Model: Revell Shelby Series 1
Kit No.: 85-2534
Introduced: 2000
Present Value: $22
The products of Carroll Shelby have provided the basis for countless 1/24 and 1/25 scale model car kits over the last seven decades. From the diminutive front-wheel-drive (FWD) Dodge 024-based Charger Shelby Coupe through numerous historic and recent Mustang derivatives to the ultimate 427 SC Cobra, if it was real, you can probably find a kit of it. But there’s one Shelby kit you may have forgotten: Revell’s 1/25 scale kit of the Oldsmobile powered Series 1.
The Series 1 was an ambitious project from the start, being the only Shelby project that was designed from scratch rather than partially adapted and modified from existing components. It encountered many challenges along the way, and the eventual result left some observers a bit disappointed. The Series 1 car has yet to achieve the near-universal fame and respect of many of Shelby’s other automotive projects. But that result was probably unknown when Revell set about producing their scale replica kit.
I remember being highly impressed when I first examined the kit and its instruction sheets over two decades ago, and that impression remains applicable today. Kit builders began with the scale Olds Aurora four-liter DOHC V8 that was adapted to a longitudinal rear-wheel-drive application. An integral torque tube and rear transaxle was molded with the engine block. Assembly of other engine components then commenced, and Revell even included the transmission shifter linkage that ran along the top of the torque tube.
A platform-style interior followed accepted modern kit design practice. The tubular chassis bottom looked very much like the counterparts in AMT’s Cobra 289 and Monogram’s 427 Cobra kits. But all-new were two highly detailed side-frame assemblies that mounted atop the chassis bottom and next to the interior.
The inboard coil-over front and rear suspensions were provided in exact detail, exceeding both the aforementioned Cobra kits as well as some expensive sports car kits introduced even today. Extensive cooling plumbing then connected the front radiator to the coolant outlets along the back of the engine (an artifact of the FWD transverse origins of the Oldsmobile Aurora V8). Additional engine compartment framing was then positioned in place.
The remainder of the assembly took place as you might expect. Final assembly included a choice of nicely rendered metallic blue or metallic red front/hood/trunk/rear bumper stripes.
Beyond the Series 1 itself, the kit was a gold mine of kitbashing parts. The DOHC Olds V8 could find a home in 1950s to 1970s Oldsmobile street machine/G-machine projects, while the frame and suspension could anchor many custom-designed sports car bodies.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, both AMT/Ertl and Revell introduced some well-engineered kits that kind of went under the radar when modelers had multiple new kit introductions to buy and build each year. Now might be a good time to dig out some of those lesser-known kits for another look. Who knows? Maybe with the passing of time, car enthusiasts may render a more consistently favorable consensus on the Shelby Series 1. The same may go for kit builders and their opinions on those unsung 1990s and 2000s kits.