Motor City

Bill, Thanks for the nice review and photos. I wonder how difficult it would be to make a fold-down rear seat? Also, I don't remember what colors the stripes came in. It would be nice if other stripe colors could be provided in case someone wants a black car. Hopefully one of the aftermarket companies will make decals. It looks like Revell did a great job!

AMT started in 1948, so this is its 70th year.

It looks well done with nice detail. Now that it has been mentioned that the manufacturer is a Japanese resin manufacturer, I can understand why it was done. But my point is, why can't we buy complete resin kits of American cars that don't require parts being sent out to a chrome plater; and wheels, tires and chassis taken from another kit? Are there any such resin companies in this country?

I've used Elmer's white glue on every model car I've ever built (starting in 1965). The only times I've used model cement or super glue has been to repair broken parts. Also, as mentioned earlier, it cleans up easily. I use water to clean off any residue.

Am I the only one thinking, why this when there are so many cool cars that have never been done?

I was hoping Round 2 would do one from the butchered '66 GS tooling (if it still exists), but I'm not going to get my hopes up. The '65 GS and '65 442 are other obvious cars that would sell very well, and I would rather see than another Camaro or Chevelle.

The original AMT model should have been a '70 XL. Why they chose a LTD still seems odd to me.

This has been one of the most interesting threads I have read here, Tom. Thanks for posting it.

Tim, will do;

What's wrong with the rear bumper? Is the Missing Link bumper plated? There isn't a photo on their website. I see they offer red taillights.

that's what I'm afraid of … too many other things going on in retirement to spend as much time on cars as I'd like

I've been wondering the same thing about retirement, which is approaching soon. The last real kit I built was an '82 Trans Am (in 1982)! It was molded in black, so I assembled the whole thing with Elmer's glue. I wanted it to be like the old promos, so nothing got painted. Since then I assembled a die cast, pre-painted '41 Chevy convertible several years ago for my Dad while sitting in a wheelchair recuperating from a work accident, and then a '14 Mustang snap kit. I can't believe it has been 36 years since I painted a model car. I have done some paint work on several of my real cars, so I guess that counts? I'm looking forward to getting back into it.

I just got my copy a few days ago. It looks to be a great book. I only found a few errors while skimming through it. Tim did a nice job! It is packed with nice color photos.

So is this a good kit to buy if I want to build it stock?

What's funny is the original 1966 AMT kit indicates it's a GS version of the Riviera, but it's not. A similar situation is the MPC 1972 Impala kit. The box indicates it has the 454 engine, but it's only the 400!

that looks FANTASTIC!

It took me 10 years of going to the show in Toledo (Maumee, actually) to finally find an '82 kit so I can replicate my '87. This was before Ebay. I suggest finding a scratched up promo if anyone wants the stock front end for an '82-'87 El Camino if the kit is still difficult to find.

let's be perfectly CLEAR, here!

This '72 Eldo convertible that my brother saw in a junkyard recently would have been a cooler choice.

I'd like to see a '67 Mercury S-55 or Marquis. The '68 and '69 Mercurys would be nice, too.

Speaking as someone who started buying and building models in 1965, I think I see how Round 2 is operating. Like me, many serious collectors don't want multiple versions of the same car. They want one of a particular model that can be built and look professional parked alongside other kits and promotional models that he or she happens to have. For example, when I was younger, I drove a '68 Buick Wildcat. Would I like to see a model of one? Of course, but it's not likely to happen. Instead, I have the '64, '65, '66, '69 and '70 Wildcats. Round 2 thinks it can attract enough buyers who want to replace a model they messed up when they were younger, or build Dad's, Grandpa's, or (fill in the blank)'s favorite car. Then there are what I consider to be hard core modelers, many of whom participate on this forum. These are people who want to buy multiple copies of the same kit to build different customized versions, try different color schemes, or just like the variation in box art from the different releases over the years. I know some guys who collect promos in every color combination offered of a particular car. I am not being critical of any of this. Possibly the principals of Round 2 reads this forum and foam at the mouth when reading comments such as, "if they come out with the such-and-such, I'll buy a whole case!". How many people would really buy a whole case to build all of them? Probably no one, but if adding pad-printed tires, additional decals, or different wheels gets repeat buyers for something re-issued several years ago that they had already purchased, then Round 2 wins and so does the consumer. If we get lucky, maybe they will do well enough to come out with some entirely new kits.

thanks for posting the article, Casey; it was very interesting!

thanks, Casey; looking forward to it!

I'm not thrilled with most of the tooling Round2 has resurrected. But a lot of people on this forum love a lot of these obscure kits. If that helps bring in some revenue, hopefully they will then be able to fix some of the regular kit tooling that was butchered ('64 Cutlass, '65 Dynamic 88, '66 GS, '65 Fairlane, '65 Bonneville, '65 Falcon, etc.). Then, hopefully, different versions of the repaired tooling can be tooled ('66 88, '65 and '66 Starfire, '65 442, '67 GS, '65 Catalina 2+2, etc.). I don't get my hopes up, so I continue to buy old kits and promos since I don't expect much any more. The model companies have gotten carried away with the endless Camaros, '70 Chevelles, and Impalas of the same year by different companies. It's time for a fresh start with muscle cars of the '70s and '80s that were never done, as well as newer cars (ATS , CTS and ELR coupes, Jaguar convertible). Sadly, there aren't many interesting new cars on the road today .

I wonder if the tooling still exists for the '60 Imperial? It probably would have been issued by now if it did.