MPC 80s Annuals

[JimC]

Does anyone know, or have any speculation as to why, Round2 hasn’t reissued any of the MPC turned AMT 1980s annuals? The only one that comes to mind is the El Camino SS. Where are the:

Firebird/GTA

Camaro/Z28

Beretta GT/GTU/GTZ

Full size Chevrolet pickups 

Dodge Daytona

Corvette (although these are plentiful on the secondary market)

You would think one or two of these would have been offered by now but it’s been well over a decade of Round2 ownership of these molds and there’s been no sign of them. Revell has reissued their Buick GN and Monte Carlo SS from that era several times. 

Maybe I’m in the minority but I built all of these when they were new, as I was in my early teens during those years and would enjoy another crack at them. 

[64Comet404]

I think it is a matter of rarity of the models. For the longest time, it was reasonably easy to find copies of the early '80s MPC kits, especially ones like the Cavalier, EXP, Charger, Fiero, and Daytona. There was a pent-up demand for the 70s Pintos, Gremlins and (hopefully soon) Vegas, which has been fulfilled over the past few years. I think it is a matter of letting Round 2 catching up and realizing that it is getting harder and harder to find these old MPC kits. If they would reissue these kits, I would buy some, as long as Round 2 gives us clear (instead of smoked) glass, and Radial T/A tires that don't eat into every clear part they touch. And please, bring back the Supra!

[Bucky]

The Pontiac Fiero was in that bunch, along with some Fox body Mustangs, and front wheel drive Chargers.

(We were typing at the same time!) LoL

Edited May 2, 2020 by Bucky

[Mark]

If you want a Cavalier, Beretta, or Ford EXP, you can pound the ground and find as many as you want, for well under "current kit" prices.  I've got two or three of each, most bought sealed.  I don't think I paid more than $5 for any of them.

[StevenGuthmiller]

4 hours ago, Mark said:

If you want a Cavalier, Beretta, or Ford EXP, you can pound the ground and find as many as you want, for well under "current kit" prices.  I've got two or three of each, most bought sealed.  I don't think I paid more than $5 for any of them.

Probably a good indication of why they have not been re-issued.

If the originals can't draw enough interest to begin to rise in value, there's no reason to believe that there is enough to justify a new run.

 

I did a quick ebay search and there are dozens of all of these kits available at low prices.

If anyone really wants them, they are more than easy to find.

 

 

 

Steve

[unclescott58]

6 hours ago, Mark said:

If you want a Cavalier, Beretta, or Ford EXP, you can pound the ground and find as many as you want, for well under "current kit" prices.  I've got two or three of each, most bought sealed.  I don't think I paid more than $5 for any of them.

I've been looking for an EXP. I can't find any. And I spend a lot of time looking eBay. They show up half built or at very high price. 

[Bucky]

Unclescott, I have two EXP kits...one MPC, and one REVELL, if you're interested.

Shoot me a PM.

[StevenGuthmiller]

2 hours ago, unclescott58 said:

I've been looking for an EXP. I can't find any. And I spend a lot of time looking eBay. They show up half built or at very high price. 

There are a couple on ebay as we speak.

One is complete and unbuilt with a "buy it now" price of $25.00.

 

 

 

 

Steve

 

 

[unclescott58]

Ya I saw that one Steve. Thank you though for pointing it out. 

[Mark]

eBay typically has higher starting prices, higher yet with Buy it Now involved.  At shows or flea markets, most items are priced already and you are negotiating that price down.  With eBay, bidders are negotiating the price up.  The smart Buy it Now seller will put that price just above what the item typically sells for, to rope in a buyer who has to have it NOW.

[Mike999]

1 hour ago, Mark said:

eBay typically has higher starting prices, higher yet with Buy it Now involved.  At shows or flea markets, most items are priced already and you are negotiating that price down.  With eBay, bidders are negotiating the price up.  The smart Buy it Now seller will put that price just above what the item typically sells for, to rope in a buyer who has to have it NOW.

