Granted, it was Sundays in the Acme parking lot, emptied because stores were closed on the Sabbath back then. We used the lot for things like flying kites, or racing my Cox gas powered Vette in a circle, or teaching your kid a stick shift, with plenty of room to spare.

Anyway, I have a real affection for the 1:1 version of that car, so when I saw this one come out of the package, I was smitten with nostalgia. Mike Vitale, of MEV Originals, continues to produce cars that no one else dares to, and we are all better off because of him. The 1;1 was one of a series of cars that Chevrolet made, called X-frames, that started in 1958, and ran through 1964. All classics. Since MEV produces the 58-60, and the 62, we only hope thay eventually fill in the rest. The 64 was my first car (SS 327, 4 speed), and we certainly want to see that one happen. My brother still has his 62 Chev (only 60k miles), and I got him a black version from MEV, to match his full sized "Black Bitch".

Ok, enough swooning, time to talk about the slot car version. Vitale has come a long long way with his models, and his techniques. The plastic, paint, and chrome stand up to any of the other HOPRO's. This car is no exception. Very durable, in those regards.

The first thing I considered was how it looked from the side. The contours of the wheel wells,the way the bumper wraps around, wing window, C post and Chev "jet stream" are very accurate to detail. The side of the front bumpers were a little thicker on the original. From the top, hood and rear deck are quite nice, and well proportioned.

The rear of the car is exact. Can't do much better in this scale, and with a totally hand made master. The front chrome bumper and grill may be the best part of the car. The Biscayne allows for details like backup lights, and front running lights, options in their time, to be eliminated. We would rather those options were included.

There are two aspects of the car that might be improved. First, the curve of the hood is not quite right. Needs a bit more rounding Second, the way the roof and wing window ties in with the front window is a little bit too "stepped". Rounding the roof-to-wing window area, and tapering the roof-to-window line would improve this a lot.

Plenty of room to slam this body, or leave it tall, the way we used to drive them. You're gonna love this car!

The casting aspects are the same as the Fury. I used the stage '2' version of my '59 impala as a start. I recarved the exterior detail and added the 'arrow' accents using putty on the rear quarters. Took another casting and further tuned the body lines. I then added the tailights and polished the car to a mirror finish. The rear bumper started out from my '59 Electra and then I added the 'lump' in the middle. Front bumper .. grill work from the Atlas '62 Olds .. the rest was built from scratch from small plastic rods and putty.

Price is $44 dollars for the body. Visit the site for more details.