Robberbaron

Thanks for the insight, Tim. Now I'm even MORE intrigued!

Just resurrecting this thread to see if anyone has any insight into what became of the AMT '66 C10 tooling? Judging by Casey's post, since American Satco didn't end up marketing these, I'm guessing the small run of "Wheat's Nostalgia" retro promos happened shortly afterwards in the late nineties. So probably about 25 years ago? Is Roger Sill still alive? Seems like this tooling should still exist, somewhere. Would be great to see Round 2 reaquire this tooling and get these in production again. As popular as vintage trucks are, seems like these would do well. And since it's a longbed with the side trim, there's enough to differentiate it from the Revell kits. Plus the Revell kits fall short in some proportional/detail issues.

In the past, someone on this board claimed that they had it on good authority (from someone with insider knowledge) that the original annual 1958 Edsel tool DID still exist, although it was only the body (no chrome/glass/chassis). If the Unreal Edsel never included those parts, it makes sense that they would no longer survive, even if the body did. This is definitely a "someone told someone who told someone something" situation, so take it with a spoon of salt. My fuzzy memory says the source might have been someone back in the Ertl days, so there have also been 20-25 years and several ownership changes where tooling could have gone missing and/or been left behind. We know some stuff that was run in the eighties and nineties isn't around anymore, for whatever reason.

Yes, got the same notice. Not a surprise since I heard that Hemmings Classic Cars was also getting killed off. By sheer coincidence, my subscription was set to expire with the Feb 2025 issue.

Unfortunately, the front end was altered for the Superfly car. When MPC then brought out the Sweat Hogs version, the roof was then also hacked. It's unfortunate, since most of the body remains completely stock, down to the factory Grand Prix emblems, etc. Steve Goldman from Round 2 posts here regularly. He has previously stated that they have NOT found this tooling in their inventory. Too bad, since it looks like it wouldn't have been that hard to return it to a full stock '72 GP.

Followed your build thread. Great job, I'm sure your BIL will be impressed.

Another great build. Gotta love those full width tail lights.

Outstanding! So great to see one of these getting built, love everything down to the stance and the wheels. I agree re: the colonnade A-bodies. Think a lot more people are finally starting to appreciate them. The 73-74 Gran Sports were special cars, especially the Stage 1 models.

Chuck, both very cool! I'm sure Roger would approve. He was also one of my favorite builders. For the Mercury, I would have missed the "standard" flat rear window if you hadn't pointed it out. Very nice job. That sent me to the Google machine to research, and apparently the flat window versions of the unibodies were more common than the "big window" version depicted by the AMT kit out of the box. Crazy to think that Ford was offering both the flat window and "big window" versions of the unibodies in both short and long bed, in addition to all the other non-unibody trucks.

Looks like the stock wheels and tires remained available in the reissues of the '31 Woody variation. This is the one variation of the Revell 1/25 Model A's that I don't have, but it looks like it hasn't been available in quite a while. Spotlight Hobbies lists this version as copyright 1997. Cripes, that's 27 years!

"Reviving an old thread…….Round 2 has officially announced the rerelease of the classic Mustang II. AND it will come with optional drag parts." Thread here. And it's the AMT kit, not the MPC pictured above.

Pretty sure interiors stayed the same from 71 to 72. Originally the next generation "colonnade" A-bodies were planned to debut in 1972, but they got pushed back a model year. So all the divisions had to do quickie updates to their 1971 models. Most of the cars had minor changes such as grills, front turn signals, taillights, etc. Pretty sure the only noticeable difference on the Chevelles was the front turn signals and the grills. Similar situation with Cutlasses: grill and taillight changes. 71 and 72 442 even used the same grill, just painted black vs. silver.

Crossing my fingers that we will see that happen! With minor alterations to the body tooling to make the turn signals separate, it could be easily reissued as either a '71 or the '72 with just a change of the grill and turn signal lenses. After all, we haven't had a styrene '71 Chevelle in 53 years. This could also allow the height and shape of the turn signals to be corrected. From what I've seen in pictures online, it looks like even the original '72 kits and promos were off in that regard.

