AMT Peterbilt 359 California Hauler

[Leonidas]

With the high prices people are paying for the Peterbilt 359 California Hauler with sleeper (the brown one pictured below, which is out of my price range), couldn't I make the same basic truck using the new reissue of the California Hauler (day cab) and add the AMT Mercury Sleeper?

If I did this, I would assume the back of the 359 cab would have to be cut out to accept the sleeper cab that will now sit behind it?

Just wondering, thanks.

 

Edited March 22, 2016 by Leonidas

[Force]

 

Of course you can, it's not the same sleeper tho' but if you want the correct sleeper AITM sells one in resin called 36 inch Restrite Sleeper Box, it's the same sleeper as in the brown AMT T500 kit missing only the steps...I have both the T500 kit and the resin sleeper so that's how I know.
The kit number for the original release of the Unilite Small Window Cab California Hauler from 1969 was T500-500 wich is the first kit in your post recently reissued by Round 2 with number AMT866/06, the number for the California Hauler kit with the sleeper was as i mentioned T500 released in 1971 and the number for the later 1100 series cab was T501 released in 1973-4, unfortunately Round 2 couldn't find the tooling for the sleeper and the other stuff so they couldn't reissue the T500 kit...these parts were originally sold as a parts pack upgrade for the T500-500 kit but was later combined into the T500 kit.

But I don't know if you need to cut the cab, the old sleepers were "crawl through" so they crawled through the hole where the back window was into the sleeper and the rear wall of the cab is still intact, or they could climb in from the outside through the sleeper doors.
So they were not like the modern "walk through" sleepers where you can walk from the cab into the sleeper.

Edited March 23, 2016 by Force

[Petetrucker07]

Here's the current reissue Ca Hauler with a Mercury sleeper.

[Bennyg]

Auslowe stocks the sun visor.

[lapazleo]

No cut out for the sleeper as they were crawl through in those days. The kit with the brown truck is the same exact kit with the sleeper and visor added. As a side note the earliest releases of the Ca. hauler had green tinted windows.

[lapazleo]

Actually the Mercury sleeper was an available option on Peterbilt's for many years. Our resident Pete expert Tim Albhorn should be able to fill us in.

[Leonidas]

Thanks for the info guys. Very informative and much appreciated.

Edited March 23, 2016 by Leonidas

[Force]

I believe you could get the Mercury sleeper with most of the truck manufacturers back in the day if you wanted one...or you could buy and mount one yourself, or have it mounted by someone else...so it is definately not wrong to use one on a Peterbilt from this era.

I have one original issue T500-500 kit and it's molded in gray plastic but the sprue with the windows is clear in mine, not green, it's the right glass as it fits the small window cab, my T500 kit is molded in white and also have a clear window sprue.

[lapazleo]

Apparently the green tinted windows were early in production and very rare.

[leafsprings]

May or may not be common knowledge,  but 1967 appears to be the first year for the real wide hood 359. The front radiator was increased to 1444 sq. in. from the standard 1050 sq. in version. Looks like we got most of this with the kit, but  the 1676 CAT? IMO, the box art on the original kit  appears to be a artist rendition of a  real photo at the Pete plant in Newark Ca. Maybe  Tim would know.

Edited March 23, 2016 by leafsprings

[Carmak]

I recently got a started California Hauler kit with a stash of model cars. All of the car kits in the stash dated to 66-70 so I would assume the truck kit also dates to this time frame..

I know very little about big rigs.

Is there anything special about the original issue of this kit?

I do a quick search on this topic but most of what I found was about projects using the re-issue.

Thanks.

Carmak

[GLMFAA1]

The clear plastic parts were transparent green.

greg

[truckabilly]

According to my information the original kit was introduced in 1968. The hood could not tilt, there were no hinges included. All you could do was to take the hood off, if you didn´t glue it. The original issue had a non-turbo Detroit Diesel 8v71 under the hood.   

[Luc Janssens]

It was the premier 1/25th scale truck kit, from Amt, the first edition came without a sleeper, (but IIRC there was a order form inside that kit to obtain one) but the second edition did.

Then the kit got forgotten all about, but resurfaced a couple of years ago, when Round-2 ordered tool sampling to have an acurate inventory, it was hiding in plain site. 

[Force]

As Luc said, the original #T500-500 Unilite small window cab 359 issue was AMT's first truck model kit and came 1969, it had no sleeper but you could order a Restrite sleeper and visor from AMT, the original kits has a Detroit Diesel 8V71 and Stabilaire rear suspension, all six leaf springs are molded to the frame rails.
I have one #T500-500 California Hauler kit, it's molded in blue-grey plastic...but the windows in my kit are clear, not green, some had the instructions printed in blue and some in black, mine are black...so they must have done at least two runs originally as they are slightly different.

The second version of this tooling #T522 was the wrecker version of the Unilite small window cab 359 and it came 1972, I also have that one and it's molded in white.
It's pretty much the same as the original kit with a "Big Stick" wrecker unit included, the same wrecker unit is used on the later #T533 1100 cab wrecker from 1977 and the kits after that.

