in to account a body that would be a sidewinder and have the capability for many liveries. This, to me was a resounding success.

Also during my visit with the folks at R/M they showed me a peek at the next model in their old Ford stock car program, the Ford Fairlane. Pictured is the Mario Andretti Daytona 500 winner. Another gem! So, my advice is to hang around the local hobby shop a little more than normal to see when these little gems roll in. It seems these guys at R/M don't know how to predict demand and they won't sit on the shelves too long. Just try to find one of those purple Fireball Roberts number 22 Galaxies.

Those were gone in 30 days!

Dirve fast, Michael Delaney