Re: Ford GT Regular or Gift Set Model
Posted: Wed May 04, 2016 3:35 am
What a very interesting find here!
As I have always said in the past, close examination in hand always trumps what we THINK we can see in pictures. Because later Regular Wheel Race set orders forced Lesney to use some Superfast bodies on the #3 Mercedes Ambulances they contained, I can see how these yellow overpainted Ford GTs could have originated there as well. With all late 1969 released Superfast Ford GTs planned with white bodies, the regular wheel Gift Set orders for Christmas seem to have taken the factory by surprise. Perhaps poor planning, but I would suspect a very large unexpected demand for these RW Race Sets containing these odd yellow GTs may have been the cause for this overpainting.
This may sound like a bit of speculation, but the use of Red Superfast Ferrari bodies on regular wheeled chassis in the last RW 'Spring powered' race track sets is a known fact. At least 8 of these Canadian Race sets were purchased by veteran U.S. collector Pat Lamagna, and I am very proud to own one of his very mint red RW Ferraris that came out of one of those sets.
The existence of these overpainted Ford GTs is a shock to me and comes totally unexpected. Because of that, I must carefully check a single Gift set with the yellow GT, and also a couple of those yellow Fords we have had in our collection for MANY years now. More of these overpainted GTs will certainly be found now that we have been given an example of this factory oddity to study and comment on.......
kwakers
As I have always said in the past, close examination in hand always trumps what we THINK we can see in pictures. Because later Regular Wheel Race set orders forced Lesney to use some Superfast bodies on the #3 Mercedes Ambulances they contained, I can see how these yellow overpainted Ford GTs could have originated there as well. With all late 1969 released Superfast Ford GTs planned with white bodies, the regular wheel Gift Set orders for Christmas seem to have taken the factory by surprise. Perhaps poor planning, but I would suspect a very large unexpected demand for these RW Race Sets containing these odd yellow GTs may have been the cause for this overpainting.
This may sound like a bit of speculation, but the use of Red Superfast Ferrari bodies on regular wheeled chassis in the last RW 'Spring powered' race track sets is a known fact. At least 8 of these Canadian Race sets were purchased by veteran U.S. collector Pat Lamagna, and I am very proud to own one of his very mint red RW Ferraris that came out of one of those sets.
The existence of these overpainted Ford GTs is a shock to me and comes totally unexpected. Because of that, I must carefully check a single Gift set with the yellow GT, and also a couple of those yellow Fords we have had in our collection for MANY years now. More of these overpainted GTs will certainly be found now that we have been given an example of this factory oddity to study and comment on.......
kwakers