ChrisBcritter

Sure - I'd love a '58 or '59 Ford that doesn't cost from forty to eighty bucks and doesn't have to have skirts, louvers, extra fins and a 1/8" coat of brush paint removed...

You and me both. If it had been scaled up to 1/25th, it would have been the equivalent of the '57 Country Squire as a collectible. There was a Buick Century four-door hardtop in both '55 and '56, but that hasn't been reissued. The '56 Ford F-100 was 1/48 scale, like the White cabover gas tanker, Peterbilt semi, and the '55 Chevy stakebed (trying to find one of those now for a school bus conversion).

Yes, but it was 1/32 scale. Other than the lack of glass and some fit issues around the grille/front bumper, it builds up well (I've reassembled a vintage builtup that had fallen apart). Wasn't it reissued a few years ago along with some of the other 1/32 '56 kits?

A very nice thing for them to do! I have an unbuilt one and other than the frame molded with the fenders as mentioned, it looks like an excellent kit that captures the look of the real car as well as the AMT '29 A roadster did. They did gild the lily a bit by chroming the stock wheels - but IIRC that was copied from the restored car they used for reference.

Great job, Phil! I wonder how the body would look as a replacement for the one in the old AMT "Show 'n' Go" kit?

Wikipedia's article on this car (the GAZ-M1) states that it was based on the 1934 Ford sedan through a technology-sharing agreement with Ford, but there were a lot of internal modifications. For this kit, it seems like it could be modified to look like the American version fairly easily (1/48 Bonnie and Clyde diorama, maybe?). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAZ-M1

That Hasegawa B-47 is a real nice kit; and just like suggested above, I've got one hanging on fishing line in my workshop (balancing it was tricky)...

I haven't seen images of the kits, but the wheelcovers and grille are the main differences between '62 and '63, and the 100 doesn't have the side trim or the trim on the edges of the rear end.

About 100 finished on the shelf and 100 more ranging from unbuilt to builtups to stalled projects waiting for inspiration or parts or paint or some combination of the above.

I put the FE engine from the old '61 Sunliner kit into the '53 pickup a long time ago and don't recall any trouble with it, if that's any help.

They also give you a choice of '62 or '63, which is nice as AMT only released it as a '63. By the way, the site says the wagon kits come with everything but an engine (and they sell the 6-banger separately) so you don't need the Trumpeter kit for it. Good price considering builtup original kits are into the $80.00 range.

The plates are California; with the tab on the right it's '48, '49 or '50.

Gotta add one more; this one's still got its Rocket under the hood (and '55-'56 Chrysler headlight bezels) - the Jo-Han '56 Olds 98 promo reissue would be a good start on a conversion: "A really uncommon auto, not an "exclusive" Ford or Chevrolet, the Starfire 98 model was built only in '55 and '56 in quantities of less than 3000 each year. Elegant but strong and unbreakable like any other Oldsmobile. With its original mechanicals."

Finally got a set of AMT '62-up 13" promo tires with nice bright clean narrow whitewalls, plus three extra kit 13" tires. Been looking for those for my reissue '64 Comet for a while.

There's a wide variety of drivetrains being used now. From listings on revolico.com (the Cuban Craigslist): '55 Buick Special, Hyundai H100 running gear '55 Bel Air, Toyota 3 liter, trans and differential '54 Ford, Mitsubishi L300/automatic running gear ("Mitsubichy" - these ads have spelling just as strange as many Craigslist ads do) Mercedes diesels are popular as well. You can't buy 'em, but you can have fun looking: http://www.revolico.com/autos/carros/search.html?q=&min_price=&max_price=&images=on

Does the Trumpeter scriber cut a finer groove than the Tamiya scriber?

Altered States' body needs a little correction in its body contours: Maybe combine the cowl and doors from the AMT '27 T touring with the back of an Ala Kart body? But you'd still be stuck for the turtledeck. AMT really should have done this long ago for its '27 kit...

If money were no object: What I could maybe afford in real life:

Saw it on July 5, 1985 at the 9:00 PM showing at the Santa Anita Fashion Plaza mall in Arcadia, CA. I remember enjoying it a lot and thinking that I hadn't seen such a fun movie in a long time. The next morning I found out that one of my closest friends had died about 9:30 the night before while I was at the theatre. Strange thing is, I still love Back to the Future and I've seen it many times since then without getting emotional about it. Guess that shows what a good movie it really is.

And I got my '60 New Yorker (scruffy but savable, now becoming a mild custom Windsor) along with a '61 Continental convertible for a little over $30 thanks to a badly worded eBay listing. Now if I could only find a ruined '64 Dodge promo for its interior...

Not weird at all - but it makes me want to put it on a 4x4 Bronco chassis...

Welllll... ...uh, how about some shots of the Plymouth two cars down?

I can see it.

Number 1 for me - groovy and patriotic (grooviotic? ).

Big fat pile of trivia coming: In a few cases they even outdid AMT - for example, the roof and quarter windows on the '62 Jo-Han Olds F-85 are more accurately shaped than on the AMT '62 Pontiac Tempest (both 1/1 cars used the same roof). Ditto the roof on the Jo-Han '61 F-85 wagon vs. the AMT '61/'62 Buick Special wagons. Jo-Han's most consistent problem was their inability to mold wheelcovers correctly; anything convex seems to have been impossible for them so most of the ones they made look strangely flat or concave. This is a tough thing to fix if you're building a stocker; if you have the following kits here's where you can find accurate substitutes: '62 Chrysler 300H - Revell '62 Chrysler Newport '62 or '63 Dodge - Revell '62 Dodge '64 Dodge - AMT '65 Dodge Coronet or AMT Display Case Trailer '64 Plymouth - Lindberg '64 Plymouth Belvedere (see below if you're building a Sport Fury) Speaking of the '64 Dodge and Plymouth, they were molded as promos in Polara and Fury trim respectively, and the promos have correct bench seat interiors. The kits kept the body trim but the interiors were upgraded to Polara 500 and Sport Fury style with buckets and aren't correct for the Polara and Fury exteriors. You can get the Plymouth promo interior from Modelhaus, but not the Dodge. To make an accurate Polara 500 you'll need different wheelcovers, probably scratchbuilt. For an accurate Sport Fury you'll need lettering for the quarter panels and "Sport" script for the trunk lid, and add tri-bar spinners to the Lindberg wheelcovers. Anyone want to chime in on engines?