Ragtop Man

As for Ford products that left town daily from Deer-Burn, E+L Carriers used Ford Truck exclusively for decades. The "L" was for Lawson. Lloyd Sr. was a friend of HF1 and the founder; as Dearborn families went (before it became a suburb of Beriut) was "rich beyond the dreams of avarice." I don't think I ever saw a Ford or Mercury on a haulaway the wasn't an E&L until I was well into adulthood. The grandson was my age, always had the COOLEST Dinky and Corgi sets from the local department store - I distinctly recall the 007 and Batman sets.

Want to like this about 100X - easily best build of the kit I have ever seen. Really pops, and the yellow is even better than factory. FWIW, a 1:1 world ancedote - Pontiac would list a yellow evey year in the effort to get magazine cover stories. While the shots would sell dead tree pulp like mad, the color was DOA in the showroom (save for the Folden retro-look '87) and it would get cancelled a few months into the year. To test their somewhat porous production scheduling system that should have been kicking bad orders back, special vehicles ordered a (wait for it) '91 Trans Am GTA convertible in yellow, with a 5-speed and the 5.7L engine, the 1LE chassis package and every option in the book. All were either restricted or thoereticall NA on the convertible. If the order bounced, their work would validated. If not... Expecting an outraged call from Van Nuys... they waited. And waited. The call did come from the company vehicle rep: "Hey, I don't know who ordered this... but there's a yellow GTA convertible here that costs more than my first house sitting here..." It did live in the Special Vehicles fleet for a few years, then went to the collection. Alas, though, it ended in the crusher on "Byron (Warner, chief engineer) Black Friday" as Pontiac was razing old buildings on the property and getting tired of the charges and offsets to keep their eclectic fleet of non sellable cars afloat.

Let 'er be. Maybe cleanup (gently) it has a great look to it. Would definitely have been an ooh-ahh in my circle of modeling friends backinnaday.

Again, similar to the Coronets (and one would presume the Tempest) R2 planned for multiple versions at the git-go. There are some blank spots on the tree that would indicate room for future expansion.

Pretty safe bet. The convert and coupe are identical from the roof down, or so close it doesn't really matter. R2 did this for the Coronets, so I'd guess the same thinking applies here. Hoping for some nice, crispy chrome to come out of the project to help save an annual or two - the thin blade bumpers are very fragile.

A Galaxie that is ... out of this world. (couldn't resist...) Concept and execution are amazing. I'd bet a rich guy who saw that model would say, make a 1:1 for me. It's that good.

If the excerable "Magnum GT" is out there, then the best C-Body chassis ('65 up) is there, too. However, the awfulness of the Magnum GT cannot be exaggerated. A true WTFWTT moment on MPC's part. I've wanted to cast a C-chassis for quite a while, just one of those 'roundtuits. To be fair, it is a BIG item for a small shop. My Galaxie Sportsman chassis ('64, no exhaust, etc.) mold barely fit in the pressure pot when filled. The Dodtch is even bigger...

That really is the best method if you want a '67-68. At risk of repeating myself endlessly - the bodies are cycolac, so you can hit them with just about any paint. Hoods are separate, but heat-staked in place, so they pop out with minimal effort. Many parts of the annuals are in the current '69 XL, the only hitchup in the gitalong is the original chassis, which was innovative but fragile, and did not fit all that well. Easily substituted with '66 or '65 Galaxie. The new operators of what was once known as Motor City resin do a very nice '67 - if you were at the Waterford show, you could also see Ed Gostin's build which I believe uses that body. To leave that twitching horse alone now - I would not be surprised to learn that elements of both were still available, but, if they were ready to run we would have seen on years ago.

I think the Tempest idea surfaced a while back when a poster questioned if AMT used the same production technique for the Tempest AFX as the F85, and by extension,would there be a possiblity of same if we had seen the Pontiac FC recently. That would be a very logical extension of thought... and look where it led. I have personally carped about the lack of a B-Mack for years. Given all the other entries in the category, it was inexplicable given its history and record of service. Yeah, guilty here of wet-blanket flinging, but on the other hand, when the comments about the lack of 1976 Belchfire Deluxe Brougham Wagon turn into " Don't the morons get it, it was in an episode of Brady Bunch with Farrah Fawcett...." then the convo is out of line so don't be surprised when someone says something. FWIW, industry is industry, and if planners are not stacking wins, they are that much closer to the surprise Thursday call to meet in HR to discuss a separation package.

Looks pretty darn good from here, nice job!

I have to wonder if that S Blazer 'promo' was one of the Flying Dutchman tools - printed to fill the orders, but never seen again like the Chevy full size OBS.

