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History of Monogram's Squarebody GM Pickups


Fabrux

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This has been a fscinating topic! I never realized there were that many General Motors truck kits available. I myself have the recent issue of the Chevy stepside, an original Blazer, and an original Jimmy. I just acquired an original GMC Sport Pickup from Ebay that hasn't arrived, yet. Would a rear differential from one Monogram's GM van kits be accurate for the rear ends in question, here?

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A few things that haven't really been mentioned that I've noticed.

1) In the GMC Jimmy kit, the extra parts all represent Hickey parts available at the time (hood, grille guard, rear spare/fuel carrier). I'm building a version of the Jimmy that Hickey customized, called the Desert Fox (this one has an incorrect red grille guard, so it may have been pre-production).

00011.jpg

2) The Jimmy kit did include a set of headers, along with a dual-intake air cleaner.

3) The wheel arch dimensions of the truck compared to the Blazer/Jimmy I believe to be different. This is based on the flares provided in the Jimmy kit; while they appear to fit the arches correctly on the box art, they are much too large for the truck wheel arches. In order to mount them, one would either have to cut out the fenders (which makes sense since the style is generally used to cover larger openings), or cut down the flares to fit the openings (I chose the latter, since it was easier to accomplish IMO).

4) Neither the Jimmy kit nor the GMC pickup kit come with stock-style steering wheels. The Jimmy comes with a nice "Grant GT-Series" style 4-spoke wheel, while the truck comes with a nice "Grant GT-Series" style 3-spoke wheel.

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This topic on the 70's GM trucks has now got me building what my 74 Jimmy 1:1 was like. I only wish I could find some pictures of it. I've been able to pick up the Jimmy kit and the texture on the roof makes it easier to convert to the 74 model with the full removable roof. My 1:1 had many of the after market items that came in the kit . I've got the new released pickup coming to change out the bumpers and hood. I'm going to scratch build the front grill to the 74 with the 3 block outs.

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Nice catalogue! Makes one wonder why they never made either a GM pickup High Roller or a Blazer High Roller. I guess the Pulldozer is enough of a fuzzy middle ground... Although, it shows that all the Blazer issues had the tiny door handle. Where any ever produced with the correct sized handle?

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Chris,

Here's a scan from a '84 Monogram product catalog

scannen0002.jpg

If they still had the tooling for this, it would make a great release as an 'Armed pick up' That you see in middle east and African conflicts.

I recently bought the Italeri Toyota armed pick up and was pretty disappointed with the lack of interior panels etc, so will be using the gun and various other parts for another project.

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If they still had the tooling for this, it would make a great release as an 'Armed pick up' That you see in middle east and African conflicts.

I recently bought the Italeri Toyota armed pick up and was pretty disappointed with the lack of interior panels etc, so will be using the gun and various other parts for another project.

That's an old Esci kit, I didn't guy it because they left out the hardtop, stupid marketing.

About the Monogram Blue Thunder Chevy, I think it never materialized, maybe because in the show they used an S10 Blazer.

Edited by Luc Janssens
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