Robberbaron

Literal LOL on that one, you just won quote of the day!

Black vinyl top over white doesn't look too shabby either, IMHO: https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/what-it-hasnt-got-you-dont-need-1968-dodge-coronet-r-t No kidding! A prelim Google image search turned up almost no examples. Did find a link to a YouTube walk around of a white example with the double body side stripes: Definitely more low key than the bumble bees...

Exact same stuff at mine, zilch.

I seem to recall that the tooling for the 1/16 Mustang was actually obtained by AMT from another manufacturer. Thought I saw that on this forum years ago, but I'm coming up with zero info in my Google search, my Google-fu must be off tonight. I seem to recall the original manufacturer was a well established company that dabbled in model kits in the '60s, then cut bait quickly after turning out this epic fail. That was the explanation for why this was basically a large scale Palmer kit - it wasn't created by AMT. Doesn't explain why the original AMT and all subsequent owners were shameless enough to keep reissuing this dreck. At least the '80s box art photo was honest, warning you of the horrors within: It's really annoying me that I can't recall who the original company was that created it, and getting zilch searching.

I'll definitely be following this one. Our family car growing up was a '68 Impala, so they're near and dear to me. Gotta wonder what happened to the tooling for the body/interior of this one? (I know the driveline/chassis got recycled each year thru '76) We really need a plastic '68 again!

Actually, this is 1/25 Revell, back when they were a separate company competing against Monogram. Monogram, Revell, and MPC each had their own squarebody Blazer (and/or Jimmy) kits. Your are correct on the sub-par execution on these kits though. Mid seventies through mid eighties was pretty much bottom of the barrel for Revell kit development and QC. Through sheer luck they chose some subjects that no one else kitted, such as the Jeep J10 (Honcho), but they were usually oversimplified and had proportional problems.

Although I do believe the bed design was already outdated for 1967, the real problem is the boom: It was unrealistic cartoon fantasy in 1967, even when these kits were considered "toys" at the time. I suppose a certain segment of Round 2's clientele might be interested in reliving "warm fuzzy" memories of building one of these in their youth, but I think that will only get them so far...

Sneak peek posted Dec 9 to Round 2's Facebook page, and posted in this thread on page 3. Pasted again for you convenience:

That was my thought as well, similar to how the '71 T-bird has 5 wheel covers - remnant of the promo days. When this one was still the 1970 LTD promo, it also had 5 wheel covers: Can't tell for sure from this pic of there's 4 taillights or not.

That article mentions my main concern: the RC2 debacle that nearly destroyed the AMT, MPC, and PL brands. The fact that they've bought controlling interest usually equates to they can do whatever they want, whenever they want. You'd hope they would continue the momentum that Round2 has been building lately, but who knows? With us starting to get extinct kits resurrected with new tooling ('63 Nova wagon, body for the upcoming '64 Cutlass), I hate to see anything that could rock that boat.

Uh oh.....

Revell Caprice police car: Became the '94 Impala SS: I know, at least it wasn't butchered into something hideous, like so much of the AMT/MPC annuals...

I'm thinking this might be the case. I stopped at my nearby HL yesterday and they finally had a few new kits on their shelves: the MPC 1978 Dodge truck and the AMT 1966 Buick Wildcat. (OK I know these have been out for a while, but my HL never got them till now). I was surprised to see the Buick priced at $24.99, which is probably about what my LHS charges. Since Round 2 isn't marketing it as a "basic" or "budget" kit (like the '72 GTO, etc.), I was quite surprised to see that price. For the last several years they've been pricing the vast majority of their kits at $29.99. Wondering if they're getting a head start on their new pricing method? I didn't really need another of those Buicks , but I grabbed one along with a Pro Street '66 Nova $30.XX out the door for both thanks to the 40% sale. If they really are going to adjust their pricing down a bit, I'm expecting we won't see 40% off sales anymore either. (OT: Guts of the Nova are earmarked to go under a '63 wagon whenever I can get a hold of a couple of those.)

