Faust

Hey Ross! Yeah, now we're on the same page. It's funny how two-faced politicians are. If even a small auto-related plant opens, they'll talk about all the "spin off jobs" (the term we use here in Canada) that'll be created, and tout the opening as some big accomplishment for the area, and thus themselves (even though they have lilttle, to nothing, to do with it). However, when a plant closes, it's ONLY 10,000 jobs. What about the spin offs? What you say is exactly right. I am angry and offended by your government's decision. What they did to you by nuking the auto industry is essentially, I feel, make you beholden to the rest of the world for your independence. If there is ANYTHING that seems un-Australian, that would be it. It's like what cancelling the CF-105 Arrow did to Canada's aviation industry, but on a much larger scale. Your government is either short-sighted or plain stupid, is all I can say. I agree, the G8 is a fabulous car! My other car is a 1980 Trans Am, and I really wanted a family car that was a "4-door, everyday T/A". Well, the G8 is that and more! I love having a 'big' sedan that can completely waste all these ricer/tuner idiots who think they're hot spit. You want to see import muscle? HERE is how it's done! I'll see if I can find any good pics of it to put up. Two Nivas! Kick butt! Good luck with the L-39. That's a very pretty airplane, and very fun to watch fly. There are a couple that are owned locally around here, so I see one flying quite often!

Yeah, it was a Flintstone body! I thought that was it, but I didn't want to say it because all I could think of was Fred Flintstone! I don't remember it being a sedan delivery. That's interesting! I have a queue like that too, Tom! Glad I'm not the only one.

Yeah, we got those, but didn't Mattias say they got the four door as a fast back? Or, did I misunderstand. I have seen a resin cast body for the Cavalier Wagon once. It was like $60 just for the body, and I didn't have any kit to go under it at that time, either! I would love to see more econobeater variants, though! These things need to get Round 2'd. Seriously. There's got to be some interest out there, no?

Whoa... you guys got this body style as a Four Door? We could only get the fastback as a two door! How f'ed up is that! Man, now I wish I had a few more of these things!

Thanks guys! Yeah, for some reason, you don't see this one too often. Walter: your points about the tires are well-made. I may yet go back and correct things. I'd never thought of that, actually! I really wish they'd have made a conventional Sunbird or Skylark (that was the Buick, wasn't it?); that would have totally rocked!

I've tried to post pics of it here, I really want to, but it never seems to work. I'll try again, because I agree with you totally, Jonathan. Okay, got it! Thing is, I was trying to use the "Insert Picture from URL", but I had to paste it from my hard drive instead. Knowledge is power!

They say you can’t go back again. However, that’s not entirely true when it comes to modelling! There’s always a chance to take another run at a kit that you might have botched up in your younger years. For me, such a kit is, of course, a loser car! In this case, it’s the MPC 1982 Cavalier! Sure, you’re thinking that the Cavalier may not be worth re-doing, right? Well, as a car, you might not be wrong on that, but it’s a neat kit of a very important car. The Cavalier nameplate solidered on for a long time, and it’s one of those cars that literally seemed to be everywhere back in the day. Check out my take on this “New for ‘82” Chevy and tell me what you think. If it makes you remember how bad things got, then I’ve done my job! J https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/cars/125-mpc-1982-cavalier/

Ross: You're right about the car being a non-taxi. I'm surprised at it being yellow as well, though. I did put a correction on the article, but I decided to leave it as it was because a.) I had fun writing it thinking it was a taxi and b.) my remarks are applicable to the taxi, of which there is a toy, but this just isn't it. I'm astounded by your experiences with the Lada and how well your Niva has hung in there. I know those are cult-ish vehicles, at least in North America. They do have a following that's "an inch wide but a mile deep", so to speak. You know what, if it's working, then you're right to keep it! There are some brands that get tarred and feathered when they may not deserve it, I agree. It sounds like Lada might well be one of them! I think we're on the same page with the auto industry, though. You say you don't think it sets the tone for the country, but then say how bad it is that the Gov't down there isn't supporting it. We have the same problem in Canada. The auto industry supports a lot of jobs and its fast-paced, "lean" approach to doing things is, to me, and indication of how well a country can 'keep up'. There's a lot of high-tech in auto manufacturing. I work in a transmission parts plant - we make what amounts to metal flowerpots with teeth. The tech we use is amazing, much of it patented by our company. We're growing every day, and we're helping to keep the economy going doing it. I feel for you. Australia losing its car industry is short-sighted AND will see a massive loss, in the long term, of industrial and design capability. It's like what happend to Canada's aviation industry. Look what happened to Britain when its car industry imploded. They've never been the same since. I will miss Falcons and Commodores. For a while, I was hoping Ford would bring the Falcon to North America to fight the Commodore that was brought here first as the Pontiac G8 and now as the Chevy SS. Heck, I like Aussie cars so much I went and bought a G8. Best car I've ever had. Then GM nuked Pontiac, and how they're nuking Holden. Weak. Good point too about how market penetration of foreign cars is sometimes hard due to cultural and living arrangement differences (I don't think Commodores were designed for Japanese roads all that much) , and sometimes its due to logistics. That's why Renault failed in the US. No logistical support. VW got that, and brought a full dealer network. Haven't seen a Renault in ages, but I see VWs all over every day!

