Motor City

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;

Thanks for verifying what I suspected, Rob. I thought the 4-door hardtop was only available in '61. I thought the sedan was an odd choice after Lincoln introduced the 2-door hardtop for 1966. I thought the convertible promo and kit should have been continued, too, but I guess the models didn't sell too well.

Regarding the Lincoln, a 4-door hardtop kit was available in '61, and it appears that only 4 of the real car were produced. I'm not sure about the non-convertible kits for '62-'64, but the '66 to '69 promo and kit was only a 4-door sedan. It would be nice to see a '66-'69 2-door hardtop from whatever tooling exists, as well as a '66 or '67 convertible.

That's a gorgeous car. My '68 Eldorado is the same shade of blue and has a white leather interior. Unfortunately, my car has a white vinyl top, but I would have preferred one without that option.

I think there would be fewer complaints about the lack of new models from Round 2 if the company participated on this forum. I've always wondered how a lame model such as the Denny McLain car came out in the first place when there were real cars that weren't produced in scale in the late '60s. If they continue fixing the existing tooling (such as correcting the driver's side roof on the '65 Bonneville hardtop and putting in the correct interior in the '66 Wildcat), that is a step in the right direction. I wonder why some cars haven't been reissued that were completely restyled the next year since the tooling would not have been modified, such as the '61 Invicta, '64 Bonneville, Grand Prix and Wildcat. If we were at least given an explanation, that would help.

Thanks for the nice review, Chris. It's great that Revell added the emblem scripts on the front fenders. Is there a molded-in emblem on the header panel (above the grille)? Is there a trunk emblem molded in? Hopefully Revell will start adding the emblems on all of their new releases instead of just providing decal emblems. Maybe we can now get a Ranchero GT version...

Come to think of it, Adistra was in the Daisy plant's Administration Building, the facade of which was torn down a few years ago. The property is a condominium project that only completed two of three planned buildings near a railroad track. The city tried to save the facade (kind of a Greek Revival style) as the front of the third condo building, but the builder never built it. The King Air Rifle Building next door survives.

The marketing company's name was Adistra, but it may have been called something else at that time.

Typically the convertible sells for $25-$35 as a junker (broken windshield, missing steering wheel, etc.). If this is as nice as it looks, it should sell for around $100 or more. I believe the return address is for a marketing company that handled promotional items for companies such as recognition gifts for employees or clients. I cannot remember the name of it off the top of my head, but it's no longer in business. It's last address was near the former Daisy Air Rifle plant that moved to Arkansas in 1958. (The plant has now been completely torn down.) Ford did have a Climate Control plant on the west boundary of Plymouth that opened in 1964 and closed several years ago. For Ford's 100th Anniversary show at World HQ, they hired another marketing company to sell promotional items, which is cheaper than having their own staff handle this task.

The car pictured is a '77 Regal, which looks identical to the '76 except for the grille. To answer the Eldorado question, the '53-'55 was a convertible-only model. For '56, a hardtop was now also available and came standard with a vinyl top. The hardtop was called the Seville, while the convertible was now called the Biarritz. From 1961-1966, the convertible was the only Eldorado, and it was still called a Biarritz. The front-wheel drive Eldorado was introduced for 1967. I own a '68 Eldorado and a '77 Eldorado Biarritz. The Biarritz was re-introduced as a 1976 model, converted by American Sunroof Corporation, which added a padded vinyl landau top and smaller backlite, opera lamps, brushed side and hood trim, and color-keyed emblems. The '77 and '78 came with tufted pillow leather seats, while the '76 did not. Starting with the smaller 1979 model, the Biarritz had a brushed stainless steel top insert.

Bill, My Dad ordered a '76 Regal Landau coupe in Continental Blue (a beautiful medium blue) with a white landau top. I couldn't convince him to order the S/R package or sunroof, but it was a loaded car. It basically had everything but positraction, 8-track tape player, and bucket seats. It even had the sport suspension, chrome rally wheels, sport mirrors, and automatic level control. I ended up with it when he ordered an '89 Riviera (which I now have). The car was never in an accident, but was rusting out badly in the cowl area, floors, and a few odd places. I hated to get rid of it as it was a nice looking car. Even the factory white vinyl pin striping on the sides and trunk area were still beautiful. I agree that these Buicks were the best of the '73-'77 A bodies. The flattened out sheetmetal on the sides, the front end, and the slim taillights really look great. I'd like to have another one. I have extra doors and passenger front fender if anyone is restoring one of these.

John, I agree that the '73-'77 GM 'A' body is really underappreciated. I think the best of the round headlights is the '73 442 and '73 Cutlass Supreme. The '76-'77 Century coupe and Custom coupe (with the Regal roofline) are very sharp with the slanted front header and grille. The '76 Regal coupe is also very attractive, but they ruined the grille on the '77 Regal (changed just for the sake of change). The '74 Laguna S-3 has a great front end, then the '75-'76 Laguna S-3 had the sloped grille. I'd like to see any of the following: '73 442, '73 Grand Am, '74 GS, '74 Laguna S-3,'75 Century Indy Pace Car, '75 Laguna S-3, '76 Century Indy Pace Car, '77 Can Am. We'll be lucky to see any of them. The '77 Monte Carlo that was done several years ago is rather crude. The '73 Cutlass S is nice, but was only a promo, the '74 Cutlass S has the 442 grille but the wrong emblems and hood, and the '75 Cutlass S has the wrong grille. We're definitely due for some!