Ragtop Man

Very sharp build, crisp as new money. The color combo is a great choice, it was not uncommon in the day to choose the light blue as the neutral color vs. a tan or parchment. This really shows the potential of the kit!

If you are a fan of this generation Mustang, run (do not walk) to your LHS for the Revell kits. Both the 351 and 429 versions are out, and both are outstanding.

Shiver me timbers, matey! That is a completley new one on me - was this a Palmer / Lindy only, or did this eventually become the MPC? I seem to recall a review stating that it had been copied so carefully, even so,e feed tags were in the same place as AMT.

Thank you for the update, need to scoop a few more to harvest for some builders. Also - are the springs still on the chrome shot?

Wait - the Lindy (ex-MPC) '40 had an opening hood? That fills my quota of "one new thing" today. Always thought it was a curbside like the '49 Mercury... Well, dang.

I can't access my '69 right now, but I seem to recall it is on the tree. If the box art is accessible online for the current '69 XL, that would tell for sure if the lower front control arm trapezoid thing is included. IIRC, it interchanges with the '67-9 Thunderbird, or is close enough to pass.

Looking at the new Moby Dodtch lineup, particularly the sedans, plus the other Lindy, PL and JoHan Mopars back to the beginning of time. Or is one out there and I just missed it?

Bought a huge bag of Lindy '64 Sedan scraps at a show probably 15-20 years ago. - have several front bench seats and plenty of interior bits. Kinda like the idea of the bench and pushbutton granny T-Flite. Random idea for 1:1 consideration - a F.A.S.T. 'exhibition' class for the cars ruled out by the somewhat arbitrary designations of 'factory' (vs. aftermarket) build that rules out things like Shelby GTs, A990s, etc. J/S

That was my father's FoMoCo company lease car, very similar. '77 302/4-speed, but he had the forged alloys and no side molding. Red interior and pinstripe, sharp car for the era. There is a pic someplace of me laboriously rubbing the II down with old skool Simoniz and cheesecloth.

Tim, I assume you have / had the CARS magazine issue where they ordered virtually that exact car for a long term tester. I think they missed the cutoff for a 440, but liked the HP 360 better and felt it was probably more in step with the times. Said it looked like a NASCAR stocker with license plates, but no #43. The article was highly influential to me - always loved the basic black, with just the wheel trim, best wheel-tire and maybe the rocker molding always looked best regardless of brand. Did it on Dad's Ford lease car drivers on several occasions, prompting other employees to remark, "Hey, Ted, how come that looks so good? I got the [higher trim/sales department clutter package] but yours is way better."

I'd love it, personally. Many (but not a kit's worth) of '67-68 parts surfaced in the latest release of the '69 XL. Just cos I know he is reading this THANK YOU STEVE GOLDMAN !!!!!! The body is 10/10 as virtually everything else from AMT in that era. Chassis was a noble early attempt to emulate the 1:1 - perimiter frame, interior bucket drops in, floor of interior is also the surface of the chassis. Methinks a AMT engineers got a tour of Wayne Assembly... Problem is, the fits, um, leave much to be desired. The wheelwell is clearly visible in a finished build, forward 1/3 needs to be removed. The axle pins are plastic at the four corners, a virtual guarantee of breakage. Why they chose this vs. a through-axle metal wire in back is still surprising to me. Front suspension was designed for accuracy, but uses a stub plastic pin for an axle - see above. I can only imagine the howls from retailers and distributors about the practice, which was also share with Mustang and Thunderbird. In '69, this was partially addressed with steel pins for the uprights in the T-Bird front suspension, and promo style one piece chassis in Mustang and Thunderbird. Best bet is to find a builder, stab in a '65-6 Galaxie chassis and get the rest from the '69.

Madonn! I think Jimmy Hoffa is in that trunk. You got the most out of the outstanding JoHan engraving - particularly the interior.

As ever, Mikey, a masterpiece. It is quite a challenge to integrate parts from many sources and make it look like it should have been that way all along.

These melange builds rarely work for me but this one just sings, very true to that original spirit of the Kindig Corve... tribute.

Nice, the Brit roadsters are overlooked by the hobby in general. Very surprised, in fact, that we have yet to see a modern-tool Healey roadster in 4- or 6-cylinders, TR-4/6, DB4-5 stock and drophead... But that's just me and I could be wrong about that.

It just pops with the trim and the whitewalls. Really nice!

ChryCo quality took a severe nosedive in the late 60s /early 70s, which was not entirely limited to Highland Park - GM and Ford began cutting corners and costs to support aggressive finanacial goals as the 'guns-n-butter' economy began to cool, rising costs began to eat away at profits and entry buyers looked for more basic solutions. Stripping a Barracuda to Duster price levels would be the height of insanity - it would no longer BE a 'Cuda. Without hijacking too badly, I always thought Duster, and to a lesser extent, Maverick were good solutions for the basic small car category. They lined up fine with the GM X-body range. And yes, GM had their issues with diluting the Nova for 1971 by expanding to Buick, Olds and Pontiac. Chevy dealers were in near mutiny, having been promised an exclusive...oh well time marches on.

A shame to have to hide the work with the body! Great job - have a 1/16 and 1/24 both staring at me from the shelf. Great job and very inspiring!

Okay, my head is spinning. Seriously great scholarship on the part of all involved. I can easily see the resin industry - assuming anyone still does parts - going after the better, early griles. Likewise assuming significant kitbash potential down the road for the '72. Many thanks for the link!

There is a lot of crossing back and forth across the two brands - a practice shared with the full size Chevy pickups of similar era. I've seen one or two along the way... and there are definite keep/avoid versions of the kits in scale. Would like to know the twists and turns in the story. Thanks!

Dave, many thanks for the brief and informative look ahead. Will be looking forward to the kits!!!

Boom! Looks great!

My father was a Ford employee, who could lease cars from the company each year, or, depending on retail inventory pressure, even sooner. He had LSCs for virtually every year they were on the Fox body platform, from a pretty-but-gutless '83 to the last in '88, a streak interrupted only by a few 5.0L stick Mustang hatches. SVO also built a few LSC prototypes with 5-speeds, but nothing ever came of it other than poetic reminiscene by David E. in a C&D editorial. L-M Dealers had no idea what to do with LSCs, and the few import-wise intenders who tripped into the showroom usually met up with a salesman used to selling pillow trim and vinyl tops.

Nice save of the tool, for sure, eminently bashable with the Demon/Duster/Whatever.

Pro Stocks are a no-brainer, but the rivet counters will lose their minds.