AMT Autobahn 300SL Gullwing

[89AKurt]

Got the blue/orange/yellow Gullwing kit from an estate.  I've had the later release for some time, so know it's the typical AMT quality that pales when compared to the Tamiya kit.  But I *had to* get this early version because it's just too cool!    Comes with a cardboard diorama display, don't think there is a driver figure.  The bigger box version has a chrome tree of trophies.

I don't see any on eBay, so have to ask, is this a rare kit?  Too bad some of the plastic wrap is ripped off.

[1930fordpickup]

Not that I am aware of. 

[Mark]

The issue with the display base is probably the toughest one to find.  It's a decent enough kit (not Tamiya level quality, but not Tamiya level price either!) but, being 1/25 scale, it's the odd man out.  European subject matter is almost always 1/24 scale and seldom 1/25.  That, combined with the fact that AMT never put correct tires into this kit, is what does it in with most collectors.

[Snake45]

Welly diecast, $10 brand new at Rite Aid, 2 hours or less of Snake-Fu, on my shelf, DONE! Next! 

[Mike999]

Congratulations!  The "Autobahn" version of that kit is very hard to find. 

The "Prestige" version from 1987 is easy to find. Four of those are up on eBay right now, mostly for reasonable prices.  According to my spreadsheets, I paid $10 for one at a kit swap meet a few years ago. 

That AMT Prestige series was sort of weird.  All the kits had extras, but they had different extras. These are the ones I know of and their extras:

Gullwing, '63 Avanti: car show display accessories

'63 Ford, '63 Chevy Impala, '65 Continental, '65 Pontiac Bonneville, '69 Corvair, Silhouette show car: display base with pen holder. (Yawn...)

'65 Pontiac Grand Prix: no extras, but included the road test accessories from the original kit.  These are the same accessories in the last reissue.

'63 Corvette roadster: the best extra of all, the "Drag Strip Accessories" with TV camera, drag strip lights, etc.  Those were a separate "Parts Pack" in the early 1960's.  They had not been seen since, until they were released inside that Prestige kit. 

[unclescott58]

This is of those kits (the Pestige version) that I've had sitting on back burner for a few years now. Looking at the parts and instructions, I've always been a little intimidated by it. How does it build? I know it not up Tamiya's 300SL. But, is it really a bad kit?

[tim boyd]

Interesting, everyone assumes the Tamiya kit is better, and it is in whole, but one area where the AMT kit excels is the engine.  There is more real, life=like detail in the AMT kit in some areas (check out the fuel injection pump). Pretty interesting given that the AMT kit was tooled 50 years prior to the Tamiya kit.  Of course, the Tamiya see-through belly pan/chassis rocks. 

One area that surprised me was how much larger, physically the Tamiya kit was.  But I measured them both (albeit not in the final assembled from with bumpers added), and they both appeared accurate in dimensional scale.  

My recollection from building the AMT kit when it first came out was that it was pretty fiddly in fit and finish.  Enough so that the builder had to be pretty skilled to pull it off all the way through final assembly.  

TIM 

 

 

[89AKurt]

5 hours ago, Snake45 said:

Welly diecast, $10 brand new at Rite Aid, 2 hours or less of Snake-Fu, on my shelf, DONE! Next! 

[...]

Yea ya, the Chinese appreciate your business.    And it didn't come with a cardboard diorama base.  

[89AKurt]

5 hours ago, Mike999 said:

Congratulations!  The "Autobahn" version of that kit is very hard to find. 

 The "Prestige" version from 1987 is easy to find.  [...]

 

1 hour ago, tim boyd said:

[...]  There is more real, life=like detail in the AMT kit in some areas (check out the fuel injection pump). Pretty interesting given that the AMT kit was tooled 50 years prior to the Tamiya kit.  [...]  My recollection from building the AMT kit when it first came out was that it was pretty fiddly in fit and finish.  Enough so that the builder had to be pretty skilled to pull it off all the way through final assembly.  

Thanks for the information!  It has the typical flash, but I was impressed with the amount of detail.  The Prestige kit will be in a diorama, rode hard and hung up wet condition, thinking with the engine on an engine stand like it's getting rebuilt.

[BigTallDad]

8 hours ago, 89AKurt said:

Too bad some of the plastic wrap is ripped off.

 

I've seen some LHS and stores that can re-wrap small boxes. If you think about it...if a customer is hesitant to buy a shrink-wrapped kit, open it up. If they buy it, no big deal; if not, re-wrap it.

[peteski]

8 hours ago, Snake45 said:

Welly diecast, $10 brand new at Rite Aid, 2 hours or less of Snake-Fu, on my shelf, DONE! Next! 

So, if he decides to build his kit, he can buy himself a very decent $10 set of (correct?) wheels and tires. What a bargain!  I would pay $10 just for those tires. 

[89AKurt]

2 hours ago, BigTallDad said:

I've seen some LHS and stores that can re-wrap small boxes. If you think about it...if a customer is hesitant to buy a shrink-wrapped kit, open it up. If they buy it, no big deal; if not, re-wrap it.

You touch on the collectible aspect that is annoying many of us.  I got an Aerovette kit that was still wrapped, then read how tires tend to melt the unwrapped windows, so I opened it and sure as ****, back window with deep circle melt mark.  So for good measure, if I was to sell it on eBay as "RARE", I guess original ripped would bring more $?  

 

 

7 minutes ago, peteski said:

So, if he decides to build his kit, he can buy himself a very decent $10 set of (correct?) wheels and tires. What a bargain!  I would pay $10 just for those tires. 

And waste the perfectly good die cast model?!?!?  The travesty of that thought, shame.