SOLD - 1961 John Mazmanian Corvette

[jstrutt]

I've got one available so 1st come 1st served. $65.00 shipped. Precision Miniatures 1/18 1961 John Mazmanian Corvette Manufacturer: Precision Miniatures Scale Or Size: 1/18 Condition: Mint In Box - Never Opened Hot Rod Magazine featured “Big John” Mazmanian’s beautiful candy-apple red, drag racing Corvette on their March 1963 cover and called it the “Double-Threat ‘Vette” referring to how it was equally capable of being a racer and a show car. John Mazmanian began his “Corvette adventure” when “Dyno Don” Nicholson, who ran the dynamometer at C.S. Mead Chevrolet in Pasadena, California, told him about a 1961 “fuelie” Corvette that dyno’ed better than all the other cars on the lot. John wasted no time in purchasing it and he raced it occasionally. But when he found out his nephew, Richard Siroonian, was borrowing it to race on the streets of Los Angeles County, John decided that he and Richard would take it racing, but this time, legally. The first year out, they won the 1961 NHRA Winternationals in A-Sports (A/SP) turning 109.96 mph with the fuel-injected 283” small-block. Over the summer they replaced the fuel injection with a GMC 4-71 blower and a Hilborn two-port injector and won the C-Modified Sports (CM/SP) title at the 1962 Winternationals with a speed of 113 mph. They also took home the 3rd place trophy at the Winternationals Car Show. Then they got serious and installed a “Bones” Balogh 327” small-block opened up to 338” and equipped with a GMC 6-71 blower, Hilborn four-port injector, Isky cam, Jardine headers and a B&M Hydro. This bumped them to B-Modified Sports (BM/SP) and by March of ’63 were turning 130 mph and 10.90 seconds e.t. with “Bones” doing the driving. The unusual rear wheel-arch shape resulted from them borrowing a set of big drag slicks from Dick Bourgeois and Earl Wade while running at the San Gabriel Dragstrip. The slicks wouldn’t fit into the stock wheel wells so they did a “temporary fix” with a hack saw intending to re-shape the wheel wells once they got time. This became part of the car’s signature look and never got around to being fixed until after the car was sold. Bringing the car back to its present day “Mazmanian look” required getting a new rear clip and having at it with the hack saw again. “Big John” sold the ‘Vette in late 1963 and built the car he is most famous for: the ’41 Willys Gasser that was one of the “Big Four” of the “Gasser Wars” era of drag racing. But the candy-red ‘Vette will always be remembered as one of the prettiest cars to ever run the quarter-mile! Some Features Of This Item Include: Diecast Body Candy Apple Red Engine Hoses & Belts Detailed Gauges Opening Hood Steerable Wheels Opening Doors Opening Trunk Detailed Engine, Chassis & Interior Working Driveshaft Engine Wiring Manual Transmission Doors Mounted On Correct Hinges Replicated Corvette Hood Hinges Photoetched Details Precision Miniatures has done a magnificent job of duplicating this car. All the components are there, although some have been borrowed from different times over the car’s life. For example, the engine is the 338” SBC, but the transmission is the 4-speed. This was intentional and gives a flavor of how the car “morphed” from stock Corvette to the ground-pounding race car it became. When you look at the car, the first thing you see is that beautiful mile deep “candy-apple” red paint. “Big John’s” cars were all about candy-apple, chrome, polished aluminum and speed. When you go to open the hood, the first thing you notice are the hinges. These are no ordinary dog-legs. They have beautifully replicated the stock Corvette hinges and, of course, it’s chromed, ditto the “over-center” hood brace. The SBC block has the appropriate-model 7-fin Corvette valve covers and the space between the fins and around the “Corvette” script has been filled-in with red paint. The Hilborn injector has the four little black hoses running from the throttle metering block to the individual injectors and the injector scoop actually says “Hilborn” in the casting. The Vertex magneto sitting behind the blower has the eight little white spots showing the firing order. The script “Fuel Injection” badge is on the fender. Up until now, most badging was either painted-on flat to the body or made of plastic. Precision Miniatures has found a way to duplicate the chrome badge in luster and scale. The trunk opens by disconnecting the parachute shroud lines to reveal a flocked interior. The rear of the car has the “optional third tail lights” made famous by Jan & Dean in “Deadman’s Curve” and the driveshaft rotates when the rear wheels are turned. The interior captures the feeling and detail of the car with the photoetch and plastic steering wheel, column-mounted Sun tach, white shift knob, floor-mounted fire extinguisher and doors mounted on correct hinges.

[jstrutt]

SOLD - Thanks Dean! The rest fell asleep on this one........