Mark

Sorry, but I pretty much bought a (reasonable built) kit to get it. I started with an original Funny Hugger kit, but that one had apparently been in a building that burned. The box reeked of smoke and fell apart when handled, and some of the parts (including the body) were visibly heat damaged. The built/partial annual kit coughed up the body for this (just can't take those radiused wheel openings) and donated the interior bucket to another hardtop that needed one.

Parts breakdown is similar (all of the early chassis from all kit manufacturers are similar that way) but the Gremlin kit's crossmembers, rear axle, and radius rods look a lot like those in the earlier AMT funny cars (first '69 Camaro, longnose and Mach Won Mustangs, and '69 Cougar). Where the parts attach to the trees would go a long way towards telling if the parts were repurposed. I've got a Pinto and a couple of Gremlins that are untouched, but my Mustangs are either started or completely built, and I pieced my '69 Camaro together from a couple of started funny car kits and an annual kit body.

Not sure about the '50 (Chevy or Ford); the Foose frame might be too wide at the firewall.

Few sell to model builders, most go to Coca-Cola memorabilia collectors who leave them sealed in anticipation of a windfall when they go to resell them.

Closest to a '32 than anything else. One of the raised ribs across the back of the cab has to be removed ('32 didn't have it), '32 has a shorter bed, and the grille shell is different. Hood, bumpers, and wheels are probably different too. The '30-'31 Model A pickup cab is altogether different.

The suspension parts and interior floor do bear a strong resemblance to an earlier AMT chassis, but that could be coincidental. I haven't got an unassembled early kit to check against one of the subcompact car "short" chassis. The earlier chassis had more plated parts, but that doesn't point to whether or not one was based on the other.

The stores here still have empty spaces from the items that were recently cleared out. Summer isn't prime time for model building, so the summer restock is usually slow in coming.

I'm working on getting one under an AMT '63 Ford "unibody" pickup. No pictures yet, I've also cut apart the '63 interior to get a separate seat in, stand the interior side panels straight up (eliminate the mold draft) and lower the floor. The Foose chassis should be a good swap under most Fifties through Seventies short bed pickups. I was thinking about putting one under a Chevy pickup also, with a current Camaro engine.

AMT's Funny Gremlin came first. Lou Azar (later a wrestling promoter!) asked for permission to use the paint scheme on his car. AMT said okay, as long as we can put your name on the kit box. The kit of course has little in common with the 1:1 car, but AMT wasn't alone in doing that.

The parts breakdown of the AMT chassis suggests that it was possibly cribbed from the Jo-Han piece, but the parts aren't the same. The side rails are way different, for example. I did just check a Gremlin body against an AMX. Wheelbase on the Gremlin is 3/16" or so shorter. I'd bet the chassis was designed to fit the Pinto (94" wheelbase, incidentally the same as a Chevette!) and then the other two bodies were cheated a bit to fit the same chassis. Jo-han used much of that same chassis in many funny car kits. The suspension parts interchange between them which is why I like that chassis even though it might not be the absolute best version of the 1:1. It was used under AMC Javelins, AMXs, Hornets and Rebels, Plymouth GTX (but not Roadrunner), '64 Dodge and Plymouth, Ford Maverick/Mercury Comet, and Olds 442s. The last kit that used it was a '74 Hornet issued in the late Seventies. Those chassis can be found with engine mounts for Ford Boss Nine, 426 Hemi, AMC, and Olds, many different side rails, a couple different interior floors, and two sets of wheels. The suspension bits are the same on all of them though.

Snake, the AMT boxed Jo-Han kits like the two-seater AMXs were all Jo-Han. Same tires, same brittle styrene. They were likely produced by Jo-Han at their facilities and packed in AMT boxes with AMT instruction sheets and decals. I say that because of the plastic (same highly opaque, brittle stuff Jo-Han kits had) as well as the fact that those kits were not bagged. AMT started bagging the unplated parts around 1969-70, in the mid-Seventies they bagged the plated parts with cellophane. Jo-Han kits were never bagged until the Seville era. That said, the Jo-Han AMX chassis under a Gremlin sounds intriguing. The Jo-Han AMX is 1/24 scale (as are all post-1960 Jo-Han AMC promos, and all Jo-Han AMC kits save the '59 wagon but that shouldn't kill the idea. It would get an AMC engine into the Gremlin (though it is a 1966 mill which wasn't used in the floppers). I know I've got the parts to do this....

