Got my '78 Ford pickup two days ago. And it's very similar to the kit I bought back in the summer of 1975. For all the faults others have mentioned about this, other than the windshield problem, I like it. A lot of people are complaining about the longggg... box used in this kit. And the inaccuracy of the 4-wheel drive set up.
Remembering back to the time when the original version of this kit came out in 1975. Offering the kit as 2-wheel drive F-350 Camper Special made a lot of sense. First one needs to remember, that 4-wheel drive pickups were no where near as popular then as they are now. Even here in the land of snow and ice. It wasn't until about this time that 4-wheel drive trucks were just becoming civilized. Before the late '60s-early'70s very few 4-wheel drive trucks were offered with automatic transmissions. Most were tall, rough riding vehicles designed for work only. As this started to change in the '70s more and more people started buying 4-wheel drive. By the '80s, in this part of country at least, 4-wheel was becoming the way to go. But in 1975, not so much.
Throughout the '60s and '70s slide in truck campers were very popular. So it was natural that AMT would design their model truck as a one ton camper special. I thought it was very cool at time. Still do. Only Ford offered the spare tire mounted in the right side box fender, as depicted in the AMT kit. This spare tire setup was only offered with the Camper Special package. Can you imagine crawling under your other pickups with a camper on to get after the spare? With the waning of the popularity of slide in campers, Ford did not offer this option on their new redesigned pickups for 1980.
As far as square vs round headlights. Square headlamps were first offered, and as standard equipment on the upper level Fords for the 1978 model year. The lower models still came with round headlamps in similar bezels. The square headlamps were optional on the lower level trucks, and became standard on all full-size Fords trucks for 1979. By the way, most versions had black painted bezels. Top of the line models they were chrome.
Another inaccuracy on this kit are the gas fillers. The '73, through I believe '76 Fords had this set up. The later trucks of this generation hid the fuel fillers behind doors/flaps. Not a big deal to me. But, incorrect none the less.
As far as real Firestone give away truck. I believe it was an F-150, not a F-350 as depicted with the model. I know it was 4-wheel drive. I have been able to find little to nothing on this truck on the web. I found few ads for the Super Stones sweepstakes with the prizes listed. But very little detail on anything else anywhere on the web. What do others out there know of the real vehicles given away in this sweepstakes. And were are they today?
All in all I like this kit. My plans are to build it as a 2-wheel drive Camper Special. After all Ford did not offer the F-350s in 4-wheel drive until 1979. With the grill being basically the same between '78 and '79, other than the incorrect front suspension for an F-350 4x4, one could claim it was a '79.