Mark

1: not '57 Chevy. 2: MPC '67 Corvette.

I e-mailed Testors and asked, they replied, and not long after I forgot the answer. So much for that...

No, that one was some years ago.

Bill Jenkins' shop was in Malvern (he was originally from Berwyn), not sure about JJ.

The Beatles figures are mentioned in Tom Graham's book about Revell. They got the jump on issuing Beatles items (the deal was made before they were known here, Revell's people figured they would be popular worldwide). They had the kits ready, but according to the book the figures didn't sell well.

I wouldn't have figured that those vents on either side of the hole could be smoothed off without breaking through.

And that hood just could be molded in a similar gray...Lesney/AMT molded the '63 kit in that color for the Barris Cruisin' USA issue. They kept the Street Rods series issue going alongside the Barris issue too; same parts, same color, different box, decals, tires, and instruction sheet.

That car looks like an interesting mix of older and newer parts. Headers and side pipes look like mid-Seventies MPC Corvette, intake looks like AMT '55 'Vette (as are the wheels).

If this is the underside of the hood on the blue 'Vette, it is modified and is an AMT hood. The AMT '67 coupe had that hood, and it stayed in the kit when it was backdated to '63 spec. It's still in that kit, and also in recent issues of the '63 roadster which is essentially the coupe kit with a different body.

The wheels on that Corvette look like AMT '55 Corvette optional wheels. The '71 Thunderbird has similar wheels. The hood is modified, looks like the scoop pictured was added to the kit's optional hood.

Search eBay: "f-toys". A Japanese company has done/is doing a number of partially assembled, pre-finished 1/24 scale cycles in multiple color variations. As I understand, these are included as extras with candy or gum for the home market. You don't get any of that when you buy them here (import regulations, likely) but they are inexpensive and very well done.

After looking over the potential side effects, I figure I'll just wait a while and see if the headache goes away by itself...

The tape actually lasted several years...AMT didn't wrap kits until late '66 with the '67 annuals, and phased it in with Trophy Series kits as those were reboxed. The theft started early. I read somewhere that Revell was getting a lot of returns on their 1/32 scale '56 Mercury kits, all of them missing the wheel covers. Budd Anderson was working at Revell then (not always on car kits) and supposedly got the idea to sell some of the parts separately, in packs. Revell didn't act on the idea until he had moved on to AMT though.

I don't know if they still do it, but years ago I read about a program where GEICO gave grants to little speed trap towns, to upgrade their radar equipment. More tickets written, GEICO gets to raise insurance rates. I figure that if they've got money for deals like that, they don't need any of mine.

The insurance ads are the most annoying...if I ever run into that gecko, he's going to end up as a green smear on the pavement. Everyone is going to save you $700 per year on auto insurance. I figure that by the time I switch from State Farm to Geico, Geico to Allstate, Allstate to Liberty, then back to State Farm, they'll start sending me checks every month.

Those look like the tall Indy car tires. AMT put the tall tires into those "toy tractor-trailer" kits they were doing in '67 or '68 (the North American Van Lines truck that started out as a toy or promo item...there was a dump truck too). The rears got used on those sand dragster kits too. The shorter front tires got used on the '63 F-100 reissue (the one with that dumb camper cap with the raised area at the front), also (of all things) the Mach I Mustang concept car kit.

Fragile? Challenge accepted!

The last issue of the original kit, prior to the Boss Nova alteration, was in 1969. Slightly different from the annual kit (different custom wheels, a handful of custom parts deleted, red taillight lenses eliminated) but overall pretty much the same.

Looks like someone did a decent job of filling in the rear door lines. With no time off (I've been working all along) but sometimes nowhere to go other than work, I've been doing some time-consuming repairs and bodywork jobs that I had been putting off. One such job involved molding the Advanced Custom parts on a '63 Impala (yes, the assymetrical parts), another will be to mold in one of those custom Nova front end pieces...

Lots of possibilities...stock, some were drag raced, a few built as street machines. Until now, a hard to find kit, and expensive when you did find one. Me, I want one to build with the original customizing parts...

You'd have to ask Heller about the F1 cars...

They probably can, it just comes down to licensing costs and if they think enough of them could be sold.

I used to work for a guy who messed with the odometers on his leased Ford Explorers. As I recall, the first one was just turned back. The second one was replaced with a lower mileage odometer from a wreck, the third was just disconnected when it approached the target number (just under the limit specified in the lease). The same guy had an angle iron ladder rack that was bolted to the roof first thing. When the vehicle was turned in, they'd take the rack off, bash in the areas around the holes with a ball-peen hammer, then slob some Bondo in the holes and do a quickie touch-up. On average, he probably put on three times the allowed mileage...on a three year lease, he hit the maximum mileage around the end of the first year. The dealer was apparently making enough money on the leases to look the other way at these activities. They probably flipped the trade-ins at auction, but the dealers getting those vehicles probably just passed them on to the next sucker as-is.

Universal fit = doesn't fit anything in the universe...

I see those commercials and tell myself: "Self, don't take any of those people along if you go shopping for a used car..."