Motor City

The first Mustang I saw was driving through our subdivision in Dearborn in December of 1963. I got a quick glimpse of it and thought it was really something.

I'm looking forward to the Monte Carlo. Hopefully the Regal Grand National and '79-'80 Capri RS will soon follow.

Tim, It may be true that to do an accurate '57 Ranchero that would please most of this forum's members would require an essentially new tool. I think the real reason was they foresaw more sales doing Foose models, and that may have been a better use of their money. It appears cars that kids can relate to (concept cars, Mustangs, Camaros, Chevelles & hot rods owned by their parents or grandparents) is where the kit market is headed.

I find it odd that the old Revell had the money to do all of those Foose models, but none to tool up a '57 Ranchero from their newer '57 Ford kits. I think most would have preferred a '72 or '73 Gran Torino Sport or Ranchero GT over the '76 Torino. I guess if it isn't an endless variation on a Camaro, they aren't too receptive. The '62 Mopar kits would be nice to have, but I doubt enough people would buy them to make that a worthwhile investment. Maybe they would listen to a '70 Ranchero GT based on the Torino kit. We can only hope ...

My '87 El Camino has a Medium Claret bucket seat interior, which is more of a plum color. The Regal T-type pictured above is a brighter red.

Since most models are built with model cement that fuses the two pieces together (essentially melting the plastic), is there a safe way to dissolve the cement? I've always used Elmer's white glue to build models.

I'm going to need an hour for my eyes to recover from the frequently out of focus video!

thanks, Thomas!

I want to also mention that the '67-'76 Eldorado never used a dual-snorkel air cleaner - even though it was included in the Jo-Han kits. That air cleaner was only used on the early Toronados.

This is really interesting info on the Nova. I thought it might have been derived from the Ventura, but didn't know for sure as the model cars available in that time period were pretty lame for the most part. I had basically quit buying models for several years by then. Faust mentioned how difficult it was to predict model cars accurately with last minute changes from the automakers. Besides the incorrect Jo-Han '74 442 promo and MPC's '75 Ventura with the hood scoop, I had MPC '76 Corvette convertible and Jo-han '68 Ambassador convertible kits. An actual car was not produced for either one of these!

Bob is correct about the '75 GTO. I bought my kit at the Detroit Auto Show, and got rid of it when I couldn't hide the repair to the hood opening. Nowadays, someone would have made a resin hood and air cleaner assembly to build it stock. Other than that, it seemed to be a good kit.

The original kit was the '75 Ventura, but it had a '74 GTO hood scoop, so it couldn't be built stock.

I like the '60-'64 Bonneville the best. I think the '65-'66 GM B bodies without fender skirts (Impala, Caprice, Catalina, 88, Wildcat, Lesabre) were about the most attractive large cars of all time.

In the U.S. anyway, we aren't even maintaining the infrastructure we have. Now add charging stations, autonomous sensors and mix in some ice, salt, slush, and heavy snow. It may happen in some communities with mild climates within several years, but will probably take another generation or two to be widespread because of the tremendous costs involved.

Since they are adding/improving kits, maybe they will put the correct interior in the '66 Wildcat for the first time ever.

It seems that most of the '67-'70 Bonneville kits go for the low $200.00 range. I consider the '63 to be the cleanest looking of the Bonnevilles, before they started dripping with chrome side trim and fender skirts. But it doesn't go for much money. I guess most people like the later ones?

There was some spirited discussion on this issue with the review of the 1969 Barracuda kit. Some say it was originally an AMT kit for '67, while others … (under Kit Reviews)

That Lamborghini Miura looks sharp. Is the kit any good?

Bob Shelton, PMB 140 3116 W. Montgomery Rd. #C Maineville, Ohio 45039 or: thedirectory@cinci.rr.com $32.95 plus $4.00 shipping and handling (in U.S. only) (as of November 2018)

I was typing in a reply and all of the previous replies suddenly disappeared! Tim, I belong to the Cadillac-LaSalle Club, but haven't been out to the Gilmore in probably a decade. I need to get back out there! The last time was with my brother and nephews to see Joe Bortz' collection of concept cars. Rob, Mom lived there while going to UM, and for a year after getting married. The folks hated having to move closer to Dad's work. I have lots of good memories of going to Michigan Stadium. Season tickets for students were only $24.00 for six games!

the '77 is supposed to have a hood ornament; I never bought it because it didn't look too accurate to me

thank you, everyone; I'll have to get this

that's really sad, Joe; God help a person who has an emergency medical situation; the politicians always get the favored treatment because they are special people

I know this doesn't quite answer your question, but Product Miniature Corporation (PMC) made plastic promo versions of the '51 and '52. That might be a good starting point. The chassis is crude as most of these had coin slots on the bottom.

I recently bought a model car from one of the co-authors. Any comments on the book? I have a 1987 book from Paul ?????, but it has a lot of errors and is missing many models. The Internet has brought out much more information about the history of model cars.