Back in 1992, while combing the Sears Christmas catalog for items I was going to request for the holiday season, I stumbled across 1:24 scale model vehicles for the first time. I remember it clearly: you could choose between a 1970 Chevelle SS454 in blue and white, or a 1969 Pontiac GTO Judge in Carousel Red with the red/orange stripe kit. I begged. I pleaded. And the people who were in charge of my well-being that year said no, because they suspected that I wouldn’t grasp what these model cars were…and they were not just random toys to be played with. Since then I’ve owned numerous vehicles of this dimension: a 1970 Grumpy Jenkins Camaro, 1969 Olds 442, 1969 Shelby GT500, and over the years, some fell victim to the ways of the world. Currently in my office, I’ve got two models: a very Christine-esque 1957 Plymouth Fury that has a bent body from falling off of my desk a time or two, thanks to curious cats, and a 1970 Baldwin-Motion Phase III Chevelle that’s taken it’s fair share of abuse too. They now sit on a shelf we just put up for them.
Just like an old Tonka truck, just like the Hot Wheels restos we’ve show you before, the simple truth is that if the model is made of metal, it can be restored. So when you see this sad-sack example of a Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing for the first time, just understand that it can and does get better. It’s all about how willing you are to put in the work.
Why bother restoring it? It looks like somebody spent hours making it look like an extreme barn find and its detailed deterioration is amazing!