Such a deal!

[GaryR]

Get 'em while they last!

from the 1968 Auto World cataloge.

Edited February 15, 2019 by GaryR
none

[unclescott58]

Apparently they weren't big sellers. For they offered more Revell parts packs in later catalogs at the same price. Ah, to only have a time machine. 

[GaryR]

I did get a couple Fiat bodies. Should have  lot more, but you young guys might nor believe it, 25 cents was worth something then!

Amt kits were 1.49 then!

[GaryR]

Wish I could get this Pactra and AMT paint again!

 

[wku88]

I remember Pactra 'namel and Testors Pla for less than .25c. I have a couple boxes of various colors of Pactra in the bigger bottles.

[Richard Bartrop]

I remember discovering them at the same time (early 70s) the LHS was getting rid of them for 50 cent s a pop.  I wish I'd gotten more

[styromaniac]

The AMT Laquer in rattle cans back in the early 60s sure had a unique aroma.... in some interesting colors. I remember when the Revell Roth Road agent kit first came out....my brother chose AMT's "Orchid Silk" to paint it... strange lavender metallic.

 

Edited February 15, 2019 by styromaniac

[Mike999]

9 hours ago, GaryR said:

Wish I could get this Pactra and AMT paint again!

You can! Sort of. I buy a lot of old kits at flea markets, yard sales etc.  They often come with several bottles of 15-cent Pactra or Testors paint stuffed in the box. Sometimes along with a tube of vintage glue and paintbrushes. 

The paints tend to be basic colors like Flat Black, Flat White, Red, etc.  Oh, and Silver.  I must have 5 or 6 bottles of very old Silver paint.

For fun, I've used some of that paint, both for brush painting and thru an airbrush. If the original owner put the cap on tight (or never opened it), it works like any other enamel paint. Just a little thicker, usually.  If the paint has been opened, sometimes it's dried up hard as a rock and I toss it.

Using that stuff takes me straight back to the days of building a kit in about 30 minutes, while parked in front of the TV.

[Mr. Metallic]

10 hours ago, GaryR said:

Wish I could get this Pactra and AMT paint again!

 

I wish Testors would reformulate those old colors an bring them into their lacquer line. Maybe even "copy" some of those AMT and Pactra paints too? It's been a looong time since Testors has added anything to the lacquer lines

Cash in on nostalgia like Round2 does. Now is the time!

[GaryR]

The AMT was the best metalflake in my opinion.

Pactra had go many cool candies PLUS a nice gold underbase.

Good stuff! Fun times!

[Snake45]

21 hours ago, unclescott58 said:

 they offered more Revell parts packs in later catalogs at the same price. 

What they "offered" didn't mean much. I saw them still advertising things two catalogs after they told me something was sold out. 

I ordered something from a vendor this Monday and got it Thursday morning. The first thing I thought was, "What a difference from the old Auto World days." 

[Snake45]

21 hours ago, wku88 said:

I remember Pactra 'namel and Testors Pla for less than .25c. I have a couple boxes of various colors of Pactra in the bigger bottles.

I bought them for 10c, 11c, 12c, and 13c. Then they skipped the 14c price point and jumped right to 15c. I think I paid $1.79 for one yesterday at Hobby Lobby. 

[OldTrucker]

I remember the Pactra paint at 15 cents. 

A couple years ago I sold the last two bottles I had I found in an old tool chest I had quit using ! Guy offered 5 bucks for them !

One metallic blue and the other metallic green, still had the price stickers on them and were still good!

Had a bottle of a weird purple color but it had dried up.

 

[von Zipper]

Anyone remember when Kmart had their own line of model glue ? Back when Kmart had the buying power...I'd guess it was made and packaged by Testors (?)  It was right next to the good stuff  on the rack , usually a few cents cheaper ,  we had an S.S. Kresge  near our house that I rode my bicycle too back then and being the parent company of Kmart they carried this brand also

[Mark]

18 hours ago, Snake45 said:

What they "offered" didn't mean much. I saw them still advertising things two catalogs after they told me something was sold out. 

I ordered something from a vendor this Monday and got it Thursday morning. The first thing I thought was, "What a difference from the old Auto World days." 

Did anyone ever place an order with the old (original) Auto World company, and actually get everything they ordered?  Years later, my older brother told me they were probably scamming people by "not having everything" and issuing a credit, which in most cases guaranteed another order later...

[Snake45]

27 minutes ago, Mark said:

Did anyone ever place an order with the old (original) Auto World company, and actually get everything they ordered?  Years later, my older brother told me they were probably scamming people by "not having everything" and issuing a credit, which in most cases guaranteed another order later...

