Robberbaron

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Sure looks like poverty caps on steelies on that D100...?

Huh, so THAT was the inspiration for Round 2's most recent box art! Learned something new (and useless) today...

WOW, thank you for this link! That entire site is a gold mine! Gonna be going there a lot for reference, highly recommend bookmarking it: http://vintagewheelcatalogs.com/

Aside from the front end, hood, and front portion of the roof, the rest of the tool appears to have remained agonizingly stock. Even the "Grand Prix" scripts remained intact on the c-pillars (and the trunk lid, I believe). If this tooling still exists, I have no doubt that Round 2 could return it to stock. They pretty much had to do the same thing in restoring the AMT Gremlin tooling to stock. The question is whether at this point Round 2 is still willing to make that kind of investment. I can't think of any tooling on which they've done this kind of major restoration work recently. The Bruce Larson USA-1 Vega would have required a fair amount of changes, and it seems like they've given up on doing that one (at least for the time being).

^^^ "All American Trucks" - love the irony! Pretty cool nonetheless.

As you said, probably because you don't see them anymore especially in that condition. I'd also wager that many of the people drawn to it had a personal connection to one of these cars in their past. Fairmonts were ubiquitous around here back in the '80s. If someone in you immediate family didn't own one, chances are that you knew a friend or co-worker with one. My sister's first car was a well-used black 4-door Fairmont, 4-banger, no AC. It smelled like an ashtray from the former owner (a chain smoking little old lady). It truly was the 1970s equivalent to a Model T.

4-door Mavericks had a longer wheelbase, so that would require a different chassis than the 2-door, in addition to the different body, interior, and side glass. Aside from Gapp and Roush, don't think anyone else ran a 4-door Maverick in pro stock (at least that's the only one that people remember and would be interested in building). There might be about 100 people worldwide interested in building a stock 4-door Maverick, so tooling one up would be a financial disaster. This is the perfect example where resin would serve a niche market. I thought someone did cast a 4-door Maverick already. Don't recall who it was or when I may have seen it, since I have zero interest. As far as no agreement with GM, that's nonsense. Moebius has already produced the '61 Pontiac Catalina and Ventura kits. Now, I realize Moebius has been sold to Pegasus, but there's no reason to assume they won't be able to get new licensing agreements, if necessary. My big concern is whether or not Pegasus continues to allow Moebius to develop new automotive subjects. I suspect their main interest in buying Moebius is the sci-fi side of the business, and the automotive stuff may be low priority/no interest.

I'll admit I didn't notice the bullet center caps on the new box art. Since Round 2 had to change the box art, I'd be (a bit) surprised if they didn't show what's actually going to be in the box. So my reckless speculation was probably way off base ? The other obvious factor I didn't think about till now is that with the side-mount spare, they can't just throw a set of four wheels in from a different kit. So pretty much no way they're throwing the wheels from the '36 into this kit.

Comet front bumper is different - center section extends forward to match the protruding grille. Maverick bumpers/grilles/hoods are flat front.

I like everything about this, the screwdriver trunk lock is the icing on the cake.

I think this is the nicest build that I've seen of this kit, excellent all around.

Very nice! Most of those Motor Max diecasts have at least some of the proportions incorrect, but this one looks spot on. Might need to get one or two of these to play with. I have one of the Johan Pro Stockers, but I'd be less guilty modifying one of these.

This is the first build of the Wagon Rod that I actually like!

Chuck, you nailed this, especially the rust in the rear quarters! I clearly recall that flaw in this body design that caused the quarters to rust through prematurely. A former co-worker "inherited" his wife's bright yellow Storm after she decided she needed an SUV. By the time he finally got rid of it, the quarters looked just like this.

Ha! Shows you what I know! I thought that was some sort of K.T. Keller era Mopar in the far lane (either a Dodge or a Plymouth). Shoulda known better - the fact that they're both "more doors" probably should have been a clue...

Interesting, not quite a 100% pure reissue of the original. Looks like chrome reverse rims will be provided instead of original wheel covers. Guessing it will probably be the same rims provided in the 1936 Ford 3-window reissue from a few years ago? I'm sure a few people will be disappointed, but honestly I suspect the vast majority of purchasers will prefer these. Aside from the original wheel covers, were there any other optional parts that were lost to time and not included in the Lindberg reissues?

