8 replies to this topic

[Modellpularn]

Do you mean kit# T57-200? I happen to have that kit. The box is the old tall narrow with a red-ish T-bird against a white background on the box end. The top is blue-ish with a lot of T-birds all over the cover. Sound about right to you?? I might even build it, got inspired by a feature on Mark Gustavson's site, where he built an old Styline Ranchero using only old materials; putty, paint...

[bobss396]

What do you need to know about it? I have a kit here, not complete but I keep it around for the box itself. The box is the larger one with all the different 'Birds on it, deffo the original issue.

The '57 was also released later in the '60s with tinted glass and a can of paint in it.

Bob

[Biscuitbuilder]

Sorry about that Jairus, guess I need to remember to scroll down more often...older dawg, older habits. Tha question is about tha AMT 1957 Thunderbird 3n1 kit that I remember from 1963. I know that it wasn't an annual, but perhaps it was a Trophy Series kit. It came in a larger than normal box as I remember it.

While re-reading MCM Issue #109, Dennis Doty's article on AMT '57 T-Birds, I got to thinking. Yah I know it's a dangerous thing >--->my thinking. Dennis says that in 1967 kit #4037 (a 57 T-Bird)came out in tha Craftsman series.

Now I seem to remember that there was an AMT 3n1 57 Bird in ,I believe, 1963. Tha reason for my memory was an article in Hot Rod magazine (from tha same year) on "Knot" Farrington's 57 T-Bird Bonneville Streamliner and I used that kit to model one. Took me all of 2 hrs of websurfing to find a pic of that car...it's a 1/43 built model by Ugo Fadini (sp?).....



sum stats on tha car, ran a supercharged Hemi and came to Bonneville in almost stock form-1960, ran 200.622.
Back in 1961 w/ streamliner body - 219.898
1962 -228.998 : Record in A Sports
1963 - 241.786

Does anyone else remember an AMT 1957 T-Bird 3n1 model kit from 1963? I think it was a Trophy Series kit with lots of parts, stock, racing and including custom parts and a tube of AMT putty.

Turn back the clock and calendar to February 1962, for the AMT Trophy Series '57 Thunderbird kit. That's when this kit first turned up at my LHS.

AMT also repopped the '57 TBird promo as a Craftsman Jr kit, with a porthole liftoff HT, completely different tooling, but very nice just the same.

Biscuitbuilder

[mr moto]

I remember the '62 issue of the '57 Bird as about the most sensational thing that had ever hit the LHS shelves. All my friends and I were totally blown away!! It had more options of every kind than had ever been seen and a completely chrome plated engine which was worth its weight in gold in the days before Alclad. It may have been part of the Styline series or else it was in the Trophy series. It included a tube of putty and some 400 grit sandpaper and body options for complete restyling that needed to be molded in with the putty. It had things like a fastback roof and a front end with faired in headlights. Of course, none of us had the skills to take advantage of all that but we wanted it anyway!

[jbwelda]

>completely chrome plated engine

dunk that thing in the chrome stripper tank!

>Of course, none of us had the skills to take advantage of all that

thats so funny and so true. in my case i glued on the front end, smeared some putty on it, sanded it a bit and painted it. looked like ######. i couldnt figure it out: how do you make this look good, i mean you cant be serious that i have to sand all this putty down! then what? then you might as well not have even put it on in the first place!

took me about 10 years to realize how body work was done.

[Biscuitbuilder]

I remember the '62 issue of the '57 Bird as about the most sensational thing that had ever hit the LHS shelves. All my friends and I were totally blown away!! It had more options of every kind than had ever been seen and a completely chrome plated engine which was worth its weight in gold in the days before Alclad. It may have been part of the Styline series or else it was in the Trophy series. It included a tube of putty and some 400 grit sandpaper and body options for complete restyling that needed to be molded in with the putty. It had things like a fastback roof and a front end with faired in headlights. Of course, none of us had the skills to take advantage of all that but we wanted it anyway!

1962 issue of the '57 TBird was in the Trophy Series, and yes, it was, to that point, IMHO, the quintessential Trophy Series kit to that point. I still remember the sweaty palms, the puddle of drool on the floor at the LHS when I spotted that kit for the first time!

Biscuitbuilder

[Dave Darby]

Turn back the clock and calendar to February 1962, for the AMT Trophy Series '57 Thunderbird kit. That's when this kit first turned up at my LHS.
AMT also repopped the '57 TBird promo as a Craftsman Jr kit, with a porthole liftoff HT, completely different tooling, but very nice just the same.
Biscuitbuilder

AMT made two 1957 T Bird Promo tools back in 1957. Both the Trophy Series/Styline kit, and the Craftsman kit originated from these two tools. Too bad most of the Styline pieces are gone, but it would be interesting to know whether the Craftsman tool still exists. In some areas, it had better detail than the glue kit, such as Ford lettering on the wheel covers.

Edited by Dave Darby, 08 August 2007 - 07:05 AM.