I can tell you I NEVER got everything I ordered from them (and it always took 3-4 weeks), always had a "credit" issued. 

I didn't do mail-order models again until I decided to try Squadron. When my first order came in about one week with an actual check for the item they were out of, I nearly wept with happiness. Couple years later, I was ordering from them almost monthly by phone, with credit card--even better! 

[GaryR]

I always got what I ordered in a couple weeks or so from Auto World, but I only placed maybe three orders total.Must be my good lucks!
Do you remember when you could order individual parts from AMT?
Glass

Tires

Chrome trees

Hoods

Bodies

I don't recall if you could order decals.

Since I built funny cars I ordered some tires and bodies! Cheaper than a whole kit, sort of.

I think most items were a quarter or 50 cents, bodies were a buck?
 

 

[Phirewriter]

So far as I know Oscar Koveleski is still with us. Certainly would be interesting to get some of his insight from back then since we've lost so many connected to the modeling world from those days.

Met him a number of times at Road America for their vintage events but seemed more enthusiastic about his racing exploits rather than Autoworld.

Edited February 16, 2019 by Phirewriter

[Snake45]

7 minutes ago, GaryR said:

I always got what I ordered in a couple weeks or so from Auto World, but I only placed maybe three orders total.Must be my good lucks!
Do you remember when you could order individual parts from AMT?
Glass

Tires

Chrome trees

Hoods

Bodies

I don't recall if you could order decals.

Since I built funny cars I ordered some tires and bodies! Cheaper than a whole kit, sort of.

I think most items were a quarter or 50 cents, bodies were a buck?
 

 

Only thing like that I ever heard of was MPC would sell you a set of four of their new hollow vinyl Firestone tires for 50 cents. Wish I'd bought about $10 worth of them. 

[oldcars]

The best spraypaint in the world was amt. All of my models were painted with amt spray. Nobody to this day makes colors that went on like they did (especially the candies). You would think that fifty years later someone would make paint as good as amt was, but no. Richard

[GaryR]

AMT paint WAS the best.

I did get the MPC tires too.

I read about the AMT parts in Car Model in an article on building a "Mr Unswitchable style, yellow  GTO funny car.
 

I ordered M&H slicks from the funny car kits ( in 67) and a 67 Vette body, and two chrome trees from the double dragster.

Tires were 50 cents, bodies a buck if I remember right.

 

Edited February 21, 2019 by GaryR

[Casey]

41 minutes ago, GaryR said:

Tires were 50 cents, bodies a buck if I remember right.

$.05 and $.50, according to this '66 Trophy Series Kit parts price list: http://modelkitreviews.proboards.com/thread/1141/1966-trophy-series-parts-price

[Gramps46]

On ‎2‎/‎16‎/‎2019 at 4:13 PM, Snake45 said:

I can tell you I NEVER got everything I ordered from them (and it always took 3-4 weeks), always had a "credit" issued. 

 

This was my first order from Auto World and I don't remember ever having problems with them.

 

[unclescott58]

Other than the long wait, I never had any problems with ordering things from the old Auto World. Everything came UPS from them back in the day. And somebody had to be home to accept UPS packages back then. Since both the parents worked during the days then, the neighbor would sometimes have to accepted the packages. And with one not knowing when they were coming, I sometimes didn't find out about the delivery right away. It was better to order with a friend. His mother was home during the days. Plus we could split the costs of shipping. The only problem there, is Auto World would sometimes send bonus free stuff with your order. They once sent us an AMT '72 Corvette roadster without a box. So who gets to build and/or keep it? Him or I? We came up with a decent compromise. I built the engine and chassis. He built the interior and body. Then the car would spend one month one's shelf. And the next month on the other's. We were, and are, to this day good friends. So that seem to work out fairly well. 

In fact the above friend is the one who introduced me to Auto World. He moved into our neighborhood in the fall of 1970. Because of common interests we became very good friends by Christmas of that year. He had discovered Auto World when he was living in Duluth, MN. He showed me the latest catalog, and I was hooked. Both of us were into model cars and Aurora HO slot car racing. And we had a lot of fun ordering all sorts of cool things, for several years out of their catalogs. I have very fond memories of those times. Over the years I've found purchased several old Auto World catalogs. The oldest my collection is from 1962. I still like to pull them out and dream of what I wish I could still order from them still today. 

[Straightliner59]

I still have the booklet on detailing model car engines. I don't ever remember having a problem getting what I ordered. I still have some of the license plates, too, I think!