Terrific Chevelle converted by Fantomworks for wheelchair use

No muscle car had ever been made powerchair accessible before, until FantomWorks partnered with the Wounded Wheels Project to create a completely powerchair accessible Chevelle

To make the Chevelle accessible, a power reverse opening third door had to be installed in order to fit both the ramp and the width of the powerchair, and this was by far the most difficult part. The mechanic struggled trying to get as much room as possible, and this door was key. There’s also a custom articulating ramp, hand-controls that use an old cable based control system to save on costs, a lowered floor and my favorite part – a genius motorized sliding table that guides the wheelchair into position once you enter.

http://fantomworks.com/
https://www.facebook.com/FantomWorks
http://www.newmobility.com/2014/06/fantomworks-accessible-muscle-car/

what was the real deal on Smokey’s Chevelle? Macsmotorcitygarage.com did a side by side comparison

this graph overlay is perfect for analyzing the dimensional differences

the things that are immediately noticeable are the front bumper sucked back into the front, the roofline is froward a couple inches, the wing windows are forward a couple inches, but even more pronounced are the rear tires, forward about 6 inches maybe.

the old rumor about it being 7/8ths size is easily proven nonsense, just simple math. A 7/8ths size Chevelle would be almost 10 inches narrower and more than two feet shorter (length not height) than a full-scale version.

http://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/2013/08/21/the-truth-about-smokey-yunicks-78-scale-chevelle/#more-25211

In it's entirety: Greenlight Muscle Series 9...

We are still new to the Greenlight game, but there are a few things we are starting to figure out.

First, these models are very high quality, but can be a little hit-and-miss in the assembly department.  For those of you that don't open them, they will continue to look fantastic in the package.  For those who do, you know what we are talking about.  Sometimes a tire isn't on straight and is slightly stretched, making it difficult to put back on, or the axles are a bit bent.

Second, Greenlight knows how to make wheels.  The detail in each wheel is superb.

Last, Greenlight is far better at doing classic muscle than current cars.  The proportions and detail of the bodies and wheels of the classic cars is spot on, and tight.  On the current cars like the Camaro and Mustang, the wheels look too bulky, and the stance too high.  But it doesn't bother us here too much, as we would much rather collect the classic cars.

Those are our detailed thoughts.  Our general thoughts?  We are so glad to have these and to be covering them here at Lamley.  We need more muscle here.  Yes, JDM is our first love, but that has never come at the expense of cool muscle cars.  And Greenlight does them right.  We see a lot more posts combining these with other brands like the Tomica Limited Vintage, Auto World, and Kyosho.  It should be fun.

So today is a practice run.  GL Muscle Series 10 just came out, and in fact arrived today from Wheel Collectors.  We will photograph it this weekend and post the entire batch in a post.  Before we do that, here is Series 9.  It has been out awhile, but we have only had it a few days.

We are glad we have it, because we have wanted sharp examples of the Pontiac GTO Judge and Dodge Charger Daytona, and now we have them.  You will probably see that both of those, along with the Mustang Boss 429, COPO Chevelle, and '69 Charger, look fantastic, especially compared to the rough-at-the-edges 2011 Shelby GT500.

So here is Series 9, starting with that grey GTO we are so happy to have.

(You can find GL Muscle Series 9 at Wheel Collectors...)


Greenlight Muscle Series 9:

1970 Pontiac GTO Judge

1969 Dodge Hemi Charger Daytona

1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429

1969 Dodge Charger R/T

1969 Chevrolet COPO Chevelle

2011 Ford Shelby GT500

First Look: 2015 Hot Wheels '70 Chevy Chevelle SS (and a little chat about spoilers):

Let’s talk about spoilers.  

Kevin Spacey IS Keyser Söze!  Bruce Willis is dead himself!  The Titanic sinks!

Or…

Let’s instead talk about all these metal spoilers popping up on Hot Wheels castings that once had plastic spoilers.

It appears that all plastic spoilers are going metal.  We have seen the conversion happen on quite a few models, some that have been around forever and others that have been released only in the last couple of years.  Mattel is doing this in order to eliminate that additional plastic piece and incorporate the spoilers into the casting themselves.  Assembly steps eliminated, costs cut.

And collectors don’t like it.  That may seem a little counterintuitive, as most collectors take to the streets to celebrate when something plastic goes metal, and conversely take to the streets to riot when something metal goes plastic.

But in the case of spoilers, plastic to metal means crisp to clunky, proportional to way too big, and clean to paint chip city.

There are definitely exceptions, but for the most part the switch has not been great for collectors who care about this stuff.  And it will come up again when the 5th Super TH is revealed a little later.  (Clunk City on a truly great model.)

Now why are we talking about this while showing the latest version of the ’70 Chevelle SS?  Well, because it is has an awesome metal spoiler:

Of course this casting, which debuted in 2012, has always had this spoiler, but it is as clean as any spoiler on any other casting.  

It seems that Mattel could look at this one, plus a few others (Hakosuka, the recently converted Mustang Mach 1) to get an idea of how to make the plastic to metal conversion better.  It seems it would have been better to start from scratch and see how to better incorporate a spoiler into the casting, or just eliminate it entirely.

The Chevelle SS is such a great casting, and has benefited from such stellar racing liveries (including this brand new 2015 version), so that may be a detail missed.

But its got a great ass. 

(Find the Chevelle and the rest of Batch B at Wheel Collectors…)

Hot Wheels ’70 Chevy Chevelle SS (2015 Mainline):

The family:

2013 Mainline

2013 TRU Exclusive

2013 Recolor

2014 Mainline MC5

2014 Mainline PR5

2014 Super TH

2014 Walmart Zamac Exclusive