Yup, I've been wondering for years why Round 2 has been waiting so long to reissue this kit, and hoping they'd be smart and rerelease it as a faux retro Trophy Series 3 in 1. The majority of car modeling trends follow the 1:1 car world, and gassers are hot right now. Including the gasser parts in this release and thereby allowing that version to be featured on the box art probably would have helped move the most kits for Round 2. I still suspect this will sell OK, since it's the only game in town for a '55 2-door sedan, but if they'd tried a bit harder this could have been a home run. I already have 2 of the first issue stock/street machine versions (red/white box art above), so I'll pass on this. But I would've bit if they included the gasser parts and some good retro style decals.

The red hatchback in the above image is the Monza 'S' coupe, which is the body style depicted in the MPC "Twister Vega" kit. Yeah, it's pretty much the old Vega body with the nose from the "Monza" wagon, which itself was just a facelifted and renamed Vega wagon. I was just trying to figure out which kit Horsepower was asking about. Since the Twister Vega kit was basically a Vega/Monza mashup (just like the 1:1 cars), I guessed that might be what he was thinking of. I think I've succeeded in completely derailing this thread...

Oh, it's more than just 2 totally different cars. These are all various versions of Monzas, in no particular order:

Maybe you're thinking of the old MPC 1978 "Chevy Sportback" Monza 'S' kit, which was modified into the MPC "Twister Vega", and later reissued under the AMT brand? This would more accurately be described as a Vega with a Monza-type nose (which is what the 1:1 1978 Monza 'S' basically was). This kit is how the line of MPC Vega annual kits ended up. Several years ago Round 2 announced that they would be reissuing the Bruce Larson USA-1 Vega Pro Stock kit, which of course would mean they would have to backdate this tooling to turn it back into a proper Vega again. It was delayed several times before being dropped from their list of future releases. Not sure if any explanation was given. Maybe Round 2 bit off more than they could chew as far as the required tooling changes? Maybe it's even possible that something catastrophic happened to the tool while it was being modified, and now it's dead in the water? All I know is that it's not too common for Round 2 to do a complete cancellation of a kit release like this, which makes me think there's a pretty major reason they've decided to give up on it. I also suspect that whatever the problem is, it occurred after they already began work on modifying the old "Twister Vega" tooling, so my gut tells me even that might not be possible to reissue any more. (But note: that's pure speculation on my part...)

It's actually a '74 or a '75. The '73s had a different grill along with a different trunk lid, taillights, and rear bumper.

They make them but they can be tough to find. They were available maybe about 10 years ago in many chain stores, but then they seemed to disappear. Still saw the 1/18 ones though. Recently my local Meijer stores suddenly had them again, so I got a bunch of them. If you have any interest in getting them and spot them in a store, grab them while you can. No telling whether or not you'll see them again.

I only recently heard about the shared dirty bits between this kit and the '57 Chevy. I always thought the engine in the Chevy was a BBC (probably because of the evenly spaced exhaust ports), but never looked that close. The above box claims "Blown Ford V8", but does it actually resemble any specific Ford engine? (I'm no expert on spotting the various ford OHV V8's) The valve covers actually look SBC to me. From pics on Drastic Plastics, looks like there's no difference in the engine components between the Ford Flipnose and the '57 Chevy (even wheels are also shared): https://public.fotki.com/drasticplasticsmcc/mkiba-build-under-c/mpc-instructions/straightline-competition/mpc-57-chevy-flip-n1/?view=roll#1 Sure looks like just a generic mish-mash to me.

Definitely a 73-77 Chevelle. Judging by the big quarter window and what looks like lower body striping, I'm thinking it's a 1973 Chevelle SS! If they get the proportions down correctly and manage to actually make it 1/24 as they claim (or even better if it's underscale at 1/25), I'd snap up a bunch of those bad boys, IF I could get my hands on them! Also quite intrigued by that boattail Riv, once again the key question is how they do on the proportions and details. That one's been tough for even some of the best resin casters to get done well. That '72 Gran Torino and the Maverick also have my attention.