From the My Car Quest Wayback Machine (March 2015) we see a kid’s fantasy come to life (at least one of my fantasies) – a really cool full size functioning car that was also a model kit that we could buy and build. The Piranha was featured in one of my favorite TV shows, “Man From U.N.C.L.E.”.
Mike Gulett, Editor
by Mike Gulett –
In the early 1960s, a Borg-Warner subsidiary, Marob Chemical, experimented with the development of “CRV” (Cycolac Research Vehicle) cars, named after the plastic used to construct the bodies.
Piranha Kit Car by AMT Parked Next to a Jaguar C-Type
Only a handful were built. One was later modified and featured in the “Man From U.N.C.L.E.” TV show.
Stephanie Powers in The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and a Piranha
One actively campaigned in the SCCA’s Midwest Region and claimed the “D Modified” Central Division Championship. AMT, the model company, bought the rights to manufacture a 1/24th scale version and also built a limited run of full-size cars to enter into races to promote their kits.
The Piranha was styled by William Schmidt and constructed in Phoenix, Arizona by Jentzen-Miller.
It is powered by a turbocharged air-cooled horizontally opposed (boxer) 164 cid 6-cylinder engine developing 150 hp.
Only a handful of these cars were constructed. This example was a back yard find and has been fully restored, with the historically correct livery, painted decals and logos. This car was photographed by Mike Gulett at the Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance in August 2012.
I think it is fascinating that a model car company would build real cars to help sell their model kits. I remember spending a lot of my paper route money on AMT model cars but I did not get the Piranha.
How often do you see a plastic kit car made by a model car company sitting next to a Jaguar C-Type? It was a first for me too.
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
Message from David Grant
Mike, You can check out the Piranha kit car Sports Car on page 165 in the book, “The Legendary Custom Cars and Hot Rods of Gene Winfield” by David Grant. AMT, the model car kit company from Troy Michigan set up a Speed and Custom Division in Phoenix, Arizona in 1966.
AMT hired Gene Winfield to manage part of the Speed and Custom Division, and later he became the General Manager. After much wrangling to find a suitable car for the television show, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., it was decided to use the Piranha Sports Car with its Cycolac body.
Cycolac is the same material used to make the plastic body of the old rotary telephones. More details on the history of the Piranha are in my book, plus a photo of the Piranha Drag Car powered by a Chrysler 392 Hemi that was campaigned by AMT.
Talk about coincidences, yesterday I was working on a background piece for an upcoming Chip Foose personal car exhibit at the Savoy Auto Museum in Cartersville, Georgia. While compiling a bio section for Chip I also wanted to include a detailed section on his father, Sam Foose given how influential he was in putting Chip on his path to fame and fortune in the custom auto world, and discovered Sam had gone to work at Aluminum Model Toys (AMT) in the late 1950’s and 1960’s.
In 1962, AMT retained Gene Winfield as a consultant style designer for their model kits. In the 1940’s, Winfield had had co-owned a wrecking yard and then used car dealership with his brother in Modesto California and in the 1950’s had started building hot-rod race cars and opened Winfield’s Custom Shop in Modesto where he is credited with developing an early innovation in custom painting, carefully fading two candy colors together called “The Winfield Fade.
Sam began working with Winfield producing life-size customs for mass-production in 1:24 scale. It was during the 1970’s when Winfield — perhaps with some assistance from Foose — was also building full-scale concept cars, race cars, and creating vehicles in his Modesto shop of various types for television shows in the latter part of the 1960’s – Get Smart, Bewitched, Star Trek, and the Piranha for The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Such a handsome car, did not know that Foose senior was involved in the design… have only ever seen one in person and it was years ago in Dallas TX at a repair shop and the car was in pretty sad shape…