The third version #T500 came in 1973 and it's the same as the #T500-500 but included the sleeper parts tree with the sleeper and visor, I have one of these too and it's also molded in white.

1976 AMT did the #T501 1100 cab 359 wich got several other kit numbers later and the old Unilite small window cab 359 was forgotten until the latest slightly modified reissue of the original #866 from 2014.
The 1100 cab 359 kit has a Cummins NTC 350 and Peterbilt AirTrac rear suspension with separate parts and this kit share no parts with the earlier Unilite kit.

The tooling for the T500-500 was supposed to be lost but if I remember correctly some of the old #T500-500 359 tooling was blocked off on the #T502 Peterbilt 352 tool and had not been used since 1973-74, so it was as Luc said hidden in plain site, because the 352 tooling has been used several times after that.
The original 359 came in 1969 and the 352 came 1970 so both the 359 and 352 must have been developed at the same time as they share some of the tooling, if you look at the instructions for the 352 they start with a "parts not used" box and these parts are for the 359.

 

Edited April 29, 2018 by Force

[Ben]

The kit came with either blueish grey plastic or white plastic. The glass was either green or clear. The mail in form for the sleeper and visor was included in the first run of the kit. Later runs of the T500-500 included the sleeper.

[Oldcarfan27]

I had one that I found at a thrift store way back in the 80s. I think I paid all of 2 bucks for it. Unbuilt, with all of tbe paraphernalia, I thought it was so cool that it had the tinted glass! There was even some tin license plates dated 1970 (the ones they used to give away in the cereal boxes) so that dated the kit for me.

Regrettably, I sold it a couple decades ago when somebody offered crazy money for a bunch of my big rig kits. Now I don't have the money OR the kits. And I accidentally left the license plates in the box. Double bummer!

[Carmak]

I just took another look at mine. It's a bit of a mess. Molded in blue gray with clear glass (ALL of the glass has tire burns), hood does not have hinges, engine is missing, chassis is started, cab and hood look nice BUT it does have the Goodyear tire booklet in the box.

[PettyKW43]

As has been said this kit has not been seen since the early 70’s , the round 2 reissue is almost a direct reissue of the the original with two exceptions ( not including plastic colour) . Tires in the original were the first incarnation of Goodyear Hi Miler 10:00 x 20 ( there are 3 different variations) and second is the fuel tanks. When AMT brought out the TurnPiker custom 352 the fuel tanks were shortened to fit with the big fender fairing on that kit . All subsequent reissues of either the 352 or 359 Unilite cab have the shorter tanks . It’s an easy way to spot a reboxed reissue if you are wanting to pickup an original issue!

[clayton]

On 5/3/2018 at 10:25 PM, Carmak said:

I just took another look at mine. It's a bit of a mess. Molded in blue gray with clear glass (ALL of the glass has tire burns), hood does not have hinges, engine is missing, chassis is started, cab and hood look nice BUT it does have the Goodyear tire booklet in the sounds like you got one of the original kits. Look on the grill there maybe a tab that sit inside of the bumper. I got one off eBay blue gray with the green glass, it too was a mess.

[NuovoSFPD2n3/4]

This Brown California Hauler 359 was the first, of only two big rigs that I built.

I built the first one because of C.W. McCall's song, Convoy and it's popularity during the school year in '75. I believe I bought it mail order from Auto World.

Would love to build one again with that chrome sleeper.

[leafsprings]

IMO, the front fenders are the biggest flaw in the kit, they are too short,  causing a large gap between bumper, they should come down level with bottom of radiator.  P + P resins show correct fenders on their site, but they don't respond to emails? 

[PettyKW43]

Rather than waste money on a pair of resin fenders , all that’s required is some plastic added to the bottom of the fenders ,shaped to the contour of the kit fenders and done! Definitely the only short coming of the kit!

[Chris kittrell]

I have found a original 1969 California hauler 359 t500 500 still in the box unused. Green tinted glass, Goodyear tires black size 10.00-20 12pr. White cast body. All pieces are in the box and unused in excellent condition. I know little about them and would like to know how much this is actually worth. I cannot find much on prices for it but I know it's very rare. Papers inside include Hurst the first hemi under glass and black and white instructions and torque truck tires in Texas paper and Goodyear decals. Could someone please let me know something before I put up on eBay

 

 

[Fat Brian]

On 1/29/2022 at 1:55 AM, Chris kittrell said:

I have found a original 1969 California hauler 359 t500 500 still in the box unused. Green tinted glass, Goodyear tires black size 10.00-20 12pr. White cast body. All pieces are in the box and unused in excellent condition. I know little about them and would like to know how much this is actually worth. I cannot find much on prices for it but I know it's very rare. Papers inside include Hurst the first hemi under glass and black and white instructions and torque truck tires in Texas paper and Goodyear decals. Could someone please let me know something before I put up on eBay

 

 

The best way to see what a kit is going for is to look at the sold listing on eBay, it looks like sold items go for between $75-$125 or so. Unfortunately the value of your kit has taken a hit since it was finally reissued a few years ago.