Mark

I'd go with the '65 wheel castings, but not with a chrome or chrome-like finish. Maybe matte black center areas, or a magnesium finish.

I wouldn't hang my hat on a Vista Cruiser...those are on a longer wheelbase (longer rear doors than other four-doors)...different chassis would be needed. Might be a good idea for a conversion, or a resin body.

Swapping chassis and engine compartments between GM cars, you do have to watch little details like radiator hoses, fan shrouds, and battery location. If I remember right, when I mastered an Olds 442 body using a Revell '67 Chevelle engine compartment, I had to cut the battery (or battery tray?) out. I do know the battery is on opposite sides of the engine compartment in a GTO versus an overhead cam six Tempest.

Sadly, not so minor that they could be restored to stock. Lots of trim and detail engraving wiped from nearly every part, in most cases only the engines were left alone. The Torino fastback was one notable exception. The Chevelle got more rework than the others because it had been altered once already, for the altered wheelbase funny car. I remember seeing these kits when they were first issued. I didn't know how the alterations were done, but even then it was pretty easy to see that the original stock versions were unlikely to ever come back. But then again it wasn't a big deal for AMT to have done these. The previous issues of most of these kits hadn't sold well. I had prior issues of a couple of them that I picked up on clearance after the Modified Stocker issues appeared. So at the time, these were probably looked at as "let's get one more hit off of these tools before they hit the scrap pile". But eight of the nine still exist (with the GTO having been converted back to stock years ago).

Still cheaper than NY...

First issued in 1976. The T number kit would be an original issue, but later production as Lesney took over some time in '78. Go ahead and build it, it is not a particularly rare or valuable kit.

Those hanger shots were used in production too, for quality control. My best guess is that every so often, they'd take a shot that just came out of the molding machine and compare to the hanger shot, to ensure that nothing was blocked off which would cause incompletely molded parts, or "short shots". I've got three of those: '56 Ford, '59 and '65 El Caminos. I got them at one of the Toledo shows in the late Eighties. One guy at the Ertl display kept asking the guy who went with me, "where did you get those?"

A guy I know built "Billy's" lowrider Cadillac. It was a '65, finding a rebuildable '65 kit took him a while.

About ten pieces: block/transmission halves (with oil pan and water pump), pulleys/belts, fan, cylinder heads/intake/distributor, air filter (no carburetor), valve covers, exhaust manifolds. The block halves have a huge slot (not hole) for an axle to pass through. Everything is about the correct size and shape though, and the engraving on the valve covers is decent.

Hobby Lobby does their own thing...they blow them out when sales slow down, so they can devote the shelf space to another item.

Doesn't look like a lot to me. It happens, sales slow down on a kit so it gets dropped.

Same chassis, but it was made in more than one length via some inserts in the tooling used to produce it. The frame in the Dodge is slightly longer than the Pontiac version.

Those parts are from an MPC '69 GTO funny car.

Buicks and Chevies both used the "X" (cruciform) frame, but different suspension parts, exhaust systems, and floor pans. The "closest" chassis would probably be the '66 Riviera piece, but you'd have to stretch it big time, and that's not getting into the floor pan, fuel tank, or exhaust system. The Riviera engine should work but the automatic transmission is too new and the external accessories on the engine are mostly wrong. IMO, best to just appreciate the Buick as it is, unless you have a bunch of time to spend on the chassis and interior...

I am seeing a 60% off anything coupon. The stores in my area have the Revell '83 4-4-2 kits at $18 every day...60% off that would be a screaming deal if you want (another) one of those...

Those windows were retooled at some point, probably in the Eighties. They aren't as good as the original ones. Fortunately all of the windows in the 1:1 are flat glass. Replacements made from clear styrene or acrylic plastic will be better optically anyway.

I believe Brookfield Collectors Guild made a Chrysler Sebring convertible promo with an operational top. That might be worth a look.

The first AMT issue is the one being discussed here, the one with the blue car on the box. It was originally a Lindberg kit that first appeared in the mid-Nineties. The original SMP kit was an annual, issued concurrently with the debut of the actual car. It would have first appeared in late 1960. These kits were never reissued because portions of them were incorporated into the following year's promotional models and kits.

Jo-Han made Hornet kits for each year '70-'74, but they could only be built as funny cars (though nobody ever ran one in 1:1). No stock kits, only promo models. There was a '72 funny car kit with correct for '72 taillights and trim revisions, even though there was no '72 promo as I remember.

I'm not sure whether they were available here or not. I do remember watching the news on a Canadian TV station, and seeing a story about some gas stations there refusing to gas up Ladas.

There was a cartoon in MAD magazine years ago, where a guy on a construction site swatted a fly that landed on a blueprint. When you flipped the page, there was a full-page picture of the completed skyscraper, with a huge fly splattered across it...

There's no accounting for taste. As an accountant, I know that to be true.

No fender vents in the Dart kits. It never had any.

I'd bet the kit was designed before MPC and Roth crossed paths. That was the only MPC kit that bore his name, it could be the only non-Revell kit associated with him.

The MPC Chevy Monza kits had similar pieces that attach to the fenders, but those are only the outer piece, no "vent" insert or detail in the center. It shouldn't be tough to file those out of a scrap of sheet plastic (use a T/A vent as a pattern), attach them, then trim out the insert area to create the vent.