I'm not surprised to hear that these things are all over Cuba! It does make sense. I haven't watched that yet, but I will try to take a look at it!

Yeah, having a bad auto sector is not only bad for the long-term economy of a country/regime/empire, it's also bad for the morale and ability of your people. Moving about, taking advantage of opportunities... that's what cars are all about. Not a surprise they're not a Communist invention, I guess. That's a hilarious story about the Yugo. I've never seen one, but two of my friends' parents had Ladas when I was a kid. one was blue/rust, the other was lemon yellow/rust. I think the "rust" was standard. the blue one soldiered on a long time. The yellow one might have, but the guy bought a Renault Alliance when it came out, and traded in (?) the Lada for it. They are ugly, but kinda in a cutely deformed way. How on earth did you come by Lada brochures? That's awesome! I think WE should be ticked we let them in, personally!

Hey Tim! I remember them being relatively common. I was a kid when they came out, and I know I had an LN7 racing poster in my room. Seems geeky, but I sure wish I had it now. I might have gotten it at a car show, or it might have been a couple pages in a magazine my Uncle cut out and posted up for me. I have a 1/32 LN7 I intend to do in that exact "Frog" green you mention. What a hideous colour. Interestingly, it reminds me of the weird "snot green" that early Neons came in. WTF? Do car makers not realize bad colours don't help sales? So, there was an intention to put in concealed headlights, eh? Interesting. I can definitely see, with the T-Bird and Cougar in '83, that there were better selling and more exciting products to dwell on than the EXP. Thanks for the compliments, too!

Anyone who knows me knows that I love loser cars, obscure cars and just plain weird cars. If it was a failure, flop or just ugly and reviled, chances are good that I’m going to want a model of it. Sometimes, though, you just can’t win. Some things there just AREN’T models of, or if there are, I haven’t come across them. It’s at times like this that I’m really thankful for die cast replicas! There are some truly odd diecast cars out there, and I can’t help but think that this one, the VAZ 2101, known to many as the Lada, is among the most weird and loserish. I dug this little beauty out of a flea market about a year ago. Check out my 1/43 die cast Lada taxi and tell yourself that this isn’t something you’d like on your shelf beside your Franklin Mint replicas! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/cool-stuff/143-vaz-2101-lada-1200-taxi/

Man, that's amazing! If that doesn't prove cars run in his blood, nothing will! Talk about a small world! I guess it shows there are some pretty important folks on this board, eh? It's not a hijack at all; it's all Mustang related, so it's all good!

Hey Gary! Glad to hear you were able to buff out that tire weld. That's one of the only bad things about MPC kits is the penchant they had for not protecting anything! I wonder how long kits had to sit before the tires would weld into the windows? I can't imagine it occurred when the kits were new, or did it? I have that SVO, if it's the Silver one. Nice looking kit. I love the SVO the most of all early Fox-Stangs! I have built both the EXP and the Daytona, and they are excellent! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/cars/mpc-125-1982-ford-exp/ https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/cars/125-mpc-1988-dodge-daytona/ I loved both kits. The Cavalier, D-50, and Fiero kits all look as good, and the Omni O24 is a great kit too. SO many losers, so little building time.

It seems like something they would do, yeah. A beige Cobra with the 4.2L. Doesn't fail harder than that... The Bitttersweet is what I was going to do, since I want to do my '79 Capri the same colour. The Bittersweet Vaquero does look nice, good call! Thanks for the compliments on the SVO, too, Tim!

Man, that Vaquero colour is awesome. Could you get that on a Cobra in the "Pastel Chamois"? Could you even GET a Cobra in chamois. I think that's the Bittersweet with the Vaquero interior. I kinda like that combo!

