Mark

The downsized GM intermediates (particularly the station wagons) were bad in respect to rear impacts too, particularly in areas where cars rusted. The frames would rot out behind the rear wheels because of the winter slop tossed up by the rear tires, leaving the rear part of the frame separated from the rest. The Pinto was worse in that it had no "frame" back there. A book I read about Ford awhile back blamed the design on cost-cutting, or "thrifting", as directed by the guy who was running Ford in that period. His own book distanced himself from the Pinto, of course. Where they really screwed up, is when someone at Ford weighed the cost of fixing the design against the estimated number of accident claims, and decided it would be cheaper to pay out the accident claims. The cost per claim was supposedly based on guidelines established for use after plane crashes.

HL "resets" their stock twice a year, usually around September and March. Round 2 hadn't received the second shipment of Dodge pickup kits until after the last reset, they had none to sell anyone until that second shipment arrived. HL on rare occasions replaces an existing item midway between resets, but not often. If they do decide to carry this kit, they probably won't do so until the next reset.

There were two versions of that '57 Chevy supercharger: one eas called S.C.O.T., the other Italmenica (sp?). One was a refined/perfected version of the other. Not sure which came first. The first version didn't work well, nor did it last long. The second company straightened it out and started selling the improved version, only to be undercut by someone dumping the original, poorer version at a much lower price, which wrecked the reputation of the good one. If I remember right, there was an article in Rodders' Journal about them.

Yes. The 9-1/2 box contained 11 boots. No 11 box or boots marked 9-1/2 to be found.

OCD should be called CDO. Put the letters in alphabetical order as they ought to be!

All of us have pretty much the same work bench...it could be 50' x 100', and we're working in the only clear space which is about 6 square inches....

I'm far from being a "people person" but still prefer to do my shopping in person, and see what I'm getting. One guy I work with buys clothes online, I can't see it. A couple of weeks ago, I bought a pair of winter boots. I wear a size 9-1/2 shoe, went to the store, grabbed the box marked 9-1/2, tried the boots on, they fit just fine. I then looked for the size as marked on the boots themselves, and they were actually size 11. Had I ordered 9-1/2 online, I'd have had to send them back and wait another week to get something that fit.

I'm the same way, but with tools, paint brushes, and putties. A couple of weeks ago, I bought another brand of two-part epoxy filler, even though I've already got a couple. I was using some Bondo two-part glazing putty on a project...while looking for something else, I found an unopened package of that. Same with tools. I've sold off duplicate sets of files that I bought by accident, no foul there because I actually resold them for what I had spent. I've got tons of paint brushes because I'd buy packs of them whenever they turned up at closeout stores. I'll buy every X-Acto knife I see on the "ten cent pile" with the blade busted off in the handle, then take them home, soak the blade end in penetrating oil, and stick a new blade in. Can't help it...

AMT made the '70 promo models, coupe and convertible. The convertible had the correct smooth trunk lid, but I believe it had coupe quarter panels as did the MPC convertible kit. If i remember right, both convertibles had incorrect upper windshield frames also.

AMT didn't make a '68 Impala, hardtop or convertible. MPC made those, as they had the promo contract that year. AMT made a "for 1968" "Chevrolet SS427" hardtop, basically a '67 Impala hardtop minus stock bumpers, exterior trim, and rear window opening.

Did the Courier pickup have a Ford engine? The truck itself was built by Mazda, I always thought the Ford version was the same except for trim and badging.

AC Moore did have some decent stuff outside of model kits (which were expensive compared to Michael's and HL) but lately there has been nothing that would make people go out of their way to go there instead of those other places. They did cut back by a couple of stores around here when HL set up shop. As a smaller chain, they probably haven't got the purchasing muscle that the other chains have.

I bought a couple of those Road Runner kits when they were new, they did have the dirt track tires and not the Batmobile tires. It was the '67 Chevelle that had the Batmobile tires.

The Torino was the least altered of the series. AMT didn't wipe the emblems, trim, or even the windshield wipers as they did with other kits. Ertl created some new body tooling sections (body sides), tooled separate parts to put the exhaust pipes back in, new stock wheels, and that was about it. The GTO might have been the most butchered kit of the series. A lot of the "new" stock one was new tooling: interior bucket, chassis, all outer surfaces of the body. The GTO was probably chosen for its popularity and sales potential, the Torino Cobra because it was (relatively) easy. All of the others are somewhere in the middle: too much work and not enough potential sales to make them worthwhile.

Later issue. The annual has two open wheels and two wide five-slot wheels. These were replaced by the Cragar S/S wheels in later issues.

Plated open wheels for the front, deep slotted wheels for the back. Only two of each are included. My kit hasn't got an instruction sheet, so I don't know what AMT suggested for the custom version.

These are the German releases, they will likely have a different group of items announced for release here. The '69 Mustang has been available here for a while now. The German release will be in a different box, maybe with different decals, probably available here at a slightly higher price. The German releases bear watching in that they might give some insight into German preferences in American cars. New tooling in the future might be a bit different when it comes to subject matter, and that could be a good thing depending on your likes and dislikes.

Don't know! The '77 body is pretty much the '76 with the headlamp recesses eliminated. The '77 grille and slanted headlamp rings are molded as a separate piece, to be added to the body. Those wanting to use the custom front end parts will likely have to drill holes for the headlamps. The custom front pan probably will take some fitting. But seriously, those parts didn't fit the '76 body very well, so building the '77 with those parts really won't be a big deal compared to the '76.

Haven't been to eBay much in the last few months, maybe I should try again. I never really searched for this kit specifically, but every time I came across one it was usually started, and not well done at that. I had one that I bought new in the early Seventies but later sold...can't keep everything, much as I try to!

Yes, but it is still a '77 and not a '76 as the original custom version was.

Closer examination of the pictures show Goodyear tires, like those in the Lindberg reissue kit.

The decals look like a mix of different sources. The racing numbers and the Moroso decals didn't come off of the same sheet, I can pretty much guarantee. The Jerr-Dan is another mystery: isn't that a trailer manufacturer? As for the car, the tires should pinpoint who made it. I'm pretty sure the pre-Lindberg issues had Dunlop tires while the Lindberg issue had Goodyears. Pre-Lindberg kits might all be molded in color, with black chassis and interior, the Lindberg kit I have is all white. I once had an original IMC issue that was molded in a nice metallic red. If I could find another one in mint condition, I'd think about getting it and building without painting the body.

I've got an original Pintera (already started when I got it). I was thinking about filling in the quarter windows and cutting away the roof directly over the front seat area, maybe a T-roof. I think one of the custom bumpers is missing or damaged in mine, so I'll pick one of these up to get fresh plated parts. The Turbo engine can go into something else too. The AMT Pinto has an automatic transmission, and to me the engine looks a bit better than MPC's. The Pangra conversion would look cool on a wagon, IMO.

At the time these were done (1970-71) the alterations were probably seen as "let's get one more hit off of these tools before they hit the scrap pile". Some of them didn't sell well in the last issue prior to the alterations. I picked up a couple of both the previous-issue '65 Fairlane and '65 Olds kits from the clearance pile AFTER the Modified Stocker issues appeared. As a kid, I knew nothing about engineering or tooling, but one look at a Modified Stocker kit made it plain that the original stock versions were gone for good.

Watch that coated wire; sometimes the coating reacts with paint and plastic. The wires holding the bodies in the old Polar Lights prepainted kits would sometimes leave marks wherever they came into contact with the body, often around windshield pillars or other high visibility places...