Motor City

All I see is the huge gap between the top of the vent window and roof.

The box art and the real car are a total embarrassment! George Barris did some cool cars, but some were utterly tasteless.

From Wikipedia: The 2000GT made its most famous screen appearance in the 1967 James Bond movie You Only Live Twice, most of which was filmed in Japan. Two one-off topless models—fitted only with tonneau covers to simulate functioning convertible roofs—were made specially for the film. It is claimed that a targa had been considered to accommodate the burly 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) tall Sean Connery. This retained the original car's fastback profile but eliminated rear side windows. Purportedly, Connery's head stuck out of the top and a roofless version was fabricated in less than two weeks for the movie.[17] The car was only driven by "Bond girl" Aki (Akiko Wakabayashi) in the film.[18] I think the coupe has more character:

nice photos, too!

You mean there was a '57 Nomad other than the Revell in 1/25th scale? I'm only aware of the AMT '55 and the Revell Monogram '56.

This Thunderbird is a nice kit. Thanks for the info, Steve. By the way, the tonneau cover was a dealer-installed option on the '64 Thunderbird, and I don't see why someone couldn't use it on a '65 or '66.

I wonder if Round2 is considering bringing production back to the U.S. due to the transportation costs and logistical issues of creating or modifying tooling. Probably not since they likely save a lot of money on labor costs.

It wouldn't be much of a stretch to do '62 -'64 Grand Prix models out of the '62 Catalina SD kit. These were some of the sharpest cars in GM's lineup at that time along with the Riviera and Corvette. Another mystery is what happened to the '64 Wildcat?

just kidding ... I hope!

Between the cost of petroleum products used in the manufacture of plastics and the substantial increase in transportation charges to ship the product here from China, prices were bound to go up.

I have the Dynamic 88 radio, which was made by Philco, then a Ford subsidiary. Most don't work well if at all. AMT made different models of the radio from 1964-1969. The Thunderbird is the only model that was made into a radio each of these years. As Patrick stated, there can be a business case for '66 and '67 GS models even if the '66 tooling is no longer viable to use. If the '65 Dynamic 88 tooling is too far gone to use, there might be a slim business case if Round2 makes the Starfire or Jetstar 1, but most of the younger modelers wouldn't even know what these cars are.

As I've mentioned in a few posts, if enough of the original tooling survives (chassis, glass, engine), this could get a new body and interior, then converted into a '66 Dynamic or Delta 88. Another option would be to create a '65 Jetstar 1 or '65 and '66 Starfire with new bodies and interiors and use the '65 GP glass.

I know why they are called that due to the slab sides and somewhat squared off front and rear shapes. Look on the AACA forum where some call the Tri-Five Chevies shoebox.

That explains why the original Coronet R/T convertible kit indicated that it could be built as a Super Bee. I didn't go to the '68 Detroit Auto Show and was unaware of the show car until now. Thanks for posting this.

The Lincoln Mark series cars were actually called Mark II, Mark III, etc., whereas the Corvettes weren't named C1, C2, etc. At least it makes more sense than people who refer to the '49-'51 Ford and '55-'57 Chevy as "shoebox".

That whole C1, C2, C3, etc. thing is kind of goofy to me. Unless you own one, it's probably much easier to mention the range of years than trying to figure it out once you get past C3. Is this done with other cars? If the car is still made in let's say 2053, I can't picture someone at an antique car show saying, "a C13, Grandpa had one of those Corvette Centennial Editions."

MPC also issued a '76 Corvette convertible kit even though there wasn't a real one

lots of nice Oldsmobiles; thanks for posting, Tim!

As I recall, neither the kits nor promos had the correct split rear bumper on the '74.

What I should have stated is that the '69 and '70 GP looked essentially the same except for the grille. Emblem and hash mark placement and other minor variations changed as Steve mentioned. I think the '71-'72 front end on the GP would have looked a lot better with quad headlights and retaining the earlier hood. I was disappointed when the '71 came out looking like that and have the same opinion of the '71 and '72 Chevelle front end.

The '69 and '70 GP look the same except for the grille. The '71 and '72 look the same except for the grille. The '69 and '70 have quad headlights, while the '71 and '72 have one on each side.

I guess GM was trying to cover all bases. The downsized '78-'80 GM intermediates turned out to be a sales success, though in my opinion not as attractive looking as their '73-'77 predecessors or '81-'87 replacements (and '88 Monte Carlo). Buick came out with the LeSabre Sport Coupe in '77, and bucket seats were available the following year. The Bonneville then made bucket seats optional again on their '79 coupe. The real flops ended up being the X-body FWD replacements for the Nova and its twins and the too-small Somerset Regal and its twins.

The success of the '77 Delta 88 Indy Pace Car replica (with bucket seats) led Olds to introduce the Holiday 88 for 1978.

I'd be all in for a Fonzie character to display with my 1950s models.

the pillared coupe was available in '70 and '72, but not on the '71 442