GMP Pre-Preview: 1985 Mustang 5.0 LX....NOTCH!

[evlgt85]

Yeppers, we finally have a notch model coming down the pike! How cool is that?

This is a quick write-up that I did while sleep-deprived, I'll fine-tune it a bit here soon, BUT, for now, feast your eyes upon this:

http://www.foureyedpride.com/articles/GMP/85LX/

I cannot wait to have a notchback LX. It also doesn't hurt that my favorite color is blue. Hehe.

It's not available for pre-order just yet, but we'll be the first to let you know when it'll be ready for pre-order and release.

A thousand thanks to our own JohnnyGMachine for championing the cause of these cars to a top-of-the-line model maker. Let's not let them down!

Also gotta take some pics and do a write-up on the fantastic Twister II models I have here...

[mfpmax]

[ethangsmith]

Yay! Blue interior! (I'm a bit partial ) That looks fantastic. Maybe they should do a capri.......

[Ricky C]

Nice little detail on the valve covers!!! I wonder if they'll alter their other cars to include those style valve covers too...

[sleepercoupe]

i thought that the distributor boot cap thing and the fan shroud with the built in rad. overflow started in 86?

[Evil86lx]

Man that thing look's great.

I suppose I better pull out the old check book. I found several on their site that I would love to have.

kyle

[v8only]

that's absolutely stunning, but blue interior? yikes!!! A little black model paint will come in handy with that. JK

I'll order one up for sure, can't wait.

[85 Notchback]

Holy Crap I'm in love. Must buy one.... And paint everything Black and chrome. I need it to match the real thing

[EFI 4-EYE]

Thanks Skye for putting that up, and thanks Johnny for getting it made! SWEET that you fixed the valve covers, the air cleaner and the front bumper cover! Same color combo as my LX hatch too, this will be a must buy. Keep us up to speed on the projected release date

[86 COUPE]

sweet! i have been waiting for that, it is identical to my car's exterior.

[Capri50]

hmm... all the four eyes are carb'd. I hope they have an EFI version somewhere down the road.

Looking around on their site, I have to get that awesome 1987 Buick GNX. That is some amazing detail they did there.

[EFI 4-EYE]

I agree, can there be an '86 made? This makes like 4 different '85s, and an '86 would be easy as cake, just swap in the EFI motor to an '85 basically. BTW John, was the exhaust fixed on this LX or is it still true dual?

[86 COUPE]

i'll agree with that, mine is an 86 also

[mfpmax]

This car is actually a mix of both of mine

85 is black
86 has blue interior

But the engines won't match.

[EFI 4-EYE]

John, when does that drag prepped dark red '89 LX come out? The date on the site says January I think, but it's not out anywhere. Also are the Twister IIs out yet? Haven't seen anyone selling them yet either

[FEP Admin]

The Twister IIs are out...they had them at Barrett-Jackson on display, and I have mine. They rule.

[EFI 4-EYE]

i thought that the distributor boot cap thing and the fan shroud with the built in rad. overflow started in 86?

Yep. But this notch is ALOT more accurate than the black '85 GT they made first. That one had EFI valve covers, newer rad overflow, '84 air cleaner top, '86-up true dual exhaust, and a few other issues. John's definately taking these in the right direction now

[JohnnyGMachine]

THANKS GUYS and GALS! Thanks Skye for posting the pics. I've been wanting to do this since I was hired. It's an exact replica of my 1985 5.0 Notch in and out. After seeing all the notchbacks on here and knowing that notchbacks are very desirable to a lot of fox-mustang freaks like me who own 2 for some crazy reason....I had to get the car in the 1:18 lineup. I know that there are still some inaccuracies but I can only use the existing tooling that is available to me. We actually smoothed off the fog light recesses in the tool for the front bumper so that we could do the proper LX front bumper. This could possibly mean we will not be able to do a GT again. I really wanted to do an 86 GT and still do. We could do an 86 LX hatch but I know that there are probably more 86 GT owners than 86 LX hatch owners. We'll see. The only suggestion I have is to buy 2 Twister IIs for the front bumper and get a fuel injected model. There's been killer deals as well on the police cars for way cheap. You could always buy one of the fuel injected cop cars and swap parts around with an extra Twister II and make your own 86 GT.

