Mark Moriaritys Zingers

Dennis Johnson’s entry at the ’69 Detroit Autorama was a unique 1:43 scale model car with a 1:24 scale engine jammed into it. Dennis had no idea that he was about to spark a legendary line of show cars known as the “Zingers” from his creation. The massively out of proportioned model caught the eye of product planners from MPC (Model Products Corporation) and led to a full line of highly successful models, introduced in 1971. Show promoter Bob Larivee was also impressed and figured full-scale versions of the popular MPC models would be a real crowd pleaser for his International Championship Auto Shows, so he commissioned six large scale Zingers to be built. Two builders were chosen: Chuck Miller would construct the Beetle, Corvette, semi, and the Dodge van, and Steve Tansy would build the dragster and dune buggy. All six Zingers were built using full sized engines and approximately ½ scale bodies and were embraced by the hot rod community, eventually becoming iconic symbols of an era of outrageous show cars.

Builder, restorer, and collector of early show cars, Mark Moriarity grew up in the era of the Zingers and actually owned the original dragster at one point but, as Mark puts it, “was not smart enough to keep it.” Through Mark’s many years of collecting he had come to own two Zinger bodies, both the Beetle and the dune buggy. Nearly all of the original bodies were created using plaster molds, which resulted in just a hand full of them being built before the mold was junk. The Beetle body on the other hand, was 1 of 100 built as go-cart bodies by Chuck Miller using a more stable fiberglass mold. Chuck had a spare body in his possession that Mark was able to purchase.

The original dune buggy Zinger also used a go-cart body that was offered at the time. A heavily used body was picked up by one of Mark’s friends at a swap meet in Indiana and Mark was able to talk him out of it after spotting it in his garage. So, with era-correct spare bodies in hand, Mark set out to build exact clones of the original full-scale Zingers. Mark chose to build the dune buggy first, which brings up the question: How does somebody build a replica of something that they cannot physically see or touch? Well, as he has done many times in the past, it’s through heavy research of old photographs and the use of a magnifying glass. In this case Mark was able to get a starting point on the dune buggy by making a trip to the Promotions Inc. showroom where the original Beetle is on display. He was able to replicate the frame from observing the Beetle and then constructing a 1” x 3” chassis that would allow for correct placement of the engine, wheels, etc.

One of the main obstacles when building the cars was finding the correct engine parts. For example the dune buggy is running a BOSS 429 engine…how many of those do you see at thrift sales!? Mark wanted to build the cars accurately, so he headed to the All Ford swap meet in Columbus, Ohio hoping to stumble across what he needed. Ironically Mark came across a correct set of BOSS 429 heads at the swap meet being used a sign advertising “Wanted BOSS 429 parts.” Mark said the heads were junk and full of cracks; they were being used to attract Ford speed junkies into the gentlemen’s booth like moths to a flame. The heads were not for sale, but Mark was finally able to talk the guy out of them and mounted them on a dimensionally correct 460 block. The double-stacked blowers on the Beetle, Mark confesses, are sand cast copies that he smoothed and polished. Mark reassured me that no real speed parts were hurt in the building of his Zingers.

Once the correct speed parts were gathered, Mark focused on locating all of the small details and hand fabricating whatever else he couldn’t find. Every detail on the Zingers is present, such as the headlights on the dune buggy. They turned out to be bicycle lights that Mark made sure were correct all the way down to the black switch that turns them on. The back tire on the Beetle is a Goodyear blue streak that he recreated by painting the stripe on the tire. The Beetle’s beautiful 4-into-1 exhaust was built by Mark and then plated. Speaking of plating, nearly all the components such as the suspension, axles, rear ends, backing plates, etc. had to be plated to be correct, keeping the guys at Bo Decor Plating in Eagan, MN very busy.

Mark’s fabricating skills were also put to the test as he was forced to handcraft several other pieces like the dune buggy’s taillights and the Beetle’s wheelie bars. Once everything was in its place Mark blew the Zingers apart and personally sprayed coats of candy lime gold over a silver base on the dune buggy and bright yellow with gold murano pearl on the Beetle. Mike Iverson handled the pinstriping duties and Bob Holland stitched the upholstery for the dune buggy.

When MPC introduced the Zingers line in 1971 they were considered “The hairiest, scariest fistfuls of muscle yet.” One thing is for sure, they are outrageous and a true testament to the era that they were created in. I asked Mark if he planned to build any more of the Zingers, and he laughed as he looked around his amazing and packed show room saying: “I don’t think so, I’m kinda out of room.” Mark’s lack of room is certainly not a bad thing as his garage and show room are filled with amazing and outrageous show cars, and whether it’s more Zingers or not, I can’t wait to see what Marks turns out next.

Read the rest of this article in ISSUE 25: Hot Rod Revolution