Yeah, Mike, that's a totally MPC thing. I don't know if it's their fault, or Ford's, since both are using parts mashups to create different versions of the same thing. You're right that it could be an 82 GT, and all the parts are there, save the 5.0 Badges. However, the Cobra decal was an option, like the T/A's fire chicken, and thus it could be a Cobra without it. My kit would be totally devoid of Cobra decals, unless I find some soon or I build it to represent a restored car that hasn't gotten decals yet. Say, here's a question: were there any '80 or '81 Cobras that DIDN'T have the flat black two-toning? Also, could you get the recarro seats in the Cobras in the two tones listed in the catalog, like Bittersweet and white? I'd like to do Bittersweet with Bittersweet and White interior, but I don't have any photographic proof you could get that. Can anyone help me out? Thanks!

Oh, is that how they did it? I always thought the did an annual when the kit was new, and then once in a while if it needed refreshing (like the Omni when it became the 4-headlight Charger, and two-headlight Charger, etc.) but the customs filled in the years when there wasn't anything "new" on the car. I am likely wrong, but I got that impression from the dates on my boxes, and inferred the rest.

Hey Steve! Yeah, you're right, it is essentially an annual, but I it is actually a custom because of the decals they gave you, plus it's built with the custom wheels and sidepipes right on the box. They didn't market the kit as being able to be made as a stock vehicle, and there's no correct Cobra decal for the hood and no correct lettering for anywhere on the car. This is what MPC does for it's subsequent-year annuals, it seems. Like the Omni: the '79 kit was just "Omni", and it has the ability to be made custom, but can also be made stock. Later issues, like the Silver Bullet Omni and the black clone with the same ugly chin spoiler aren't marketed as "82 Omni" they're marketed as "Silver Bullet" or whatever; the custom is the selling point. Snakebite is also awesome! I'd love to have two of these so I could build one stock and one custom! Wow, I didn't know Leisure World was that far spread. We had two here in London at one time. One survived until the late '90s or early 2000s, too. Okay, so here's a question for the Stang guys, because I can't figure it out from the internet: Can you have a 1982 GT, with all the airdams, spoilers, etc., with the front-facing hoodscoop and the 4.2L? I know the 5.0 was standard in '82, but Wikipedia says that the 4.2 was still offered as a credit option, but doesn't make it clear if that included the GT. Also, if you got the 4.2, did you have blank fenders where the "5.0" writing would go? If this kit could be built this way, it would rock. Saddest Mustang V-8 ever, with 111hp. Awesome!

I have an eye for the losers, alright! There were tonnes of cars like this at car shows when I was growing up, so they kind of "stick with me". The drop out horse is AWESOME! Well, okay, maybe not "awesome" but "awful", the "aw" is the same. I haven't built it yet, but I'm getting a lot of positive response on this one. I have a lot of Fox-Stangs actually... Hmm... maybe I need to do a poll to see which one I should build? I will build this one stock, though. I want the fans of Muscle-Stangs to be forced to confront the 120 hp V8, in an attempt to untint some rose-coloured glasses! Yeah, I'm just that evil! Bwa ha ha ha!

Mustang. It’s a legendary name and a car that has had an amazingly long life. The thing is, Mustangs are so popular that it’s hard for me to find one that fits into the “loser” car mould. Sure, there are Mustang II’s, but I LIKE Mustang IIs. Besides, they’re “II”s. Thankfully, the late ‘70s and early ‘80s teamed up with MPC to satisfy my craving for Stang-based sadness. Check out my out of box review for the “Wild Breed” custom Mustang below. It’s a typical MPC, which means it has great detail and texturing as well as nice tires, but also some very tasteless custom touches! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/out-of-box-reviews/125-mpc-wild-breed-mustang-cobra-oob/

Nichimo doesn't still exist, does it? I haven't seen a Nichimo kit in a while. In fact, the last one I saw was the 1/200 VF-1 Valkyrie I got a few years ago! I wonder what ever happened to these awesome moulds. They must be somewhere, right? I think it's time that Round 2 started digging up vintage Japanese moulds too. Anyone out there at Round 2 listening? I'll take some MAD POLICE and crazy street vans right now, thank you very much!

Yeah, that'd be a good high school car, Chad. I just had my Dad's rusty '89 Escort. Although, it was a great little car, I must say. It was not, though, anything approaching exciting or even having a pretension to sport about it.

There were a lot of cool kits made back then, Mike. Here' s hoping that you can get back to those projects soon. It'll be fun to see them!

Yeah, that's what I was thinking! What is this thing? Is it a HAM Radio thing, an aircraft fanboy airband scanner van, a Pirate Radio station or a mobile repair dock for Johnny 5? It's curious, cool and creepy... all at the same time! Well done Nichimo!