FTFY

In addition to everything Snake described, another word of warning on the Monogram '66 Malibu: The grille doesn't really even resemble a stock '66 Chevelle grille anymore. From pictures I've seen on the net of the original '70s box art, it seems like it started out fairly decent: At some point it seems like the grille texture was re-engraved. I suspect it was either damaged in some way, or just worn out enough that they redid it. Looking at the recent versions, it's obvious that they just cut further into the tool to do this, since the center section of the grille now protrudes out much further than the area around the headlights. Worse yet, those new grille bars weren't even cut truly horizontal, or spaced evenly (work must have been done on a Friday afternoon after a couple of lunch beers). You can even spot it on the box art pics for most of the newer releases (at least I guess it's not deceptive box art):

Yeah, looks like a suicide machine to me...

Stopped in at the Merrillville, IN store again last night. Down to the dregs with the automotive kits: nothing but curbside Vettes and the Camaro concept. Gotta think and they'll be getting at least one more shipment in before X-mas?

Absolutely great show and, as you said, great "automotive casting". Season 1 especially seemed completely on-point as far as era-correct, mundane vehicles you would truly see in the mid-70s. While watching, really about the only car that took me "out of the moment" briefly was an early '70s full size Chevy wagon with polished Torq-Thrusts. Technically, it's possible you could have seen that around 1977, but in reality nobody was trying to make those cars are look cool back then, and its just not something you would typically see at that time. Mindhunter is produced (and many episodes are directed) by David Fincher. The whole series has a look and feel very similar to his movie "Zodiac" from about 10 years ago. If you haven't seen that one, I also highly recommend it. That movie was also noteworthy for its accurate vehicles, and I suspect he utilized some of the same production personnel to ensure accuracy in Mindhunter. Mindhunter season 2 is set sometime after the first season. Not sure if they actually said what year its supposed to be, but my impression was that it should be about 1982-ish Unfortunately, it seems like they slipped a bit with the vehicles in season 2, allowing quite a few mid-80s and even late-80s vehicles to creep in. Still worth watching, and I agree: it will be a crime if we don't get a third season.

Yup, stopped at the Merrillville, IN store and got one of the Gremlins - 07/01/2020 date on the bottom. Similar situation with several of the kits I bought there last year - at least some of these kits are manufactured specifically for Ollies. Nothing else of interest to me the other day. They also had the Camaro Concept, newer Vette coupe and convert, and the Escalade EXT, plus a bunch of the big rig stuff. Hoped they'd have the '55 Vette, Hurst/Olds, or T-bird, but no dice. I'll have to keep popping in to see what they restock over the next week or two.

Looks quite similar to the Foresight Indy 500 also...

Huh, never knew that place existed! Took a look on Google maps, kind of tucked away back there. I'll have to stop in there sometime. Pretty unusual to see a new LHS open up. Let's hope they stick around.

Jim, it's a bit of a drive from Valpo, but if you're heading west you owe it to yourself to check out G&G Hobbies in downtown Griffith. Old school hobby shop that's been there forever. Best part is that almost the entire east side of the store is model kits, mostly automotive. They're the only local brick and mortar location I know of that carries Moebius, and they also have everything from Round 2 and Revell, so it's the place to go for any of the kits that HL decides not to stock. Very competitive prices too. Unfortunately, like the rest of the country, all the other local "old school" hobby shops have slowly withered and died off.

I stopped in there on Friday, that end display looked.exactly the same, so I don't think they sold a thing. I didn't think they had any auto kits either, but further back in the store down one of the toy aisles they had a cluster of about a dozen Lindberg "1938 Custom Ford Van" Boyd-looking thing. . Took a hard pass on that one. Nothing else automotive that I was able to find

If they're still working on retooling the '30 coupe components, replacing the Deuce-style roof insert with a stock style fabric roof would make it worth the wait, IMHO (just saying...) Almost a sure thing that they'll just recreate the original tooling using the existing CAD files. Still seems like a dopey decision to design it with that Deuce roof insert when 99.9% of 1:1 Model A rods DON'T have that. It'll still sell like hotcakes, regardless.