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1/16 Hudson Miniatures
 1911 Mercer Raceabout Good++ Wood_Plastic old | $72 Sale Pending Email for availability. |
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| Very well detailed large 1/16 kit from 1949. Features plastic wheels, grill, steering wheel, lights and other accessories and wooden and metal main parts. Although all of Hudson's 1/16 kits have excellent detail, this one has even more detail than usual thanks to Hudson's engineers having access to the actual car owned by Mr. J. Fetterolf of Buckingham, PA. This kit has never been started. It is either still in the internally sealed factory bag or has been inventoried 100% complete with all parts and instructions. The 1911 Mercer Raceabout is one of the rarest American cars. The Mercer was built in Trenton, NJ and powered by a 30 hp T head 4 cylinder engine. Displacement was 300.7 cubic inches and the car had a wet clutch four speed transmission. The car weighed 2,500 lbs and cost $2600 and could do 112 mph. The Mercer was perhaps the most famous sports car of the time. It was rugged, handled very well and had excellent performance. Hudson Miniatures created a very successful and popular line of automobile kits in a constant 1/16 scale shortly after WWII. The kits sold very well until the appearance of the much smaller and less scale Gowland/Revell 'Highway Pioneers' in 1951. When the all-injection molded Gowland kits proved that they were not a passing fad, Hudson quickly planned and released his own small scale competition for them called 'Lil' Old Timers Quickie Kits'. The kits were of excellent quality, but it was too little too late. Sales of the excellent wooden kits faltered in the next few years with the introduction of all-plastic injection molded cars in the mid 1950s. This forced Hudson to discontinue both lines. Today, these excellent kits are often the only model available of these early automobiles. | ||||
