Alfa Romeo GTA Trans-Am 1967 AUSCA

Alfa Romeo GTA Trans-Am 1967 AUSCA by Arena

We usually think of Mustangs, Camaros and the like when Trans-Am is mentioned but the early races in the series were dominated by smaller capacity cars with Alfa Romeo and Porsche battling it out for overall victories in the first couple of seasons. The first kit here offers six similarly decorated options, most from the 1967 season, which were entered under Horst Kwech’s AUSCA banner, and also Kwech’s car from the final race of the 1966 season at Riverside where he beat Alan Moffat’s Lotus Cortina in a race that saw 25 lead changes! The Sebring car is a bit of a mystery as, though the Trans-Am cars were allowed into the 12 Hour race, Kwech drove a Mustang and car #18 was a Camaro. Externally the two cars from Mid-Ohio look virtually identical with their pretty red, white and blue Valvoline liveries but Everett’s #25 machine was right hand drive and Gus Andrey’s #26, LHD. We had been expecting these kits to be based on Scala 43 components but Arena have made a new pattern which is well proportioned and cleanly cast. There’s plenty of cast detail to the underside and, as usual, lots of very fine photo-etch. Two tone paint is needed for all but the Sebring car but they are simple masking jobs and broad decal stripes will cover the joints. A fascinating diversion.