Mark

There is one in the "other" magazine...

Most of those custom parts, the rear window, and the stock engine minus air filter, were in the last couple of reissues of the Fairlane. The stock wheel covers were not. Those could be used on some trim levels of a '66 Fairlane.

The Vega and Pinto reissues used original box art, this one probably will too. No plated parts, no printed tires, no large decal sheets keep the price down on these.

There were two AMT wheel packs. Each included one half of the tree of plated wheels that was in the Stevens International multiple parts pack that was issued years ago. The wheel packs included two of the wide Firestone slicks, and two of the small front tires which were used in only a couple of kits (first issue '55 Nomad and '56 Ford).

My '58 Impala is a later production first issue kit. It's molded in white (early kits were light blue). It has the soft rubber Turnpike tires and the soft version of the Firestone slick. The Impala is the only AMT kit to include the soft tires. I don't know where the slicks came in, but I always thought AMT put the tires in the Impala to use up leftovers from the poor-selling Turnpike. The '32 Ford sedan/'40 Willys double kit includes four of the wide slicks in vinyl; two for each car of course. The '65 El Camino annual kit also has two of the wide slicks in vinyl. I don't know of any other annual kits that used the wide slick.

The annual kit was a GT. After that, the Cobra hardtop/convertible kit was run, the grille was converted to the Cobra version then. The hardtop/convertible kit shared the engine, chassis, and most of the chrome tree with the fastback. The fastback came back as the Modified Stocker a couple of years later. The Cobra grille stayed, so the part itself was probably modified. This kit was less butchered than the other Modified Stockers, the bumpers weren't messed with and the windshield wipers were left on the body. Ertl pieced together the Cobra fastback by retooling the body sides, putting in new seats, new wheels, and separate pieces for the exhaust system. They got a "new" kit cheaper than tooling an all new one. This restoration came out a lot better than the '65 GTO, but the GTO was hacked up a lot more than the Torino.

The Surf Woody had the narrow version of this slick, as it had the dual rear wheels. The 1:1 had some off-brand slick which Round 2 replicated in its reissue. Many of the '66 annual kits included plastic slicks. I'm beginning to appreciate those now, as they did a number of styles that weren't done in vinyl. The wide version in the soft rubber were in a parts pack with four Turnpike treaded tires. They may have been in the first issue '58 Impala kit also. The vinyl version was included in the AMT wheel packs along with those hard-to-find Firestone "gasser" front tires. Several Trophy Series kits also, including the '32 Ford/'40 Willys coupe, and possibly the '65 El Camino annual (no reissues). I have an annual, will check it later. There's a plastic version of the wide slick also, in both the Munster Koach and Drag-ula.

Harder to find than the stock version as the Stalker was issued only once, but not too valuable. If you like it, go ahead and build it.

Yes, there are two interiors for the AMT '25. Round 2 recreated the early version which looks more like a stock interior. That one is in the reissue with the chopped top coupe body and first issue box art. Not sure if it is in the current issue kit.

There's the Monogram Little T, Revell Tweedy Pie and parts pack body (which doesn't include an interior), AMT '23 and '25, MPC King T and Switchers, and the Aurora '22. Each is a bit different and what fits one won't fit any of the others so well.

The wide Firestones (in vinyl) came mostly in Trophy Series kits, and not many of them at that. I can't think of any annual kits that definitely had them, the '65 El Camino might be one. The softer ones would be from a parts pack, possibly from a first issue '58 Impala kit.

The one in the Model King set was the AMT Wild Hoss '79. It, and the MPC early Eighties Bronco, are both decent kits worthy of a reissue.

Wild Hoss ('79) was originally AMT...

Except, parts-wise, both MPC Cavalier kits are identical except for the dark tint clear parts (and color of the unplated parts) in the '83. The Ford EXP and Toyota Supra (also '82 and '83 only) are also unchanged. GM wanted a promo of that Type 10 Cavalier so that's the one MPC had to do...but that version wasn't around long. After the first couple of years, the hatchback lost that unique front fascia, making the kit obsolete without an update that MPC apparently didn't think was worth doing.

We test drove a Rabbit around the same time ('80 or '81); as I recall they had FI by then. I know the Omni was a bit bigger, and probably heavier too, but the Rabbit was a bunch quicker. But an automatic car involved a six-month wait at the time, and my mom just didn't want a manual. Of all things, she ended up with a Chevette. Another old annual kit not yet reissued, so in a way we're back to the original point of the thread..

