Mark

The Open Road camper isn't a slide-in unit, it replaces the stock pickup bed.

Those weren't seen very often, as the dealers that got them out of the sales bank usually dyed the tops a solid color to move them off of the lot...

The stores here do clearance/stock reset twice a year. Maybe they will skip the next one because of the long closure in many areas, and many hobby items (including model kits) selling well after the reopening...

All of them are the newer/better kit. Ertl/RC2 never did a Baldwin-Motion version of the earlier kit. I did offer the B/M hood and rear spoiler for the earlier kit, but that was long before the newer one was available.

All are the same kit. The red "box art car" looks like a 1/18 scale diecast. RC2 did that when they had the same subject in both scales. There was a '69 4-4-2 kit done that way also.

It's funny that the Big Drag kit came up. My older brother did a bunch of wheeling and dealing on eBay. At a swap meet, he bought a Big Drag kit that was absolutely mint. I remember him saying that he'd just seen one sell for $1,000 the week before. All that week, he was talking about that thousand as though he had it in his pocket already. Of course, the thousand dollar sale brought one or two others out during the week to compete against his. And with the thousand dollar buyer now no longer looking for one, his got something like $600.

The (excellent) Ramchargers book includes a partial reproduction of the "manual" used by the ambulance company that built the "factory" AWB Mopars. A lot of the privateer cars were built to the same specs. I'd like to see Moebius do a companion AWB Dodge, but I'm not holding my breath. I've got one in the works based on a Polar Lights Coronet, and have some MPC parts stashed, so I guess I won't be disappointed.

The couple of times I had packages lost but noted as "delivered", I ran into The Wall with USPS. After being frustrated with it, I chalked it up to either (a) protecting their own, and/or (b) going along to get along. On occasion I get mail for the house on the next street over (same house number); I just take it over and stick it in the right mailbox. What happens to my mail on those days I don't know, as the next street over in the other direction is a main drag with different numbering.

The article doesn't specify which Vega this is, but I'm pretty certain it is Toy IX, the first Vega. It has stock front suspension (except for a Pinto steering rack, not mentioned) and the roll cage and rear subframe is described as being tied in to the rocker panels. IX was not a full-chassis car as originally built. The underside shots are tough to come by for any Pro Stock car of that period.

What an item sells for on eBay and how well it would sell if reissued are two entirely different things. A handful of people outbidding one another for a single item does not translate to thousands of sales.

And that they may not be as interested in automotive subject matter as in the movie/TV/sci-fi stuff. They can probably release already-tooled variations on the Ford pickups, '65 Plymouth, and '65 Cyclone for the next two years, giving the impression that more "new" car kits are still in development.

Trumpeter screwed up by trying to reinvent everything. The Pontiacs have too-thin hood and trunk lid outer panels, the Novas have that gimmicky working steering (to accomodate that, they put the exhaust system on the wrong side). Then there's that goofy plating, again different from how everyone else does plating for car kits. The Falcon chassis details are a bit on the abstract side. Had they gotten the body shapes correct, skipped the gimmicks, and used conventional plating, they'd have been able to keep prices within reason and sell a lot more of each kit.

Dave isn't too wild about large scale stuff in general. A couple of years ago at NNL East, he gave me a great deal on a then-new Revell of Germany 1/16 scale VW bus kit. I don't know if he had to take it in order to get some other items, but he seemed to be on a mission to sell it.

There weren't as many AWB Cyclones as there were Mopars. We'll likely see the FX version with the 289 engine, but I wouldn't bet on any other versions.

Discrimination includes employers selecting where to post job availability information...some of them favor online and social media which they assume some older applicants won't use. But there are enough employers out there using old-school methods too, or even instead of newer media because they want an older employee that they can more safely assume will show up every day. I had to do a job search last year at 59. I knew it was coming for about a year. I didn't send any resumes out, nor did I call any agencies, until after my last day of work. I was only off six weeks, and had a job locked up before my two months' insurance at my former employer ended. Fortunately I landed the right job, as I don't particularly feel like looking for a job again under any circumstances.

Some have optional lights in those areas, others don't. Count the number of cross bars in those areas to figure out which version the kit piece represents, and detail accordingly. Being an SS427, it does have the correct SS427 emblem in the center of the grille. SS cars with other engines (all were available, even the straight six) had the offset emblem, and flat hood.

I'd first find a photo of the 1:1 car that has no connection to the kit box art. The manufacturers are notorious for retouching photos to more closely match the contents of the box. The kit could be closer to the 1:1 car (or further off from it) than you might think.

If it was bought online or at a show, that throws a wrench into things. Some local hobby shops don't do returns either, they direct buyers to go to the manufacturer...

Round 2 isn't going to do it, but someone wanting a stock body could probably use this one as a starting point. It would be easier and probably cheaper to search out an original kit or promo though.

The length reduction makes the roof look a bit large. As I recall, the '61 and '62 are more obvious in that respect.

The reasoning behind those kits, at that time, was to wring one more use out of an item then thought to have little or no value in the years ahead. One more hit, then on to the scrap pile. Nobody involved thought there would be any interest in this stuff forty or fifty years down the road.

No. Fonzie never drove the ex-Monkeemobile on Happy Days, and the Vampire Van never appeared on Dark Shadows either...

The Coffin is 1/24, but as I recall the engine is almost exactly the same size as the 1/25 scale mill in the Ford pickup kit. I have not made a part-by-part comparison however.

The Sizzler kit had an early Chrysler Hemi in addition to the small-block Chevy.

The Jo-Han Cadillacs (the early ones at least) were "cheated" a bit, to look correct with the same tires that were used on other cars, and to fit in the promotional model boxes that the other cars used also. Actual scale might even differ in one aspect versus another (wheelbase, length, width).