Motor City

The problem with a lot newer kits is the emblems are not engraved, so you are expected to affix decals. It would be much better to have the emblems engraved so the end user can sand them off if not wanted. Examples of this are the AMT '69 H/O, and the Revell '50 Olds 88 and '72 H/O convertible, and the Lindberg '64 Belvedere.

If any cars cry to be made in multiple versions, it would be: '70-'72 GS and GSX '68 and '69 Cyclone GT, '69 Spoiler, '69 Spoiler II '72-'76 Ranchero GT or Squire '77-'79 Ranchero GT '73-'77 El Camino or GMC Sprint These are no-brainers! Of course, all would be 1/25th scale.

Spock returned to Twentieth Century Detroit when cars actually had nice designs and didn't all look alike!

I picked up an unbuilt '63 riviera kit recently. Speaking of great design, why hasn't AMT or Revell or Moebius done the '63 Grand Prix yet?

Hi Mike, I've never seen that variation without the quarter trim. That is definitely the '72 grille, the Eldorado script on the front of the fender is in about the right place, and the wheelcovers also look similar to the '72. I forgot to mention in the earlier post that the '71 has ELDORADO block letters on the trunk, while the '72 is script, but the louvers make it easy to tell a '71 from a '72. A little trivia that I just found out recently is that the louvers on the real '71 were reduced in number sometime during the year. My first car was a Clove '71 Eldorado (about the color of the car above, gold leather, gold vinyl padded top). The '71 promos came with single and dual exhaust, but only the single exhaust is correct. I have almost every color that the '71 came in, including Clove. I have an original set of keys from my car displayed with it.1971eldo.bmp. If anyone would like a separate thread on the FWD Eldorados, let me know. I currently own a '68 and a '77 Biarritz. 1971 Eldorado convertible with 56 trunk louvers.docx

thanks, Chris

On some of the later kits with this option, it was recommended to cut the sunvisors off to get a better fit. It sounds like a good idea, but the execution wasn't what it should have been. Some promos were made with the top up ('62 Ford Galaxie comes to mind).

I hope I can clear some things up regarding the second generation Eldorado FWD kits covering model years 1971-1976. The first issue was a '71, kit#C114. The '72 kit is #C211. The kits graphics are identical except for the kit number on both ends of the box. The '73 kit, #GC-2300, has updated the ski car graphics with the correct round side marker light on the quarter panel, the revised rear bumper and taillights, and revised front bumper of which you see very little. Since no year is indicated on the rear license plate, here are ways to tell them apart: '71 louvered trunk lid, ELDORADO in block letters with 8.2 Litre emblem on the back end of each front fender, grille with a fine vertically-oriented rectangular pattern; '72 no louvered trunk, Eldorado in script on the front edge of the front fender with 8.2 Litre emblem on the back end of the front fender, grille with a slightly coarser vertically-oriented pattern with faint crowns on top of the headlights; both interiors are identical '73 full vinyl top, separate taillights instead of integrated into the rear bumper, egg-crate grille The real confusion comes with the Eldorado Rancher kit, which was issued as a '74 and '76 kit (I'm not sure about '75). The '74 has a revised grille, taillights in the rear bumper again, and a landau top that was carried over for '75 and '76. My '73 and '74's are difficult to get at, so I'm not sure what interior revisions were made if at all. Both the '73 and '74 have the fender skirts. The '75 promo has the ends of the front fenders molded as part of the body, while the '76 promos have it molded as part of the bumper assembly. The rear taillights on the '75 are two small rectangles separated by a Cadillac emblem on each side of the rear plate. The '76 has one rectangular light on each side of the plate. Both the '75 and '76 promos have front & rear plates with the year indicated. I'm not sure if the kit has a year on it. Here are photos of the '73 kit box that I got off the internet. I don't think it was ever re-issued. 1973 Cadillac Eldorado kit.docx

the '73 Eldorado kit had a different box than shown

That's real sharp, Paul. I'd like to see a '68 Vista Cruiser as your next wagon!

I used to have the MPC '60 Corvette kit. It builds well but the interior is incorrect as it's a waffle pattern. I don't remember which is which, but between the '59 and '60, one has vertical pleats in the seats while the other has horizontal pleats.

There was a kit on evilbay that sold for over $100 within the past year. I forgot to copy/paste the photos into a Word document.

maybe Premier's 1956 Lincoln?

I don't own an original 1967 AMT kit, but the AMT 1968 Riviera was shrink wrapped from the factory. I have 1967 models from Jo-Han and MPC that are shrink wrapped. I went to a lecture a number of years ago and the guy who designed the Leva car talked about it and showed a model of it plus some literature.

