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Revell 1/24 1966 Penske Racing Corvette

By Jacob Russell

Roger Penske’s famous 1966 Corvette  came off the production line in late December, 1965 and is generally known as the first L-88 Corvette.  Roger was a noted Pennsylvania car dealer and had been active in Chevrolet racing activities for a number of years, and through special arrangements the car was delivered directly to him. Roger hired race driver-and future Corvette luminary-Dick Guldstrand to drive the car, at the recommendation of Corvette pater familias Zora Arkus-Duntov. Dick picked up the red L88 from the St. Louis assembly plant in January of 1966 and he drove it straight to Penske’s workshop, using a blanket to keep warm in the car, which lacked a heater. In February Guldstrand drove the car to 1st place in the GT class at Daytona. Penske’s main sponsor, Sunoco (Sun Oil Company) asked him to have the car painted in their corporate colors of blue and yellow prior to the March 1966 12 hours of Sebring race. The Penske entry finished first in the GT class once again. Penske’s 1966 Corvette is one of the most important racing Corvettes, and it is the only “mid year” to win 1st in class consecutively at Daytona and Sebring

The ’66 Penske Corvette is packaged in Revell’s customary stout cardboard box with a photograph of the completed model on the boxtop. The kit is composed of 97 parts enclosed in three plastic bags. 4 sprues of white styrene plastic hold 56 parts, 26 are chrome plated on a single sprue, 7 are clear, and 4 (the tail lights) are transparent red. There are also 4 vinyl tires. My initial impression of this kit is very positive. The chassis and body look very good.

The body is a convincing molding of the post “split window” mid 60’s Corvette. My main criticisms of the body are that the prominent vents behind the front wheel-wells are molded closed, and that Revell molded the headlights in daytime configuration (i.e., taped over) rather than depicting the clear covers that replaced the standard pop-up headlights. The suspension has good detail and it is well molded. The engine is nicely done, and is a convincing multi-piece assembly. The interior tub is another multi-piece assembly with nice detail.

The pedals are molded to the tub floor. These are unrealistic, but may not be visible on the finished model.  There are no seatbelts molded to the driver’s seat,  so add your own. The instrument panel looks very good and will benefit from careful detail painting. The chrome is very good and the grille in particular is well molded; a black wash will bring out the detail. The windshield wipers are on the chrome sprue and are individually molded, which is a nice touch.

The decal sheet includes the main instrument gauges, hood pins (although these are unconvincing at best), the body scripts, Firestone tire trim, and the taped-over headlight covers. The instructions are very well illustrated and feature a clear and logical build sequence.



I have read on the Internet that this kit is a modified reissue of the Monogram “Black Rat” Corvette kit. When I compare the box top photograph to pictures of the real car, the model sits too low on its chassis. The model is correct in having wider rear tires, but the rear wheel wells should have prominent flares, which are missing from the kit body.

The completed box top model also features a pair of vents behind the upper door, between  the ‘C’ pillar and the rear window.  These vents are not only missing from the real car, but are also from the body contained in the kit! The exhaust pipes are a very prominent feature of the car,  and I would recommend replacing the kit pipes with brass tubing for greater realism.

The wheels are chrome plated and this plating should be removed.  The wheels should be painted Penske Yellow. Finally, Revell’s color recommendation for the body is too light: a good match for Sunoco Blue is easy to find in the color ranges of several paint manufacturers.




I like this kit very much, despite the inaccuracies that I have noted above. I think it is an excellent starting point for a very accurate model of an important racing Corvette. The finished model would be a worthy addition to the collection of any modeler. I recommend this kit highly, and I purchased my review sample from Skyway Model Shop.