Time for LUVin'! Retro Street Truck (OOB)

[Faust]

Sometimes, it’s fun to go a little wild and crazy. Real car owners have been doing it for ages, and model kit companies were generally not too far behind when it came to customizing trends. When something became cool on the street, it was typical for the model companies to start producing kits in the same vein, whether that meant modifying existing kits or just issuing new ones that were already customized or could be.

A perfect example of this was the mini-truck customization phase that was big in the mid-‘70s and lasted until the early ‘80s. The vannin’ craze and the show rod world spilled over and merged on the light trucks of the era, resulting in the Street Truck, a customized micro-van more for cruisin’ than bruisin’.

Well, now that everything retro is cool, Revell as dug deep into the Monogram side of things and brought one such road warrior back to life. This thing is wild and better than ever, thanks to new decals!

Check out the new repop of the Monogram Chevy LUV Street Pickup at the link below.

https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/monogram-1-24-chevy-luv-street-pickup-oob/

[1972coronet]

Great review , Adam .

Regarding the "benches" in the bed : All of these early Japanese trucks had single-wall bed lining ( the insides of the fenders "doubled" as the insides of the bed , which is why every one of them which carried cargo were riddled with "cherry dings" from the inside-out ) . There were kits available from various aftermarket manufacturers in the 70's and 80's ; the seat-type conversion / upgrade was one such setup . 

The V8 engine is likely a 265 (the 262 was too "new" at the time) , or possibly a 327 . Too bad that there's no easily-adaptable Buick 215 Aluminium V8 , as that was a common swap back in the day .

**ADDENDUM**

I noticed that the power booster / master cylinder from the 90's AMT / MPC Corvette looks like it would be right at home in the LUV's engine compartment --- it's the same style ( two brake fluid containers and all ! ) .

Here's a listing ( I bought an entire kit just for its parts for the MPC 1984 Corvette kit : glass , tyres , and wheels --- no more incorrect tyres [ B.F. Goodrich ] , and no tyre-burnt glass ! ) . 

DISCLAIMER : This is not my listing ! It's just for a reference . https://www.ebay.com/itm/Master-Cylinder-1990-ZR-1-1-25-Scl-1000s-Model-Car-Parts-4-Sale/283828230988?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3Da2de5a08df3440c19bf146673bc5812c%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D15%26mehot%3Dnone%26sd%3D174263002436%26itm%3D283828230988%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057%26brand%3DAMT&_trksid=p2380057.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3A7b636ae9-9039-11ea-861e-f2179c98068c|parentrq%3Aee2accb11710ad397ec6eb23ffe9a0c4|iid%3A1 

 

Edited May 7, 2020 by 1972coronet
ADDENDUM

[Faust]

Thanks, Joe!

Oh, man.... I never thought about the single-wall beds, but that makes sense. Good lord...

I thought it was weird they called out a 262 on the box. Still, if that's what they say it is... That's a pretty short run engine, too, I guess. If Wikipedia is to be believed, then it was only around for a couple of years. Someone told me that working on them in Monzas was a pain in the royal patoot. 

Interesting.... good use for a Vette kit! I'm not a C4 guy, but I do have the "Barbie Vette" Snap-Tite.  I'll have to scrounge in the boneyard to see if there's anything I've got kicking around that'll fit. Maybe something from my wrecked SHO? Hmmm...

 

 

[1972coronet]

3 hours ago, Faust said:

Oh, man.... I never thought about the single-wall beds, but that makes sense. Good lord...

I've tried various ways of wording "double-wall pickup cargo bed conversions for 1970's mini-trucks" in the search engine , but nothing's materialised . I used to see ads for them in fill-in-the-blank pickup magazines back in the 70's and 80's --- now I can't find a thing . 

I've heard first-hand accounts about the H-Special assembly "issues" from guys whom worked at the South Gate , California plant ( formerly on the southeast corner of Alameda @ Tweedy in that Los Angeles suburb ) . Let's just say that certain "medically-induced enhancers" were in common use .

[Goose1957]

Would the v-6 from the Jeep Commando work? It is, after all, a Buick engine before they sold it, then bought it back again. I think that would look good in the Chevy Luv.

Jeff 

[Rbray47]

As far as the single wall beds go, I've seem home brewed solutions involving plywood. If ya did that mod when the truck was new it kept the dents out, but accelerated the rust (held moisture)

My 1:1 was beat to heck when I got it, so I didnt even try. 

[Rob Hall]

Haven't seen a 1:1 Luv in a long time..saw a really battered faded red one in Scottsdale maybe 4 years ago...every panel was bent or mangled, but it was still running. Interior was cracked and shredded.

