Todays car is a 1968 Chevrolet Corvette. Not just any 1968 Corvette but, “The Midas Monkey”, one of Mattel Hot Wheel releases a 1:64 scale model. The Midas Monkey model car is still available with some internet searching. I saw this car at the Automobile Driving Museum at a Corvette show on May 29th, 2021.
I did not know anything about this car other than it was a Mattel Hot Wheels car. Well there is a story. This car started out in the reality series Fast N’ Loud. This show is about 2 car savvy guys, a Hot-Rod expert Richard Rawlings and a master mechanic Aaron Kaufman, who own the Gas Monkey Garage and rebuild classic cars to sell for a profit. This car is a TV star.
The car is finished in House of Kolor Gold Metal Flake with a white and black interior that is not an original color combination. It is powered by a 427 cu in, 7.0 liter, big block with a Weiland 871 blower with 2 4 bbl 750 Holley carburetors helping it breathe developing nearly 700 hp. It has custom headers that exit through the side of the front fenders in what I would call Hot Wheels style. It transfers that power through a 4 speed manual transmission (Muncie). Delivering that power to the rear wheels which are US Mags 20×12 inch in the rear and 18×8 inching the front. Wearing Mickey Thompson Sportsman tires. To keep the large rear tires under the body they added L88 rear fender flares. To help slow this beast down it looks to be stock C3 Corvette brake calipers. They are cast Iron, but they will do the job.
After Mattel commissioned the “Midas Monkey,” Rawlings look it to Barrett-Jackson in 2016 and sold the car for $132,000. Richard Rawlings bought the car back March,2019. For how much? I don’t know.
Thanks for riding along. Frank
