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History of MPC's Fifth Generation El Camino Kits


Fabrux

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I've been sitting on this one for a while, time to post it up! B)

This article is intended to cover the MPC and AMT issued glue kits of the fifth generation of Chevrolet El Camino kits from 1978-1987. MPC produced promotional models for Chevrolet for this vehicle in various factory colours throughout the years, far too many to capture in the scope of this article. Having the promo contract ensured year-to-year changes in the kits, as shown below.

The first glue kit released by MPC was in 1978 at the start of the new El Camino body style. Keeping with their themed kits, this was released under the name Royal Knight and featured a large decal sheet of graphics for decorating the finished truck. The truck depicted is the special edition Royal Knight package, 78-81 body style with rallye rims. This kit was released with the stock number 78-0420 and molded in black.

mpc0420.JPG

The next kit on the shelves was released in 1980 as the Night Moves custom truck. Still depicting the 78-81 body style, this release adds custom parts to the Royal Knight issue: tonneau cover, snowflake rims, rear roof spoiler, tube grille, lake-style exhaust, and CB antenna. Again molded in black, this kit carried the stock number 1-0760.

mpc1-0760.jpg

In early 1981, the Branding Iron kit was released, adding more customization options to the Night Moves kit. This release added a camper shell top instead of the tonneau cover and spoiler, replaced the snowflake rims with Centerline style rims, and retained the tube grille and lake-style exhaust. Molded in red, this kit has the stock number 1-0854.

mpc1-0854.jpg

Sometime in 1981, the tooling of the El Camino body was altered to reflect the new-for-1982 body style, changing the front end to quad rectangle headlights from dual rectangle and a flush grille. The first glue kit released was in late 1981 and carried the name Red Light Bandit. As this issue was marketed as a "street racer", the customization options were changed once again. The tonneau cover and spoiler are back, retaining the lake-style exhaust, swapping out the Centerlines for turbine-style rims, and adding a hood scoop and new front bumper. Molded in red, this kit has the stock number 1-0857.

mpc1-0857.jpg

The next issue of this kit was not until 1984 and was part of the company-wide monster truck craze. This issue includes many extra parts to turn the regular street-going El Camino into a car-crushing monster truck: roll bar with off-road lights, grille guard with winch and off-road lights, monster truck suspension, axles and wheels, hood-exit exhaust headers, and high-rise intake manifold. Molded in yellow under the stock number 1-0453.

mpc1-0453.jpg

Now under the stewardship of AMT/Ertl, this kit was again issued in 1991 under their brand instead of MPC. The kit was returned to the street version, although now the tooling was updated to the SS model. This issue retained the tonneau cover, however all other customization options were lost. The wheels were updated to the SS-style rallye rims. This issue was molded in the usual AMT grey plastic and carried the stock number 6964.

amt6964.JPG

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This kit saw several reissues.

In 1998 as stock number 30074, with and without a plus pack:
amt30074.JPG

In 2002, same stock number, different box art:
amt30074-1.jpg

In 2007, with stock number 38588:
amt38588.JPG

And the latest issue, in 2009, seeing a return of the original MPC brand, stock number 712:
mpc712.jpg

This was also releases as part of a three-kit set in 1992, carrying the stock number 8911:
amt8911.JPG

In doing my research for this article, I can't find any issues of the SS kit under the MPC brand before 2009. If there was an SS promo issued between 1984 and 1991, that would explain the body change. Otherwise, I have no idea why AMT would modify the kit at all and not just re-issue the last version of the kit. If anyone has any thoughts, please share!

Edited by kataranga
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Included for completeness sake, MPC also released the GMC Caballero in 1979 as the El Diablo. This issue had all the same custom parts as the Night Moves but added the GMC grille and was molded in blue. Stock number 1-0754.

mpc1-0754.jpg

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In doing my research for this article, I can't find any issues of the SS kit under the MPC brand before 2009. If there was an SS promo issued between 1984 and 1991, that would explain the body change. Otherwise, I have no idea why AMT would modify the kit at all and not just re-issue the last version of the kit. If anyone has any thoughts, please share!

 

The El Camino with the Monte SS nose is not a factory offering, but rather an aftermarket conversion by Choo-Choo Customs (you can see the name on the LF of the nose in one of the box art pics), so there never would've been a promo issued with that nose cap. It was a fairly common/popular conversion from what I remember, so perhaps AMT decided to inject a bit of life into an old kit by slightly updating it. Too bad the part of the nose which wraps around the lower edges of the front fenders doesn't blend well at all. In fairness, the real CCC ElCo SS's nosepiece didn't blend well either, but was craftily disguised by a thick piece of molding:

 

z1998pres3b.jpg

 

:( Just looking at the box art model from the 6964 and 2002 reissue tells you you're in for some serious front wheel offset issues. :blink:

Edited by Casey
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Excellent Article!!!!

Thank you!!!!

I never knew the Monster truck could be built stock!!!!

Actually, it can't, unfortunately. BUT, if one was to pick up the monster truck kit and the latest reissue, a stock 82-87 style El Camino could be built. And then an SS monster truck... :D

The El Camino with the Monte SS nose is not a factory offering, but rather an aftermarket conversion by Choo-Choo Customs (you can see the name on the LF of the nose in one of the box art pics), so there never would've been a promo issued with that nose cap. It was a fairly common/popular conversion from what I remember, so perhaps AMT decided to inject a bit of life into an old kit by slightly updating it.

Ahh, okay. The original issue was before RC2 came into the picture, so it makes sense that someone at AMT would put some money into it.

