Motor 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!

Bill, Actually, the '55-'57 Chevy was a very popular used car all throughout the 1960s. It's ironic that the all-new Ford outsold the '57 Chevy that year. My Dad traded in his '57 Bel Air hardtop in 1963 and got $1200 for it, which was a lot of money for a used car. Five years later, when he went to trade in his '63 LeSabre hardtop, the dealer only offered $500.00. The LeSabre looked like new and the Bel Air was rusting out!

I turned 33 the year I first got a temporary card in the mail.. I kept it, and am now way past old enough to qualify.

I don't understand it when, for example, AMT comes out with a '67 whatever, people on this forum want Revell to come out with an improved '67 whatever. There are so many old and new cars and trucks that have never been produced in kit form. We should appreciate the effort companies are making to produce models they hope will sell. We have been given quite a few kits to choose from since the annual kits went away. Revell has done a good job of issuing models that Round 2 has not reissued from the old AMT/MPC tooling, and has also done many new subjects that no one else had ever done. I, for one, am looking forward to the '85 442, and was elated to see the various Hurst/Olds models. It's still a good time to be in the hobby.

a 1972 Ranchero kit could then be modified for the '73-'76 model years with few changes; adding the GT emblems as separate parts wouldn't be difficult, and the Squire option (wood graining) could also be added as separate parts

thanks for the suggestions, guys!

Sam, How did you mask off the blue to prevent white overspray from when you were painting the top?

Are there any available other than small and large die cast? It would make a great 1/25th kit and could be built in several versions (pace car, Earnhardt, other special editions) with the V6, supercharged, V8). I'm surprised it hasn't been done by Revell.

Hi Sam, That's a sharp El Camino. I own an '87 that I bought new, and have always liked them. You referred to a promo in your first post. There were Chevelle promos, but no '68 or '69 El Camino promo. Did you use an air brush or spray paint from a can? What kind of primer did you use on the body? Thanks!

Jo-Han made the Fury hardtop from 1958-1968, the convertible from 1962-1968, and a 1968 police 4-door sedan. After 1970, the only big car models made as annuals were from Chevy (1971-1976) and Cadillac (1977-1979). The '70s is a forgotten decade for the most part.

thanks for the replies, guys

I wonder if the Aishoma? (Japanese) 1/24 kit has the correct interior.

I was wondering if anyone makes a correct interior for the 1966 Wildcat. As some of you know, all versions used the 1965 interior. The 1966 interior should have had the thin-shell bucket seats with small Wildcat logos on the seat backs front and rear, a different dashboard, and different side panels.

Aare the Coronet 500 emblems decals or photo-etched parts?

For the '51-'54 Chevy promos, if it's plastic, it was made by PMC.