I'm gearing up for an eBay sale and pasted your advice at the top of my "SELL" list.  For the first time, I'm going to list everything as Buy It Now instead of an auction.  This is an experiment, since I usually do auctions only.  I won't list anything as auction AND Buy It Now.  It's pretty obvious what happens with that, since I've done it myself:  somebody will place the minimum bid just to remove the "Buy It Now" option, hoping they'll get the kit for that minimum bid. 

Those MPC annuals aren't the only great old kits that go dirt cheap.  I remember a seller at a kit show a few years ago with a stack of the Revell '97 Ford F-150 pickups.  He had trouble selling them for $5 each.  Same with the AMT/ERTL '96 and '97 Ford Explorers; you'd think the police car fans would snap those up. 

Round 2 would probably make a ton of money if they re-popped some of the SnapFast pickup kits.  Especially the '96 Dodge Ram Dually, and the Chevy with the camper/bed cap.  The Dodge Duallys always seem to go for high prices on eBay.

[JimC]

Thanks for the ideas guys. I realize many of these kits can be found on eBay rather easily and somewhat cheaply- the exceptions being the Fieros, IROC Camaros and Silverado Pickups. That seems to have never stopped Round2 from reissuing certain other kits. Other than the 87ish Mustang GT there’s been nothing reissued from that era. I would think a repop Fiero or IROC Z would sell at least as well as a stock ‘77 Pinto. 

[Mark]

With these kits (like any other) a potential reissue would be whatever it was the last time it was issued.  The Cavalier and EXP were only issued for two years and with no alterations at all.  But others like the Fiero and Camaro did get updated, sometimes incorrectly.  The MPC Fiero is now the '87-'88 with the reworked roof (clear panels in the rear pillars) but the suspension parts weren't updated to match the body.  The Camaro would now be the 1992 25th Anniversary version.

[Erik Smith]

Yeah, as mentioned above, most are easy to come by. Even if they don’t show up on eBay a lot, when they do, they still don’t sell for much. The high priced ones that are on eBay are usually on eBay a long time - giving some impression of a high value. 
It seems most decent stashes have a few of these. Most completed shelves don’t! 
I think the, at the time, actual AMT kits of Barettas and such were nicer than the MPC - AMT was cranking out a ton of really nice kits of somewhat generic interest (Explorer, Baretta, Probe).

[mk11]

9 hours ago, Mike999 said:

 I won't list anything as auction AND Buy It Now.  It's pretty obvious what happens with that, since I've done it myself:  somebody will place the minimum bid just to remove the "Buy It Now" option, hoping they'll get the kit for that minimum bid.

...or it goes the other way, with the final toll making the bin look like a scorchin' deal 

[CapSat 6]

It seems to me that there is some demand for the MPC Camaros & Chevy Pickups. Even the Shelby Chargers are getting a little spendy, but those kits were super-cheap for a long time. The MPC Daytonas are still pretty cheap, because they have been reissued a few times within about the past 20 years.

Ironically, you kind of need an MPC Daytona to build an MPC Shelby Charger- as the engine in the Daytona represents the Chrysler Turbo 2.2, while the engine in the Shelby was a carryover from it's Omni days- the Shelby came with a Chrysler 2.2 Turbo, but the MPC kits never got an engine update, they still came with the earlier Omni engine (circa 1980), which was a different design that I think was either based on a VW engine or was manufactured by VW.  

 

 

 

[unclescott58]

Just a little side note on eBay. I rarely will even look at anything that's up for auction on eBay. 99 times out of 100, I look for for things under the "Buy it Now" option. I've spent too much time in the past playing the try to buying via an auction on eBay, and having someone swoop in at the very last minute, getting the item instead me. I don't always have time to be there when the auction goes down to up my bid in that last minute. Plus, I hate having to normally wait a week to see if I get to own the item in the end. And then 9 times out of 10, I don't get the item anyhow. Why mess around? I'll pay the higher "Buy it Now" price, knowing for sure that I'm getting the item I want. Rather than the auction frustration of waiting a week and not getting the item anyhow. 

After mentioning the above, I have won a few auctions recently. But, they have been on items where auction prices started out pretty high in the first place. I was still surprised that I won these auctions. Miracles do happen. 