[Rbray47]

Rob, I think most of them rusted away. I bought my 76 when it was already over 20 yrs old and had over 100k miles. It was pretty rusty then. I put another 50-60k on it before I sold it to my ex-BIL. The frame was almost rusted through, and I made sure to tell him beforehand. He forgot one day and loaded it down with rocks. One frame rail snapped when he drove it loaded over a hump in his yard. 

Outside of electrical issues, it ran fine until the very end. 

[1972coronet]

11 hours ago, Goose1957 said:

Would the v-6 from the Jeep Commando work? It is, after all, a Buick engine before they sold it, then bought it back again. I think that would look good in the Chevy Luv.

 

The 225 Dauntless V6 from the Jeep is 1/25 scale , whereas the LUV is 1/24 scale . It would likely look quite miniscule in that LUV's boiler room ; maybe someone whom has both kits at-hand can chime-in ? 

Not that anyone asked ; I'm going to build my example out-of-box with the exception of the wheels ( I just can't bring myself to put those kit wheels on my build --- I bought two FMR-35 and FMR-36 from Fireball :http://www.fireballmodels.info/fmr-035-37.htm ) and am going to add the aforementioned brake booster / master cylinder from the MPC / AMT Corvette .

[RancheroSteve]

Great review as usual, Adam!

I don't know if these have been posted here before, but if in case nobody's seen them, I thought you'd enjoy a shot of the original decals for the LUV, which also had some weird and inexplicable UFO theme, with a Medieval touch on one side.

[Goose1957]

34 minutes ago, 1972coronet said:

The 225 Dauntless V6 from the Jeep is 1/25 scale , whereas the LUV is 1/24 scale . It would likely look quite miniscule in that LUV's boiler room ; maybe someone whom has both kits at-hand can chime-in ? 

Not that anyone asked ; I'm going to build my example out-of-box with the exception of the wheels ( I just can't bring myself to put those kit wheels on my build --- I bought two FMR-35 and FMR-36 from Fireball :http://www.fireballmodels.info/fmr-035-37.htm ) and am going to add the aforementioned brake booster / master cylinder from the MPC / AMT Corvette .

Yeah, I knew the differences in scale, I wasn't sure how big the engine bay is in the Luv. I know it would look smaller, maybe add a turbo setup to fill some of the empty space, lol. I just thought it would be an alternative for someone building one. I may have to get one and put one of my resin Cummins engines in my stash in it just to roll some coal, lol. Maybe cut it down to a BT-4 4 cylinder.

Jeff 

[1972coronet]

1 hour ago, Goose1957 said:

I may have to get one and put one of my resin Cummins engines in my stash in it just to roll some coal, lol. Maybe cut it down to a BT-4 4 cylinder.

That would be nice ! Heck , even a 3-53 or 3-71 Detroit would be cool .

[Luc Janssens]

10 hours ago, RancheroSteve said:

Great review as usual, Adam!

I don't know if these have been posted here before, but if in case nobody's seen them, I thought you'd enjoy a shot of the original decals for the LUV, which also had some weird and inexplicable UFO theme, with a Medieval touch on one side.

Have that kit too, anyway it's probably because sci-fi was big at the time, I remember that we as kids were watching Battlestar Galactica, and then there was also this little fling named Star Wars..

[disconovaman]

3 hours ago, Luc Janssens said:

 it's probably because sci-fi was big at the time,

The topper decals remind me of that scene in Close Encounters Of The Third Kind  with Richard Dreyfuss. That's a classic UFO movie... The new decals are in Nostalgic in that same theme also and the New Mexico connection was Genius. The design teams these model companies have are the best...

[Faust]

Luc! Those decals are awesome! I love that they're asymmetric! I forget that often vans were different on each side! 

Since I have seen the Mighty Mike decals in blue (in the brochure) I would have loved if they'd have included the Blue Mighty Mikes and that old art as an option. Still, I agree with Anthony, that they design department worked hard on this reissue. Great work!

Thanks guys!

[Luc Janssens]

48 minutes ago, Faust said:

Luc! Those decals are awesome! I love that they're asymmetric! I forget that often vans were different on each side! 

Since I have seen the Mighty Mike decals in blue (in the brochure) I would have loved if they'd have included the Blue Mighty Mikes and that old art as an option. Still, I agree with Anthony, that they design department worked hard on this reissue. Great work!

Thanks guys!

Don't thank me, but Steve Roullier cuz he posted the photo. 

 

 

[gray07]

the space decals look like war of the worlds

[Faust]

20 hours ago, Luc Janssens said:

Don't thank me, but Steve Roullier cuz he posted the photo. 

 

 

Darn, you're right! Sorry about that Steve. Thanks where it's due - thanks man! 

[RancheroSteve]

6 hours ago, Faust said:

Darn, you're right! Sorry about that Steve. Thanks where it's due - thanks man! 

No worries, Adam!