Corvette Model Gallery


Mako Shark II

1965

Following the Mako Shark I show car of 1961, and carrying the styling theme further,  the Mako Shark II was unveiled in 1965.  There were 2 cars made. A non running "clay" car followed by a running prototype.   Larry Shinoda executed Bill Mitchell's vision.  The original non running clay car had a unique side exhaust and "MARK IV 396" lettering on the hood.  The roof lifted for better access. The interiors feature an aircraft style square steering wheel  and a huge array of gauges.  The later running car had a more common round steering wheel and more stock looking seats.  The paint scheme on both cars was a similar style to the previous Mako Shark.  Dark top fading to a white bottom. This show car was the base for the Stingray design, launched in 1968.  The shark era cars lasted from 1968 all the way up to 1982.

 


The model:

Mark Hickley built this Mako Shark II from the original MPC kit.

Mark's comments on the build:  "I bought this kit new a long time ago. It cost $2.   It's MPC #500 with the 25 piece trailer. The color is Testors Model Master #28113 Dark Cherry Pearl. I realize it looks purple. That's from the cover on the flourescent lighting. There were not any two pieces that fit together in this kit. When cast the two die halves didn't line up by about a sixteenth of an inch. Every single piece had to be filed. I had to remove the entire rear edge of the chassis to fit the body. The instructions also lead you to dead ends if you don't pay attention. For instance it says to glue the pipes on before you put the engine on the chassis. No way that will line up. Also to put the steel front springs in after the A frames are on. I fell for that one. What I ended up doing was compressing the springs with tweezers and tying them with thread. Then I inserted the springs and cut the thread to expand them. On the rear end if you install the shocks where they say the axles don't fit. I saw that one coming. Oh yeah. Put the steering wheel in last or it will be sitting on the seat. There were places all over the kit where to mate a peg and a hole there was two holes or two pegs. Sometimes two flat surfaces. This was a tough one. I built it right out of the box. They advertise about the first time hollow tires are being used. It says Patent Pending. However each tire had a huge shrink where the gate came in. I put those on the bottom. I started building models in 1966. Took a break until 2007."

If you would like to contact Mark  on this model his e-mail address is: drdiecast@sbcglobal.net


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Page updated  01/19/09