Piranha Super Spy Car back next
Built by: Jim Garubba (Plastimatic) in Sterling, Virginia
For you youngsters, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was a popular '60s international spy series teaming up American & Russian agents to prevent the evil organization THRUSH from overtaking the world. Fun stuff, huh? Their cache of weapons included a car… the Piranha… a modified Chevy Corvair chassis with a plastic body… much like this Super Spy Car kit from AMT.
I would almost call this build a restoration because my first attempt failed at the 90% mark. Securing the painted body upper to the painted body lower, enclosing the interior and chassis with the motor in clamshell fashion was… messy. To solve this, I broke it down and trimmed out a center section of the lower body half so that the interior/chassis could be inserted afterward. This meant I could fit and cement the body together before repainting. Much better.
The paint is a custom pearl blue steel, with brown leather seats and dash (with glovebox open revealing the comms panel). The rear blast shield is up (otherwise covering the weapons panel behind the occupants), and I replaced the rear exhaust panels with steel mesh. The engine cover and doors needed to be cemented in place to alleviate some of the ill fit of the kit. In this, I took the liberty of having one door wing up, firing a supplied mini-missile!
