Revell 1/25 Complete '99 SVT Cobra Mustang

By Al Superczynski

History

The biggest news about the 1999 SVT Cobra Mustang wasn't its aggresive new body style or its upgraded horsepower. It was underneath the car between the rear wheels. For the first time in its history the Mustang had a fully independent rear suspension. The IRS setup brought a new level of ride refinement and handling to the Mustang that a live rear axle just can't match. Ford was able to make the new suspension affordable by engineering it to bolt into the same unibody mounting points as the live rear axle used in lesser Mustangs.

The new rear suspension wasn't the only upgrade that the '99 Cobra recieved, however. The Cobra's smooth throaty 4.6 liter DOHC V-8 is rated at 320 HP @ 6000 RPM, up 15 horsepower from the previous year, and torque has increased as well, from 300 pound-feet at 4750 RPM. All this horsepower and torque gets to the rear wheels through a Borg-Warner T45 five speed manual transmission. The '99 Cobra is good for a 5.4 second 0-69 MPH time and will run the quarter mile in 13.9 seconds at 102.4 MPH.

The Mustang Cobra body was heavily restyled for '99. Gone were the soft curves and rounded edges of the '94-'98 Mustangs, replaced by sharp body angles and crisp edges. All the traditional Mustang styling elements are still there, however; the running horse in the grille opening, the simulated scoops along the bodysides, and the triple section taillights are all present, and looking as great as ever.

The Kit

This fully-detailed Revell model accurately portrays all of the updates to the '99 Mustang Cobra, and builds into a fantastic replica of this great ponycar. There are 109 parts molded in metallic blue, "chrome", clear, and clear red, along with four vinyl Goodyear Eagle tires. The parts are flash-free and crispy molded, typical of Monogram (oops!) kits.

The clear tree contains the windows and light lenses but is packed loose in the box, and in my case is from the wrong kit! This shouldn't be any problem considering Revell-Monogram's great customer service - I'll just call the toll-free number listed on the instructions. The "chrome" parts are shiny and smooth but are also packed loose in the box. Mine are in perfect condition despite this.

The decal sheet is fairly comprehensive, including instrument faces, underhood details, and a choice of California or Wisconsin license plates.

The instructions are presented in ten clear steps. Typically, these use the usual international symbols rather than text, but the parts are named! A welcome return of a feature that used to be common in Monogram and Revell kits.

Revell gives this kit a '2' skill level which should be well within the capabilities of a beginning modeler. A special feature of this series of kits is the inclusion of a set of three water-based acrylic paints, a cheap brush, and a small tube of Ambroid plastic cement. R-M touts these kits as containing all one needs to build them but it would probably be helpful to have at least a hobby knife, a few more colors of paint, and some sandpaper on hand as well!

Thanks to Revell-Monogram for the review sample.