unclescott58

By the way Tim, you mentioned the infamous recall wheels on the '69 Mopars. It's a shame those wheels failed, because they were IMO very good looking. I don't know about Round 2s latest release of the MPC '69 Cuda. But, past releases came with those representing the "stock" wheels. And again, even though they are not 100% correct I will use them if and when I get around to building the '69 Cuda I have in my stash.

Your always a good source for information Tim. Your basically confirming what I'm getting and not getting from the sources I've been using. Thank you for the info. It always helps. Even if I choose to use the wrong wheels that come with the kit. I know they are not right. But I like them.

Recently I received an model kit as a gift that is personally signed to me by the designer. It's a brand new kit. The plastic wrapping was removed so the person could sign the actual box. It has already become my most treasured model in my collection. Somewhere I've seen a clear box designed to specify to store and display models car kit in a standard size box. I can't remember were I saw this, but I sure would like to find one for the special kit I talked about above. I could found find nothing specifically like that on eBay. Does anybody know if there is something like I'm describing? And if so, where I can get one?

What do those two animals say about each of those cars? Or their drivers?

I still use Testors. I hear everybody put the stuff down, but I've never had a problem with it.

If you do that, you'll miss out on a lot of good deals. There are a few people out there who seem to hate eBay. I wonder why? I've been using eBay for years with very few problems. In general I do dislike the auctions. But I've picked up a lot of great deals using the "buy it now" feature. I love eBay. Sometime too much.

Winky the Cat! I'd love find one today.

Okay, time for me to beat that dead horse a little more. As you guys know I recenty decided to buy another AMT '68 Road Runner kit from a vendor on eBay. And be anal about correct information on the cars I build is important to me. The models themselves may not 100% correct when I'm done. But, I can at least tell you why. This brings me back to rubber floor mats versus carpeting in the base Road Runner coupe for '68. From another vendor on eBay I bought the 1968 Road Runner Belvedere Illustrated Facts Manual. Jim Osborn Reproductions, Inc. has put out several these "Illustrated Facts Manuals" on a wide variety of mainly muscle cars of the 60's and 70's. Reprinting parts of factory sales and information manuals. So I get the Road Runner Belvedere one in the mail today. Guess what? First, the manual they based this reprint off of is obviously an early one. Only the Road Runner 2-door Coupe is listed. And there is no talk about the Road Runner Decor Group. But the surprise came in the pages titled the 1986 Mid-Size Five Equipment. It's a comprehensive list of both standard and option equipment for the '68 Mid-Size Plymouths. And here's what it says under "Floor covering (Passenger comp.)." Color-keyed rubber mat, standard on Road Runner and Belvedere. Color-keyed formed carpet, standard on GTX, Sport Satellite, and Satellite. And no carpet option for the Road Runner is listed! Okay I don't know what to think. Was the original plan to offer the Road Runner so bare bones that Plymouth felt carpet wasn't needed? Then quickly changed their minds and made carpet standard? That's the only thing I can figure out. One other thing. The five-spoke 15" "Road Wheels" do not show up in any book I have, listing them as being available on the Hemi Road Runners in '68 or '69. The '68 Illustrated Fact Manual list the 14" Road Wheels as being optional on all mid-size models. But, parenthesis on the with that option states, "NA w/wheel covers, disc brakes or 426 Hemi." So were these wheels available in a 15" size at some point in '68 or '69 as depicted on the AMT '68 Road Runner model kit? Do a Google search for '68 Hemi Road Runners you'll see them equipped with Road Wheels.But what size they are? And whether factory put them on, I don't know? Yet my AMT model will have them. Right or wrong.

Another cool and lame car from the same time period as Volare Road Runner. The 1978 and '79 Oldsmobile 442, base a the fastback Cutlass Salon. When is last time you saw one of those?

I need to find one Monogram's stake bed versions of this truck. Very cool to see a real one. Especial since it is a good match for the Monogram kit. The pictures would be a good guide for building the model.

I really wish the above kit would be reissued. I really like 70's Chevy stepsides.

