Motor City

Thanks for the tip, Charlie!

Not to get off topic, but if this newly tooled Cutlass body is successful, the '66 Skylark GS could go the same way and eventually get a new variation with the '67 GS. The '65 Olds Dynamic 88 could be done as '65 and '66 Starfires or even a '65 Jetstar 1. If some of you aren't familiar with these big bucket seat Olds' models, look them up. But the most potential would be to convert the '68-'69 Torino into a '68-'69 Cyclone with all of those variations (Cyclone Spoiler, etc.). This Nova could spawn a '67 wagon or hardtop. The possibilities are great.

Why not use a brass-colored paint then clearcoat over it to provide a glossy look?

So if you got a resin hood without the incorrect cowl vent and sanded off the front fender sidemarker lights, it would be a decent kit? I like the sport wheels on the right better than the hubcaps and trim rings.

Wood graining was optional on the '67 Sportwagon and standard on the '67 Vista Cruiser Custom. It wasn't available on the earlier models, so it would be "easier" to make a Vista Cruiser model, but it's not an easy task.

Adam, Thanks for another of your always-interesting reviews. 1909 is the first year Hupmobile was made, and most were manufactured in Detroit.

Mark, The Sport Wagon ('64) and Sportwagon ('65-72) and Vista Cruiser had an optional front-facing third seat. Chevy had a rear-facing third seat, which Dad refused to buy. I think the Pontiac Safari also had a rear-facing third seat as an option. We had a 2nd generation '68 Vista Cruiser, which was a bit narrower than our '68 Wildcat. It was a great handling car for its time and size. The wheelbase should have been several inches longer to provide wider rear doors and some legroom for the third seat. The tinted roof panels were really something. Rob, I think you are correct that the '70 Estate wagon shared the same basic body stampings as the Safari and Impala/Caprice wagons. Each division had unique exterior sheetmetal such as doors, fenders, quarter panels and hood. Getting slightly off track, GM intermediates in the '68-'72 time frame sometimes shared the same roofline, but had different quarter window treatment (for coupes and two-door hardtops). Compare the '69 and '70 Chevelle which have different quarter windows but share the same roof. Another example is the '68 GTO/Le Mans versus the Cutlass/442. The difference in quarter window shape there is due to the bottom of the window area as designed into the quarter panel!

Olds and Buick offered full-size wagons for 1964,. Buick next offered a full-size Estate wagon for 1970. It was a one-year design, and probably cost a lot of money to tool for the body and glass. GM then came out with the full-size wagons with the hidden tailgate for 1971. Olds' version was the Custom Cruiser, and Buick carried on with the Estate name.

YES !!!

Too bad this was never available in stock form since it was the last big Chevy sedan delivery. Another couple of unfortunate omissions were the '39 Chevy coupe and sedan delivery in stock form.

thanks for the information, Russell and Gregg; I gave up after many false hits on Google

Rex, I really like these cars. My high school biology teacher had a yellow '70 Torino GT, then a lime '71 Mach 1. He sold new cars after school! My brother-in-law had a medium blue '72 Sportsroof. As John said, you can't see out of the back of those, but they sure look cool! Hopefully Round2 will have some pleasant surprises with this release.

I believe Casey was asking about the '71 Mustang because of the revised kit. I saw a lot of those Sprints (white with blue stripes) around Dearborn when they were new. I wonder what she looks like now? Rex, how did you become so obsessed with the '71-'73 model?

I guess it will remain a mystery for some reason.

The Mach 1 came with a color-keyed front bumper with integrated spoiler. The other versions had a chrome bumper.

I'd like to see Round2 add the unique 442 emblems and dual-snorkel air cleaner, and a rear stabilizer bar as extra pieces. We can only wish, so hopefully the resin casters are working on them!

Hi Gregg, How did you determine this company made them?

thank you for the link, Casey; I searched yesterday, but got too many hits on NASCAR Regals and gave up!

A model subject being made at all is what really counts for most of us. I've started getting some 1/43 models for more cars that haven't been done in 1/24 or 1/25.

Tony and Mark, You are correct. I just looked at mine, which are still in the box. I bought the Reatta in '91 and the Regal in '92. My intention was to disassemble them and detail them, but haven't gotten around to it almost 30 years later! I bought them at local hobby shops.

Has anyone determined who the manufacturer of these curbside kits was? They are 1/24 scale.

There has been a lively discussion regarding the merits of 1/24 vs. 1/25 scale regarding the Jaguar release. I grew up with 1/32 and 1//25 scale. I had a few 1/24 scale such as the Monogram '78 El Camino, and '88 Regal and Reatta by an unknown manufacturer. I didn't like having different scales since I would have preferred displaying all of the models together, but eventually realized it's like books. In an ideal world, books would all be the same size so they would all fit on any bookcase shelf. My solution is to display all of the 1/24 scale together, and all of the 1/25 together. Even if you only collected 1/25 scale, look at the difference in size between a Cadillac and a Vega or a pickup truck. You probably wouldn't display all of them together because it would look odd, but would put the trucks together, the big cars together, and the small cars together. I collect promos as well as kits. The early promos by National Products are about 1/28 scale. The 1948 Pontiac is that scale, but Banthrico's 1949 Pontiac is 1/25. AMT's 1951 and 1952 Pontiac are about 1/26 scale. What to do? Display all of them on the same shelf. The U.S. model car promos didn't finally settle on 1/25 scale until 1953. PMC's 1950-52 Plymouth was 1/20 scale, and was the last holdout until Hubley's 1/24 Ford models of 1960-62.

Mike, The '73 442 and Cutlass shared the same header panel. The 442 had more attractive grille inserts and a 442 emblem between the grille sections. The Cutlass Supreme had an entirely different grille and header panel, and was also very attractive. Another incorrect detail was the rectangular emblem on the front fenders of the '71 GTO, which shouldn't be there.

Look at photos of the '74 442 and '74 Cutlass S and you'll see the difference. The Cutlass S and Supreme shared the same squared off grille with vertical bars and the same header. The last photo is the '74 promo, which has the 442 grille (chrome horizontal bars instead of black) and Oldsmobile script instead of 442 numbers. I've thought of making a '74 442 by copying the fender 442 numbers from a '70-'72 model, but trying to fabricate the louvered hood killed the deal.

An older thread mentioned that the '74 Cutlass started out as a 442, but was changed by Oldsmobile at the last minute to be a Cutlass S. The poster of this information didn't elaborate on it. The header panel and grille are for the 442 instead of the Cutlass, but it has the Cutlass hood and emblems. The '75 grille is about half of the correct height. I got rid of both the '74 and '75 since they were so incorrect. To answer Peter's question, sometimes it's speculation and sometimes the details are correct due to enough lead time and no significant last-minutes changes. You have to wonder why decisions were made not to update interiors on some models such as the '65 Wildcat to '66, the incorrect bucket seats on the GM full-sized '66 models that should have had slim backs instead of the thicker pre-'66 backs, the MPC '76 Road Runner and Corvette convertible, Jo-Han's '68 Ambassador convertible, and others I can't think of at the moment.