1965 Plymouth Satellite A/FX Golden Commandos Altered Wheelbase 1/25 Scale Model Kit Build Review

Order the 1965 #Plymouth #Satellite A/FX Golden Commandos Altered Wheelbase #Dragster with 426 #Hemi from Modelroundup today!

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The Golden Commandos Racing Club was established in 1964 by a group of Chrysler technicians, mechanics and engineers to “promote automobile racing and create good public relations for the Chrysler Corporation.” The altered wheelbase cars — those “funny-looking Mopars” — changed drag racing forever, introducing what would become known as “Funny Cars” to the racing scene.

Moebius Models’ precision-tooled styrene model kit of the 1965 Golden Commandos Plymouth AF/X can be built as either the rarely documented white “mule” car or the much more famous bronze and white car that still exists today as a restoration. Completed model measures 8" long and includes chrome-plated and clear parts, soft PVC tires, decals and instructions.

Features
125 Detailed styrene parts
Molded in white, clear and chrome
Highly detailed chassis and undercarriage
Decals for both Golden Commandos AWB cars
Authentic 1965 Plymouth AWB Hardtop body
Options for Steel and Mag wheels
Soft PVC tires
Build as White "Mule" car or Bronze and White car

A roar in '64? Oh, yes, there was. The Beatles played on Ed Sullivan's stage while Dr. Stangelove competed with Mary Poppins for big screen honors. The surgeon general announced that cigarettes had a direct link to cancer, and both Harpo Marx and General Douglas McArthur bowed out to never return. For performance car fans, it was the GTO, Mustang, and Plymouth's Barracuda that were all-new that year, but for hardcore power fans, it was the latest Chrysler engine making first waves at the Daytona 500 that sealed the deal. The Hemi: Roar it did!

And it was from the crucible of the engine's formation, Chrysler Engineering's offices in Highland Park, Michigan and the company's nearby plants and facilities, that gave birth to a unique, indeed unparalleled rivalry in the drag car ranks. Two clubs of car enthusiasts, one focused primarily on Dodge and the other on the sister Plymouth brand, raced both each other and the national scene in drag racing. After a couple of years in the mix, the Ramchargers and Golden Commandos both began their legacy building in that inaugural summer of Hemi horsepower, and both succeeded in leaving a mark on the history of stock-bodied drag racing as a result.

The late Tom Hoover was one of the Ramchargers, which consisted primarily of like-minded engineering guys from the company—Mike Buckel, Jim Thornton, Dick Maxwell, John Werley, and others. These guys had no greater love than solving challenges and then going out to steamroller the competition. Not vengefully; this was about finding winning solutions and going to the winner's circle with them. They had already done so at the two big NHRA events in 1963, the Winternationals in California and the Nationals in Indianapolis. There was a new threat in town, however, and that was a 427ci Fairlane "Thunderbolt" Super Stocker that Ford had introduced. Coupled with Mercury's lightweight Comets in the FX ranks, victory by Chrysler's Max Wedge was less, shall we say, inevitable as it had been. The Hemi would change all of that, and so would another adjustment made that winter.

"You know, people forget a major reason why those wheelbases got changed around for 1964. I believe it was Jim Thornton seeing what a big weight change the new engine would make; that extra 100 pounds would have killed the already-optimal Max Wedge weight balance," Notes Mike Guffey, the research-oriented car owner who currently possesses the cars shown here. (Both of them are 1964 models that the teams campaigned.) Guffey looked at the odd wheel placement on his Ramchargers Dodge, then added: "So even though the engine was not available yet, the four cars with the wheelbase changes were built with that in mind."

Guffey rarely minces words, and the cars have become another chapter of his outstanding history of preserving vintage vehicles, which range from Dick Landy's '65 Dodge to Jungle Jim's Nova funny cars, to Harry Miller Indy cars. The two 1964 Hemi-powered Mopars he brought to the Carlisle's Chrysler Nationals were both recently restored, and were joined by restorer Erik Lindberg and seasoned members of both the Ramchargers and Golden Commandos teams.

The late Mr. Thornton deserves credit for the parts package these cars ended up with. Noted in paperwork as business coupes since the rear seat was removed for the first time, the bare-basic cars featured more aluminum than the late-1963/1964 model year Max Wedges had offered. The FX Dodge was constructed as a Max Wedge body and had the front and rear wheels moved forward to facilitate weight transfer, a legal change in the experimental ranks.