Australian Muscle Car – July 01, 2019

Matchbox Manton Mini

M

eanwhile, I’ve kept myself busy. This time

I rescued a Matchbox Racing Mini (that’s

what it’s called). An early ‘Superfast’ model

from 1970, this toy has been very, very played

with. It had been painted with something like

Liquid Paper and marking pen. There were

scratches in the ‘glass’, the bodywork and the

axles were bent.

Inspired by online videos of model

restorations, I pulled this out of the ‘almost too

hard’ pile and dug in. Started by pulling it apart –

drilling out the two rivets holding the car together.

The interior plastic and the glass went into some

soapy water to get the grunge off. The glass still

had black stuff all over it so I used Autosol metal

polish and a cotton bud to polish it. There are still

some deep scratches and a crack in it, but it’s a

million times better.

Straightening axles requires a couple of pairs

of needle-nose pliers and some patience. But I

got it done. At this point, I’m not getting after-

market parts – they are available, but I’m not

looking to spend too much money on these.

The body needed a lot of work, too. Acetone

didn’t touch the liquid paper, so it was scrubbed

with a brass wire brush.

Once down to bare metal, I polished it with

more of the Autosol to get it properly clean. There

was a number 7 dug into the left-hand door, so

that had to be  lled, I used Tamiya model putty

for that then rubbed it back smooth.

Colour was a no-brainer – Neptune Racing

Team blue (actually just Tamiya blue). With a set

of decals from Pattos Place (www.pattosplace.

com) the Peter Manton Mini is done. It goes

nicely with the 1:18 Mustang and 1:43 EH as

driven by Norm Beechey (Classic Carlectables

and Trax respectively). Now to  nd a Jim

McKeown Cortina – again, modeled by Classic

Carlectables in 1:43. Or do I want to do it myself?

Autopics.com.au