Motor City

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.

I own a '77 Biarritz, so it's a bummer that the model car wasn't made. I had mentioned it to Don Holthaus, and he said he would need my car for a couple of months. It would have made an awesome Modelhaus kit, but it wasn't practical for me to get it to him. Thanks for the chassis clarification, Tim. I didn't want to dig through my Toronado kits.

The kits start at 13:45 of the video.

agreed; I think the resin manufacturers will be the only ones we can count on for new U.S. full kits or curbside

Yes, it's hard to believe, but few real ones have survived either. Same goes for the '32-'40 Plymouths, which would make great kits. But realistically, outside of the 1930s Fords and 1937 Chevy coupe, nothing else from that decade is really popular stock AND as hot rod material. I've bought several Brooklin diecast models of 1930s GM cars since the model kit industry isn't interested.

Craig, That looks really interesting. Is that the AMT promo? Mine has no warp, but the body needs some work.

The best hope for seeing old models such as the AMT 1958 kits again is to take original, unbuilt kits and 3D scan the parts. Round 2 has a lot of kits in their archive, but I don't know how far back it goes. The Nova and '64 Cutlass are a good start to partially restoring or creating missing tooling for kits. 3D printers may eventually be commonplace in our homes, and maybe we can then buy 3D files to print our own parts directly from the model manufacturer.

thanks for the info, Rob

Has the Fruehauf Sunoco tanker trailer ever been reissued? My Dad bought it for some reason and never built it. Even the box art looks neat. These truck kits saved AMT for a while.

thanks, Mark; I looked at some photos and see what you are saying about the trim piece only applying to the '63 coupe; my brother and I would point to or comment on any Corvette we saw since they weren't a common sight around the Detroit area until the '68 model came out

What's unique about the '63 windshield trim?

I'd be embarrassed to be seen next to or in an El Camino as awful looking as that one! I guess that's Monogram's version (El Macho) of the Macho T/A! ? It's another great review, Adam. As an original owner of this generation EC, I bought it as a second vehicle for occasional hauling, but mostly as a good looking and handling toy, at a substantially lower cost than a Grand National, Monte Carlo SS, 442 or Corvette.

I bought the kit decades ago and recall the Nomad's passenger front fender had some issue on top. Hopefully it has been corrected, but if not, it's something I guess could be fixed with bondo.

or you could buy the MPC '82 El Camino kit, but it's not an easy kit to find

Blame it on the custom Chevy van kit with the quad rectangular headlights. Apparently most of us found the headlight history lesson more interesting than the releases! ?