I remember seeing an early Omni at a new car show. The hood was open; plain as day, the front of the engine block had a VW logo cast into it. The Omni had a carburetor instead of the Rabbit's fuel injection though. Around the same time ('77-'79) AMC was using a four cylinder engine based on a VW/Audi design; if I remember right the long block was pretty much the same engine as used in the Porsche 924. Those early Omnis seemed to be rough runners. My mom was car shopping and wanted to test drive one...all of the local dealers were telling her they ran a bit rough because the demo "just came off the truck and weren't set up yet". None of them would volunteer another demo, or even a used one, for a test drive. They were all expecting her to take their word that the as-delivered car would somehow be better, and just sign on the line without really knowing what the car would be like. Needless to say, she didn't buy one.

With these kits (like any other) a potential reissue would be whatever it was the last time it was issued. The Cavalier and EXP were only issued for two years and with no alterations at all. But others like the Fiero and Camaro did get updated, sometimes incorrectly. The MPC Fiero is now the '87-'88 with the reworked roof (clear panels in the rear pillars) but the suspension parts weren't updated to match the body. The Camaro would now be the 1992 25th Anniversary version.

eBay typically has higher starting prices, higher yet with Buy it Now involved. At shows or flea markets, most items are priced already and you are negotiating that price down. With eBay, bidders are negotiating the price up. The smart Buy it Now seller will put that price just above what the item typically sells for, to rope in a buyer who has to have it NOW.

If you want a Cavalier, Beretta, or Ford EXP, you can pound the ground and find as many as you want, for well under "current kit" prices. I've got two or three of each, most bought sealed. I don't think I paid more than $5 for any of them.

I'd like to stop over at the LHS (was last there about three weeks before this all started), and maybe drop in to HL. Both still closed here though, and even if they did open "early" I wouldn't think of skating on the edge of any orders in effect. I'll keep my opinion of state/local leadership to myself, it's more that the health care personnel are still stressed and I'm not going to add to their burden right now. I have paid more attention to eBay lately, have bought a few items and supplies there, and will drop a few bucks (and then some) locally when the dust settles. Then too, there's NNL East in September, right around my birthday...

There's an article in Rod & Custom about another car built by AMT Speed and Custom. It was built for a TV show, by swapping a number of lightweight parts it converted from a '31 Chevy roadster to a '68 Camaro convertible. It obviously wasn't a runner but it did have an engine in it (no radiator as I recall). All of the body panels just set in place, the Camaro wheels were discs that overlaid the roadster tires, things like that. The conversion took place during a musical number on the show. I remember seeing a photo of the AMT facility (maybe in that same article). Winfield did have a yellow '40 Ford sedan delivery that was painted similarly to the first issue of AMT's kit. The Ala Kart (owned by AMT since the early Sixties) was stored out in Arizona too. The Rodders' Journal article mentions it having been sold when that operation was closed down.

The Snake-Eyes issue was supposedly short-lived because the tooling was damaged during its production run. Bits of info about that surfaced in the old CAR MODEL magazine. The tool was repaired for the mid-Seventies Street Rods series reissue, but that and subsequent reissues omitted most of the original optional parts. Those may have been casualties of the repair work. Ertl unblocked a few things, but other parts never did resurface. The Collectors Series issue may have been produced concurrently with the Snake-Eyes, as it is the toughest one in that series to find also. Same parts, optional parts not mentioned in the instructions, no slicks, no decals other than the "plaque" for the clear display base (the one thing not in the Snake-Eyes version).

DTR is probably still sitting on some of the coupe kits, because RC2 (not Round 2) ran off a bunch of them for Walmart's budget series that sold for under eight bucks. DTR probably paid more than that for the kits they were trying to sell at the same time. Then again, DTR's sales strategy wasn't the most brilliant. Some of those kits had the original box art when few of the optional parts pictured were actually in the box, others had the "jalopy" packaging that again showed parts that were sold separately.

I never had one of those, it like the Tow'd was a very short lived thing, probably one production run and gone. I remember seeing an unbuilt one in a junk store in the mid-Seventies, even at one dollar it was there a long time.

I haven't seen the spray cans anywhere, either locally (only one hobby shop in the area) or with any show vendors. Their brush enamels are light years ahead of Testors, they cover very well and also flow out well leaving no brush marks provided you don't drag the brush through it once applied. I haven't had any luck airbrushing them, but am well satisfied with them in brush applications.