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Revell '50 Oldsmobile Club Coupe 2'n1


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'50s cars are getting a lot of love from the model companies lately.

That's a good thing! '50's cars are what were mostly on the street when I first knew what a car was! :)

I'd love to see some more obscure '50's iron............'57-'58 Eldorado Brougham, or 1957-58 Stude Golden Hawk anyone?

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Is the fact that the front and rear suspension are on very small (pretty much containing only one part) sprues a major clue that the second option will be something with a very different front and rear suspension?

Could be they are thinking ahead to a Goodguys or California Wheels-type release in the future, and will tool up suspension pieces specific to those. Or (long shot) they're considering more '49-'52 GM vehicles, and are tooling parts that could be used on any GM vehicle of the period on their own sprues.

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That's a good thing! '50's cars are what were mostly on the street when I first knew what a car was! :)

I'd love to see some more obscure '50's iron............'57-'58 Eldorado Brougham, or 1957-58 Stude Golden Hawk anyone?

My goodness Mr. Bill, wanna give the old coot, ( Me ) heart failure ..................? Ed Shaver

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I saw the test shots at NNL-East yesterday.

Folks, you are in for a treat! Unquestionably, one of the nicest kits I've ever seen. Very nice molding, excellent detail.

You will enjoy what you get, and Ed Sexton and I were talking for a moment. We're betting on seeing Holidays, convertibles, fastbacks and 4-doors from the aftermarket....and he really liked Motor City's resin and casting quality...Jeff, you may have another looming partnership.

Charlie Larkin

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That's a good thing! '50's cars are what were mostly on the street when I first knew what a car was! :)

I'd love to see some more obscure '50's iron............'57-'58 Eldorado Brougham, or 1957-58 Stude Golden Hawk anyone?

Well... gimme a Bullet-nose coupe first... then we'll talk Golden Hawks. B)

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Oooh..maybe they are planning to do a donk version! :)

I think that fad has passed as far as Revell is concerned. I will guess they'll do something similar to the '50 Ford pickup, with a custom version to follow in a few years. It looks like Revell is already including a dual carb intake manifold in the Special Edition release.

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I would LOVE to see them do some Cali Wheels style wheels for this one with the seprate front and backs and disc brakes like the 67 Chevelle ,69 Vette or the 59 Vette kits from the past or maybe just tool up back for the Twisted Intros from the 69 Camaro convertibles...

Or maybe even a convertible body too like this

http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_images/4/611/469/39025234001_large.jpg

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AMT was oringinally gonna do this kit a few years ago. Bet they regret dropping it now.

What with the way the "spy network" runs, this may be the reason AMT dropped their plans, the way I heard it, AMT had plans for this car to be released decades ago, & dropped it then because Revell was planning a release also, & it never appeared. Talk about a long delay in releasing a kit! :P

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What I don't understand is the fact that Ertil, a A M T company, then did do a Die - cast Olsmobile. They did the Studebaker too. I don't mind telling anyone , the studebaker came out looking great too. I regret not buying an Olsmobile though .........Ed Shaver

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What I don't understand is the fact that Ertil, a A M T company, then did do a Die - cast Olsmobile. They did the Studebaker too. I don't mind telling anyone , the studebaker came out looking great too. I regret not buying an Olsmobile though .........Ed Shaver

IIRC, ERTL did the diecast Olds a few years before the model kit was announced. The Studebaker was done by Johnny Lightning, don't remember an ERTL one.

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The kit is slated for release here in the US THIS August. Do not confuse this Revell kit with the disappointment of 13yrs ago, when AMT/Ertl proposed the very same subject at RHCTA, only to see it fail due to a severe lack of preorders from wholesalers and retailers (that's why they never did do the kit--sorry all you conspiracy theoritsts!--but times obviously have changed!).

Art

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Is the fact that the front and rear suspension are on very small (pretty much containing only one part) sprues a major clue that the second option will be something with a very different front and rear suspension?

Hmmmm....can you say _ _ _ _ _ _? Many, if we could only wish....TIM

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IIRC, ERTL did the diecast Olds a few years before the model kit was announced. The Studebaker was done by Johnny Lightning, don't remember an ERTL one.

To set the record straight here: Ertl did the 1/25 scale diecast of the 1949 Oldsmobile 88 Business Coupe in 1998, for the celebration of Nascar's 50th Anniversary. It is very well done, albeit having a coin slot in the decklid for use as a bank.

The 1951 Studebaker "Bulletnose" Commander Starlight coupe was done at Johnny Lightning in 2004, in response to a program set forth by that company's upper management. I happened to get the assignment to do this one--upstairs they strongly suggested a 1939-40 Champion, but given the budget for the project, no prewar Champion could be located in the short time-frame allotted, so I suggested the bulletnose, and it was accepted.

I've said this before, and I will say it again: At the 1999 RCHTA show at the Rosemont IL Convention Center, AMT/Ertl showed box art for these same two subjects. Those were, according to Tom Walsh--then head of product development for AMT/Ertl, last minute proposals to the hobby industry. Walsh told me straight up at that show that it did not look promising for either subject, as Walmart and the other "big box" retailers (who pretty much controlled what new model car kit subjects would see the light of day back then) had rejected them for their 2000 store "resets", and it was hoped that local hobby shop owners and hobby wholesalers would bite on them. They did not, at least not in numbers sufficient to warrant their development into plastic kits, so the idea died on the vine so-to-speak, at that time.

