Mark

Nope, the Ala Kart has a Dodge Red Ram (different engine, smaller than the Firedome and the Chrysler Fire Power engines). Chrysler made three series of Hemi engines, few parts interchange between them. The Monogram Li'l Coffin kit also has a Firedome engine. That's the only other one I know of.

Just one thing...the original 1973 kit did include side glass. MPC was hit and miss with that...the Vegas, Pintos, and Mustangs (the '72 as well as the Mustang IIs) had side glass. The '72 Butch Leal Duster doesn't have it, not sure about the other Dusters. The '73 Landy Challenger didn't have side glass either.

Nope...he got the message...the Great Unloading has begun...

No, the Sizzler (original version) was larger than the Slingster kit, closer to 1/20 scale. Monogram is said to have deliberately scrapped a number of early kit tools in the Seventies, thinking the subject matter was no longer saleable or the products no longer up to their standards for quality or detail. Kits mentioned included the Sizzler dragster, 1/20 scale '56 Cadillac, Uncertain T, Futurista, Ford Sport Coupe hot rod, among others. Not sure if this was done before the Aurora purchase or possibly around the same time, to clear storage space for the incoming Aurora kit tooling.

The Cougar chassis WAS used under the Color Me Gone early Charger, but the one in the Charger was slightly longer. The tooling for the chassis side pieces had a section spliced in to change the length. The Unswitchable GTO funny car used that chassis also, but it isn't correct for that car. The '68 and '69 GTO (but not the '70) used it also. Body interior parts are specific to each kit. I pieced together a Color Me Gone Charger from two incomplete built ones, was going to raid a Cougar for some small chassis parts but between the two Chargers I have all of the needed parts in good condition. I sold off the leftover body a long time ago, so no spare parts left.

MPC did reissue it once, in the early Eighties. Molded in black with different wheels, and minus the trailer. It was called "Demon Vette". The pinkish graphics didn't look particularly demonic, though...

The annual kit has Hurst mag wheels. Reissues have the K-H wheels. There is one issue '69 Cougar that has unplated K-H wheels. It is a Seventies issue though, all recent reissues do NOT have them.

AMT '66 Mercury has the best set. The '53 'Vette wheels do not have open backs as I recall.

I believe the early '64 cars did still have roll-up side glass. The early cars still had side trim and a bench front seat with the passenger side seat back removed. The Dana 60 rear axle did not yet exist in 1964 so it is wrong for the kit. Best combination of parts IMO would be Jo-Han body and related parts, and maybe some engine parts, interior and chassis from the Lindberg kit, aftermarket wheels and tires.

Maybe...I've never checked as I have been a subscriber since about 1981.

Back issues are often sold at higher than original cover price.

Yes, four-speed. The slant six version may have a three-speed manual (which would be correct for that engine) but all of the V8 versions have four-speeds.

No, the Petty version has a Hemi.

The Lindberg '64 Plymouth kits (all versions) have manual transmissions, all of the Dodges have Torqueflites.

Adams was briefly tied in with Revell in the mid/late Fifties. The first run of most of their kits were likely branded as Revell. When Adams and Revell dissolved their partnership, Adams marketed their kits under their own name. After that, it would seem that they either sold or rented the tools to other companies. Back in the Fifties there were a lot of different, sometimes oddball, scales used. This continued into the early Sixties. The British branch of Revell tooled a series of British and European cars that varied from about 1/40 to about 1/45. It finally hit all of these companies to start tooling their "series" to a single scale, as builders wanted to display them together and have them in the same size relative to the 1:1 versions.

The publisher of Hot Rod and Motor Trend has axed all of their magazines except three or four, prior to the pandemic. Besides the two titles mentioned, I think they are keeping a truck magazine and an off-road title. Car Craft, Street Rodder, Musclecar Review, Hot Rod Deluxe, all the others...19 of them, gone already.

I didn't know Varney did any kits. They made model railroad stuff mostly, like everyone else they dabbled in slot racing in the early Sixties. The cars were slow and the track design was weird, so they made a hasty retreat to railroading.

A lot of the parts in the MPC GTO kits were recycled from 1966 straight through to '72. Chassis, engine, parts of the plated tree. The bucket seats got re-engraved with the new upholstery pattern every year...'72 seat is a lot bulkier than an original '66 annual kit seat! When the wheelbase changes, they just moved the axle holes...that's why the recent kits have multiple sets of holes, or they are in the wrong place.

Publishers "combine" titles so they can keep subscription money already received, and send the "combined" title to fill the remainder of the subscription. I'm not going to bother with FSM...if we're lucky they might include a token car article per issue.

Around here, Mavericks rusted quickly (like nearly everything else!). In 1986, I bought a '74 coupe with 27,000 miles and lots of structural rust and rot. The interior was like new. The engine and transmission live on, in my '62 Fairlane. The powertrain now has more miles on it in the Fairlane than it racked up in the Maverick.

I believe the '70 GTO was converted back to '72 spec. The Ertl '70 was itself backdated from the red '72 that was issued around 1980. The original annual '70 had the Endura front bumper molded as part of the body, the Ertl '70 had it as a separate part. There were two '70 GTO tools in 1969-70. Parts like glass and rear bumpers from 1970 production items are marked #1 or #2 on the back sides. Parts interchange between them. I did check a Fast Pack kit and a funny car body, but haven't taken apart a promo and don't have an annual kit. Between promos, red "contest promos", Fast Pack snap together kits, annual kits, and funny car kits, MPC likely needed two tools. One most likely got updated to produce 1971 promos and kits, the other body eventually got butchered into the dirt track car body. The interior from that one wound up in the Ertl '70. Ertl put a lot of thought into some of those modified reissues that they did.

"Justice", or "just us"?

Very short production run. Probably done after the stock/funny car Maverick kit (the first kit in the Maverick/Comet group) but before the Comet funny car "annual" and definitely before the Pro Stock variations. The Comet kit had Maverick wheel covers. The Comet promo model did have correct wheel covers.

But the guy playing the game never said: "You sank my battleship..."

Maybe now they can offer a complete one...