Bob Ellis

What happened to the tire jack that was in the original '65 Galaxie kit

Your not going to be brave and slice open the hood with a #11 Xacto?

It's like the '60s all over again

Very nice work

When you consider this kit is 50+ years old, you realize how terrific of a job AMT did in designing it. You did a great job building it. I love those SC Florianoplis license plates. Nice detail.

Our '55 Chevy was rusted so bad in 1962 that we could drop trash through the floorboards! Nice work on the models.

Vey nice job. What did you use for the convertible boot?

Is that an AMT sticker on the front bumper?

I had to convince my brother to get a battery tender. The battery woul go dead in a few months. Then it would fail state emission inspection because the dead battery deleted the history. It went through several batteries. But, the car is like new.

great looking model

I took a few pictures.

Great job

How can I post photos here? I don't have foki or another host.

O-man He has several cars and this one sits alot. He put on 2000 miles the first year, but sort of lost interest over the past few years. The cars sits in a heated garage all year round. As a result, even the brake rotors and calipers are as shiney as the day it rolled off the truck at the dealership. It was March of '04 and was such a rare sight for most people that a guy spotted the GTO on the trailer and followed it to the dealership. There were little if any extra options available on these GTOs. They came with A/C, power windows, power door locks, Blaupunkt radio and red leather seats. No moon roofs or other usual items. List price was $33,000. The '04 is unique from '05s and '06s in a few ways. They have no hood scoop, have a 5.7 litre engine and exhausts exit on the same side in the rear.

My brother has a real '94 GTO with 3,000 miles. It's black with red interior. If anybody needs detail photos, let me know.

Very nice build

What is the deal on this '48 Chevy model? There are never going to be more? It says sold out or unavailable on the Galaxie site.

The original question; (if I want to display the 64 model in a dio with a 78 Trans AM, an 86 pickup and a 2010 Charger, as if they were all parked together, do I need to change the older plates to something more modern style, or just the year in the corner, or nothing at all?) In Massachusetts, the answer could be YOM plates (Year of Manufacture). This means if you find an old original plate used during the year that car was produced, you may be able to attach that plate legally to that car. The plate must be a number not currently used by another YOM applicant and the state must inspect it for suitability. If you are successful, for example, you could put a 1961 Massachusetts plate on a 1961 or 1962 Chevy as an antique plate in this year of 2014.

I just read all the posts about this topic with regard to Johan Models. My comments are based on what I remember and what I just read that seemed to make sense. I believe Johan Models was not the main business of John Hanle. He was in the tool and die / machine shop type business that supported the Detroit auto environment. World War II also kept these guys very busy and wealthy. I know of a few companies that manufactured models to keep the employees busy when the regular business was slow. I spent some time visiting companies in the Detroit area from 1983-1987. While it may have been nice in the '40s and '50s, by the '80s it was run down and dangerous. I remember saying to someone we were going to visit a company and the response was "be careful" and they had names for those sections. Looking at the buildings, you could tell it was once a happening place. What I saw was Burger Kings with armed guards and lots of barbed wire around buildings. In the Fall of 1974, I requested a order form from X-el Products that showed available Johan models. Listed were lots of '60s flat box kits as well as promos. I bought for example a 1968 Plymouth Fury flat box kit and 1970 GTX promo for the amazing price of $2.00. Everything was $2.00. I was in college at the time so the sky wasn't the limit. I bought what I could. I found out recently that X-el and Seville Enterprises was incorporated on 22 November 1974. What a coincidence. The owner was Frank Mandeville Jr. Everything started to unravel in the late '90s for that company. Anybody can research this on the internet. While some may believe that Johan's troubles started in the '90s, I believe it began about 1972. Beginning in 1973, the only new model was the '73 Eldorado kit and promo. This was at best just warming up an old tool for another year. Johan had ran out of gas. It was dead but not broke yet. The quality in these kits were not always good either. Many times I opened '72 El Dorado kits to find broken parts. To me, it is possible that X-el / Seville added some life to a dead company. I am guessing that John Hanle was about 60-70 years old at the time and was tired. Along comes a guy by the name of Frank Mandeville who decides to re-run a lot of old tools and promos. About 1974 or 1975 the first batch of USA Oldies are available. In the Fall of 1975, the first 4 promos are available at $8 each and in different color combos; 1955 Pontiac, 1956 Pontiac, 1956 Desoto and 1956 Plymouth. Not exactly the most exciting cars, but a nice start for vintage collection. Some more cars come out such as the '72 Torino and Rambler Scrambler in the next couple of years. Everything was sort of bits and pieces. Not everything matched like tail lights in a '69 Rambler that don't fit. But it was better than nothing. The '80s bought out some of the best promos re-issues. The '58 Caddy and '58 Olds 98 were terrific as was the '59 Caddy. They cost $16 in 1986 but that was a deal. The '90s was a downward spiral for Johan. Down the tubes, slow and sure. If the tools were still there, and in good condition, I am not sure anything could save the company especially re-running old kits. Gone were the days when the car companies help subsidize new model car kits. Promos in the summer, kits in the fall essentially stopped in 1972 and entirely for Johan in 1979 with the last Deville. And if the subsidies still were, technology and demographics would have killed Johan. Young people would rather play electronic games and computers than build models. Finally, making more Johan kits is fighting with your ghost. There is still a lot of there at prices not that high. The '65 to '67 kits are rare, that's true. I suspect those tools have been missing a very long time. They were probably gone before the USA Oldies arrived. But then again, who knows.

I was wrong. no dice on the '68 Camaro MCG etch set.

Jaydar, I could not find a '68 Chevelle or Beaumont Model Car Garage set. However, I did see the '68 El Camino set, which has the front side markers you need. I think the '68 Nova and Camaro set would work too as those markers were common for all Chevys except the Corvette.

Casey, that 25th anniversary '40 Ford Street Rods kit is 1973. !973 is 25 years after AMT started in 1948 as Aluminum Metal Toys. Anytime you see an AMT kit number end with -225, its a 1971-1973 kit with $2.25 kit price. After 1973, plastic prices went crazy and no more prices printed on the box. Nice box collection.

The Merc looks great and the painting of the wood side very nice. Both you and Revell did a great job.

Jaydar, should be easy to do a '68, since it has '68 side trim. Model Car Garage has front marker lights.

Tim, that was a very nicely commented pictorial of the Chevelle convertible kit. I have a couple of comments. The original 1969 Chevelle did come as kit hardtop with promo versions of the hardtop and convertible. It is interesting to note that the 1978 convertible kit box showed the interior and boot of the original promo on the box cover, yet the the kit inside used a different interior tub and boot which included the downward arms that hid the convertible mechanism. I am guessing that in 1978, somebody at AMT used a promo, or parts of it to mock up a model to do a photo shoot. This is after AMT fired all the artists and used actual photos of the kits on the model boxes. Round2 has done a terrific job at bringing back the old kits. I particularly like the inclusion of parts missing from previous re-issues. The pad printed tires are icing on the cake. I have several versions of the AMT '69 Chevelle. As far as I can tell, none have the correct side marker lights or trim on the side. But, it is in no way a deal breaker. I shaved off the '68 chrome trim on the rocker panels made new thin side marker lights out of Evergreen styrene. You have to make new wheel lip moldings from Evergreen as well, but again, no big deal. With the inclusion of '68 Chevelle windshield glass, making a '68 is easier. So that is a good thing. I also looked at the two kits I had; an original 1978 issue and the new Round2 issue. However, after looking at your photos I realize that I missed some important thing Round2 did. I am glad you pointed out them. Great job,