Mark

They got the creative upper hand in early 1967, and made one LP (Headquarters) with more of their own tunes. They then realized they weren't quite ready to take over completely, and reverted to letting others have more control. The Monkees never were a complete self-contained band, they never had a bass player in the studio. The instruments they were shown to be playing in the show weren't always the ones they actually were able to play competently. Headquarters is my favorite of their albums, precisely because it had more of their "hand" in it. The Beatles they weren't, but then again nobody else was either. Well into the Seventies you still had groups that didn't write or produce their own records yet were still making it big.

I'm pretty sure the original Turnpike tires were included in only one kit, the first issue '58 Impala (and probably not all of them). They were also sold in a parts pack with two equally soft Firestone slicks. Later production Impala kits probably had the same vinyl tires as other AMT kits once the Turnpike units ran out. The Impala ran in that first version box until 1967, maybe late '66, before getting a rebox. Tires were probably surplus from the Turnpike production which, sales-wise, was a dismal failure.

Atlantis is apparently adding the parts pack wheels and tires they have been using in their other kits like the dragster, Fiat coupe, and T-bucket altered. I'd bet that the stock wheels and wheel covers will still be in the kit. If that is the case, you'll need to scrounge a set of Revell tires as was included in their issues of the '55 in order to get a stock version.

The Willys installation copies the orientation of the pump as used in the Rayson-Craft boat kit. A few comments: -The boat kit does not include hose detail. -The Willys installation need not use the pump in the best way. The car needed to have a water pump and radiator to meet Gas class rules, but the car didn't run for more than two or three minutes at a time. Start, pull into staging lanes, ten-second pass, shut off, push car gets you back to the pits to cool down.

The name I was thinking of is JABSCO. A search of Jabsco water pumps indicates they appear to still be in business, but the style of pump used in the early Sixties as in those two model kits is not being used anymore. Looks like most boat applications use an electric pump now, as opposed to one being driven off of the boat's engine. I do recall seeing a couple of similar applications of that style pump, as well as pictures of other ones in use. The AMT Willys kit is accurate in that respect.

I just checked an AMT Rayson-Craft boat kit; its Ford V8 engine has the same type of pump (again, no brand name mentioned).

That's an aftermarket unit, often used for boat applications. The name eludes me at the moment.

The '55 is probably the "easiest" of the old Revell Chevy kits. Atlantis specifies "cutting and fitting" because they apparently aren't going to include stock tires (the ones they tooled for the '57 won't fit). You'll have to radius the rear wheel openings to fit the slicks. Even Revell mentioned that alterations were needed to fit the optional 409 engine.

DEF and dumb.

I don't remember seeing that AMX kit as a Buyers' Choice item. If it had been, I'd have bought one or two.

That other glass looks like the one from the MPC 1/20 scale AMX kit. That kit wasn't reissued until the Round 2 era, so it's strange that one wound up in a kit manufactured before they were doing anything with it.

The body got converted back to stock. Look at the inside of any of the reissue '67 GTO bodies, and you'll see where the wheel openings were moved back to stock, and the exhaust holes in the deck lid area were filled in.

I wish I'd picked up some of the prints of Tom West's cutaway drawings back when he offered them!

The AMT ('94) Lightning has been around in its current issue for awhile now. I picked one up a couple of years ago at Hobby Lobby at closeout price. Strangely, they later had it back again at regular price. The Maverick was likely a one-production-run thing. Producing too many means some of them end up at closeout stores or lingering on hobby shop shelves which could hurt the next issue a few years down the road. Better to come up short and leave a few people wanting.

Both Round 2 and Revell tend to announce no more than the kits for the coming quarter. Atlantis seems to go a bit further out, being a smaller operation.