Greg Myers Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 (edited) As detailed as the first two kits were I wonder why Revell didn't do the Goldenrod? Edited January 31, 2013 by Greg Myers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Name recognition would be my guess. TV Tommy had star power, Mickey was well known, and the Summer Brothers....Dick and Tommy was it? Maybe it was because both Ivo and M/T build many cars, and Ivo's were very eye-catching, while M/T's were very cutting edge, so together in the Revell catalog they worked. I truly believe LSR car are a tough sell, and other than M/T's two Revell kits, there have been very few. The four Hawk kits and not a whole lot else. It's not a spectator friendly sport, the main race course is on the outskirts of a salt basin in Utah, and the drivers are mostly unknown to the average race fan/kit buyer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 There used to be a resin 1/25 or 1/24 model of the Goldenrod but it was just the body (solid), the air intakes and little half circles for what could be seen of the wheels. I think it came with the decals as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roncla Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 (edited) There used to be a resin 1/25 or 1/24 model of the Goldenrod but it was just the body (solid), the air intakes and little half circles for what could be seen of the wheels. I think it came with the decals as well. Jimmy Flintstone makes a resin kit of the Golden Rod. I've never sighted one other than on the internet so I can't comment on it. http://www.jimmyflintstonestudios.com/viewitem.php?productid=296 Edited January 31, 2013 by Roncla Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TooOld Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 and the Summer Brothers....Dick and Tommy was it? FYI - The Summers brothers , Bill and Bob , set the land speed record for naturally aspirated piston engines in November of 1965 with the Goldenrod . A speed of 409.277 mph that still stands today ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 FYI - The Summers brothers , Bill and Bob , set the land speed record for naturally aspirated piston engines in November of 1965 with the Goldenrod . A speed of 409.277 mph that still stands today ! I was just goofin', and despite the ingenuity put into the Goldenrod and being well known in hot rod circles, the Summers Brothers are unknown to most, and probably 99.99% of model kit buyers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett Barrow Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 #1 -and I'm sure it would have been a major factor in those days - the Goldenrod wouldn't have been able to fit inside the standard model car kit box used at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hollywood Jim Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 (edited) With cool exhaust pipes ! Why they did not kit this one ???? It's got no cool looking hot rod engines !! With cool exhaust pipes ! LOL And creating a 1/25th scale kit of the insides would be an engineering nightmare. . . Edited January 31, 2013 by Hollywood Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtx6970 Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 (edited) I remember seeing the Goldenrod a few years back on a show car circuit tour . I looked pretty cool , but wow was it long. And I agree, Unfortunately recreating the driveline / powertrain would be tough in 1/25th scale . Edited January 31, 2013 by gtx6970 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Revell wouldn't have done it because they'd have looked at it as being "too similar" to the Challenger I. There are stories of a couple of Ed Roth cars that were rejected by Revell because they were "too similar" to existing kits. With LSR/Bonneville stuff, you're catering to a small group of fans. I'm surprised Revell even did the Challenger... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Anderson Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Consider this: Revell introduced Challenger I in the fall of 1962, at a time when Mickey Thompson was at the top of his game with record-setting cars, and Revell was looking to truly break into the market for really decent model car kits. Same with Ivo's Showboat, although that came a couple of years later. By the time Golden Rod hit the scene, the market for models of such cars had pretty much evaporated. Art Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Myers Posted February 1, 2013 Author Share Posted February 1, 2013 1962 + a couple of years = 1965 ? Ivo kit 1965 Summers brothers break the LSR. Your time line Art Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alyn Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 FYI - The Summers brothers , Bill and Bob , set the land speed record for naturally aspirated piston engines in November of 1965 with the Goldenrod . A speed of 409.277 mph that still stands today ! I've seen the resin based model on contest tables at least a couple of times.With the unusual shape, it catches your eye. The color is a factor as well. I makes for a really nice curbside. To give due credit, Charles Nearburg took the record in 2010 at Mike Cook's Top Oil Shootout on the Bonneville Salt Flats. This with a single engine, rear drive streamliner. It's still amazing that the Goldenrod record stood for so many decades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddyfink Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Ivo and Thompson knew how to market their names and teaming up with a model company was a natural course. Both had multiple cars done by Revell and AMT. The Summers Bros. only had one memorable car and it would have been a bear to make as a kit. Only a curbside would have done it and that was not too popular at a time when Revell was making very intricate, flimsy and ill fitting, kits. The resin marital aid by Jimmy Flintstone is not bad and with some sanding and painting, will make a nice shelf model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TooOld Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 (edited) To give due credit, Charles Nearburg took the record in 2010 at Mike Cook's Top Oil Shootout on the Bonneville Salt Flats. This with a single engine, rear drive streamliner. It's still amazing that the Goldenrod record stood for so many decades. Thanks for reminding me Alyn . There are some really awesome "in - car" videos at the link below ! www.rett.org/speed/speed.html Edited February 1, 2013 by TooOld Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 1962 + a couple of years = 1965 ? Ivo kit 1965 Summers brothers break the LSR. Your time line Art The Ivo Showboat kit is copyrighted 1963 per the original box and instruction sheet. Ads in CAR MODEL Magazine would seem to support this. The kit probably came out after Ivo quit driving it (he seldom drove it anyway). