The Monkees was a US TV comedy series about a struggling music group, made up of four young men, and pretty obviously modelled on The Beatles. The episodes always included musical numbers, and the group released several albums and singles.
It aired on the NBC network from 1966 to 1968, and was followed by the movie Head (1968). Much later there was another series called The New Monkees (1987).
In some episodes the boys had a custom car, a heavily modified Pontiac GTO, designed by Dean Jeffries. A 1/25th scale model of this was released by MPC in 1967, kit number 605-200. There were also die-cast versions by Corgi, and a mini version initially released in the Husky line (sold only in Woolworths in Britain), and later as a Corgi Junior.
During the 1960s and 1970s Airfix released a number of US kits in Britain under its own name. One of these was the Monkeemobile, in 1967 (according to Scalemates) or 1968 (according to Vintage Airfix). On checking the Internet Archive, I found it listed in the News from Airfix section of Airfix Magazine, December 1967. Model number 831 was a Series 8 kit, and part of the Elite series of large scale car models.
It was not cheap, at 16/6 (16 shillings and 6 old pence - 82 1/2 New Pence). It was fairly short-lived as an Airfix kit, only appearing in the 6th and 7th Edition catalogues. The box top was almost the same as the MPC release, with a photo of the Monkeemobile, and a group photograph of the four Monkees in the background. The Airfix name replaced MPC.
The oddest thing about this release is that Airfix changed the scale. US MPC boxes say 1/25th scale, but the British Airfix boxes say 1/24th scale. It was the same kit.
The MPC version has been re-issued a number of times in different boxes, the later versions all dropping the photo of the band members. In 1976 MPC released a modified version of the model as the Fonz Dream Rod, with a figure of the Fonz himself, from the TV series Happy Days. Even though the GTO was a 1960s car, and Happy Days was set in the 1950s.
Wikipedia entry on the car.
Kit assembly instructions, from Scalemates.
Vintage Airfix listing.
The Box Art Den has a section devoted to old catalogues, one of which includes the Airfix version.
Airfix Magazine December 1967, from the Internet Archive.
Four photos in total, in two batches, all from Worthpoint.
Have you got a Monkeemobile?
Paul Adams from New Zealand
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