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1970-1975... the sad years....


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.... for full size car kits.

Except for scarse examples like the 1970 Impala & Bonneville, and the 1976 Caprice, which does not even belong to the mentioned period, there is nothing in the full size. And when it comes to four door models, lower trim levels or station wagons the picture is even more dramatic..... I am curious how many of you share the interest in this segment? Are we strong enough for our voice to be heard?

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'70s cars are one of my favorite old car eras, esp. full size. I have the AMT '70 Fords (Galaxie and LTD), '70 Buick, AMT and MPC '70 Impalas, and the MPC '71 and '72 Impalas, '73-76 Caprices. The drop-off in promo orders from the automakers probably accounts partially for why so few kits were made back in the day after 1970 in the full size niche.

However, the resin makers, esp. Modelhaus and Missing Link, have done many interesting subjects in this niche...I've got the Modelhaus '70 Ford wagons, '72 Ford Custom, '72 LTD, '72 Riviera, '73 Caprice wagon, '75 Impala 4dr, '76 Caddy Coupe de Ville, Motor City Resin '70 XL, ML '71 Galaxie and '78 LTD, AAR '71 Olds 88 and '71 Riviera, R&R '70 Chrysler 300, '70 Chevy wagon, and F&F '70 Impala 4dr ht.

Edited by Rob Hall
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I am guessing kids back in the day were more interested in making sports cars and muscle cars rather than family sedans or wagons, as for why not so many molds exist now. What they need to make more is Cadillac models, there is like none! and the jo han devilles go for over 100 even in bad condition on ebay, ridiculous.

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All kidding aside here. I stopped building models in 1970 on account of my college work load . I spent a year at Virginia Commonwealth in the School of business. From there , I was working part time in an Earl Schieb trying to pay for classes . 1973 got me into U C L A . I studied there for a couple of years and was involved with some experiments in building speaker cabinets . That led to my own company in Houston where I usually worked 60-80 hrs a week manufacturing Van accessories . The few models I built were vans . Even then, they were models of vans I had shown for my customers . As for the cars at the time , uggggggggggggg! Naw, I still want a 1967 Impala !

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I don't think 1970-75 were sad years. There were still a lot of neat things going on with American cars. Cars became less exciting around the time of the first gas crisis. And that low point went all the way through the 1980s. Even so, I do stop and look when I see an old car from that era today, some of which I remember with affection. And as things go, these cars will be collected and enjoyed by those who remember them from their youth. Somewhere someone is doing a ground up restoration on a 1984 Dodge Caravan just like the one mom used to own!

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So much untouched subject matter. Not to be a Debbie Downer, but other than us old school guys there might not be a lot of interest. Would be nice if Revell tooled up some pontiacs or oldsmobiles, and they could include their Donk-ey parts as well as stock and perhaps get a wider following. Just be sure to add the Skittles and Newport decals!

Edited by Draggon
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I don't think 1970-75 were sad years. There were still a lot of neat things going on with American cars. Cars became less exciting around the time of the first gas crisis. And that low point went all the way through the 1980s. Even so, I do stop and look when I see an old car from that era today, some of which I remember with affection. And as things go, these cars will be collected and enjoyed by those who remember them from their youth. Somewhere someone is doing a ground up restoration on a 1984 Dodge Caravan just like the one mom used to own!

I did not mean in reality. With 'sad' I was talking about the lack of model kits of this period. And as far as four door and wagons my interest in them is not because I hate fast sport car, rather, to me at least, model building is a re-creation of reality in small scale. It could not be in reality that people drove only convertible Bel Airs, Nomads and Corvette in 1955. But if we take that year as an example, we will nothing in the kit world but these three (Ok you can the two door HT and the 300C).

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  • 2 weeks later...

When you look at the big picture, not many four-door sedans or station wagons of any era have been produced in styrene, kit form by the "major" manufacturers. But a lot have been very nicely produced in resin. It all depends on where you look and how much you want to spend.

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A small step in the right direction would be, if Round-2, would see fit to update their '78ish Monaco tool with decent wheels/tires and lightbars and separate front clip, to recreate the Monaco/Fury series Yodel ones did.

Or throw it in a bigger box together with a mpc Dodge Daytona and secure a license with Stephen J. Channel productions (News corp)

Edited by Luc Janssens
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Almost without exception the 70s, particularly '72-'76, were really bad times for the US car industry. Bloated full-size cars, overweight intermediates, absurdly proportioned "personal luxury coupes" (Monte Carlo, GP, T-birds, Mark IV & V, etc. ad nauseum) cheap compacts with even more indifferent build quality than usual were the norm for the Big Three. Ridiculous styling cliches such as standup hood ornaments, opera windows and miniature carriage lights, half vinyl carriage roofs, cheap-looking fake woodgrain, cheap velour upholstery, cheap plastic trim, cheap vinyl stripe trim options and screaming chicken hood decals made every new model year a more depressing event than the one before. Coupled with the ridiculous gas mileage these vehicles typically achieved, the lack of long range durability they suffered, the outdated and unimaginative engineering and cynical product development they displayed, American cars of the period offered the fan of American cars virtually nothing to be proud of at the time.

GM, Chrysler, and Ford have spent over 30 years living down the reputation they made for themselves with the junk they built then and rightly so.

But who knows, maybe there is a market for a Revell 1/25 full detail kit of a Continental Mark V Bill Blass Edition or a Chrysler Cordoba with rich Corinthian Leather and fake wire wheel covers. Or maybe a '73 Buick Lesabre sedan molded in avocado green.

Sad years indeed.

Edited by John Goschke
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I'm still hearing Recardo Montilbaun's voice dubbed over the "Corinthian Leather seats "....................... Gee, I wanna go to Fantasy island too!

Of course the one I SHALL NEVER EVER FORGIVE , or FORGET is the 1979 Toyota commercial ; "America , YOU asked for it and YOU GOT IT , TOYOTA "! Yeah really ?

Hey folks , I was very satisfied with my 1969 Econoline E-300 LWB Van 3spd , positraction , 240 six cylinder beast . I'd gotten it in a Sherrifs auction in Crown Point Indiana for a mere 300.00. it had woopdie do swivel seats , a heater , a WORKING cigarette lighter , Shaggy carpet and one of muh DELUXE Drink holders on da Mota cover . Where ya gonna put yer swivel seats in a Toyota anyway ???? HUH ?

Edited by Eshaver
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Not me! I can't think of any full-size cars or wagons that appeal to me after 1969. I was graduated from high school in 1971. I drove Mom's 1967 Impala 2-door hardtop with a 283 and Powerglide until I went off to college with my own car ('72 Opel 1900 coupe -- the car that the Vega should have been). I like the style of '67 Impala and earlier mid-sized and big cars and wagons like the Olds Vista Cruiser but I don't care for the later ones.

Hey Ed Shaver, I too had a '69 Econoline long wheelbase with the 240 and three-on-the-tree (but it was the E100 and probably had the standard rear axle). I bought it used in 1976 as a soda vending machine service truck and customized it. It served well until 1987 when I bought a new Astro van.

The period from 1973 through about 1985 is often mentioned as the malaise era for 1:1 cars -- and for good reason. Often they had poor build quality, unattractive styling as the manufacturers tried to integrate (as cheaply as possible) the required safety features such as 5 mph bumpers, poor performance due to a long learning curve for reducing emissions and increasing gas mileage. I think it was the 5.0 Mustang in the mid '80s that got folks interested in performance again.

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