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The VEGA & PINTO Celebration Thread


Dr. Cranky

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You remember the line from the movie FIELD OF DREAMS:

"If you build it, they will come."

Well, I am thinking if a thread like this exists--a place where we put our memories, observations, plans--of these two kits, maybe our wishes will be fulfilled within the next couple of years . . .

I think the 70s will then be pretty complete, now that all those great vans (not to mention the Gremlin and the Pacers) are making a triumphant return.

If you have vintage VEGA and PINTO kits, boxed or built, feel free to share them . . . I hope this will start a wonderful pre-review conversation.

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I'd like to have re-release of Vega. That Twister Vega kit is horrible, but it's Vega and could be modified to look better. I haven't seen any other non-FC Vega kits, are there any?

Anyway, I've built one Twister Vega many years ago, and I remember, that kit was terrible.

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My current Pinto stock.

I am not so sure the Pinto would be as anticipated Or popular as the Gremlin. There are some cars/brands that have very dedicated fans - AMC seems to be one. But who knows? The general public will more than likely pass on most of the Gremlin/Pinto releases, so it's up to the serious modeling crowd to purchase. My friends and family who dont build all wonder "why" when they see kits of "infamous" cars.

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see how diverse the kit building choices were? both runabouts (hatchbacks) AND sedans.... and there were wagons as well! and few of those kits were "air boxes"..... almost ALL of them had a load of extra optional "goodies".

MPC had a pair of racing bucket seats that they added to almost every compact and medium size kit they made, and those were my absolute favorite seats to use in my builds back then... as a matter of fact; i think they had two versions; a low back and a high back version. they were tooled up for the ProStock cars, IIRC...

got to hit another swap meet soon. i missed SO many annuals the last time we had one.

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As a former multi-Vega owner and road race type enthusiest, I would love to see both the Vega and the Pinto make their modeling combacks. Would love to use them as the basis to build either the road racers that tore up the tracks in the '70s or models of my own '76 street racer hatchback or '74 V8 wagon or even my brother's '71 Vega Panel Truck (registered as a truck with Texas Truck plates!).

Let's get 'em back!

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Here is a mini "retro" review of the kit contents, if anybody is interested...

First, AMT "Runabout":

The body (I don't know about the history of AMT and MPC, but I think the bodies in these kits are pretty much the same)

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Interior tub and chassis (front suspension looks very Gremlin-esque)

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Chrome tree - some nice options for a blown engine, drag wheels, etc (and stock wheels)

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The V8, 429, and misc

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The four cylinder, seats, tires

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Box art

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From a 'looks' point of view, the '71 to '73 would be the right choice for a Vega or Pinto. Those ugly, big bumper cars do nothing for me.

That '74 3 in 1 MPC kit along with the early bumpers, & valances makes a real nice little sedan, just like the real one I used to have (the first of about 6 sedans & 3 Runabouts, & 2 wagons.) Edited by horsepower
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Built this when it came out, forgot all about it until i seen this topic, its been in a tub for about 15 years or longer.

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Had this in same tub, anybody know anything about it, its not tubbed, someone cut the fron end off of it i guess to make it flip, ive had it for at least 20 years.

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Edited by gray07
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Ahem...

Not a thing wrong with Vegas or Pintos, but there is another reviled '70's American subcompact which was kitted and hasn't been seen in years...

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And lets not forget AMC's other oddball- the Pacer, which was kitted by both AMT and MPC and, again, hasn't seen the light of day in decades.

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the pacer had a beautiful six cylinder engine and trans.... great AMC rims, too. i'd love to see ALL of these hit the shelf again.

the Chevette kit suffered from the limitations the 1:1 car had... Chevrolet never gave it ANYTHING like what it gave the Vega in terms of trim options, dress ups.... even the T1000 Pontiac was almost a stillborn. funny thing, though... i saw Chevettes on the road for YEARS after the last Vega i saw vanished into the sunset..... and there's at least ONE local guy running a Pinto wagon daily here....

to swap engines in a Chevette/T1000 required replacing the rear axle as well, since that car used a torque tube type drivetrain not seen since the '50's in a Chevrolet. even the kit engineers saw that kids would recognize that if they added a v8 to the kit.....

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There were both '76 and '77 MPC Pacer kits, NIB, which sold for $32 and $25, so there are still easy to find. If $30 is about what you'd pay for a new Revell Special Edition kit, and $20 gets you a re-issued AMT kit, why even hope for and wait on a reissue? The other issue with re-issuing the Pacer is I think it was last issued as a custom, just like the Gremlin, so Round2 would need to backdate it and restore the body to '78 specs.

I can see the Vega having the most appeal with John Q Public, and I hope Round2 doesn't stay consistent and re-issue the Mustang II in retro box art instead.

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