AMT 1969 Chevelle

[Model Carnage]

Did the original AMT 1969 Chevelle SS396 annual come with Firestone Supreme tires having redlines on one side and blue streaks on the other?

Thank You

 

 

 

Edited October 24, 2017 by Model Carnage

[Snake45]

 

And since i gotcha on the horn, did the original AMT 1969 Chevelle SS396 annual come with Firestone Supreme tires having redlines on one side and blue streaks on the other?

Thank You

 

 

 

No, but the original '67 Camaro did. Probably several other AMT '67s, too.

The first-issue '69 Chevelle had hollow Goodyears, and some nice wide slicks, too. IIRC they were Goodyear on one side and M&H on the other, and had grooves on the tread almost like an old LP record. The Goodyears weren't quite as big as the hollow vinyl L60s AMT put in a lot of kits from the '90s on. I still have a few models that have these tires on them.

[Mark]

My annual hardtop kit has the blue/red stripe Firestones, while my El Camino annual has blackwalls.  AMT put the red/blue stripe Supremes into some of the reissues of earlier annual kits in '69 also.  I had a couple of the "Havana Banana" '65 Olds kits with them. 

AMT only had one hollow Goodyear tire back then, it was a NASCAR tire.  They used it in a few other kits like the Meyers Manx, and used it in a few street rod kits in the Seventies.

[Snake45]

My annual hardtop kit has the blue/red stripe Firestones, while my El Camino annual has blackwalls.  AMT put the red/blue stripe Supremes into some of the reissues of earlier annual kits in '69 also.  I had a couple of the "Havana Banana" '65 Olds kits with them. 

AMT only had one hollow Goodyear tire back then, it was a NASCAR tire.  They used it in a few other kits like the Meyers Manx, and used it in a few street rod kits in the Seventies.

Didn't have time to dig out my original boxes/instruction sheets, but I did check a couple of '69s on the Drastic Plastic site. I'd completely forgotten about it but apparently AMT did include the Firestone Supremes in the '69s along with the hollow Goodyears. The built one on the DP site (apparently an original) has red/white Supremes. Mine must have had those, too, as I'm pretty sure the ONLY red/blues I've ever owned came in my '67 Camaro.

As to the hollow Goodyears, I've never thought of them as "NASCAR tires." The '69 boxes and instruction sheets call them "stock car special" tires. AMT wasn't really promoting "NASCAR options" in the '69s (as they were in say '64-'66), and I always just thought of them as wide street tires. You're right about them being in the Manx, though. I forget whether the original Manx kit had four of them or just two.

[Mark]

The Manx had two of the hollow tires, for the rear.  I'm not positive, but those tires may have "for racing use only" sidewall markings.  AMT didn't put them into a lot of kits at first.  I don't think the '69 Chevelle or El Camino had them, but the '69 Corvettes probably did.  The '70/'71 Camaro (same kit for both years) definitely had them.

[Snake45]

The '69 Corvette had them, as did the Camaro and the Mustang Mach 1. I'd have sworn the Chevelle, El Camino, and Cougar had them too, but a check of Drastic Plastic shows that I have "misremembered" this. Interesting, because I built my Chevelle, Camino, and Cougar with them, so I must have got them out of something else.

[Mark]

Now that I think of it, oddly enough the '69 Buick Wildcat probably had them.

[Snake45]

Now that I think of it, oddly enough the '69 Buick Wildcat probably had them.

You are correct, and DP confirms it. Maybe the Riviera, too, but the DP site doesn't have the instructions or box sides on that one. But I can check my original kit tonight, if I get the time.

I built my '66 Skylark around 1969, and I used the engine from the '69 Wildcat, the Keystom Klassic Kustomags from the '69 Riv, and the hollow Goodyears and slicks from some '69 AMT kit, though I couldn't say exactly which one.

[Snake45]

Just checked my original '69 kits. The Wildcat had the wide hollow tires, as did the Riviera, and the Impala, Corvette, Camaro, Mustang, and the Chevy Truck, but the Ford Galaxie did not.

On some of the boxes, the tires are billed as "Goodyear Blue Streaks." On others, they're "stock car specials." I don't recall two different wide hollow vinyl tires that year so I assume these were the same tires.

Here's the tires I mean, on the '66 Skylark I built around 1969.

Edited October 27, 2017 by Snake45

[Mark]

I've got a Riviera but haven't checked it; it'll get built stock anyway.  The annual has a vinyl roof while the reissues don't...wonder what happened there?  The leftover custom stuff could go on a reissue anyway.