Motor City

Sorry, Patric, no wagons or 4-door hardtops allowed! I forgot to include the Cruver '49 Olds 98 and JoHan '55 Star Chief.

that is awesome detail, Steven! thanks!

That's a good point, Steve. about just using plain buttons. The '66 bucket seats were available only in black or white on the hardtop. The Wildcat got cheapened in '63. Adding a convertible was fine, but they also had a four-door hardtop, which my grandfather bought. Bucket seats were optional on the four-door hardtop, but still standard (with console and tachometer) on the other two. In '64, a four-door sedan became available, with bucket seats and tachometer now options on all versions.

The Wall Street Journal wanted me to take a survey after I couldn't get past the 2nd paragraph. I stopped at the local library to read it. It's the Saturday/Sunday edition and starts on the bottom of p. 1 of the front section. Page 10 is too large to fit on a typical sheet-fed multi-function, so I couldn't post it here.

The only reason Chevy didn't have a V8 for so many decades is that GM wanted people to buy a more expensive GM product with an 8. Pontiac offered a 6 through '54, Olds through '50, and Buick through '30. They eventually realized that they needed an 8 to compete with Ford. Plymouth finally came out with an 8 for '55, with Nash following in '56.

Steve, Thanks for all of the great suggestions! I never realized how similar the Bonneville dash was to the '66 Buick dash. That looks like the way to go. I just looked at my '66 Riviera promo and the seat backs are too blocky, but the seat pattern is quite similar to the Wildcat. I'll look at modifying a pair of seats or the ones from the '67 Impala. A little bondo and an exacto knife should get the correct pattern. The little Wildcat emblems will be a bit of a challenge.

I think for the dash I would have to modify a '66 Riviera. By the way, the photo above is of a '66 Wildcat Custom with the buckets. The seat backs have miniature round Wildcat emblems. The door panels are really sporty.

Pontiac also introduced their second V8 for the '55 model year. They had one in the early thirties, too. Also, Chevy's first V8 was in the late teens.

Tim is correct on both places; I got a beautiful Ford promo from Pasteiner's; I have also gotten some kits, paint and photo etch supplies at Model Cave, and they discount from the list price on their kits

Members 428 posts Location:Michigan Full Name:Jim Skelly With all of the talented resin casters out there, why hasn't someone come out with an interior that has the correct seat and door panel pattern, thin-shell bucket seats and dashboard? The '65 interior that comes in the kit is not even close. I realize there wouldn't be the demand for this that say a '63 Grand Prix or '67 GS or something else never done by the model companies would have, but this was one of the best looking cars of that decade.

"As for the interior, the sad fact of the matter is that not that many car modelers get that wrapped up about 100% correct interiors. (Not as many as, say, serious airplane modelers.) There are still many of us who are happy to paint the guts semigloss black with some chrome door handles and other trim, maybe some woodgrain, and call it good. Round 2's not going to spend the money to update the interior on this particular kit, which they'll be lucky to move 5000 of. (And come to think of it, the exterior chrome trim on this body isn't really correct, either.) I don't mean to sound like a smartass here, but if an accurate interior is important to you on this model, why not make your own? Door/side panels aren't all that hard to do if you really want them, and in the world of google-image, reference photos are easy to find." Snake, I don't disagree with what you've said, but thought that one of the resin companies would have done it already. I should have posted my comments there. I thought I would have to use the buckets out of the Revell '66 Impala or AMT '67 Impala. For the side panels and upholstery pattern, I guess I would bondo over the existing tub and scribe new lines? I wouldn't know where to start on the dashboard. I've even thought of converting it to the Philco radio that was available on the '65 88 and '66 Impala SS.

Mark & Snake, Thanks for the comments. I guess I'll have to eyeball my '64 Chevelle for comparison to see how to correct it. I don't want to take the top off. I understand Dan Blocker got a convertible Z16 (Bonanza was sponsored by Chevy) and the other 200 were hardtops. Someone cloned Blocker's car and the original has not publicly surfaced. .

Snake, Happy New Year to you and everyone else on the forum! Is the Z16 roof really that bad?

When is someone going to come out with a '66 Wildcat interior that has the correct seat and door panel pattern, thin-shell bucket seats and dashboard? That '65 interior was always wrong and it's disappointing that Round2 won't fix it! I guess we're supposed to be satisfied with some new or revised custom wheels.

The nicknames are kind of dumb. The Hemi has been referred to as the elephant motor, and elephants are supposedly afraid of mice. But you never hear of a small-block Chevy beating a Hemi!

some 4-door sedan plastic kits: '61 Tempest '61 Corvair '62-'69 Lincoln some 4-door sedan plastic promos: '51-'55 Chevy '51-'52 Pontiac Chieftain '54-'55 Roadmaster '49-'54 Ford '60 Comet '53-'56 Plymouth '55-'56 DeSoto Taurus SHO '95-'97 Aurora '98 Intrigue

Bill, That's a cool and rare car. I saw one at the Woodward Cruise last year. It had original paint and some rust. The models are nice, too.

I agree that it would make more sense to have a separate '49/'50 tooling. Another variation would be to do a '50 Chieftain Catalina, Pontiac's first hardtop.

The AMT '51 Chevy kits were a good idea with the Bel Air hardtop, convertible, and fastback. The real '51 and '52 are quite similar, but the grille and side trim changed from one year to the next. I'm not sure if the interiors were identical. The '49 and '50 are almost identical. All four years could have been done by providing the various side trim and grilles, etc. Banthrico made well detailed aluminum models of the '49 and '50 in 2-door sedan and/or business coupe, 4-door fastback, 2-door fastback, 4-door sedan, convertible and '50 Bel Air (the first Chevrolet hardtop). Product Miniature Corporation (PMC) made most of the promos for '51 and '52 in the same body styles, but in plastic. All of these are relatively affordable, but most have no interior, and none have opening hoods. The PMC models tend to have some slight warping. I obtained a beautiful '50 Bel Air several years ago for about $85.00. With 3D printing and CAD, it wouldn't be difficult for Round 2 to take an original parts and create new '68 and '69 models, but that doesn't seem to be their business model.

Another phantom '76 MPC kit was the Corvette convertible. I took the rally wheels and used them for my '68 Impala SS convertible kit to replace the wheelcovers that came with it. I sold the Corvette kit to a guy and said that no '76 Corvette convertible was made. It was a good kit that also had the optional aluminum wheels. Looking back, it would have been neat to have a shelf of these phantom models.

this car pictured is a '68 Rebel (intermediate) convertible; the Ambassador was a full-sized car

I picked up the '68 Ambassador convertible kit at the Jo-Han factory several years after it came out, but sold it since the real car didn't exist!

The mouse motor became a hot rod term for a small block Chevy V8, while the big block Chevy was often called the rat motor.

Keith and Mark Orr, GM used the vented trunk lids on the '71 models as part of their ventilation system. People complained about water and leaves getting in the trunk, though I don't recall much of a problem on my '71 Eldorado. This was used on all of the large cars, the Riviera, Toronado, and Eldorado, and '71 and '72 Vega. It was discontinued after 1971 except for the Vega.

Last year, someone was selling his Dad's massive promo collection. He had worked for a company that provided model car boxes to the model car companies. He had 3 '69 Coronet convertibles in different colors and each sold for around $3600. This kit is a relative bargain.