In short, is was NOT AMT/Ertl deciding on their own to "tease us" and then leave us hanging--model companies have seldom ever done that--it's not in their interest to do so, never has been, never will be. Such would be simply a waste of time and a waste of scarce capital. IF anyone wants to find someone to blame--well look no farther than Bentonville, Arkansas, the Detroit headquarters of KMart, or zero in on Minneapolis, where Target has their home offices--it was the buyers for companies such as those who nixed the idea--pure and simple.

There was a book written some years ago titled "Wamart: The High Cost of Low Price" which purports to detail just how that retailing juggernaut has dragged manufacturer after manufacturer into the dirt just so they could get the product(s) they want at the price they want. Walmart and their colleagues have been the driving force behind the off-shoring of countless consumer products by being able to clamp a lid on prices, regardless of the effect on American companies, and the American workers who made those products. Think about that the next time you walk through the doors of stores like that: By buying the stuff they sell at the prices they sell them at--are YOU really helping your neighbor, the guy down the street, a worker in a factory in the next town? Maybe yes, likely no.

But back to the Olds and the Studebaker: If you guys must blame somebody for the fact that those didn't see the light of day back in 2000, blame the real culprits: The people with their MBA's on their cubicle walls, arrogant as all get out that THEY know the answers. It was people like that who made the decisions that forced AMT/Ertl to make the decisions they had little choice but to make.

Now, I am gonna get off this soapbox--there's too many model car kits in this apartment that beg my attention!

Art Anderson

designer and developer of the Johnny Lightning '51 Studebaker Commander Starlight in 1/24 scale diecast.

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Yes Art. Niche companies (yes, hobby manufacturers are niche companies) tend to be run by true believers. Not always, but most are. It's too bad that they fell into the "We are Wally World and you will like it" retailing mentality. Thank God our local (Milwaukee) LHSs are doing well.

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I've said this before, and I will say it again: At the 1999 RCHTA show at the Rosemont IL Convention Center, AMT/Ertl showed box art for these same two subjects. Those were, according to Tom Walsh--then head of product development for AMT/Ertl, last minute proposals to the hobby industry. Walsh told me straight up at that show that it did not look promising for either subject, as Walmart and the other "big box" retailers (who pretty much controlled what new model car kit subjects would see the light of day back then) had rejected them for their 2000 store "resets", and it was hoped that local hobby shop owners and hobby wholesalers would bite on them. They did not, at least not in numbers sufficient to warrant their development into plastic kits, so the idea died on the vine so-to-speak, at that time.

In short, is was NOT AMT/Ertl deciding on their own to "tease us" and then leave us hanging--model companies have seldom ever done that--it's not in their interest to do so, never has been, never will be. Such would be simply a waste of time and a waste of scarce capital. IF anyone wants to find someone to blame--well look no farther than Bentonville, Arkansas, the Detroit headquarters of KMart, or zero in on Minneapolis, where Target has their home offices--it was the buyers for companies such as those who nixed the idea--pure and simple.

Art Anderson

designer and developer of the Johnny Lightning '51 Studebaker Commander Starlight in 1/24 scale diecast.

But if AMT/Ertl already knew that the mass-market retailers weren't going to sell the kits, wouldn't showing mock-ups of the box art at a hobby show announcing upcoming products in fact be a case of the company teasing us and then not following through???

Wouldn't it have made more sense to pitch the idea to both the mass marketers and wholesalers (and have a pretty solid idea as to whether or not the kits were actually going to be produced) before announcing to the public products that would never be?

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This model car kit is being tooled up and that model car is going to be released, and another version will be out in the fall, and this company will be re-issueing that kit, and another re-issue will be available in the spring, etc., etc,. etc.. All this talk about kits coming out in the future and lately I don't concern myself with any of it and only if they are ON THE SHELVES as that is the bottom line. Many model builders just CAN'T wait for another new release as if they are now working on their last model car kit instead of having HUNDREDS of unbuilt kits in their stash. These same modelers will NEVER finish all they have stockpiled already and they are always buying more. Sounds like a disease. Don't tell me I have it too???

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This model car kit is being tooled up and that model car is going to be released, and another version will be out in the fall, and this company will be re-issueing that kit, and another re-issue will be available in the spring, etc., etc,. etc.. All this talk about kits coming out in the future and lately I don't concern myself with any of it and only if they are ON THE SHELVES as that is the bottom line. Many model builders just CAN'T wait for another new release as if they are now working on their last model car kit instead of having HUNDREDS of unbuilt kits in their stash. These same modelers will NEVER finish all they have stockpiled already and they are always buying more. Sounds like a disease. Don't tell me I have it too???

The antidote is going to be on shelves soon!!!

Hope it is not too late to save ME! LOL

Edited by camaroman
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I've said this before, and I will say it again: At the 1999 RCHTA show at the Rosemont IL Convention Center, AMT/Ertl showed box art for these same two subjects. Those were, according to Tom Walsh--then head of product development for AMT/Ertl, last minute proposals to the hobby industry. Walsh told me straight up at that show that it did not look promising for either subject, as Walmart and the other "big box" retailers (who pretty much controlled what new model car kit subjects would see the light of day back then) had rejected them for their 2000 store "resets", and it was hoped that local hobby shop owners and hobby wholesalers would bite on them. They did not, at least not in numbers sufficient to warrant their development into plastic kits, so the idea died on the vine so-to-speak, at that time.

That's the delay I was referring to. I knew I remembered this being announced once before, but not 12 years ago!

G

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