Mark

Sears is still "around", though they have way fewer stores now. As of January of this year, there are none in my area. I couldn't tell you where the nearest one to me is. As for the warranty, since Sears has sold the Craftsman brand to Stanley, you'd have to check with them to see if they are still honoring any of the old warranties. Even before the sale, I've heard about Sears cheaping out and giving out cheap "rebuild kits" for things like ratchet wrenches instead of exchanging the item as they used to do.

This built one is a combination of the MPC wedge hauler parts and an AMT pickup kit. The MPC pickup had single exhaust molded to the chassis.

That custom front end dips at the front. I've got a set of those parts, they are a decent fit on the newer Bel Air body and would look good with that roofline.

The second rear axle is there mainly to stabilize the assembled truck with a car on the back. Someone on eBay was selling cast side panels with only the forward wheel opening...probably didn't realize the truck was going to do a permanent wheelstand once he put a car on it. MPC probably got the idea for the hauler from an article in a car magazine. A guy named Artie Wheeler (now deceased I believe, he used to display models at NNL East) built curbside ramp trucks out of pickup kits. He just cut the chassis and stretched it with a couple of swizzle sticks, and made the ramp bodies out of cigarette cartons. He worked in a restaurant at the time, he'd get cartons from the guy who loaded the vending machines. The article appeared in one of the East Coast car magazines in the late Sixties.

The loading ramps do NOT fit side by side in that center section, as illustrated.

Rear overhang is a tad longer on wagons, nothing that can't be handled though.

The Falcon body also has the between-the-taillights area altered, with a recess for a drag 'chute. The headlight areas in the grille have been re-engraved to resemble headlamp covers. 100% stock would take some doing, but Pro Street would be attainable. Fill the 'chute recess, drill out the headlamp covers, rework the rear wheel openings, then fit it to a '66 Nova pro street chassis.

I'd suspect the MPC body is at least somewhat accurate to the Rupp/Steffey car, since that was the first version issued. The chassis was shared with other kits, but was issued in different lengths for each. The MPC body has the front wheel openings in stock location and the rears stretched to the rear as you observed. What gets me is how close to stock the MPC body is. If I didn't already have three '67-'68 Cougars, I'd be tempted to try converting one to stock just for giggles.

Fix that '63 hardtop! The altered wheelbase '65 is based on the '62-'63 hardtop, same roof and windows. Find a started or incomplete '65, then stub that roof into the '63 body. Shouldn't be hard...

Or just compare with an AMT body. I've got a couple of those, but after a half day at work, riding a bicycle 23 miles, then mowing the lawn and throwing the laundry into the washer, I'm sitting down with an ice cold hard lemonade...

Now watch eBay for an avalanche of Nova wagon builtups and "projects" over the coming weeks, as the Great Unloading commences...

I would suspect that the front wheel openings were moved forward on the Cougar body.

Chassis and engine are unchanged between the two versions.

There was an actual stock car similar to the kit. The number on the car was different though.

Not positive as I haven't got the Round 2 Cougar, but I think they may have tooled a couple of new parts like fuel tanks. I have a Model King Cougar set aside to drop a '66 body on...as I remember the wheelbase matched up pretty well between the two.

Because it sells. A lot of people will buy Coca-Cola related items. Having that branding will bring in sales to that crowd. Those additional sales can make or break an item.

Anyone else remember the Hot Wheels club in 1970? You sent Mattel a buck or two, and got a chrome finish Mustang fastback. You also got a sheet of Hot Wheels logo decals (too big for model cars, but just right for bicycles!) and a catalog. There may have been an iron-on T shirt transfer too. A few months later they had a club package that was sold in stores. Those had one of three or four different cars included, still chrome finish. I got one of those packages too, that one had a Camaro in it.

I've got a de-chopped coupe that someone did starting with two early issue bodies. The box it came in had some sedan delivery parts too. The guy bought one of those for the windshield frame, in part to determine how much to un-chop it. I cleaned up the bodywork a bit--not much was needed though. I'm planning to set it on MPC snap delivery fenders as they have running boards.

After fixing the rear wheel openings, the AWB body is WAY better than the newer one. The Ertl body looks like the car got a bad Bondo job after being sideswiped on both sides. The grille from the Ertl Cyclone has the potential to fit the older body. The headlight spacing seems to match up well, but some material needs to be removed to get it to fit. Not sure if the newer stock hood fits the old body, but it should, with probably adding or removing a bit of material at the sides and back.

The top two are '65s. But there were a couple '66 Impalas in NASCAR. The Chevy guys were usually mid-pack or back-benchers in that period, so pictures and info are sometimes hard to find.

Did you receive the items? I too placed an order for PE parts with the same vendor. This was exactly one week ago, and they arrived today.

As I recall, the old Revell 1/25 scale Type 2 isn't much different size-wise from other manufacturers' 1/24 scale kits.

Multiple piece body (separate side panels, doors, roof) that must be assembled to the floor platform. But that makes sense for this kit: Revell Germany tooled their all-new VW bus and van kits pretty much the same way. In both 1/24 and 1/16 scale. The Roller started out as a stock 23 window deluxe passenger version. It was first issued in 1958 or 1959. In 1967 it was revised to the later 21 window version. A couple of years later it became the Bed Bug, a few years after that it was reworked a bit to become the CB radio themed Rubber Duck. The last transformation was to the Roller. The Roller has no plated parts by the way.

The Chrysler Atlantic concept (Lindberg did a kit, no engine detail though) was powered by a straight eight made by linking two Neon engines. Guys have been doing it forever; I've seen photos and stories about Model T-based straight eights.

The shelf space at the store here was labeled "TV and movie car assortment". I'm not sure what other items Round 2 is currently producing, but when a SN '67 Impala comes off of the shelf, it may not necessarily be replaced with another one right away.