Another hint for those who'd like to have a PLAIN 85 GT. This is super easy for anybody. There's something called Z7 debonder that comes in a little white bottle with a green label. You ca get it at hobby stores or online for about $4. Use a little dab on a clean cloth and it will wipe away the Twister II graphics with one or 2 swipes. Then just clean the area up with some detail wax and VIOLA! Instant stock 85 GT. It does mean you would sacrifice a Twister II and there's only 500 red and 500 white. So yes they are rare. Just a suggestion for you 85 GT nuts!

The red drag Mustang is VERY close to selling out already guys. If you want one there's just over 250 left of the 1000 produced. I beleive the next issue of MM&FF will have a write up on that car and I think the Twister IIs so that will probably finish off the 89 Drag Mustang.

The Twister IIs ARE FOR SALE. They are selling a little slow but I think it'll pick up.

Well I hope you guys will enjoy the little 85 Notch. It was almost spooky when i first opened the box and pulled an exact 1:18 replica of my car out!!! It's neat. I was a freak about getting the paint color correct. I sent Ford paint and interior swatches and samples with a spec package to our Hong Kong factory to make sure they nailed the Dark Blue metallic paint and the Regatta Blue interior. I'll post picks tonite in my album of my real 1985 5.0 Notch when I first bought it back in 1999 for $4500 with only 50, 657 original miles on her!!! I still wonder sometimes if I shoulda restored it. I still have the original factory tubular headers, mint air cleaner, and stock valve covers. I just like the custom direction I'm going with the car - I'm not a "stock-guy". But do like seeing nice stock examples once in awhile.
Anyways, the model is as correct as I can make it with what I have to work with. I've tried to do the four-eyes proud! :-)

John

[Clarko]

:rools::

[JohnnyGMachine]

Well today I got some slightly bad news. The 1985 5.0 Notch production has been pushed out, it won't be available until January 2006. The good part is because we have just too many of them coming down the pike so we had to thin 'em out a little. It's still going to be produced just 6 months later than scheduled.

John

[Hissing Cobra]

That die-cast is AWESOME!

[EFI 4-EYE]

Thanks for the sneak peek John. Even though it was delayed, it's good to know it is coming and it was so cool of you to show us before anyone else. Gives me a little more time to save up

[JohnnyGMachine]

I'm thinking of taking one of the Coupe samples and making it a drag version too. Since we're into the production of our 2nd Drag Mustang there's pleny of spare parts kicking around so I think I'm gonna make the drag version of my 85 LX that almost happened. I owned a new set of Pro-Stars for about 6 months and had M/T ET streets on the rears. Never did get to launch it once. Sold the Pro Stars and bought bullitts. I decided to go the handling route yet still have a set of 2 rears with slicks for taking it to the track.
Started the Notch up today as a matter of fact and the car has spent too much time just sitting in the garage so now the carburetor is not working right. I'm getting some backfiring out of the carb. It's not a vacuum issue...think the power valve is shot. So I gotta send the carb out to get looked at. Other than that it idles nice and once you get the rpms up it runs fine. I gotta get her on the road ande start driving it. The red notch i just bought is fun and I already started to modify it. The blue car is just so much faster though. All in due time.

I'll keep y'all posted on upcoming 4-eye stuff.

[EFI 4-EYE]

John I just ordered the drag '89 LX, I couldn't resist anymore. That '85 notch with be a sure addition to my collection too, but help a brother out. How does one swap wheels on these things? I bought 2 extra "Tweaked" Turbo Regals and was gonna put the Pro Stars on my '85 GT but the wheel setup is totally incompatible.

Any chance one can score some Mustang compatible wheels?

[JohnnyGMachine]

Now EFI,

I had seen you on the diecast pub i think asking why GMP tooled up another set of Drag Star wheels since we already had them on the Tweaked. here's why they aren't the same. GMP uses 2 completely different factories to produce it's models. The factory that produces the Mustangs carries most of our model production. The factory that produces the Tweaked car is different and produces a smaller amount of our models. These factories don't interact at all. So if we wanted to make Drag Stars for our Mustangs we had to have the factory making the Mustangs create their own tool. These two cars are made at 2 different factories. With a little bit of patience you could probably find a way to get the tweaked wheels on the Mustang.