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I was almost gonna mention that you missed the 3n1 kit featuring the lowrider on the box top, but then I noticed that it was the Revell version, not AMT/MPC. You would almost think it is though since it offers the Royal Knight version parts along with the custom tube grille, camper shell, and tonneau cover as well. I will say though, if the detail level of the late 70's kits is the same as the newer SS version, then I'm glad that Revell released their version! :lol:

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I have one of the 98 issue SS conversion kits.

The tooling was Highly Polished leaving the kit body parts with a very High Gloss shine.

I remember that it was sold as Not needing paint.

I built the El Diablo issue too

Replaced the molded coil springs with actual coils.

Yes, it would deflect!

I sold/traded that one a LONG time ago.

Edited by Edsel-Dan
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Nice article! From what I found out the Royal Knight is a 79 model (released in late 78), it could be called an annual. The following kits you mention are 80, 81 and 82 models. MPC made promos of exactly these years as well. No 1978 was made by MPC, I think the Monogram is a 78. Except for the 87 SS noone ever made a model year after the 82.

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The El Camino with the Monte SS nose is not a factory offering, but rather an aftermarket conversion by Choo-Choo Customs (you can see the name on the LF of the nose in one of the box art pics), so there never would've been a promo issued with that nose cap. It was a fairly common/popular conversion from what I remember, so perhaps AMT decided to inject a bit of life into an old kit by slightly updating it. Too bad the part of the nose which wraps around the lower edges of the front fenders doesn't blend well at all. In fairness, the real CCC ElCo SS's nosepiece didn't blend well either, but was craftily disguised by a thick piece of molding:

What Casey said. I have an old issue of SAE from 1991 which states the AMT/Ertl '86 SS version was a new offering for that year, obviously based on the former MPC annual, but all of the SS-specific pieces were added for that modified reissue.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Nice history Kataranga! Couple clarifications: the grille in the Night Moves and Branding Iron issues is actually the stock 1981 model year grille, not a custom tube unit. The GMC Caballero version has the 1980 model year grille, with the Buick-style vertical bars.

When AMT/Ertl converted this kit to the SS, it was a mixed bag. They really butchered the front end of the body, and it takes a fair amount of work to get the nose to fit properly. You can also tell they rushed the job, since the vertical bars in the grille of the SS nose aren't even spaced evenly on the passenger side (you can see this in the pic of the 2002 box art). However, they did see fit to upgrade the dash to the proper 1981+ style, which MPC never bothered doing. If memory serves me correctly, I believe they also added the trim that circles the top of the bed and tailgate. I restored a glue-bomb of the Night Moves issue back in the 90's, and I seem to recall being surprised that the trim was missing on that version.

The SS kit also changed the seats to buckets (the monster truck had a bench), but they didn't bother adding a console. I believe you could order a 1:1 like this, but it's definitely not how most were optioned. I recently bought the latest MPC-branded Round 2 reissue of this kit from Hobby Lobby. One change that surprised me is that, in addition to the 5-hole "eighties-style" rally wheels that are shown on the box art, they now also include a set of the 6-hole rallys from the older versions of the tooling. The 1991 issue of the SS did not have these.

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  • 3 years later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I love these model histories. Sad to say, I'm not a big fan of this generation el Camino. The only model of this generation I have is the 1979 promo. Which I bought back in '79 when I worked for a local Chevy dealer. Still, despite of my lack enthusiasm for these el Caminos, I do appreciate these history articles. 

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The El Camino with the Monte SS nose is not a factory offering, but rather an aftermarket conversion by Choo-Choo Customs (you can see the name on the LF of the nose in one of the box art pics), so there never would've been a promo issued with that nose cap. It was a fairly common/popular conversion from what I remember, so perhaps AMT decided to inject a bit of life into an old kit by slightly updating it. Too bad the part of the nose which wraps around the lower edges of the front fenders doesn't blend well at all. In fairness, the real CCC ElCo SS's nosepiece didn't blend well either, but was craftily disguised by a thick piece of molding:

 

z1998pres3b.jpg

 

:( Just looking at the box art model from the 6964 and 2002 reissue tells you you're in for some serious front wheel offset issues. :blink:

Why exactly would the nose fit badly on the real cars?
The Monte Carlo SS is built on the same platform as the El Camino, Malibu and others. Would not a simple "nosejob" be an easy thing to do?

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Why exactly would the nose fit badly on the real cars?
The Monte Carlo SS is built on the same platform as the El Camino, Malibu and others. Would not a simple "nosejob" be an easy thing to do?

The Monte Carlo and El Camino, had different fender contours and the nose cones were not the same part, even though they looked similar. The Monte Carlo SS was all factory, and the El Camino was aftermarket, and the quality showed. When the El Camino SS was new, The basic vehicle was ordered normally through the GM system, but there was a drop ship code that sent the vehicles to Tenn. to get the SS Conversion. There was not a lot of variations from car to car. Choo Choo customs also sold a conversion kit where El Camino owners could transform their cars into an "SS" , as well as collision replacement parts. I've even seen a few '78-81 Malibu Coupes with the "SS" front end. We were a big dealer, and we did not sell many. They were not too plentiful when they were new.

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  • 2 months later...

The Royal Knight kit is of a 1979 model.  The Black Knight appearance package was only available for the 1978 El Camino SS.  The GMC Caballero Diablo is of a 1980 model.  The Monogram kit of the 1978 Black Knight is 1/24th scale.  Promotional models were made for the 1979-1982 model years only.  The real 1986 and 1987 El Caminos are identical, so the 1986 SS kit can be built to represent either year.  As I recall, the promos were only available in tan, cinnabar (orange), dark claret (mahogany) and silver. 

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