Mark

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.

The hardtop kit never had the trunk lid lettering.

Well, the current way of doing things must be working. Otherwise, they would be changed. I'd like them to have started diving into the long-lost stuff (like the coming '64 Cutlass) sooner. But it is happening. On the other side, the new Revell organization is going in the other direction, dumping older stuff off and doing new kits (including replacing long-running ones like the Jaguar XK-E). There's enough for everyone right now...

Read again...

Round 2 (and Atlantis) haven't invested in large banks of existing tooling, so they could set them aside and do new tools.

Or, if a particular size of styrene tube is a good fit (not a loose fit) in the hole, you can glue it in and redrill to fit the screw. If the tube is thin enough, redrilling may not be needed. This is what I do on stripped or cracked body mounting posts. I'll also add a short piece of larger tube around the outside of the post to make sure the crack doesn't separate again later. If the "inside" tubing doesn't fit exactly, get the next larger size and sand the outside until it does fit. Sanding will thin the wall thickness too. The "outside" tube should also be a tight fit; you can sand the outside of the post if needed. Actually, you could use a sheet plastic "collar" (flat piece drilled to slip over the post, right at the crack area).

Two-door what? There wasn't a two-door hardtop with that roofline, and the roof isn't tall enough for a sedan.

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.