The Leaning Tower of.... Plastic
 From the rear it is possible to see that no fewer than four shades of plastic – red, silver, gray and black - are used in the kit to reduce the need for painting. Full color decals adorn the air and oil filters as well as the display stand. |
Man, do we have a treat for you this month. On display here for your enjoyment is the Mopar scale model equivalent of the Loch Ness monster. Yes, it’s a rare Revell ¼ scale motorized Slant Six plastic model kit. You say you’ve never heard of such a thing? You’re not alone. Introduced in the fall of 1961 and produced for about two years, Revell kit number H-1553:1295 kit cost a hefty $12.95 at a time when a typical 1/25 scale car model kit was well under two bucks. This fact alone likely sealed the kit’s fate as a footnote in the kit collecting world. But thanks to the wonders of eBay, where everything is for sale from chunks of Lindsay Lohan’s crashed Mercedes to
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The first kit purchase was a box full of loose parts that the seller clearly indicated was not complete. We didn’t care, the box art was clean and for $96 it was ours. The second one, fully assembled (but with no box) and claimed to be part of a Pennsylvania hobby shop window display for decades, was found a few weeks later and set us back $113 including shipping. Between the two, we have enough to complete this story.
As an added bonus, we got in touch with Willem Weertman for his modern day recollections on his role in helping bring this amazing model kit to market. Don’t recognize Weertman’s name? Why he was only Chrysler’s Assistant Chief Engineer during the Slant Six and Street Hemi development programs. If you’ve ever read the “Hemi White Paper” in the August 1966 issue of Hot Rod magazine, you’ll recognize Weertman’s face – and his informative yet personable writing style. So read on and marvel at the astonishing level of craftsmanship on display in this loving ¼ scale tribute to the mighty Slant Six.
