Mark

The gas can and fire extinguisher haven't turned up in another kit that I'm aware of, but those hand tools look a lot like the ones in the Revell '53/'54 Chevy kits...

1968, sounds like first issue. I had a couple of them back in the day, that's about when I remember first seeing them. Unassembled adds value, original boxes really add value.

The Tamiya spray primers aren't the best choice for scratch filler primer. Their bottled liquid surface primer is very good however. I apply it to bodywork areas only, with a brush, then sand it. As always, don't rely on the primer to fill deep scratches. Get everything as smooth as possible before putting on the primer.

If you are building a replica of your 1:1 truck, you've got the ultimate reference material at your fingertips. Take measurements of the 1:1 part, and break it down into simple shapes. You might have a spare part that could be reshaped to look like the booster, and a piece of square or rectangular strip styrene might work for the master cylinder itself.

I don't remember any feature articles, something like that would stick out in my mind. Maybe there was a picture of one in coverage of some contest?

I'd leave that Buick exactly the way it is.

I don't know the circumstances, but I think that guy in Kansas (Jerry Jeunemann-sp?) lost all of that stuff. He was (is?) into Mopars big time, as I recall his collection leaned heavily towards them. That Fireball seems to have been repainted several times...one repaint dispensed with the fade, the front clip was pearl white, rest of the car was candy red! Barris had nothing to do with the Zingers (unusual for him, I don't think he ever claimed any credit for those!), that's likely why the show passed them over. A guy I know was actually contacted by the producers of one of those shows. Their brief was to locate someone with a huge collection of model cars, whose wife wasn't crazy about it. That guy does have a lot of them, but the missus didn't have any issues with it. He referred them to another married guy...again, wife didn't have a problem. I don't watch any of that stuff, so I'm not aware of any such episode ever getting produced.

There actually was a '60 hardtop promo, even though Ford didn't build a Falcon hardtop until mid-'63. The roofline on the hardtop promo was different, it wasn't just a sedan with no B-pillars. Not many made, fewer of them slipped out, tough to find now. The sedan and Ranchero are different toolings, but parts like bumpers and taillights do interchange between them. If you wanted to patch in the radiused wheel openings, sections from a Ranchero body could be stubbed in.

Not sure what exactly the original poster wants a PG for, but keep in mind that the Fifties kits all have the early cast iron version, not the later aluminum one which would be better suited to a performance application. The cast iron version is strictly for stock versions or Stock class drag cars where the OE transmission would be required.

Robert Klein did a routine about those "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" shows..."set up the camera, in five minutes a certain snake comes along, eats a certain insect, right in focus, even smiles, then leaves!" Someone I knew used to bust on CSI all the time: "no matter what case they are involved in, they always launch a ten million dollar investigation with three or four guys working full time".

The chassis in that kit looks like it too dates back to the King T...wonder if Round 2 could piece this one back together. It took me a few months back in 1999 to figure it out, but you only need to be high bidder at the end. These four-days-to-go whizzing matches are unproductive. Decide what it is worth to you, if it is still in your range in the last few minutes then throw in a bid. I've got to wonder if one of the bidders throwing in incremental bids isn't a proxy for the seller, and the relisting isn't due to the proxy coming out on top last time around. Some stuff has been selling extremely high lately, but the relisting doesn't pass the smell test...

Doing it that way (2+2 front/GP back end) depends on which roofline you want. If you want a fastback, it would be pretty much like mine except you wouldn't need to fit the 2+2 rear bumper, you'd need the GP unit. That would actually be less work than mine. For the GP roofline, you'd be adapting a 2+2 front bumper to a Grand Prix body. There is a very slight variation in width between the two bodies which could complicate things.

Doesn't one of the newer Revell Tri-Five Chevies have a PG? Not sure which one off the top of my head, but as I recall it also includes a stick transmission also.

(1) tube grille might be from a '62 Galaxie kit. The "buried" one is probably from something else, not enough visible to tell for certain. AMT put that type of grille in a lot of kits back then. The (2) piece is an Advanced Custom front end piece from a '63 Mercury. If you are able to latch on to the custom leftovers from a '63 kit (hardtop only has those Advanced Custom bits) the more common '64 body can be modified to accept the front end parts. '63 rear end parts will fit the '64 as-is.

The Dart was Eldon. I too have a couple of Mini-Lindys, my main interest in them is to use them as slot car bodies. Count me in on any reissues.

