 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
The Goonies Fratelli's 1984 Jeep Cherokee |
| Base | Johnny Lightning Jeep Cherokee |
| Mods | Full body mold, molded grille guard, wheel swap, tire decals |
| Card | 5th Gen card w/rounded corners & punch, 2016, JS047, GOON-01 |
| Qty Made | 26 incl 1 Prototype |
The Goonies is one of my absolute childhood favorite movies, and the opening scene with the Fratelli's breaking Jake out of jail is very memorable. My dad had a Jeep Cherokee for several years and I learned how to drive on it, so this car was particularly important to me. Tomy/Johnny Lightning finally came out with a 4-door Jeep Cherokee and I bought as many as I could get my hands on. Thankfully, of all places, Tractor Supply Company carried an ERTL section in the front of their stores which carried a slew of Tomy/JL/ERTL branded cars. I bought 18 Jeeps from all the stores in my state, plus another 8 cars at toy shows and on eBay. These sat in my project queue for quite a while before getting worked on.
The majority of the Jeeps were modified in some cool way, with roof racks, off-road tires, snorkels.. all kinds of cool stuff. The Fratelli's Jeep had none of this, plus standard fender flares, and an unusual moon roof. I decided a full body mold would be best because of all the work involved in modifying the first car. The steel on the roof was seriously the thickest zamac I've ever had to cut. It took me about 30 minutes to make a single moon roof.
The front grille guards are a separate piece and look really accurate including KC lights and license plate. And yes, I even drilled little bullet holes on the back of each car.
The wheels are a secret source that I also use extensively on my General Lee cars and probably some other projects at some point. I made up some Michelin X white letter tires and used my Silhouette plotter to cut them out. Quite tricky to get everything aligned just right but it's totally worth it!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |