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Monogram 1940 Ford Truck


Toner283

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I have a couple of questions for the resident kit historians and the guys who were there back when this kit was first released.

I have always liked the Monogram 1940 Ford truck. Even with its quirks and ill fitting doors, it has always been a fun kit to build. I have built a few with a couple more variations planned. I will usually try to buy parts kits or lots when I see original issue parts mixed in. That greeny turquoise color is hard to miss. Wheels and tires have changed over the years and custom and stock parts from the first couple of issues have vanished.

I have seen this kit molded in two slightly different shades of that original turquoise, white (old school slot car kit), orange, yellow, at least two different shades of red and another in white (latest "trucks" issue). I have boxed trucks and box art from all that I know of except the original slot car kit.

I recently bought a parts lot off of ebay and mixed into it is a few parts molded in a royal blue color that I have never seen before. The custom grille piece and the custom tailgate are among the parts as well as a stock wheel and post to mount the spare on the box side in the stock version of the truck. Several other parts are also included such as the block halves, hood hinge and door hinge halves and the road flares.

Anyways, on to my questions. Has anyone ever seen this kit molded in blue? Any pictures available of the box art? When was the blue version issued? Due to the stock wheel, the custom tailgate, the custom grille and the road flares, I am led to believe that it was released fairly early on in the toolings life since none of those parts were in later issues. I have posted a picture to show the parts that I have. These parts are definitely molded in the royal blue color, not painted. Included in the picture are a few original kit pieces from the same parts lot for reference.

 20180318_001629-vi.jpg

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I don't know about what colors these were molded in other than obviously the "Lemon Crate" release was molded in yellow, these are some Google images of the different box art variations for the 40 Ford Pickup. I also found an approximate timeline for most of the issues on a site I'm a member of, scalemates.com and here is a link to that timeline and the years above the pics are what the timeline indicates for a year of release. 

https://www.scalemates.com/products/product.php?id=265704&p=timeline

1964

5aadf6690c9d6_MonogramPC91-19840FordPup.JPG.77ccfc6cd2e9a00cbd0553814e29432e.JPG

1973

1974-Vintage-Monogram-1940-40-Ford-PickUp-Model.jpg.cc1436d22c4af13a87ca7b8ad7a2a5bb.jpg

1980

vintage-monogram-40-ford-pickup-lemon_1_a0c823ae9f817b7bf21a3e3ce0c671ed.jpg.f0768742cc9e29b5131bdca01dc658ed.jpg

1985

170262-10571-pristine.jpg.037e1243aeceeb3d699ef8cc19b1610e.jpg

Though not in the timeline, by the box art I think this is around 1990 or 1991

maxresdefault.thumb.jpg.cd0e15c08b435d6acb8a74f109e7b97e.jpg

1995

s-l300.jpg.6baf3078c0440e3ce792e0f3e8506fd1.jpg

2000

5aadf970af1cb_1940Fordpickupblauw.thumb.jpg.f9d3c02550ff2f8bde238a72a29e3732.jpg

2011

rm_4928_title.jpg.5158dadfa9a685e4fa8a67c4f62d406d.jpg

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15 hours ago, Toner283 said:

Anyways, on to my questions. Has anyone ever seen this kit molded in blue? Any pictures available of the box art? When was the blue version issued? Due to the stock wheel, the custom tailgate, the custom grille and the road flares, I am led to believe that it was released fairly early on in the toolings life since none of those parts were in later issues. I have posted a picture to show the parts that I have. These parts are definitely molded in the royal blue color, not painted. Included in the picture are a few original kit pieces from the same parts lot for reference.

I would bet it was molded near the same time as the original issue of Monogram's 1/8 '65 Corvette from 1965. Maybe they used up the royal blue plastic on the '40 Ford Pickup when the Vette run was complete?

I don't recall any other '60s era Monogram automotive kits molded in royal blue, though.

18monvetteblue.thumb.jpg.f9a1d942d44d318c4e89df5964e2b96d.jpg

Edited by Casey
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6 hours ago, Casey said:

I would bet it was molded near the same time as the original issue of Monogram's 1/8 '65 Corvette from 1965. Maybe they used up the royal blue plastic on the '40 Ford Pickup when the Vette run was complete?

I don't recall any other '60s era Monogram automotive kits molded in royal blue, though.

18monvetteblue.thumb.jpg.f9a1d942d44d318c4e89df5964e2b96d.jpg

Sure looks like the same color. You very well could be correct that they made a few of the 40 Ford kits in that blue to use up the styrene already in the hopper or already liquified.  Waste not want not. I would love to see a pic or two of the 40 Ford in this blue in the box. Unfortunately the parts in the picture are the only blue parts that I have.

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The only other Monogram kit in royal blue which comes to mind is the 1/32 Hemi Fiat, bit the only one I found appears to be a '70s reissue. I think this color is fairly true in the image, as earlier versions were much more of a steel grey-blue:

hemifiat.jpg.0199002696753b54e89b47faad889a61.jpg

hemfi.jpg.7edd55691ad63eb5d8126b71622749c2.jpg

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  • 2 years later...
On 3/18/2018 at 10:53 PM, Casey said:

The only other Monogram kit in royal blue which comes to mind is the 1/32 Hemi Fiat, bit the only one I found appears to be a '70s reissue. I think this color is fairly true in the image, as earlier versions were much more of a steel grey-blue:

hemifiat.jpg.0199002696753b54e89b47faad889a61.jpg

hemfi.jpg.7edd55691ad63eb5d8126b71622749c2.jpg

Those Monogram 1/32 scale gasser series kits were some of the nicest model cars ever done in that scale.  (aside from the Pyro Table Top series) Besides the "Hemi Fiat" there was a "Wild Willys" and a "34 Ford Screamer". They seem to be extremely rare these days. I lucked out and found a Fiat on eBay. Held onto it for awhile as a collector kit but couldnt resist the temptation , ended up building it and took a 3rd place at a recent IPMS event. Wish I could find the others in the series but I'm sure they would be a little rich for my blood.

20200302_193026.jpg

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I just checked my original Monogram '40 Ford pickup, copyright date 1964 on the box.  It's molded in the turquoise plastic. 

Contrary to what I've read on the internet over the years, this kit never had a stock interior.  Only the diamond-pleated seat and door panels shown on the box art of the original. Monogram sort of admitted that by not advertising a stock version on the box, just a "semi-custom model."  A couple of resin vendors have made stock interior parts for the kit, but it wouldn't be that hard to do it ourselves. Those interiors were very plain. 

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Only the first issue had the spare tire housing and mount. Later issues did not. The custom tailgate disappeared along with the custom fenders grille and running boards. Stock wheels too IIRC. At some point tailgate and hood got louvers IIRC. 

Have seen original in red, just as 55 Chevy was red and turquoise, but never have seen blue. Cool. 

I had the Willys in that series, really great looking kit. 

Edited by keyser
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As I understand it, the first version (with the optional parts) was produced until about 1970, in two different boxes.  The royal blue ones were probably made towards the end of that run.  Other long-running Monogram kits like the Predicta turn up in colors (or variations of colors) every so often.  I've never seen a royal blue '40 pickup myself.  The pickup wasn't produced in a second version (with fewer parts) alongside the first version, like some other Monogram prewar Ford kits were.

The first issue after the "stock" one was the Early Iron, in orange.  Next one, the Lemon Crate, was yellow.  Next up was the Eighties rod version in orange, then came the white one.  I'm surprised Revell-Monogram didn't convert the '40 pickup to a 100% stock version, like they did with the Revell '56 pickup.

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On 3/17/2018 at 11:29 PM, Toner283 said:

I have seen this kit molded in two slightly different shades of that original turquoise, white (old school slot car kit), orange, yellow, at least two different shades of red and another in white (latest "trucks" issue). I have boxed trucks and box art from all that I know of except the original slot car kit.

All I have found are white molded parts for the slot racer issues, and the custom grille insert wasn't included with them:

Mono40FordPUSlot2.jpg.e53e7f523c5e3fac5975a4fe15b46b1e.jpg

Mono40FordPUSlot.jpg.50997b7cd3813d36c5bc2e74e3eccf8f.jpg

Mono40FordPUSlot3.jpg.8b5545084f81b30f0aa381cd53f2e381.jpg

 

Not sure if this block has been painted or not, but it does appears to be very close to the royal blue color in question: http://slotblog.net/topic/74642-monogram-124-kits-34-ford-etc/?p=671899

post-984-0-32690200-1488654869.jpg

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I have the Early Iron and the Lemon Crate both in front of me right now and the orange Early Iron issue does not have the louvers in the tailgate or the hood. The Lemon Crate issue does have the louvers in both the hood and the tailgate. 

Interestingly enough the road flares are still in the Early Iron issue. In the Lemon Crate the space on the sprues where the road flares were now has the wooden sideboards for the bedsides.

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  • 2 years later...

I have an update to this thread and my search for a royal blue 40 Ford pickup. I was doing a search on eBay yesterday and up popped a 40 Ford pickup. Opened it up and checked out the pictures and lo and behold it's a mint unbuilt kit in Royal blue. Unfortunately, I was not able to purchase it someone got lucky and got what seems to be a pretty rare kit for themselves as it was only listed for a very short time with a very reasonable Buy It Now of $68. I do wish I had been in a financial position to be able to purchase it. I did save a couple of pictures to prove that I'm not totally nuts.  Hopefully someday I will find one that I can purchase.

sl40024-vi.jpg

sl40026-vi.jpg

 

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1 hour ago, Oldcarfan27 said:

A slot car (truck) with opening doors, that must've been wild on the track!

Looking at the original box, were there turquoise, blue, red and black versions available?

Someone in one of the posts earlier in the thread said they have seen an original in red. I have never seen that myself so I can't confirm it. But if you had asked me a couple years ago if it was ever molded in royal blue I would have told you the same. I have also never seen one completely molded in Black either. The first few issues were molded in at least two different colors. Black usually being one of them. The lemon crate issue had yellow and tan parts in it. The reissues released in the'80s and possibly the early 90s were molded completely in red.

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Very informative thread.  Thanks to all who've posted.

I can't speak to automotive kits but I do know that it was not unknown for vintage Aurora figure kits to be issued in different colours.  I suspect, as Casey mentioned above that the different colours for the same issues were cases of running out of the main colour.  Idle machines don't make money lol.

As for the black version shown on the original box, that could also have been a one off molded specifically for the photo shoot or one with a quick paint job for the same purpose.

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2 hours ago, stitchdup said:

I've got an original in the turquoise blue/green and i traded some stock rear fenders on here for it. The fenders i got in trade were in a red/orange colour.

You wouldn't have a set of the custom running boards in good shape you'd be willing to trade would you? I have been looking for a pair.

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1 hour ago, Toner283 said:

You wouldn't have a set of the custom running boards in good shape you'd be willing to trade would you? I have been looking for a pair.

I'm not sure, I'll have a look but my kit was a built up with the later fenders. I had to trade to find the stock fenders

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