Mark

That AAR kit will be the next hot item from Revell, not unlike the Foose FD100 pickup or the Model A rod kits. I sold a bunch of AAR conversion kits back in the day; that car has a cult following unlike any other Mopar I encountered. Not even the Dodge equivalent (Challenger T/A) has the same following as the AAR.

If that stuff is peel-and-stick, a light hit with a heat gun (or a strong blast from a blow dryer) should make short work of it. Instead of paint, consider replacing the wrap with another, more subdued one. That's a good get...the bigger, hard-to-move cases are often given away while the shorter ones are usually sold.

The street machine version has an odd combination of parts: Eighties-style rolled pans front and rear (no bumpers are included), along with custom wheels that might have been "in" for about fifteen minutes in the mid-Eighties...

Man, those are nice looking wheels...now have to conjure up a project that includes a set!

Yeah, those styrene-softening tires often do a number on early Corvair wheel openings. I wasn't looking for every year Corvair, but got within a couple of them and thought "why not". I already had a '67 (the "for 1968" kit is a '67), but turned up a started '67 at NNL East for $20. I put it down, thought the next guy bought it. Later on, I passed that table again to see it still there!

Polar Lights tooled the comic book Batmobile, Round 2 tooled the 1966 TV show car.

I'd hang on in regards to putting the custom stuff on the '64, and see if you can run down another '62 for that. Of the early Corvairs I have, the '64 was the last one I found, and the hardest one to get. The '63 convertible is a close second. The '62 is much more common in my experience, finding another one already customized shouldn't be a tough get.

No. The stock issues have stock parts only, the street machine version has the dropped axle and some other unique parts, and no stock parts.

Kelsey-Hayes aftermarket wheel from the late Sixties. I've seen them referred to as "20 spoke" wheels, though they were sold under another name that I can't remember. The unplated ones are from one issueof the AMT '69 Cougar kit (recent issues don't have them). Plated versions are available in the AMT '66 Mercury, and '53 Corvette (the Corvette wheels do not have open slots between the spokes).

I heard the Canadian cars had toque boxes...

Ertl retooled most of the GTO kit. It was their first effort, and it shows. They reworked some of their initial work, but it's still nowhere near as nice as the early issues. The Torino fastback was rescued later. It was the least butchered of the Modified Stocker kits: unlike others, AMT didn't remove the windshield wipers or mess with the bumpers. Ertl had to tool new outer body sides, and a few other parts like seats and wheels. The other kits weren't so fortunate. It would probably be cheaper and easier to tool an entire new kit than fix the butchery in most cases.

The chassis should work under most full-size pickups well into the Eighties, though someone building a truck that recent probably won't do a frame swap. I've got one going under a '63 Ford pickup that has had its unibody bed cut down to the short wheelbase version, and might try one under a '55-'57 Chevy pickup also. The Foose kit frame resembles, and is probably scaled from, 1:1 aftermarket chassis.

It sounds like you painted the entire car one color, then masked parts of it and recoated the rest with another color. Don't do that; instead mask the intended black areas and shoot the yellow, then mask the yellow areas and shoot the black. Saves paint, and besides, why have double layers of paint anywhere?

I'm not 100% certain, but I believe there was a plastic friction toy made in the Sixties. I have a plastic friction Rolls Royce with similar characteristics: molded in color (also blue), opening trunk but no opening hood, slightly smaller than 1/25 scale.

Do they have them in stock, or does the listing include "preorder" in the fine print?

Take a look at photoetch items for military builders. They build bicycles and motorcycles in scales smaller than 1/25, there should be something available that will work.

Maybe start with the pro street chassis, and "un-widen" the tubs on it?

The body pictured might be described as "slushy", but "inconsistent thickness" is a more accurate description. Slush molding is entirely different: it's using essentially half a mold (outside surfaces only; no inner core) and literally "sloshing" the resin around in it. That method results in inconsistent thickness also. Most slush-molded stuff is paper thin in some areas. Slush-molded items will often collapse (sides and roofs will pull inwards) and, with few exceptions, are generally useless. Every Flintstone body I have seen is produced from a two-piece mold. Some have the thickness inconsistency pictured, which can be ground/sanded out if you wish to do so. Generally, his earlier bodies and some with more extensive alterations are like this. Still, if you know what you are getting into, they are good considering the price.

The '71 version was sold in AMT packaging only. There was a '70 version issued before it, that one was in a Jo-Han box. Both were manufactured by Jo-Han.

That restoration was the first thing like that, that Ertl did. They got better on later projects.

The '60 El Camino almost got yet another reissue in '62, as a Styline kit. It's listed on one (maybe both) of the '62 flat-box Styline kits (Valiant, Corvair). Probably worn out after producing promos, and friction models and kits in '60 and '61 (promo '60 only).

The one pictured has the two screws at the back, which would mark it as an early chassis (besides being molded in white). I checked a 1969 reissue (last one before the butchery) and it's identical. It's not a '64 chassis because those have screw holes in front also.

AMT '65-'66 Impala kit chassis had no floor area under the interior. The underside of the interior bucket formed that part of the chassis.

Which issue are you comparing to? Early issues have the original chassis, which was butchered for the Modified Stocker issue. Ertl tooled a new chassis when they restored the stock version. The one pictured would be the Pre-Modified Stocker original chassis. I've never seen a later one molded in white.

Looks like AMT '65 GTO.