Motor City

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!

I bought a book on Nascar for one of my nephews about ten years ago. I had wondered when they went from racing real cars to close facsimiles, as I had watched both on television. According to the book, 1967 was the year that teams could start using a template to approximate the looks of a real car, but had to meet certain critical dimensions. I also read elsewhere that Ford chassis have been used on all cars for years, but that may have changed within the last several years. I quit following when they did that "chase to the cup" thing.

'69 Coronet R/T convertible sale prices: green $1580.55 yellow $3550.00 red $3920.00 a blue '67 Corvette convertible went for $1654.09 and a red '69 Mach 1 went for $1869.00 All were from the same seller. Years ago, I remember a guy selling a black '69 Mach 1 promo for $25.00 when most good promos were selling for $10.00. Other sellers were outraged at the audacity of the asking price, but he got it. I went back to a nearby table to get a purple '70 'Cuda for $10.00, but it was sold.

4 people and a small doghouse

I see lots of Fusions around here (Dearborn & Detroit). People quit buying cars because the rear seats barely fit two adults (uncomfortably, I might add) and you hope your head doesn't hit the ceiling when going over a bump since the sloping roofs aren't tall enough, creating huge blind spots (buy our expensive blind spot alert system) and the trunk openings are totally worthless. Thanks, but I won't be buying a Chinese-made Focus. I'll keep my fleet of old GM cars.

What's the name of Dave's company?

Art, I built the Jo-Han Fleetwood Town Car years ago and still have it. I was at a classic car show several years ago and saw the real thing. As I recall, it had black painted simulated cane work. It was a painted effect much like the plaid-side Willys Knights. I think two of these Fleetwoods were made with the caning. I was shocked that it wasn't real caning.

I think we should start a Go Fund Me page so you can buy an authentic AMT or MPC Corvette kit from that era. I've got a Palmer '72 El Camino that I think will fit into the bed of one of my other El Caminos.

How does a goofy thing like that even come to market when they were SO MANY good cars that could have been tooled instead?

The '69-'72 GP had a long hood, but I think the '71-'78 Eldorado and Toronado would win that contest! I think there is a strong market for some large 1970s cars. 1970 was the last year more than one make of full-size car was available to build as a kit or buy as a promo (Impala, Bonneville, Wildcat, Coupe deVille, LTD). That's pretty sad as there were many cars from that period that should have been done. Most of the tooling is now done overseas at lower labor rates, and I think the naysayers on this board would be surprised at how well some of these would sell. Those who want typical family sedans and wagons can probably forget it as there is really no market for those outside of the resin casters. How about a '70 or '71 Sport Fury GT, '70 XL, '70 or '71 300, or a sharp convertible like the '71 Delta 88 Royale? Going down a bit in size, how about the '72 Thunderbird, Mark III, Mark IV, and Mark V, and '71-'73 Rivieras? How about an Eldorado convertible? For the intermediates, a '70-'73 Ranchero GT, or a '77-'79 Ranchero GT, along with early to mid-'70s El Caminos, would sell, as would a '73 442 and any Indy Pace Car. How many Yenko or Baldwin Motion Camaros or other cars we never saw do we really want as a kit? Wouldn't most of you rather see cars you remember from that time period?

Roy and Bill, I was referring to the optional tires available on certain sporty cars in the 1960s. As most of you know, Instead of a whitewall tire, a redwall tire was standard or optional on many of the muscle cars. A goldwall (or goldline) tire was available on the mid-'60s Corvette, and bluewalls (I think they were called Blue Streaks) were available on one or two models. The lettered tires pictured earlier in the thread were what was used for Indy car and drag racing.

The 500 was introduced on the '70 Eldorado. It was the only engine available on the Eldorado from 1970-1976, followed by the 425 for 1977 and 1978. It became standard on the other large Cadillacs for 1975 and 1976 only. It was never an optional engine on the other Cadillacs. There is a tune-up or emissions label on the cars with the 500 engine with a '501' printed on it. It does not refer to the engine displacement, but I don't know what it signifies. former owner of a '71 Eldorado, current owner of a '68 and '77 Eldorado

thank you very much, Casey; that would also be useful for some of the mid-sixties AMT kits that came with decal whitewalls

Hi, Does anyone make the gold line tires like what was available on mid-sixties Corvettes? Also, what about the blue line tires? I remember AMT had a two-sided tire on their '69 Impala kit that was red on one side and blue on the other.

My first car was a '71 Eldorado and it was a great highway car.