I've always wonder. What was the point of the little animals at the time? I love extra little goodies in kits. Things like trailers. MPC's canoes that came with their '69 and '70 Pontiac hardtops. The luggage rack and suit case in AMT's original '63 Corvette. The soapbox derby car that is coming back with AMT's '68 El Camino. Even the bongo drums that appeared in couple old AMT kits. But, the animals? Stuffed or otherwise just never clicked with me. The only one I've ever liked is the old AMT Kat. The others I don't get.

Because we don't like Canadians down here. Just kidding! ?

See. One needs to go for it!

I don't mind the lame 70's cars. Front engine, rear drive is what every car was when I was kid. The Volkswagen Rabbit was the car I first remember that started changing it all. Transverse engine and front wheel drive. Though the Honda Civic may have beaten the Rabbit with that setup. The Dasher, Rabbit, and Scirocco were heresy to me. I loved the rear engine air cooled cars. Water cooling and front wheel drive? In a Volkswagen? Quickly other cars started to follow. The Omni and Horizon. Citation, Phoenix, Omega, and Skylark. Then the K-cars and soon after that their Minivan spinoff. And then GM put it's full-size cars on a transverse engine, front wheel drive platform! The world was turning upside down on me. I understood why it was happening. But, I didn't like it. Volares and Aspens were junk. I know, I owned one brand new. But, I could still relate to them. They had slant sixes, just like the 1960 Valiant. Up to that point most cars came with a straight six as the base engine. And V8s as an option. That was the world I knew and liked. The 80's cars came with 4-cylinders, V6s, and Turbos. And they didn't seem to work any better than the cars they replaced. True the Rabbit was better than Beetle in many ways, but the rest were debatable. I think the K-car and GMs look alike B-body cars of 1992 finally did me in. No style or performance. They were pretty good and well designed cars, but they just weren't right for some reason. So I like Volare Road Runners and Aspen R/Ts. They were not the muscle cars they were ten years before. But, at least they were still in there fighting. Their K-car replacements had no sporty version. Life, car wise, was now bland and boring. And small. I liked big cars. Hardtops. Convertibles. Now everything was down-sized and a sedan. Even Mustangs had doors with window frames. It just wasn't right. And as far I concerned it still isn't. Today's cars are best running, longest lasting, and more economical then they were in the 50's, 60's, or 70's. They do their job well. But most have become Toyota Corolla clones with no soul. At least the Volare had a soul. A personality. It may not have been a good one. But, at least it was there.

Trying to keep it real? It can be done. See the picture Richard posted above. It's even easier to do to model kit. Yea Dusey engines are as big as large truck motors. You may have to design a special chassis and suspension for it. But, it can be done. The idea is very cool. It should be done.

So. You just stretch the chassis a bit. It would be very cool.

Okay, to keep on beating a dead horse, I pulled out my Plymouth 1969 Car & Equipment Prices (revised) book. For 1969 Chrysler went to a different numbering system for their options. And the '69 book it tells us what's included with those options. So below is what came with what they now called the "Road Runner Decor Package." This should give us a pretty good idea of what was included in the '68 "Road Runner Decor Group." A87 - Road Runner Decor Package (2-door Coupe only) ............. $81.50 Custom-Quality Vinyl Bench Seat * Rear Armrests w/Ash Receivers Bright B-Pillar Moldings Deluxe Steering Wheel with Partial Horn Ring * Chrome Tailpipe Extensions * (exc. Calif.) Bright Door Trim Panel Moldings * Bright Armrest Bases * The * after each item that has it, indicates "Available in Package only." Again the package was only available on the 2-Coupe. Because all the pieces of the package, except the "Bright B-Pillar Moldings, are standard on the 2-door Hardtop and the Convertible. Also note there is no rear deck lid accent panel in the '69 Decor Package. Which from everything I've read, did come with the '68 Decor Group. And we know for sure it was standard on the '68 Hardtop. Okay, that's enough beating the dead horse for now. It's almost bed time. Now to hop into bed and read more stuff on Road Runners. 1968, and on up.

