Mark

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..."

You could get a second copy of the Hemi from the parts pack, which Round 2 has issued. The original drag Deora had that pack but it was not plated. I'd almost bet it will be plated in the new issue though.

Let me guess...Testors lacquers...

Yes, a former AMT employee once stated that. The family is/was from the area. Many of the names on their decal sheets back then were actual people.

Yes, that was a real service station, operated by relatives of the infamous doctor.

The '28 sedan, the Wild Ones issue (could be built as a roadster pickup or woodie wagon), and the first issues of the separate woodie and pickup kits all had solid (no slots) early Halibrand wheels.

Don't know about model paints (presumably you mean lacquers like Testors and Tamiya) but I know a guy who has used it over automotive lacquers like Duplicolor. I'm not sure what the time frame is (how soon clear is applied over color) but it seems to work. I guess clear sprays like Testors and Tamiya are moving off the shelves there, too?

That is the first issue of the AMT Mustang, the one which eventually became the Warren Tope race car. AMT had the promo contract, not many promos were made but there were some. None had dated license plates, I am not sure if they were produced as 1971 and 1972.

The '70 kit I have now is molded in that color. The '70 I had in 1970 was molded in white. Some of the MPC annuals were molded in white and a color (not two colors in the same kit, but either or) in 1970-71. I have seen '70 Barracudas in lime green (including mine), '70 and '71 Challengers in purple, '70 Chargers in yellow, and '71 Impalas in red, all in white also.

It probably picks up some moisture/condensation over time too. Between that and the contamination from paint already removed, you can't expect it to last forever.

That Testors dark blue must have been a popular color for the Opel GT. I stripped that same color off of a partial build that I bought some years back.

You mean, like at the rear of the body? I'd look for a pan from some other car that matches up at the corners of the Deuce body, then cut it down to fit. If you are able to vacuum form a part, you could make a simple mold and form such a part also.

Revell has three: the hard-to-find highboy based on the 1996 tooling, the Stacy David Rat Roaster which is similar but newer tooling, and the ex-Monogram Little Deuce which is 1/24 scale.