This is a review of the AMT ’67 Mercury Comet Cyclone #6750

This is one of those models that I LOVE to hate. It is a car of small infamy and yet it is a design I’ve always been enamored with (more later). I have tried to build this one a couple times lately, but with issues with screwing up glass-fit and bad luck with paints, this has become a personal victory to finally finish it. My last successful one was years ago… it was red… and it was not that impressive. Times have changed a bit.

I have seen all the above kits – save for the drag looking antique kit. The remainder of them are of the same quality and piece-count as the one I did. And.. aside from the obvious drag version, I don’t think the others had a great deal of “speed” options.

CAR BACKGROUND :: So… my “like” for this car actually is a fraud. I owned a black version of this hot wheels car (pic left) when I was little. It actually is a Mercury Monterey that was thinner than it should be – thus looking more like the Comet. That said, I like the front end of the Comet anyways since I am a Galaxie/Fairlane fan. In some ways, the Comet was better than both in speed as well. The Comet with the 390ci V8 was faster than a Galaxie 500 (mostly due to heft) and – with the tests I’ve seen – was even a tic faster than the similarly optioned Fairlane. It’s numbers are low 15s at almost 95mph. Not blistering, but still relatively quick. However, sales-wise, the Comet and Fairlane did not fare well against the GTOs and 442s of the time. I like an underdog though!

Well…, here she is. I went completely away from the horrifying blue and dreadful red I’ve used and went with a Lime Ice. This is a bit brighter than the Lime Frost color of the year, but it is close enough for me. There are fitting problems all over the place for this model, but it came out just right this time. Would’ve liked to have a black “GT” stripe on the wheelbase, but the decals were ruined in my kit. C’est la vie.

The first of the fitting issues comes at the hands of the interior. The dash, doors, and tub are all fit together, and THEN to the under-carriage. This means the entire unit has to be fit into the body tightly – with the hood matching, the rear bumper fitting, and the interior sitting in the right place. It isn’t impossible, but it is a pain to get all aspects right. Add to that further underside issues and it is a LOT of work. The interior is very deatiled, however, and looks sharp when finished. I forgot to do a two-tone on either this or the Fairlane, so I may re-do one one of them to further accent the interiors. They are top-10 best by AMT (I know.. not saying much, but still..) and are very easy to get right.

The engine bay is also one of the better AMT ones made. The engine is a nicely detailed 390; has a lot of surround detail; nice battery; separate master cylinder; and is framed well. Aside from a boring (but stock) air cleaner, I have zero gripes with this one. And, like I said above, you will not find many AMT engine bays this well laid out AND well detailed.

This is also a decent place to be for an AMT model. The underside has “ok” detail, an easy fitting exhaust, and tight fitting tires. The exhaust tips are boring (replaced), the rims could be better quality, and the front axle pins are in a bad placement (They are either too high one way, or too low the other – i.e. jacked in the rear or almost a “fuelie” look in the front). I fixed this one’s front end so the look is very stock, but it is a tricky placement nonetheless. Not perfect, but not a fiasco either.

Being one of the better AMT kits does not make for being one of the best muscle cars of the day. Unfortunately, the Comet has the same fame issues like that of the Galaxie and even the Fairlanes of the time and are often “after-thoughts” when in the same pool as Camaros and GTOs. I really like this car, this model, and this build. These kits are still quite plentiful and are still at a reasonable price (between $18 and $28). Can’t say it is a good investment because of its notoriety, but it is a heck of an AMT build.

8.5 – Good