The 1950 and 1951 Studebakers usually have minimal warp. However, the 1952-1956 have horrible shrinkage and warp, so I'm guessing the earlier ones used a different type of plastic. The bullet nose comes in several colors (mine is maroon) and anyone who likes unusual cars should have one for their collection. Getting back to National Products, they started in 1934 with 4-door sedan models of the Chrysler and De Soto Airflow, and 4-door sedans of the Hupmobile, Graham and Studebaker. After the war, they made a nice Studebaker coupe and pickup. The 1935 Studebaker usually sells for hundreds of dollars, while I've only seen one 1936 on the Internet, and it sold for over a thousand dollars. I only have a jpeg of the 1935. Hopefully the Word docs will open. The 1934 and 1935 are the same except for the inscription on the trunk. I'd like to have that '35! 1936 Studebaker.docx Studebaker truck.docx

Actually it is not a rare model. The National Products Studebaker promos of 1935 and 1936, and possibly a few other years preceding World War II, are the rare ones. The 1934 version is fairly common as it was made in great quantities to sell for a quarter at the World's Fair. AMT made the Studebaker promos from 1950-1956.

This is an interesting attachment as there is no Baseline, Michigan. Maybe it was a township then. Today this address is actually part of Warren, Michigan. Baseline Road (also known as Eight Mile Road) was used as a reference point (geographical boundary) for platting Southeast Michigan. Early AMT model boxes have an address of an office building in Detroit. Then an address in Birmingham was used since Troy did not have a post office and was not incorporated as a city at the time. 1960 AMT boxes list an address on Groesbeck Highway in East Detroit. Starting in 1961, a P.O. box 400 in Troy is used, which was probably the plant at 1225 East Maple Road, which is also referred to as 15 Mile Road.

nice find and color! if the taillights are rather flat, it's a '50; if the taillights are somewhat bulged out, it's a '51

I've thought of the H/O hood, but don't want to ruin the kit just for that hood. I was thinking of buying a re-issued '70 442 since it has the incorrect '71-'72 interior and I have the correct '72 grille and bumpers to complete a '72 442.

A post not too long ago asked if anyone was making a ram air hood for a 442. Someone responded that a company made a 1970 hood, so I went to the website and it only listed 1970. I then posted a question on this forum asking if anyone made the 1971-1972 442 ram air hood. I got no response. Can anyone help? I should have bought one from Modelhaus while I had a chance. Thanks, Jim

I liked the '73 version. The mule resembles the original 1960s Ford GT40, and that's a good thing!

Once the annual styling changes went away, it would have been easy to do some 1970s cars. A good example is the '75-'78 LTD, but how many would want one? The Mark IV could be done in the various special editions (Cartier, Bill Blass, Givenchy, etc.). I can think of many intermediates from that era that would have been a better choice than the Gran Torino, but hopefully it's selling decently. That one appeals to people who watched that TV show, Starsky & Hutch, or knew someone who owned one. Rivieras, Thunderbirds and large GM convertibles would do well if they could be built stock, custom, or as a low rider. The market is there, but not in the quantity it was back in the 1960s. Moebius has done well with the Hudsons and Chrysler 300s, and many on this forum would have expected these to be a total disaster. I find it hard to believe that we are still waiting for a 1970s Ranchero GT or El Camino SS.

When the buyer discovers that parts are missing, the seller will claim it "appeared" all parts were there, but I stated I'm not an expert. Ebay will back up the seller - especially if they have sold a lot of items. Many sellers are too lazy to even clean the dirty and dusty models. I like when you can clearly see paint scrapes and the seller states that it should clean up nicely or that the defects should polish out.

Cars like this are considered to be fine art investments like some of the goofy Picassos and the like. I saw last week where a pair of Levis from the early 20th Century sold for over $100,000. If you watch Antiques Road Show on PBS, you would just shake your head at the prices some stuff is valued at.

Maybe Missing Link (an appropriate name) can fill in the gaps of the 1960s and early 1970s large cars that weren't produced by AMT, MPC, Jo-Han: '66-'69 Caprice Custom Coupe, '63 and '66-'68 GP, '64-'70 Catalina 2+2 ('68-'70 only available in Canada), '61-'66 Starfire, '62-'63, and '67-'68 Wildcat, '62 and '70 XL, '67-'70 Marquis, '67 S-55, '68 wood-grained Monterey, '69-'70 Marauder, Continental Mark III and Mark IV, any '65-'71 Sport Fury, '67-'68 Monaco, '69-'71 300, '70 300 Hurst. That's enough for now. My fingers are getting sore!