AMT 1/25 1966 'Hemi under Glass'

 The "Hemi under Glass" was a Hurst Shifters' promotional project that performed at drag strips and auto exibitions across the country thoughout the mid 60's and 70's. Hurst hired driver Bob Riggle to race the Hemi powered, mid-engine car. Spectators loved seeing the wheel-stander scream down the track at over 100mph. Nine different versions of the "Hemi under Glass" have been built, all based on the Plymouth Barracuda. Riggle drove the car until 1975, retired and moved home to Arizona.

Bob Riggle decided to resurrect the "Hemi under Glass" in 1992 at the insistence of Linda Vaughn and began to build a replica of the 68 model. Completed in 1995, Bob Riggle continued to amaze crowds all across the country with full-track wheel-stands. (Photo is of the 1966 car. Ed)

I'm not quite sure, but I think this kit might date from the 70's. The sprues show their age, as there is a lot of flash on the parts. The model is molded in white plastic, with a chrome sprue as well as the required clear parts. It appears that AMT simply took parts from a stock 66 Barracuda, added a blown Hemi from some other kit, made a new chassis and called it done.

The blown Hemi is not correct for the 66 car. The 66 was powered by an injected Hemi and the stacks were very prominent through the rear window. It also appears the AMT put the cockpit and engine too far forward. The bulkhead behind the drivers seat should be in line with the rear of the door opening. As a result, the engine sits too far forward and there is no "Hemi" under the glass!

Decals are very simple; 2 versions of the "Hemi under Glass" for the sides and that's it. NO sponsor decals are included, I guess they didn't want to pay all the companies royalties.

Instructions are also very simple, being typical AMT. However, they are more the enough to assemble the kit. No paint call outs are listed.

I start most my car builds with the most obvious part; the engine. The first thing I did was to remove the chrome from most of the engine parts. I doubt people in the 60's spent money they could ill afford to chrome things and make them pretty. Besides, the huge attachment points make it kinda necessary. A quick dip in some Westley's Bleche Wite did the trick. The distributor and valve covers were also drilled out for plug wires.

The chassis was assembled per the instructions. I chose to leave the front axle in chrome as it was possible to hide the "ugly" areas. The engine was installed in the chassis and the assembled cockpit added. The wheels were then glued to the axles and the chassis set aside after making sure all 4 touched the ground. I allowed this to dry over night.

There really is no assembly needed for the body, other then the normal chrome trim and windows. There are a few mold seams to take care of, then it was on to paint.

The chassis was brush painted flat black with various trim parts painted aluminum. The engine block was painted flat black and the heads and supercharger were painted aluminum. The body was painted with MM Gold then masked off and the MM Gloss Black sprayed on. The black should have a feather edge on the top, but I think it looks fine as it is. The inside of the body was painted flat black after installing the clear part. I didn't really feel the kit was worth using Bare Metal Foil, so I just painted the trim with Testors Chrome. I did, however, use BMF on the lower rockers and the trim under the rear window.

The tail lights were painted Tamiya Clear Red, the backup lights flat white and the front parking lights Tamiya Clear Orange.

I applied the decals as shown on the box top. I also used one of the extra decals to install the "HURST" logo on the deck lid. It's not correct (it should be straight), but it looks better then nothing.

The last parts added were the bumpers and tail lights. The body was then fitted to the chassis, but not glued down.

This is not the best kit, as it is definitely showing it's age. The fit is poor, the chrome parts are typical 70's and it's not particularly accurate. That being said, it does look nice when it's all said and done. If you like cars, build one and add it to your collection.

Editor's Note: Here is an interesting tidbit of information. As Mark stated, this is a kit from the late 1960s as originally produced by MPC. There is a boxing that shows the later 1967 Barracuda on the cover, yet the kit is the same 1966 version that Mark has built. So be cautious when looking to buy one of these As far as I can tell, the 1967 car was never kitted in these markings.

Various websites for the history

Photos off the internet

 Mark Hiott

 December 2011