Motor City

I just looked at photos of my folks' '57 Bel Air hardtop and agree with Dave that the original AMT model's side trim is too high at the back of the door and leading edge of the quarter panel. The door handle and lock cylinder are also too high. The new AMT corrected all of those problems. I have to finish the original AMT kit that Dad started.

kits start at 19:57 ...

With few exceptions, I preferred hardtop kits over convertibles when given the choice. I always built the kits stock and thought the hardtop styling showed more design characteristics than the convertible. Some roofs were really unusual, which made the car stand out ('67 & '68 XL, for example). I have noticed what Steve said, that early unbuilt convertible kits are easier to find than hardtop versions of the same car. This is especially true of Imperials, Buick Invicta, and early Park Lanes.

Art Anderson had mentioned the same thing that convertible kits never sold as well as hardtops when he was in the business.

A guy I used to work with owns a GMC ARcadia. Yup, he doesn't even know what it is his wife drives!

That is a Jo-Han tooling, so it would probably have to be created from scratch. I still have mine and haven't gotten around to building it yet.

Very nice! Did you airbrush those and what paint did you use?

My buddy was cleaning out his parents' house and gave me the unbuilt 1/20th Lindberg GMC Syclone kit that his brother didn't want. I haven't done anything with it yet, and I don't have anything else in that scale.

The '65 Bonneville, Dynamic 88 and Wildcat convertibles were only made as promotional models.

I'm dreading the complaints regarding the back-from-the-dead Mustang fastback.

I regrettably sold my unbuilt '68 Coronet R/T convertible kit decades ago after I bought a hardtop promo version for $11.00. Why did I regret it? Because it is a great looking car and one of the few convertibles from that year. When displayed, the chassis detail underneath is the least important aspect of it. An accurate body, grille, taillights, rear panel, bumpers, wheels, emblems and interior are what most people care to look at. A proper body stance is important, too. Popping open the hood to show a hyper detailed representation of the engine compartment is high on the list for only the most serious modelers. The correct trans, Dana rear axle, carburetor and master cylinder are not important to the average person buying a kit. We have to keep in mind that most people buying kits would not consider themselves experts on all of the minute details of the car being represented in scale. They just want something that looks cool, is fairly easy to build, and looks nice on the shelf. I plan to buy both the hardtop and convertible when they come out.

the last 442 promo was the '71 and it had an incorrect thick trunk emblem with OLDSMOBILE block letters that was not used on the real car

As for cloning or redoing the old kits: the '65 GTO never had a correct taillight panel; fix that and restore the original grille/headlight assembly the '65 Dynamic 88 could be done over as needed and create a '66 88 as well, or make '65 and '66 Starfire models out of what's left make '68 and '69 Cyclone GT and Cyclone Spoilers out of the Torino tooling make a '70 GTX or Road Runner in 1/25th scale using the updated '70 Super Bee chassis and engine restore the '70-'71 Cyclone GT tooling

a little trivia ... the '61 Starliner promo was made in acetate early on and then changed to the non-warping plastic; buy the pale yellow version if you want the good one

Hi Rich, Thanks for the additional information; I'd like to see more of these!

Those look neat, Rich. They are old since they were made in the U.S. and Canada. What scale is that?

That's a nice collection of ambulances, Rich. Did you repaint any or all of them? Dinky made some nice toys of cars that no one else did.

As I recall, it was Revell's '57 Nomad that had the ribbing molded in.

The only obvious criticisms are the lack of M U S T A N G lettering on the bottom of the front fenders and the correct lower body striping on the decal sheet.

I hope they work on the Nomad and eventually bring it back. I remember the top of the passenger fender had some weird crease on top of it that I gave up trying to correct.

The Cutlass and 442 hardtop and coupes had a different seat pattern in '71 and '72 than what was used on the Cutlass Supreme-based convertible. The '70 coupes, hardtops and convertibles shared an identical pattern different than what was used for '71 and '72.

Bill, That is awesome to have been able to track the 88 down, a car that was sharp in its own right. My folks' planned to buy an 88 hardtop, but the salesman wouldn't budge on the price so Dad ordered a '63 LeSabre 2-door hardtop instead. I drove it while I was a senior in high school. I wish I had it today.

The moderator said I got off track on the Avanti thread. I'm guilty as charged, so here is the GP topic. No one seems to know what happened to this tooling. It may have met the great dumpster in the sky along with the '64 Bonneville and Wildcat. I have the promo and it has good detail. Modify the '62 Catalina Super Duty kit. Use the chassis and glass, add the GP grille. The Super Duty engine was used in only 16 of the '62 Grand Prix, but it was available. The 8-lug wheels could come out of the '65 GP kit, and so could a tri-power engine. Tool a different body and interior. Also tool different bodies, interiors and glass for '63 and '64. Is the demand there for all three years? I think it is.

AMT did make the Studebaker promo from '50-'56. Also being in South Bend, the Studebaker Museum has cars that can be used for reference. For those who haven't seen it, the museum has a great collection including Studebaker carriages and wagons and the Packard Predictor. Below is the 1950 promo: