This comparison may not be a completely equal fair comparison since the Bee is a regular edition and the Coronet is a Mint car, but since these two come from the same mold (I assume) it is a comparison worth doing. I guess the point of the comparison for me then is: Is the Ertl Mint car vastly superior to the RE version and is it worth the extra cost? Also, can an Ertl RE be made to compare to an Ertl Mint? Let's take a look.
It's pretty obvious the mold hasn't been updated much. Although the grill casting has been painted a little more cleanly, the grill casting is the same, not much improvement here. The hood is a welcome change. The antennea is a nice update. Of course I managed to break mine in the couse of this photo shoot. Anyone got a spare? The wipers on the Mint seem a touch more refined.
The tail comparison doesn't show us much since the tail panels are completely different. Keep in mind I have painted a little additional black on the Bee panel to make it look more correct. You can see that the Mint car's rear fender profile seems to be a little more pronounced and crisp and to my eye a little more accurate. The Mint car did get black on the exhaust tips and this shot really shows that the paint is quite a bit better. It's more smooth and more shiny. This is some of Ertl's best paint. The paint on the Bee is pretty good too so saying the improvement on the Mint paint is quite a bit better means quite a lot.
The interior is where the Mint car really shines. First, let me say that I have painted the Bee interior to make it look correct. It originally had white carpets and a white dash. Even with these updates, the Mint interior runs away with the show. The detailing on the buckets (silver touches on the seat trim and headrests), console (woodgrain and courtesy lights), dash (chrome around the instrument pods) and shifter (knob and boot). It's a nice touch that they painted the chassis nubs the color of the carpet and painted in the door sill plates.
The undercarriage is a quite an improvement here. I've not detailed the chassis at all on the Bee. Nice use of silver paint on the exhaust and transmission really help but for a Mint model I would think they would also paint the driveshaft and gas tank. For the Mint level wouldn't it be nice if they also painted the steering and suspension components. And since it's a Mopar, how about a body color underbody?
From the top you can see the impact of the vinyl roof. The texture is okay but the seams are missing. One nice extra on the Mint is the black paint in the cowl vent opennings. The body shape and cast-in seams are much cleaner and crisper on the Mint. The painted on trim on the Mint is pretty well done on my copy. I still prefer the look of the chrome foil.
The wheels aren't really comparable but at least here you can see the very nice detailing on the Mint's wheels. You can also see here the crispness of the wheel openning trim on the Mint which is much improved over the RE.
The engines don't directly compare since they are 440 vs. Hemi, but as you can see the Mint's engine compartment has much more detail. I was very glad to find the correct body color in the engine compartment. Nice touches of paint have been added to the washer bottle, battery and firewall components. I do have so make one statement about the spark plug wires on the Mint, and I noticed the same problem even on high end models like Exotos: the plug wires are parted right down the middle like a hairdo. If you look at real distributors you will see the way the wires for each cylinder bank come from four spots evenly spaced around the cap not all from one side of the cap. While this set up is better than no wires at all, would it really take much more effort to make the correct cylinder number on the head and on the cap match up to reflect the 1:1's? Maybe I'm just being way too picky. The underhood scoop on the Mint is very well done, much better than similar parts on most other Ertls. The warning sticker on the radiator support is a very nice touch.
So is a Mint car worth roughly $35 more over an RE car? Well, in my opinion, HECK YES! Especially when you compare the price and level of detail against all the Ertl LEs we've seen to date. Bottom line, both are nice looking models. And since the Mint is the only Coronet available at this time. Ertl was successful in offering a nicely different model out of the old mold. When I get around to chrome foil detailing my Mint, I'll probably try to fix the c-pillar vinyl edge lower trim to place it in a more correct spot.