With the volume that HL sells, this could be the singular reason that the '60 is outselling the '63. While it's totally subjective, my own personal opinion is that the styling of the '57-'60 generation is also just much more pleasing than the following generation's unibodies.

Mine had no automotive kits at all, just a small selection of Atlantis miltary ships and aircraft. Been that way for months.

I'll fully admit that at first I didn't understand what you were referencing, I thought it was a magazine. (guess I was mixing the magazines Hot Rod and Street Rodder together in my head?) I also had no recollection of the name "Henry Gregor Felsen". However, the moment I saw your build, it instantly clicked that you were referencing the book I read in junior high. I vividly remember picturing in my mind the pink paint combined with the copper trim. I stumbled on "Hot Rod" in our school library, and enjoyed it so much to that I immediately checked out "Street Rod" afterwards. This was late '80s, so I think these books were at least 35 years old at the time. However, similar to you, I was heavily into building models at the time (and reading any car magazine I could get my hands on), so I poured over every page. I never knew anyone else my age that read them, so I didn't realize they had been so popular in the '50s and '60s. Also didn't know there were additional books in the series. Very nice job on your build, matches what I remember the book describing.

Nice! Even have the hinge detail! Huge improvement over the Craftsman kit. Someone mentioned (maybe in a different post) how crude the original promo/Craftsman was. If you zoom in on the next photo, you can see that there are no door lines in the roof pillars on the original. Looks like this one is going to be a huge improvement.

Gorgeous example, Mike. Thanks for posting that, perfectly illustrates now much better the MPC's were. If I had to pick one 74-77 MPC Camaro to be cloned, it would be the '74 since it still had the small back window and no catalytic converter.

I recall the same thing: converted to the sub-par '70 Z28. And yes, it does look as bad as the box art shows: Now probably never to be seen again, since they have the "new tool" Z28 from the mid-to-late nineties. We know they used the old AMT tool, since Round 2 is in the process of bringing back the MPC '81 Camaro. Also FYI: from the pictures I've seen, even the original AMT 1977 had proportional issues, especially the nose (Photos from rayskits.com): AMT seemed to be at a low point in the mid-70s, so almost all their newly tooled or updates annual kits had proportional/accuracy problems (take a look at their Pinto hatchback and the soon to be reissued Pro Street '77 Nova, for example). From what I've seen, the MPC mid-70s Camaro annuals looked much more accurate. Maybe there's hope long term that they may clone one of the earlier MPC bodies to combine with the chassis/powertrain/glass of the surviving tool?

The "Monogram" branded Rat Rod version had the steelies, caps/trim rings, & white wall inserts all on separate small trees, bagged together with the tires. IMHO, that was their way of "gildng the lily" for that release. I have a sneaking suspicion we won't get those parts with this release since they're throwing in the chopper. Time will tell...

I noticed that too. Not sure if those tires have shown up in anything since the Hobbico implosion. I believe they were also used in the related A sedan and the Tweedy Pie reissue. Not sure if they were used in anything else? Also wondering if the steelies/caps/trim rings from the Rat Rod version will be included in this one too?

You're thinking of the MPC 1940 Ford "Fire Chief" Snap Kit, which is a different tool (also copied from the AMT coupe). The MPC is a curbside. Round 2 now has three different 1940 Ford coupe tools: the evergreen AMT, the MPC snap, and this Palmer-turned-Lindberg piece of work. Chances are this one won't see the light of day again since they have the other two in their arsenal. John did an incredible job on his build, I would never guess it was the Lindberg kit.

Not to mention the paint mismatch on the front clip. The rusty split exhaust tips are the icing on the cake.

Agreed on all counts. I'm under no illusion that there's any realistic chance of seeing this in styrene. That window of chance was probably 20-30 years ago. Like it or not, there's now a pretty small fraction of the general public who even knows the variations between these different model years, much less cares. And that percentage gets smaller every year. As the fidelity of 3D printing keeps improving, I think that's where the future lies for stuff like this.