Corvette Model Gallery

1975 Corvette Roadster

The big news for ‘75 was the demise of the roadster, the last one being built in June. Threatened government legislation regarding roll over protection was the given reason but sales for the convertible had also been declining, even in this final year amounting to no more than 12% of total production. Owners also preferred the structural strength of the coupe and with more than 80% of owners opting for air conditioning the pleasure of open air motoring was losing its allure. It was disappointing to see the end of an era as a convertible had been in the Corvette line-up since the beginning.

Another milestone even was the retirement of Zora Arkus Duntov at the beginning of the year. His involvement with the car went back to the early 1950's when he had fought tenuously to save it then led it in the direction of a performance car. Although retired, he would remain a living icon to all Corvette enthusiasts till his death in 1996. Replacing him as chief engineer would be his assistant David McLelland.

The only noticeable differences for ‘75 were the reintroduction of badging on the gas lid and the removal of the black ring around the badge. Pairs of black bumperettes were also added to the nose and tail and while they provided some needed scratch production they did nothing for the appearance.

Performance continued to slide with the base engine producing only 165 hp and the top power plant, the L82 producing a less then staggering 205 hp. For the moment sales had also leveled off being up only 2.5% over the previous year while base price had gone up 12%

The model

Scott S. Haas submitted this '75 Roadster for the Gallery

You don't see many white Corvette Roadster models.. very nice..

Comments:

Exterior Color: Dupli-color 153 GM Classic White (paint code 10). Approx. 8007 Corvettes were painted Classic White in 1975.

Interior Color: Krylon 1613 Semi Flat Black.

Exterior Comments: The most unusual "feature" of this AMT kit has to be the end caps. The lower halves are molded to the chassis, the upper halves to the body which make final assembly, well, challenging to say the least. The direction I took was to finish the interior, cover it with paper and fasten it into the body. I then assembled the body and chassis, filled the necessary areas with body filler, primed and painted. The kit is also missing an outside mirror and has no door handles. Nice touches of this kit include deeply scribed panel lines, well detailed emblems/logos and fairly accurate dimensions.

Interior Comments: Not too much to mention in there. The door panels lack most details, there is no rearview mirror and the seats are unrealistically thin. However, the dash and center console are nicely detailed.

Engine Bay Comments: Unlike most snap kits today, this kit is NOT a curbside (though I chose to make mine that way). A nicely detailed, snap-together 350 V8 is provided.

Chassis Comments: The standard rally wheels are nice but the pin that holds them to their axles sticks out through the center – a rather odd look. Because of this, I stole a set of custom wheels from another AMT kit, the 1967 Z-28 Camaro (kit #6638) and painted them body color.

AMT/Matchbox Kit# PK-2309

Overall Comment:

For the same reason that I build other snap kits, I took on this project with hopes of completing it quickly (a nice thing after spending months on the glue counterparts). However, with the strange end cap design, the project took longer than I prefer to spend on snap kits. The box rates the kit as a skill level 1. If you plan to make it an accurate replica, plan on spending a considerable amount of time and effort on this one.

If you would like to contact Scott on this model his e-mail address is:  SSHaas1@aol.com

Return to Gallery Index                  Return to C3 Index

Page updated  07/27/99