[nearwolf]

2 hours ago, CapSat 6 said:

 

Ironically, you kind of need an MPC Daytona to build an MPC Shelby Charger- as the engine in the Daytona represents the Chrysler Turbo 2.2, while the engine in the Shelby was a carryover from it's Omni days- the Shelby came with a Chrysler 2.2 Turbo, but the MPC kits never got an engine update, they still came with the earlier Omni engine (circa 1980), which was a different design that I think was either based on a VW engine or was manufactured by VW.  

Just a note: I worked at a Chrysler dealership in those days, the Omni/Horizon engines were in fact "VW "based" to the extent that dealer replacement parts came in double cartons, a VW box inside a Mopar box.

 

 

 

[Mark]

4 hours ago, CapSat 6 said:

 

Ironically, you kind of need an MPC Daytona to build an MPC Shelby Charger- as the engine in the Daytona represents the Chrysler Turbo 2.2, while the engine in the Shelby was a carryover from it's Omni days- the Shelby came with a Chrysler 2.2 Turbo, but the MPC kits never got an engine update, they still came with the earlier Omni engine (circa 1980), which was a different design that I think was either based on a VW engine or was manufactured by VW.  

 

 

 

I remember seeing an early Omni at a new car show.  The hood was open; plain as day, the front of the engine block had a VW logo cast into it.  The Omni had a carburetor instead of the Rabbit's fuel injection though.  Around the same time ('77-'79) AMC was using a four cylinder engine based on a VW/Audi design; if I remember right the long block was pretty much the same engine as used in the Porsche 924.

Those early Omnis seemed to be rough runners.  My mom was car shopping and wanted to test drive one...all of the local dealers were telling her they ran a bit rough because the demo "just came off the truck and weren't set up yet".  None of them would volunteer another demo, or even a used one, for a test drive.  They were all expecting her to take their word that the as-delivered car would somehow be better, and just sign on the line without really knowing what the car would be like.  Needless to say, she didn't buy one.

[gtx6970]

4 hours ago, Mark said:

I remember seeing an early Omni at a new car show.  The hood was open; plain as day, the front of the engine block had a VW logo cast into it.  The Omni had a carburetor instead of the Rabbit's fuel injection though.  Around the same time ('77-'79) AMC was using a four cylinder engine based on a VW/Audi design; if I remember right the long block was pretty much the same engine as used in the Porsche 924.

Those early Omnis seemed to be rough runners.  My mom was car shopping and wanted to test drive one...all of the local dealers were telling her they ran a bit rough because the demo "just came off the truck and weren't set up yet".  None of them would volunteer another demo, or even a used one, for a test drive.  They were all expecting her to take their word that the as-delivered car would somehow be better, and just sign on the line without really knowing what the car would be like.  Needless to say, she didn't buy one.

Early model year Omnis and Horizons had the 1.7 VW motor as base powerplant.

 

And as an FYI not all Shelby Chargers were turbo cars

[Can-Con]

6 hours ago, Mark said:

I remember seeing an early Omni at a new car show.  The hood was open; plain as day, the front of the engine block had a VW logo cast into it.  The Omni had a carburetor instead of the Rabbit's fuel injection though.  Around the same time ('77-'79) AMC was using a four cylinder engine based on a VW/Audi design; if I remember right the long block was pretty much the same engine as used in the Porsche 924.

Those early Omnis seemed to be rough runners.  My mom was car shopping and wanted to test drive one...all of the local dealers were telling her they ran a bit rough because the demo "just came off the truck and weren't set up yet".  None of them would volunteer another demo, or even a used one, for a test drive.  They were all expecting her to take their word that the as-delivered car would somehow be better, and just sign on the line without really knowing what the car would be like.  Needless to say, she didn't buy one.

Early Rabbits had carbs too. I had one.

[Mark]

We test drove a Rabbit around the same time ('80 or '81); as I recall they had FI by then.  I know the Omni was a bit bigger, and probably heavier too, but the Rabbit was a bunch quicker.  But an automatic car involved a six-month wait at the time, and my mom just didn't want a manual.  Of all things, she ended up with a Chevette.  Another old annual kit not yet reissued, so in a way we're back to the original point of the thread..