Mark

Picture?

If these sell well, I'd bet on seeing as many versions as Round 2 can think of, and can get licensing for. Slixx has a few decal sheets already; they've had them for a long time, to go with resin Vega bodies.

I've picked up NASCAR kits for a buck apiece...

The one-shot MPC '70 had the grille, bumper, and front turn signals molded as separate parts while AMT's kits had everything as one piece.

That diecast Stude is way big for even 1/24 scale.

Sometimes when the driver is still active, signing autographs at nostalgia events, they'll let the kit be done so they can sell them and pick up a few bucks here and there. As for the Astre, the Straus car is the only early one (pre-US availability) that I'm aware of. There were a few later ones built though; one Pontiac magazine had an article on one of them a couple of years ago. Another Pontiac magazine had an article on the Straus Astre (raced two seasons in two different versions). I wish I'd bought that issue.

Neither of those were ever started, other than pasting together the boxes. Those were shown at a trade show and didn't get enough orders to go further. Ertl, RC2, or whoever, doesn't sell the product to us, they sell to wholesalers and (back then) a big department store or two. None of them were apparently interested.

There's always the aftermarket...

I haven't bought a CD in maybe a year or so, but then again I haven't poked around on eBay since about May. My car doesn't have a CD player, so my CDs (and some vinyl) get ripped to a zip drive for the car. I've still got a mess of them to do...when the cold weather comes...

What an old kit sells for on eBay has no bearing on potential demand (or lack of same) for a new kit of the same subject. It only means that a handful of people are willing to outspend one another for an old kit.

That AMT '73 kit is a phantom...no SS that year, replaced by the LT...

They know what they are doing...there were more Pro Stock Vegas, and there are more people who want to build a model of one, than there is interest in the small handful of Baldwin-Motion Vegas that were built.

The one pictured is a copy. If I remember right, there is a Rodders' Journal article that explains what happened to the original. Note that Barris' name is not on the side panels as on the original.

The remainder of the "new" Vega kits (chassis, interior, basic engine) will be carried over from the old kit. The older pro stock kits were compromised due to the bodies and other parts being shared with stock kits. The chassis in all of them were compromised but overall the assembled model did look the part.

I guess the Monza S body still exists, but I wouldn't bet on seeing it again. You'll probably see a bunch of those on eBay soon, as the hoarders attempt to dump theirs once the new versions become common knowledge...

The market is extremely small for conversion or detail upgrade items, for a kit that is not a current production item. That might change a bit with the advent of 3D printing, where an item can be made on an as-ordered basis. But still, to get one that way, someone has to want the first one badly enough to create it.

Initial plans are to release the early Vega as a Jenkins car. He had two of that style, the second of which eventually was updated to the '74 style. His third/final Vega was a '74 from the start. The '74 will first be issued as Bruce Larson's USA-1. He had two Vegas, the first was the early style (later updated). He later acquired another '74 to replace the first car. No doubt if these go over well, both will be issued as other drivers' cars.

Two Vega bodies have been tooled: '71-'73, and '74-'75. '76-'77 (NOT being reissued) has a slightly different grille area and taillights. Nobody really ran the '76-'77 style in Pro Stock: bucks-up teams switched to the Monza body, the rest stayed with the '74-'75 style Vega. So no real need for the '76-'77 style body.

That's correct. The bodies are improved over the originals in that they are now "dedicated" drag versions (no windshield wipers or scripts) and the rear wheel flares have been reworked to a more correct shape. The smaller parts are for the most part straight-up copies of the original parts.

These are not "printed" prototypes, they are test shots from tooling that has been cut, and is being fine-tuned. The early grille/bumper will be one piece as seen here.

According to John from Round 2, the Camaro body will be partially new, not all new. The original tooling was not designed with both versions in mind (a real bonehead play considering that it was done after Revell's '69 kits). The sections that form the front of the body had to be changed, but the original tooling had the outer side of the roof, and possibly the deck lid, incorporated with the area they needed to change. So, to do this version while still maintaining the ability to reissue the original versions, they had to take more time with it than originally planned.

The photos of all of these different versions might help explain why a model car kit retailed for $2 back then, and $30 now. In 1969, AMT used one tool (with different inserts, granted, but still basically one tool) to produce promos, toy store assembled models, and kits (sometimes as both hardtop and convertible). MPC did the same, sometimes fitting in a funny car using the promo model body. They don't get that same degree of use out of one tool anymore, and aren't producing the kits in the same numbers as in the days of old. That's where you get a lot of the price per unit increase...

I bought an MPC '70 last year, I believe it's tied with one of my '63 Fairlanes for the highest price I ever paid for a kit. No regrets, in fact, if the new kit drives some of the originals onto swap meet tables, I might pick up another one provided it's in the right condition and the price is right.

There were pace car promos for both '67 and '69. I bought a '69 a couple of weeks ago, in a "parts box" purchase, that turned out to be in great shape.

Nit-picky stuff, but this one is a toy-store assembled model as opposed to a promo. Some collectors prefer promos, which typically come in different boxes (no cellophane window) and are in "stock" colors while the toy-store version sometimes are in non-stock colors. Like I said, nit-picky and getting more so with each passing day, as collectors will now usually take whatever they can find in good condition. For a long time, many collectors preferred the "promo" with the associated box and shunned the "toy store" version. My logic would cause me to think that the toy store versions would be rarer, with a much lower survival rate than the promo versions...