Richard Bartrop

You have some companies claiming to have developed batteries. Of course, making a claim, and making it happen are two entirely different things, but that would certainly be a game changer if one of them can actually do it.

I worked my way through university at a plant that made chlorine for bleaching pulp. They did it by running a current through brine, breaking it down to chlorine, hydrogen and lye. So if you do have brine that you have to get rid, there are things you can do with it that are useful and possibly profitable. I've heard of plans to extract lithium from the Salton Sea, and it's been my understanding that it's not like they could damage the place any more than it actually is. So many of the minerals needed for batteries can also be found in your friendly neighbour to the north. It comes down to making the necessary investments. As for eating insects, I remember reading that at one time, lobster was considered fit only for poor folk, and you could get in trouble for feeding it to your workers too often. Seeing the gusto with which people devour so many sea dwelling bugs, and how some place regard snails as a gourmet treat, if done right, who knows?

Visually, it's a big improvement on the current Charger. I like it.

Perhaps some detailed instructions on how to leave a personal message are needed?

Doyusha acquired them some time around '76, and it looks like they last released them some time in the '80s. They did have some pretty nice box art.

On reflection, you may have given me a reason to buy one.

It looks like it would be almost a complete scratchbuild. On the up side, nobody would object to you cutting up one of those.

Premier made a Kaiser-Darrin, but it's not pretty. A decent Kaiser-Darrin would be nice, or for that matter, one of the later model Kaisers.

You could be right. It's been a while since I'd had to take a ferry

I remember that place. It was near the ferry terminal at Tsawassen, and I looked them over a few times while waiting for a ferry.

And it's not like anyone can force you to put a smiley face there if you don't want to.

Also, here's the front of the original 67-X, with chrome end caps and round headlights. That one, for whatever reason, has had some work done.

One of the cards from the "Roadshow 67" promotion that had the 67-X as the big prize. Some more background on the promotion. http://www.billjamie.com/Imperial-Oil/Esso-Roadshow-67/Esso-Roadshow-67.html Apparently the fifth one Barris kept for himself

I remember that car well. Dad owned an Esso station the summer that promotion was running. 8 year old me thought it was one of the coolest things ever, and that it was horribly unfair that we we among the people who couldn't have a chance at it. BTW, it wasn't a talk show, but a variety show that Dean had at the time, and the show in Montreal was Expo '67, aka the World's Fair, which coincided with Canada's centennial. Imperial Oil was running a promotion where the 67-X was the big prize.

I'm not touching this.

It did happen. I remember Fred Welsh's custom '40 Ford "Treasure" was a regular fixture at Vancouver car shows right into the late '70s and beyond. A few updates, but basically the same car.

The fact that Chad didn't say a thing about any resurrected tooling, suggests that isn't it.

A quick explanation can be found here. https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/class-of-1959 Basically, the original plan was more of the same for 1959 and 1960, but A sneak peek at what Chrysler was planning had the stylists at GM scrambling to rethink their approach. The 1959 model year was the earliest they could change things. There are some photos of what was originally planned for '59 floating around, and they aren't pretty.

Those actually sound very interesting.

Allards were basically factory built British hot rods. And of course Sydney Allard was the guy who brought drag racing to Britain. Sport cars that are built with essentially hot rod tech are the interesting flip side of this, and there are more than a few "specials" that blur the line between the two.

I have the Italeri kit, and honestly, the engine in that is not great. Also the huncaps are noticeably undersized compared to the original.

Personally, I have more than enough kits to work on in the meantime.

Yes, Lindberg did make some really nice kits in the '90s, and I passed on them at the time, because the only clue as to what was in the box was the Lindberg name, and I had bought enough Lindberg kits in the past to form an opinion on what to expect. That Round 2 has chosen to rebox some of their Lindberg kits under the AMT brand shows that rep hasn't gone away, and they know it. You have some rumbling about the current state of AMT kits, and some of them are great, but if you have no way of telling from the outside which are the good ones, how many times are you going to plunk down close to $30 US (close to $50 up here) and end up with a lemon before you decide it's not worth playing the game?

People forget how many modelers got seduced by pretty box art back in the "golden Age", only to be turned off modeling by the reality inside the box, and how most of the companies who thought they could get away with this are no longer with us. Photo boxes may not be pretty, but at least they give you some idea of what you're getting yourself into.