Motor City

I just saw it at Hobby Lobby within the last year after its last reissue. I didn't see it on the Round2 website last night, but it was there the previous time I had looked.

They reissued the '52 Chevy developed by Pyro and - if I'm not mistaken here - boxed as a Lindberg model. It's a 1/32 scale model car, so I would expect to see more of these issued if the tooling is in decent shape.

Pictured (if anyone notices) is a '70 GP. I met Linda several years ago at the Woodward Cruise. She was autographing posters and selling photos of herself from back in the day. She was very friendly and even personalized my poster and one for my brother.

I'm looking forward to the '57 Nomad, the '56 Buick and '56 Eldorado. The Buick and Eldorado will be nice to finally have with glass. Hopefully the '56 Mercury Montclair tooling still exists.

My thought was that gold colors tend to look flat and have a faded look to them and the clear coat would prevent oxidation and provide the glossy effect that brass typically has. I understand and agree with what you are saying, Peter. What about spraying a flat clear coat over the Alclad to prevent it from rubbing off?

John, That should be an interesting collection when you finish it. By the way, the plant where the Model T was conceived and first built still exists in Detroit: Ford Piquette Avenue Plant | Birthplace of the Model T (fordpiquetteplant.org) Model T production started at the Highland Park plant on January 1, 1910 - almost 101 years ago to the day. It is not in great shape. It was used to manufacture Fordson tractors for decades until it closed in 1974. Ford Highland Park - Building OO - 15050 Woodward Avenue, Highland Park, MI | Office Space (commercialcafe.com) Many people claim that the Model T was built in Dearborn, but it never was. The first Ford car built there was the 1928-1931 Model A. The first car built in Dearborn was the Detroit-Dearborn, a 1910 roadster and touring that attempted to compete with the Model T.

Alan, Look under the Truck Kit Review section. Someone explained some of it (but not the "build strings" part).

thanks for the clarification, Greg and Geoff; I still don't get his "I build strings" comment

yes, a '40 Packard wagon would be nice!

I still don't understand what you're saying.

Firestone Wide Oval (universaltire.com)

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.