There is a very active 1:1 trucking collector and show hobby, and IIRC, there is even a Mack museum, so I'm guessing that reference will not be hard to come by to get it right. I can see B-Mack being a developer's 'passion project' so let's hope it nails the subject. 3D development does not guarantee perfect fits or an easy build, but in a truck kit with a lot of parts, it will be leagues ahead of the old AMT E. Maple product. IMHO this is a HUGE gap filled in the hobby... I haven't built a truck since the '70s, but this will shove every other projects off my table when it arrives. The number of versions is infinite, and if it goes together well, is a springboard for the aftermarket in 3D and resin. Now, I'm going to buy up all the "Duel" DVDs and send them to South Bend...

Excellent coverage, Tim! Hoping we see some of the '90s era R2 kits on show tables, and that there is 3D industry embrace for this cohort!

I think you hit most of the points. Any proposal that is out on the edge of the commercial space is going to be a tough sell outside the "lunatic fringe" here. That said, after talking to R2 at the latest show, they have a very solid planning model, and plenty of tools in the crib waiting to be evaluated. There is not a secret pot of money somewhere to chase it all, or a building full of model freaks like 1225 E. Maple was in the day. Much as I would love it selfishly, I also think there is stuff I would love just as much that would be very commercial and continue to sell well for years to come.

Love. It!!

If you really have the jones for a '67 (or '68) keep an eye out for a scruffy promo. The Galaxie (IIRC) was a toy store friction as well as a common give-away car. They turn up for $50-75 or so with box wear and scratches, nothing that can't be fixed. The hood is heat-staked in place, not molded in if I'm recalling, so that is an easy change. It is pressed in ABS, so you can lacquer away. Annual kit chassis tend to be a giant mess unless you get dumb lucky and find one in decent shape, just toss the glue bombs and get a '65 or pre-retool '66 which should fit fine. There is dremel work to get there, but like I say, it's modeling and not assembling for a reason. There are A LOT of '67-8 parts in the '69 XL to get you the rest of the way. I'm 100% in the custom world on at least one of mine - similar to XL Interceptor. Can't wait to get that workshop up and running!

I was noticing the "NASCAR" treatment of the roof - like a bunch of 1/8 ths stacked up in reverse. "Had to even it up" like Harpo and Chico trimming the moustache of an opera star...

IMO - this looks much more like the work of the Alexander Brothers. There was an "XL Interceptor" show car from the era that would not be hard to duplicate for this version. Might take some 3D chops to execute, if you study the details there are some neat little tweaks, such as the wheels and grille.

FWIW, the kit has some good points - particularly the 2.8L "Cologne" V-6 which can swap into a Pinto quite easily, ditto the 351 C, but the engraving on that is worthy of a Cub Scout project. Still a flat-hood 351 C Pinto would be a neat little streeter, if still a rock in a sock. AMT chassis is a touch crude compared to MPC, maybe bash them and get one decent build and two kit's worth of scraps! Sadly the 1:1 2.8L in the states was tranquilized from the rev-happy Euro version that made the first Capri's in this country a delight to drive. And worse yet, in the Pinto, the 4-speed was NA, which my father (FoMoCo engineer) had direct attribution that it would take a chunk out of the much more profitable Mustang II that WAS available with same.

Love, love, love.

Ralph Moody is claimed to have said after inspecting #50 ..."The most serious-ass race car I've ever seen."

Bingo. That would be a great choice. The kit had a lot of Monte Carlo Rally parts in it that were fairly accurate.

The 'mouth' feels very 289 Mk. 1 to me - the chassis and engine are excellent, but not quite with 'em on the body. Feel free to educate me on this, I could be a few convos behind.

They had a special 4-speed semi automatic transaxle called "PowerShift" , one of the trickest bits of technology in the era. Basically, Pontiac ganged two standard Corvair/Tempest transaxle Powerglide planetary units around a single ring and pinion, capped with a conventional torque convertor. Power flowed through a hollow pinion (!) to the units creating a ratio spread similar to the Super T-10. It engaged with a clutch to start, but then could be manually shifted without lifting. All was good until the advent of the 8" tire and steepening competition (deepest ratio was 3.90) If you drill down in the story here... you get the whole thing. FWIW, if you wanted to make the convertible into a coupe, it would be very straightforward to stab the common roof on to the improved body. This would be all the incentive needed for R2 to release a coupe version! https://www.hotrod.com/news/mickey-thompson-the-pontiac-tempest

Any idea if it still has all the original bits from the annual - specifically, the excellent 'kidney bean' Halis? This will put my MCW Tempest on the front burner, and maybe even improve a promo rescue project for another '63. Totally digging them! (Was the inline-4 in the original annual? Might be a resin candidate...)