Mark

It's only in that one issue of the Camaro. It's not in any of the Camaro convertibles, nor is it in the later Fast & Furious issues of the hardtop.

Try it with other decals first, but I'd guess that the masking tape will peel the decals. In the areas where the decals will be, the tape will be pulling against clearcoat which is applied over the decal. Which bond will be stronger, the clearcoat to the decal, or the decal to the paint underneath?

MPC's '68 Firebird kit did include the OHC six (as did their '67, and most of their '69 kits). The engine should slide into a Revell '68.

The summer reset usually takes longer. The empty spaces remain empty longer, summer is probably slow for them when it comes to model kit sales. One store here does now have the AMT '77 Ford Cruising Van and 1/32 scale '60 Thunderbird.

The engine in the original kits is a big-block, the first MPC Vega with it was the Street Funny in '71. The Jenkins kit had the gutted interior but still had the stock chassis with molded-in exhaust detail and radiused rear wheel openings with no flare. The '74 Bruce Larson kit had the modified chassis and bigger wheel tubs in the interior, same hood (incorrect for '74, the scoop didn't work with the later front end), same big-block engine and automatic transmission.

I'd concentrate on the interior more than the chassis or engine. Several of the USA Oldies kits had upholstery pattern detail from later years. The Chrysler is one of them.

But the heads on the red engine would suggest a Hemi at first glance. The cam cover that extends the block and heads at the front isn't there. MPC used the Cougar's chassis under other funny cars, including one Dodge. But I don't think they used that engine block in the Dodge. Why they put a Torqueflite transmission behind a Ford engine is baffling.

The one molded in red is from the MPC Mercury Cougar funny car kit. It's meant to be an Overhead Cam Ford engine. Why it has a Torqueflite transmission is a mystery, but that's how it is in the kit. The other engine is a Ford FE big-block. Looks like it is from a Monogram kit based on that upper hose being molded as part of one of the halves. Not sure which kit it is from, but the dark blue color would point towards their Tom Daniel Paddy Wagon kit.

When anyone is watching, that is...

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!