JS23U

Are the stock wheels included in this issue as well?

I have that 72 annual, too. Mine has the bowtie, as well. AFAIK starting with the Red Alert it had the SS in the grill. Did anyone notice that the 71 AMT annual lacks the SS emblem on the rear bumper? Maybe it is possible to build a stock non-SS with these two bumpers. Although I don't know if the bowtie in the grille is correct at all...

I have a Craftsman 1960 AMT Chevy Wagon in lime green.

Here is a list I compiled of AMT kits that might still exist, as to my knowledge they had not been butchered with after the annual issues. Some of them had reissues but kept the stock version. 58 Ford, Buick, Pontiac 59 Ford, Edsel, Mercury, Chevy (craftsman), Buick (craftsman) 60 Ford, Thunderbird, Edsel, Mercury, Buick, Pontiac (craftsman), Impala 61 Ford Sunliner/Starliner 62 Ford, Buick Wagon, Pontiac, Valiant 63 T-Bird, Mercury Meteor, Chevy and Ford Pickup (altered to later promos?), Falcon and Comet convertible 64 Wildcat, Bonneville, Grand Prix, Corvair 67 Fairlane 68 Galaxie (69 kit is much different, but they seem to have used some sprues from the 68) 69 Lincoln, El Camino (seems to share the molds with the Chevelle hardtop and convertible kit, hopefully these parts are still there) 69 Torino Hardtop/convertible, was this a separate kit or shared it parts with the fastback?

When I restored the front suspension on my 70 Challenger I found out this (shouldn't be much different on a 69 Charger): k-frame and t-bars black, as Tim said lower control arms: natural, with the wheel ends near the steering knuckles dipped in cosmoline (yellowish coating) strut rods natural front sway bar black can't remember the upper control arms, but I'd say I have seen black and natural ones steering knuckles are natural, as far as I can remember

From what I remember the only 71 Hemicuda convertible WITH a billboard stripe, was the orange Canadian car that was spoken about earlier. All other had none. There is a third export car, but it is a rebodied car. It is Show White and a French car, as well, like the other two exports.

While we are at it, does anyone make a CHEVROLET tailgate for this one? Kit parts are GMC...

The Flintstone is based on the old annuals, 69 Chevelle/ El Camino. The new tool 68 Camino is wider and parts won't interchange very well.

MPC offered the Volare Roadrunner from 77 to 80. They offered a 76 Roadrunner as well, but they goofed in that they continued to make it as a b-body as the 75 one. Starting in 79 (or was it even 78?) the Volare Roadrunner couldn't be had with the Mopar Rallye wheels like the stock ones in the kit, but they had cast aluminum wheels. Also, the quarter window louvers had a different design than the 77/78. I think these two are the biggest "problems" one would have when trying to build an accurate replica. Despite of that I think MPC did a great job with the Volare model. I really like them.

Does anyone offer a corrected wheelbase for the long bed? Don't really like the 140" Camper Special, regardless of the model year...

Is it a camper special with the long 140" wheelbase, like the AMT kits?

The Chevelle wheels are similar but the center doesn't stick out so far. Shelby wheels are more like the ones in the early MPC Jeepster issues.

Was this model converted from the 67/68 MPC annual kit? If not, where are the remains of the annual? Ok, chassis/engine are still present in the 69 and 73 versions, but the body parts?

Sorry Bob, I misread your first post. I thought you were talking about the kit of the 72 Nova but you meant the original car.

Bob, are you sure about that? At least in the issue I have, the painted box from the eighties, black plastic, doesn't have them. It has the Nova/Camaro Rally wheels and some custom five spokes, IIRC. I have a version of them 70 Impala, the Fire Chief, that has baby moons with Bowties. Don't know if they were included in any other version of the 70 Impala. Just coincidentally, the Fire Chief consequently has both wheels that John is looking for...

That's what I also think. The 71/72 turned into the NASCAR, for which they just needed the body, bumpers valance etc. Side markers, door handles and the like had to go and were restored on the yellow 1987 version. When the 73 RR annual came the chassis, engine and interior possibly were "free" to use, as the NASCAR didn't need them, hence the identical underbody parts of all years. If I remember correctly the dash of the 74 Roadrunner had changed to the 1975-78 versions as a result of retooling it to the later annuals and the four-door (Police)-versions. This is true to all versions of the 74 car starting with the 1983 issued model. The 74 Charger has a similar history. The annual was turned into a NASCAR and again the body details were lost. Then around 1980 the red plastic version was issued for which side markers, door handles etc. had to be restored. That body still had the racing gas cap on the left quarter.

69 Chevy pickup was available as an annual from both AMT and MPC. AMT seems to me as more correct. But both are quite expensive...

Amazing that the 69 and 70 GTX promos and some others were still available in the late 70s!

The Firefighter represents the 79 front end as well. Seems to be a 4x4 version of the LRT/Warlock/Pumping Iron but should be essentially the same.

Great build! I agree with you on the accuracy of most old models. There are although some that are not so nice. The 69 Firebird is such an example. I would love to build an accurate Trans Am or Firebird 400. AMTs 68 Ford Galaxie isn't the nicest one either. Too large wheel wells, funny looking vent windows among other things. I have yet to see a corrected build of that beautiful car.

I have a 2 door Hardtop as well, but I think it is an R&R. Quite well done.

The MPC Mustang 67 and 68 were not that bad. The front end, and especially the grille was wrong, of course. Too round shape and lacks depth. But I admit, the old AMT is best of them all.

We still need a good rendition of these hub caps/trim rings. Every single one I know is somehow wrong.

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.

I might be interested as well. Would love to have a chrome front bumper for the Boss 351. A nicely made resin convertible body would be great. I think that is a good looking car, often thought about doing this conversion myself.