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Colmer Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 The long retired Goldenrod sat in front of the NHRA museum for quite a while before it was moved elsewhere. It looked a little rough, but it was neat to see. I think it had a full IRS and all wheel drive. Here is a shot of the Flintstone resin cast of it. It would be fun ti try to fill a vacuum formed one with engines someday. Really like to look of LSR cars. http://www.fotki.com'>Hosted on Fotki Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Myers Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordairgtar Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 I remember watching John Ostrenga making the Golden Rod from scratch. It later became the master for Jimmy Flinstone's LSR model. This was many years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scale-Master Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 I saw the Goldenrod a few years ago at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn. Looked pretty good.Maybe the sheer size made it cost prohibitive to produce as a kit in an acceptable scale? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burnout Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 For those of you interested in the LSR streamliners, there is a nice article in the January Hot Rod magazine complete with photos of several (maybe 20?) current and past streamliners. It includes a small description of each car including notable achievments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Anderson Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 From my perspective: Challenger I was one of the first three "modern-era" 1/25 scale kits brought out in the fall of 1961 (the other two were their '56 Ford F-100, and Ed Roth's "Outlaw". Now, of course, Revell's people could only guesstimate the sales impact of each one, that early in the game, but from what I've ever seen, taht Ford pickup and The Outlaw far, FAR outsold Challenger 1 kit. As for TV-Tommy Ivo's "Showboat"--that one came out at a time when model car builders were hungry as all get-out for dragsters, ANY dragster--and it too sold pretty well. If nothing else, I'd be pretty certain that seeing as almost no other Land Speed Record car was ever produced in kit form, at least not to the level of Challenger I--somebody someplace got the message that model kits of such cars, wild and neat as they might be, were seldom seen away from places such as the Bonneville Salt Flats, and in general received rather sparse notice in the press, both the news media and car enthusiast publications. Art Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbowser Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 It's a shame, but I get that it's a niche not many folks are into. I'm currently working on the Challenger I and it's an awesome kit, although the instructions could be MUCH better! If they are the same as the original (I've got the Hot Rod Monster Machines issue with Ivo's dragster) then that could have been part of the problem! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Anderson Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 It's a shame, but I get that it's a niche not many folks are into. I'm currently working on the Challenger I and it's an awesome kit, although the instructions could be MUCH better! If they are the same as the original (I've got the Hot Rod Monster Machines issue with Ivo's dragster) then that could have been part of the problem! It must have been both exciting and frightening (perhaps at the same time) to have been a product manager for a model company back in the 1950's and 60's--pick a winner and you were the company hero--but choose to do a kit subject that was a "turkey" and you'd likely become the "goat"--perhaps preparing a new resume' to attract your next employer. I suspect that the truth really was, even as late as 1960, that nobody in that young plastic model kit industry really knew just what subject(s) would push the "hot button" with modelers--who back then were primarily kids, boys from the age of perhaps 9 or 10 to about 15 or 16 or thereabouts. Of course, model kits of any year's new cars were already known sellers, but what about other automotive subjects? Looking back, subjects beyond what Detroit was showing off every fall (along with a few model kits of older cars that were then "iconic" in the hot rodding and custom car world) must have been, at best, a ###### shoot--their ultimate popularity being about as predictable as a rolling of the dice or pitching pennies against a brick wall out on the sidewalk. Even saying that, I'm pretty sure that many, if not most, new model car subjects sold at least enough to recoup their tooling cost, but there surely were some that simply "laid an egg"--I was told by AMT Corporation managers that their '53 Studebaker Commander Starliner and it's companion, the '63 Avanti sold very poorly when first released circa 1964, enough so that it was a good 10 years before either was reissued--and then again--that tooling sat on the shelves for another dozen or so years. But, alongside that, AMT's original 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air hardtop Trophy Series kit remained in continuous production from early 1962 through at least 1996--a run of 34 years and likely several million kits produced over that stretch of time. Other kit subjects turned out to be wildly popular for a few years--based I suppose on the popularity of the real thing, only to fall by the wayside as fascination for the real thing faded away in the public's consciousness. Art Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Myers Posted February 15, 2014 Author Share Posted February 15, 2014 New book out. Save the salt worth the price of admission. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0964617587/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=TMNZGN15B6B5&coliid=IH32FZJUTXSYE plus part of the price goes to "Save The Salt" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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