Mark

I've heard early dragster chassis being called "skidbar chassis". Not sure if that refers to the roll cage design (which would seem to let the chassis skid if overturned) or the "underslung" design (lower frame rail below the rear axle) which would let the chassis skid if a rear wheel came off...

The original annual kits included only four tires. In fact, no "annual" kit prior to 1964 included anything but stock tires. Some kits had printed whitewalls, while others had blackwalls with a sheet of stickers. The stickers were die-cut to allow for narrow or wide whitewalls.

I don't understand the logic behind cutting parts (even unneeded ones) out of individual kits during production. Spend more (on hand labor) to give less.

The Ed Roth '57 Chevy is the 1963 tool, with opening everything and poseable front wheels. Molded in white, and cleaner than some Seventies and Eighties issues.

No issue of that kit included plated parts. As for wheels, the tires in the Honcho were originally rubber but later changed to Monogram 4 x 4 tires. The wheels were altered to fit. For different wheels, you might look at Monogram 4 x 4 kits that use the same tires.

I wasn't saying those bumpers were anything but '63 Chrysler. They have "1963" plates, Jo-Han never did a '63 Studebaker in any form. A number of 1:1 cars did use the same bumpers at both ends. Several AMC cars, the '63 Chrysler ('64 has a different front bumper), and some Studebaker Larks.

The ex-Hollingsworth Nomad does still exist, it's in western Canada. Repainted candy red but otherwise pretty much the same. For some reason, the inner doors and door jambs weren't repainted and are still in the gold paint scheme. Rodders' Journal ran a small feature on the car as it now exists.

I'm referring to available kits, not 1:1 cars...

There was some strong lobbying by associations on behalf of construction companies. The road work "opened up" relatively soon, but the state did drag its collective feet regarding work at schools. You'd think that the school stuff (parking lots, athletic fields) would make sense to get done while there aren't any students or faculty there, but nope...letting contractors start those jobs took a while.

I work (in the office) for a construction company that specializes in site and road work. State government has wavered back and forth before finally considering road work "essential" and allowing us to proceed.

And the unloading begins! There have been a lot of MPC pro stock Vega "projects" floating around lately, and no doubt you'll see a bunch of AMT '64 Cutlasses in the coming months. There's a guy (not a vendor) who has been going from table to table at local toy shows the last couple of years trying to trade a resin 1966 Batmobile kit. Like he's going to find someone who doesn't know about the kit and diecasts that have hit the market...

Front and rear for a Jo-Han '63 Chrysler. The 1:1 car may have used the same stamping for front and rear, with the guards spaced differently. The rear bumper has them further apart. Some Studebaker Larks have the same bumper front and rear, as do a number of AMC cars.

The '53/'55 sedan/sedan delivery kits have optional opening doors. The inner door parts have hinges molded in, and the door lines can be scored to separate the doors from the body. But the bodies lack door jamb detail. The hinges in all of these kits are sloppy. I tightened them up on a '57 by building up the retainer pieces with thin sheet plastic, but they still came out less than what I wanted. I bent some new hinges for the '55 I'm working on now.

None in any kit I know of. The 350 would have been in intermediate Buicks, the kit manufacturers usually put the biggest available engine in. And there were no intermediate Buick kits other than the AMT '66 Skylark (nailhead) and Monogram '70 GSX (455). The only other post-1966 Buick kits were the annual Rivieras (430/455) and '69 Wildcat (same, not sure which). The '70 Wildcat kit never came with an engine. The only small Buick engine I know of is probably a 330, two of those were in the rare AMT ZZR (and Firebug) kits. Each kit had two engines. Those are no-detail lumps, not worth looking for IMO.

I have one Revell '56 that is a first issue, partially assembled with very little cement, very straight, very little paint. After I get an in-progress '55 finished, I might just tackle a '56. It would probably be a Bel Air, just to differentiate from the newer kit.

A lot of the Skip's Drive-in Nomad kits have crushed bodies, due to everything not really fitting in the box. I'd "skip" on it unless it were opened (and even then...)

The '55 hardtop hasn't been available in about twenty years or more. The last issue may have been the Skip's Drive-in issue, molded in black and with non-stock wheels and tires that don't fit. Look for an earlier issue if at all possible. The last issue of the '56 was the Hot Rod magazine issue in the Eighties. Again, non-stock wheels and tires. You don't want this one, as the windows don't fit; they fall through the openings. Avoid the low rider issue too, those are molded in very brittle plastic. With the '56, if you have to have one, get the earliest issue you can find. The last '57 hardtop was the Ed Roth one of a few years ago. These can still be found new if you look, I bought one last year. The '57 is still buildable though (like the others) not the best one available. I'd avoid the '56 entirely unless you can get a very early production kit.

Around here, a flea market isn't official unless you see one or more 1964/65 New York World's Fair drinking glasses...

As I understand it, the first version (with the optional parts) was produced until about 1970, in two different boxes. The royal blue ones were probably made towards the end of that run. Other long-running Monogram kits like the Predicta turn up in colors (or variations of colors) every so often. I've never seen a royal blue '40 pickup myself. The pickup wasn't produced in a second version (with fewer parts) alongside the first version, like some other Monogram prewar Ford kits were. The first issue after the "stock" one was the Early Iron, in orange. Next one, the Lemon Crate, was yellow. Next up was the Eighties rod version in orange, then came the white one. I'm surprised Revell-Monogram didn't convert the '40 pickup to a 100% stock version, like they did with the Revell '56 pickup.

That's how the original kit is...no "e" on the box, but the decals were correct. Round 2 does seem to tweak box art just a bit, to differentiate theirs from originals. Maybe the new box will put the "e" in.

The Thunderbolt transmission likely won't fit. Don't use it anyway; it's a Lincoln transmission. A fair number of them got swapped out for manual transmissions in 1:1 Thunderbolts...

There was one more, the Groove Boss Supermodified. Not sure if that was an accurate kit or just one of those "let's get another hit off of the tooling" deals though.

Plastruct does offer styrene. Their ABS products are the usual dark gray, their styrene products are white.

Looks like raising the roof a bit shouldn't be overly tough. If I get one of the Impalas though, I was thinking about a Caprice four-door...

It is puzzling why the hardtop didn't have the lettering, but it didn't. I've got an original annual kit, and it hasn't got it.