The 2+2 conversion/correction involves shortening the body through the quarter panels. The vertical cut is made at the high point of the arc at the top of the quarter panel, on my car you can see where the primer is dabbed over the bodywork done at the join. The tulip panel (between the base of the rear window and the top of the trunk opening) is not shortened. The difference in length at the back is all in the trunk lid; the Bonneville and Catalina have different trunk lids. I cut the trunk lid area out of the Bonneville "2+2" and substituted the trunk lid area from a Grand Prix body. The GP kit body is very minutely wider than the Bonneville body (1:1 should be the same width). The GP taillight panel is taller than the Bonneville's (again, shouldn't be) so the GP trunk lid doesn't wrap down at the rear as much as it should. That all has to be fixed, but I figured that was easier than trying to shorten the Bonneville deck lid and recut the panel lines. Step one was to lay out the cuts. The cut across the body (between the rear window opening and deck lid line) was made as close to the latter as possible. The deck lid area was not cut out first, the quarter panels were cut loose and shortened first. Care must be taken to keep the body side creases straight, you don't want the quarter panels drooping or rising up towards the back. As you can see, the rear wheel openings are dealt with later. Once the quarters are shortened, lined up, and reattached, the GP deck lid is trimmed and fitted. You do need to use the Bonneville rear bumper to help line things up. I used a junk one so as not to have to handle the good one and mess up the plating. Once everything is squared up and reattached, you will be left with a gap between the trunk lid and the top of the Bonneville taillight panel. I added pieces in to fill the gap. The 2+2 emblem on the deck lid was lost in the process. Unfortunately MCG never offered a photoetch set for the 2+2. If you do the measurements and cuts correctly, the GP chassis will fit and is correct for the wheelbase and length of the 2+2. I'm still hashing over what to do to the 2+2 kit's taillight panel. The kit piece is just the Bonneville unit minus the lettering. The taillights should be shorter, and Pontiac lettering added. A MCG photoetch set for a GTO or Firebird can probably supply the lettering. As for wheels, the 2+2 will likely get the set of dog dish caps that I bought from Fireball with the idea of using them for a GTO. This thing is finally taking shape, it has been in the planning ever since the 2+2 kit was released.

Stock Bonneville (top), corrected/shortened 2+2 (bottom). Still need to recut the rear wheel openings on the 2+2.

What I did first was to remove the existing drip rail on the driver's side. I took off only the horizontal part from the top of the vent window all the way back to the quarter panel. I left the vertical section at the front of the vent window. Sand the area smooth afterwards. I then made a template of the passenger side window opening, and transferred it to the other side. The driver's side opening is then opened up to match the other side (as I recall, a small amount of material is removed, rough location of the work is just above the door seam). You could replace the drip rail and then rework that area). In fact, I may have done the second one that way. For the drip rail, start with a full piece of strip styrene (or a partial piece that is longer than needed). I started attaching it at the rear and worked forward, using CA glue and only attaching where necessary. I bent the strip as I went, if I didn't like what I saw I would undo the previous step and do it over. After the strip is in place, and you like the way it sits, you can then attach it fully. I trimmed off the overhang at the front after everything was in place. If I remember, I'll post a picture of one of them later today.

The design of the tool would make changing that side window opening pretty tough, if not impossible. I know, you shouldn't have to do it, but it really isn't tough to fix. No material needs to be added to the roof other than some strip styrene (.020" square IIRC) after filing off the original drip rail and fixing the opening based on a template of the other side. I did two of them a while back, one custom Bonneville and one corrected (shortened) 2+2. Still need to get to the stock Bonneville.

Same problem as other Cragar wheels...plating got punky after a couple of summers. There's one of those Eighties billet-wannabe Cragar wheels that, in addition to the chrome plated aluminum center, had a plastic center cap (not the usual 3" or so one, but one that covered the lug nut area). Besides the plating on the aluminum peeling off, the plating on the plastic went away when owners used the same cleaner on it as on the rest of the wheel. I saw a set of those on a car last summer, the guy was still trying to keep the centers clean but had painted the center caps.

Around here, Cragars never seemed to look new after two or three summers, even if the wheels were stored inside and kept away from the streets in winter. The plating on the centers would start peeling. It isn't officially an automotive swap meet around here without a set of old Cragars with the centers painted over. Those wheels were first sold in late 1963...cast aluminum center with steel tabs cast in around the perimeter, enabling the center to be welded to the steel outer rim/hoop. Both sections are plated, not 100% certain but I would guess prior to assembly. You'd think that over the course of 55 plus years, they'd either have figured out that aluminum and chrome plating don't really go together, or (like the American TTII) make both parts out of aluminum and just polish them. I wouldn't trade my TTIIs for ten sets of Cragars, yet last time I checked the Cragars sell at a higher price.

Maybe check stock '65 Dodge colors?

Two choices for now...either the Coke version or the ramp truck. Either way, if you just want a pickup, you shouldn't have trouble swapping the extras off for something you can use. I'm surprised these releases haven't brought about a Great Unloading of earlier issue kits, as has happened with Nova wagons and '64 Cutlasses. Watch for an avalanche of hardtops as we speak...

MPC (pre-Ertl) did that grille/bumper for the Cannonball Run issue.

Like everyone says, only emblems and interior upholstery patterns differ year to year. The side markers first appeared on the '69 kit, as the '68 offering was a '67 minus stock wheels. A while back, I converted one of the '69 kits to a '66 Yenko Stinger. The Yenko cars didn't have any Corvair script or emblems, and mine has a gutted interior so I only had to deal with the inner door panels (and I probably could have gotten away with plain aluminum panels for a racing version).