Just a little clarification. Dyersville is in Iowa. Not Illinois. And Round 2 has been reissuing a lot of kits Ertl did not do in their time. (See the 1/32 scale kits we talked about above, for an example). So there is always hope.

There are still a couple of other 1/32 scale kits I'm waiting for them to reissue too. The other kits in that's series I know of are: A 1960 Thunderbird; a 1963 Corvette coupe; and a 1932 Ford three-window Coupe. I think they may have also offered a '65 Mustang fastback in that scale/series? Come on Round 2 keep pumping these babies out!

It looks like I need to eat a little crow. Ace your questioning about whether carpet was standard or not, got me doing a little more research. My 1968 Car and Equipment Prices book does not show me exactly what is standard equipment on every car. Nor does it give a breakdown, like in later years/versions of the same book, what exactly comes in every package or with every option. It only tells you what options are available, their prices, and what options can be on what car with what other options. So off I went to the Hamtrack Registry website to look at the 1968 Dealer Data book. Which does tell you what comes as standard equipment on each model. And guess what? Road Runners, according to that book, did come with carpeting as standard equipment. So you and the Martini report are correct. Carpet was color-keyed when you ordered the TorqeFlite transmission. Black on 4-speed cars. The Hamtrack Registry is a great website for info on Mopar muscle cars. And for Mopar none muscle cars too. I also looked at the '68 Color and Trim book. In there is no mention in there of the Hardtop Road Runners, or the Road Runner Decor Group interior. So it must be from early in the model run. They also have my exact same Car and Equipment Prices book there. Plus many other interesting official Chrysler documents, for several years, that you can look at for free. I haven't seen Shake-n-Bake for a long time now. Do they still make it? And can I use it with crow? ?

On '68 Road Runners with 4-speeds. The carpeting was always black. No matter what color interior you ordered. I forgot to mention two other items that came with the Road Runner Decor Group. With that option, you also got a nicer steering wheel and on the Coupe, trim for the "B" pillar.

There is the catch to these "official" options and price guides. Things did get changed. I've not found any evidence of buckets and a console being offer from the factory for the '68 Road Runner. But, it is possible. Again I like to tell the story of my buddies '71 Buick Riviera. It's painted black and has front lamp monitors. Both of which were not available on '71 Rivs. Yet he has paperwork proving the car came from the factory that way. It was built near the end of the '71 model run. Lamp monitors became an option for sure in 1972. Did Buick decide to release them earlier on the last of '71s? It sure looks like it. And the paint? Pull the right strings, and the factories would paint a car, with reason, any factory color you wanted back then. We also know that 15" wheels were made, like those seen on AMT's '68 Road Runner kit. So why wouldn't Plymouth offer them at some point later in the year? And the buckets and console did become an option on '69 Road Runners. There must have been complaints that they were not offered in '68. So would I be surprised if a '68 Road Runner popped up with factory installed bucket and console. No. But, I would like to see some paperwork proving it. One last thing. To eliminate confusion it should be noted in the info I posted above, about option 360 - Road Runner Decor Group. You'll note it was only available on the 2-door Coupe and not the Hardtop. In case your wondering why? The '68 Road Runner Hardtops came with the Decor Group already as standard equipment. This included nicer seats, carpeting, bright armrest bases, rear seat armrests, and the appliqué on the trunk lid extending between the taillights. Also it should be noted the Decor Group did not become available until the Hardtop was added to the line in January of '68. Even though Road Runner was be the "bare bones" muscle car. It becomes obvious with the introduction of the Hardtop and the Decor Group that not everybody was enchanted with a basic 2-door Coupe, with plain seats and rubber floor mats. Or the lack of bright trim. And for '69... They were even willing to pay to have bucket seats in their Road Runners! By '72, you could order a Road Runner with all the goodies, making the GTX redundant and discountinued.

On Bob's list above, if Round 2 has the dies for any of those kits, they need bring them all back. I'd buy at least one of each. I can guarantee that.

Very nice. Great looking Charger.