Motor City

The '71 Eldorado promo came in versions with single and dual exhaust, but only the single exhaust version is correct. I wonder if Jo-Han used the Toronado chassis because they ran out of Eldorado chassis. By the way, I remember when the '72 Toronado came out and the E.P.A. rated it as having the worst gas mileage of any American car that year.

It's actually the '77 Cutlass body updated. The all-new Cutlass came out in '78. The '80 442 used the formal roofline and is quite rare. That's what I was expecting to see here. Oh, well!

I remember the AMT '69 Impala SS Custom Coupe had plastic front axle assemblies that were a bite to install, and never looked right. I eventually sold it and bought the MPC convertible version of it. That's a sharp looking Torino!

I've bought some of the Moebius models (300s, Hudsons, Comet), but haven't built any yet. I have no interest in the big Ford trucks or Nova, but both will probably sell decently. I'm hopeful that some Ranchero GT, Buick GS, and '65 442 kits eventually get made. It's a different world today than what we had to choose from decades ago, so I've been buying old promos and kits instead.

They only have it listed for the '70. Does anyone make the '71-'72 hood?

I just looked at my collection of promos. The '79 is Camel with buckets and rally wheels. The '80 is Cinnabar with buckets and rally wheels. The '81 came in Brown and Silver, with buckets and wheel covers. The '82 is Dark Redwood with bench seat and wheel covers. They are quite affordable and a lot easier to find than the earlier kits. It took me about 10 years to find the '82 kit at Toledo before the Internet was popular. I almost bought the kit new, but I didn't buy a real El Camino until I ordered my '87, which I still have. I will use the '82 and '86 SS kits to build a replica of '87.

The Royal Knight kit is of a 1979 model. The Black Knight appearance package was only available for the 1978 El Camino SS. The GMC Caballero Diablo is of a 1980 model. The Monogram kit of the 1978 Black Knight is 1/24th scale. Promotional models were made for the 1979-1982 model years only. The real 1986 and 1987 El Caminos are identical, so the 1986 SS kit can be built to represent either year. As I recall, the promos were only available in tan, cinnabar (orange), dark claret (mahogany) and silver.

Note the wider heads and valve covers used on the 396/427/454 (this is a '66 Impala SS with the 427 option). The '66 AMT kit still used the small heads. The MPC kits of the '70s had the larger heads and painted valve covers for building an accurate big block Impala or Caprice.

oops ... Gerry's correct on the '65 kit having the 409 (at least the fender emblems are)

Snake, That's kind of a trick question. AMT's '65 and '66 Impala SS models both have front fender 396 emblems ( I'm not sure why the '66 wasn't upgraded to a 427). The engines look like the previous generic engines of 265/283/327/348/409 variety. I can't get at my AMT '67 Impala SS 427 kit right now, but the MPC '68 and '69 Impala SS 427 kits have larger heads as used on the real car. AMT's '69 Impala SS 427 is also a big block. If you're looking for an authentic big block, the MPC 454 as used on the '71 Impala and '73 Caprice (and possible later) kits is a good one to use. I owned a '73 Caprice 2-door hardtop with the 454 that my Dad ordered new, so of course I built the kit to look like it (black, black vinyl top, red interior). A trivia note: all '69 Impala SS models came only with a 427 engine, but the engine was also available on all full-size Chevies. The MPC '72 Impala kit is a 400 even though the box says it's a 454, and the fender emblems are also 400.

The Riviera was reissued in the mid-'70s in a nice metallic gray or silver (Buick called it Silver Cloud). The wagon would be a great basis to make the rare 2-door wagon that Chevy made from '64-'65.

Rob, You missed my point. Most people who aren't senior citizens are interested in smart phones for the texting and internet capabilities, and have a short attention span, which is why they are constantly looking at their phones to see if someone has texted or emailed them. Go to any sporting event and you can't have a moment of silence without music playing or some other stimulus. Go to a mall and you have the same situation. To have the patience and attention span to focus on building a detailed kit is out of the question for most, so a snap kit suits them perfectly!

I have several old ('20s and '30s) radios and recently took one in to get repaired. The shop owner said they cannot get young people involved in the hobby because they have a short attention span and cannot work several hours at a time tracing circuitry. Perhaps the same situation is true with the kits, so a snap kit is all they can do before losing interest. I think if a smart phone was included in a kit, that might stir some interest.

the '64 was reissued, so it shouldn't be too difficult to find the lenses or a parts car (kit or promo)

Paul, That Country Squire looks really nice. How about a '68 Olds Vista Cruiser?

it's a '72 Ranchero ... not a 72' (72 foot) Ranchero

thanks, Steve; it looks great!

that Impala is beautiful, Steve; how did you duplicate the multi-colored seat pattern?

Sorry Dan, but I still disagree. 2-wheel drive and 4-wheel drive versions of trucks have bodies that are unnecessarily too high (typically 6-8"). The only trucks that should have bodies high off of the tires are empty 1-ton, 4-wheel drive, and that is only so a heavy load will compress the HD springs to provide a correct load height. The standard GM trucks are not significantly lower - not the Colorado, not the larger Chevy or GMC. It's the same with the other brands I was considering buying a Colorado, but the body is ridiculously high in all configurations. Look at a 2-wheel drive GM truck prior to 1973 and you will see what I'm talking about. ACE had it right about compensating for something. It's supposed to look bad-ass and aggressive, but like I said, who wants to look at the fuel and brake lines, inner wheelhouse, and other stuff that shouldn't be seen unless you are under a truck or have it on a hoist.

Why are ALL of the truck bodies about 8 inches too high? Who wants to look at the inner wheelhousings and exhaust? Yet people keep buying them. I'll take my El Camino any day!

This is an interesting thread. Arcade, a cast iron toy manufacturer out of Chicago, made a number of cars in the 1920s in 1/20th scale. National Products, which also was out of Chicago, started making promos in 1934 (Studebaker, Chrysler and DeSoto Airflows, Hudson, and Graham sedans. The scale they used, which I think is around 1/28th, is ideal in that you can display more models per shelf, and the detail is pretty good! I got rid of the few 1/24th models I had, and then realized the subject of the model was more important than the scale. I started buying them up again. The variety of scales makes it interesting. For example, you could display a collection of Packard models of all scales on a shelf. Or you could display all models of one scale on a shelf, and a different scale on another shelf.

Yes, those were the days, Bruce, but they didn't last too long! Then it became all about emissions, gas mileage, 5 mph. bumpers. Now we have cars that don't even have trunks anymore, and people are buying them.

The '64 Cutlass hardtop and convertible were available as promotionals and kits. The '65 Dynamic 88 hardtop was made as a promo and kit, and the convertible as a promo. There was even a radio version of the hardtop promo made. If the '64 Cutlass tool is salvageable, it would make a nice kit, and should later be converted to the '65 442. The Dynamic 88 tooling was made into a Motor City Stocker. It could be restored into a '65 or '66 Starfire or '66 Dynamic or Delta 88. Dream on, right?

hopefully a '70 Ranchero GT or '57 Ranchero

my thoughts exactly; if you can afford to have a nice collection, spend the money for a fire suppression system; also, it would be better to house a collection where water is plentiful and easily accessible, such as in a city;