These kits are closer to show rods than serious drag cars. The first version of each of the three had dragster (spoked) front wheels which weren't used on funny cars bar the occasional odd-ball. And try to fit a scale driver inside that roll cage. There were a few funny cars with short wheelbases like these, most were Fuel Altereds that were rebodied in the quest for more appearance money.

X3 for solvent cement. I've never had luck with CA glue or epoxy for something like this, particularly where you might have to flex the body a bit to get it over the interior/chassis.

Search turned up nothing, because you'll probably be first to do it. Except for the old AMT '32 Fords which came pre-sectioned...

I don't know that the proportion issue has to do with making the body fit the chassis. Not sure what the wheelbase is on a stock Vega, but the Pinto is 94" and I believe the Gremlin is 96". The Vega is certainly in that ballpark. The Vega and Gremlin bodies were probably done with no thought given to stock versions later. The Vega wagon might have been done from photos as opposed to an actual car, in order to get the kit on store shelves right when the 1:1 Vega debuted. All speculation though...

It's a hybrid...burns both gas and rubber!

I too have sold some items off, though not at any sort of pace that would matter. I've thought about whittling down to one or two "collections" like Indy 500 pace cars (probably have all that were made in 1/25 scale plastic, resin, or diecast) or certain makes of cars. I could probably just cut down to projects already started and still have plenty. But they don't eat, and I'll never let it get to where I'd rent space to store them, so for now they can stay. As for the Modelhaus piece, how many were produced compared with the '66 Valiant promo that came up earlier in the week, or the rarest of plastic kits like the Jo-Han '69 Rebel?

Here's an idea for the Boss Nova, which I need to get back to...

The chassis in this kit is originally from the '65-'66 annual kits, same for the engine. Molded-in dual exhaust was added for the Mach I concept car (first kit with this fastback body; the Superstang is the third of four). Parts unique to the Superstang include the hood (molded with the hole in it), blower, drag wheel and tire option, and filler piece for the grille area. The kit is molded in yellow. The blue color used on the box art car suggests to me that AMT was trying to make this car look like the Malco Gasser. MPC was selling a lot of those back then, maybe AMT thought they could grab a few sales with something that looked like it.

If someone owns the 1:1 version and wants a model, that's the only way they'll get one. Even if they have the ability to convert a kit body, the kits aren't exactly all over the place either.

Went to the LHS today, sprung for the Atlantis Mr. Gasser reissue, also another Revell Roth '57 Chevy. I like to have spare decals in case I screw up, a buddy of mine who built the Roth issue said the decals are a bear. Never had a Mr. Gasser before; looks like the "washboard" trim decals from an AMT '57 could be trimmed to fit the body. The bumpers and side trim look like a good test case for Molotow chrome too...

I've seen "Kit Carson" decals, but never paid attention to where I saw them. But now with the names being different, the connection is lost.

If you think the '58 GM cars were bad, do some digging and look at what they were working on for '59 based on the '58 bodies. Even some of the '59 designs based on the new bodies were pretty horrible. I'm pretty certain Collectible Automobile and Special Interest Autos both ran articles on the development of the '59 GM cars.

Will it fit? I haven't looked at that build article in a while, but seem to recall that the hood blister was carved balsa and wasn't hollow underneath. Besides the '66-'67 Fairlane kits, the '68 Torino fastback had that intake also. The original '69 kits may have had it too; I've got the kits but am too lazy to look right now. Two of the three CAR MODEL builtups I bought are in the display case. I need to stick the wheels on the '49 Merc custom and clean it up a bit so it can join them. That model was never really finished originally, the front wheels were schlocked into place (no lower front suspension) and the rear springs were just clipped at the back to get the car lowered. The engine is a small block Chevy from an MPC '32 Chevy kit, but that is just set in place. The radiator was put in backwards if I remember right. Plan is to build another one in the same style (double front end, stylistically wrong top chop) only with a complete engine and chassis.

It's not "Carson", it's "Garrison"...