Through the Looking Glass (Page 5)
Doubtful that the rake of the front grill opening was correct, I devised a comparison between the GMP prototype and an actual Shelby. A little digital manipulation provided compelling verification that the grill should thrust forward more. I was told this was helpful in getting George’s point across to the Chinese engineer.
An area of contention for me with any diecast ’67- 68 Mustang has been ride height. The first shot in metal from China was used to illustrate wheel center placement. While agreeing that the line should run along the top of the rocker panel, the tires appeared set too high within the wheel wells.
For reasons beyond my understanding, all the mints have wrestled with the ’67- 68 ride height. On top of that, the engineer needed to make compromises in ride height to get the steering to work and retain rear spring functionality. To be completely fair, both Franklin (too high) and Danbury (too low) are plagued by this very same issue. I suppose you just cannot shrink any car down to one twenty-fourth its size and have everything work perfectly. The problem was exacerbated for GMP when the wrong tires were installed at the factory on the first three cars in the series. It took until the ’67 GT convertibles for China to resolve this misstep.
In August of 2005 the first color deco piece
was shipped to George. Still incomplete, displaying poor panel fit, and with yet-to-be corrected bits and pieces, it was my first good look at an assembled car. Notice the serial number plate in the photo to the left, and also two items that were later corrected: the rear valance and the exhaust extensions.