Mark

Pyro sold a bunch of those; they're all over eBay, and I see a lot of them at swap meets. Still, I wonder how well they would have sold (and how popular they'd be now) had Pyro done it in 1/25 scale...

I believe the recent reissue AMT '64 Impala hardtop kit has the convertible boot from the original annual kit included. If you see one, check the parts layout on the box bottom.

The '55 is still quite buildable, but has some quirks (one rear inner wheelwell is wider than the other) in addition to the flashing issues. The hinges in all of these kits are sloppy also. The '57 hardtop is the next "least worst": problems include poor rear glass fit, lack of headlamp buckets, frame mounts that are supposed to attach to the bellhousing miss by a mile, and so on. All of the old Tri-Five kits have post-'57 engine blocks with side engine mount bosses and ram's horn exhaust manifolds too. If you must have the '56 sedan, get a first issue kit. Later issues are unbuildable: windshield and rear glass fall through the openings among other things. Only a glutton for punishment should attempt the '57 Nomad.

The earlier AMT Pinto kits (through about '75) had an optional Boss 429 engine. Not exactly a realistic swap in 1:1 scale...

There were a bunch of those Crusader builds done back in the day; the various model car magazines' contest coverage articles are loaded with them. None really match detail for detail, for two reasons: none of the builders had access to all of the same parts that were used on the original, and the article itself doesn't specify every part used. The latter was done on purpose: the CAR MODEL writers didn't want builders to copy their car exactly, but instead just use the article as a jumping-off point to building their own creations. Contest coverage from back in the day includes a lot of attempts at copying the "El Matador" '40 Ford coupe also. AMT owned that car for a while, I think I read somewhere that they briefly intended to make a kit of it back then.

Looks like a Seagrave, which would make it a piece of fire fighting equipment.

He's just short for his weight....

The Arlen Vanke Duster kit was the '72 annual kit. Some of those had Pro Stock decals, but none had the parts to build accurate Pro Stock cars. The Challenger kit had decals for the '71 Motown Missile (the '72 car was a Barracuda, which MPC did a kit of in '73).

If you are thinking about doing something, and you can do it, and are well enough to do it, and can afford to do it, DO IT. If you wait another year, you'll be a year older, and still not have done it, and may not be in a position (health, financial, other) to do it. I'll turn 60 later this year. Right now, I weigh less, and am in better shape than I was when I graduated high school in 1977. I've got friends younger than I who are having health issues. That made, and makes, me think about how fortunate I have been, and that I should be more grateful for that and not squander the opportunity to stay in good shape. About a year ago, I was told that the position I have held for 14 years was being phased out. After a few delays, that becomes reality next month. My employer has been good to me, so I have wanted to finish things up there before moving on. Right now it looks like that will happen. I've only been looking for the next job for about three weeks. I've had one interview already, got another one on Tuesday, am waiting on another one, and sign up with two more agencies on Thursday. For the weekend, it's off to NNL East. On Monday, I'll get the details about separation from my current position. The first couple of weeks I was down about it, but now I'm actually looking forward to this. I'd have been perfectly happy to stay where I was until I retired. But that isn't happening, and I can't change that. But I can jump into something else with both feet, and that's what I'm going to do. There are things that you can't control, but there are others that you can. Grab the bull by the horns and take control of the stuff you can influence, and some of the rest will fall into line.

Other than the styling changes, I don't remember any "new" parts in those kits. The '71 had dragster spoke wheels for the front (as did the Pinto and Vega which used that same chassis), '72 versions had five spoke fronts. Other than that, I can't recall any other changes.

The Dodge was built by Mike Baltes, who also built the '57 Chevy panel. Paul Sable did far more articles than Mike did. Mike later worked at (or owned part of) Auto World. When I was selling aftermarket parts in the late Eighties, I remember getting a solicitation from Auto World for samples, as they were thinking about carrying aftermarlet items. Nothing came of it, as that stuff was in its infancy back then, and most guys couldn't offer much of a discount. Besides that, with conversion parts your sales are limited to a small fraction of the people who happened to buy the kit that the conversion goes with. I distinctly remember the solicitation letter being from Mike Baltes.

The Flash was a '72 issue, one of the first four Pro Stock cars MPC did. The others were the Bill Jenkins Camaro (which was being leased by Bruce Larson in '72), and fictional Mustang and Pontiac GTO (!). Those four had some newly tooled parts but not gutted interiors. The sales on the first four probably convinced MPC to cut loose a few more bucks and tool the interiors for the '73 cars. The '73 cars still had molded-in exhaust pipe detail on three of the four, with the Sox & Martin Duster (and '74 issue Mopar Missile Duster) still having the exhaust pipes that ran along either side of the driveshaft tunnel.

'75 release, but it's the '76 body ('76-'77 grille area is a bit different from '74-'75).

Interesting that those two dragster frames are connected together. I figured that those parts packs were probably molded about four at a time. There's no way of knowing if certain ones had to be run together, or if one could be switched for another during a production run. The parts between the two frames appear to be the extra parts added to the Mooneyes version of the Dragmaster frame.

Attached are pictures of the three CAR MODEL cover/article cars I was able to obtain last month. The condition of the three varies: -The '57 Chevy is in quite decent shape. The bumpers have "silvered" a bit, but they're better than equivalent parts in some unbuilt Revell kits from the period that I have seen. The paint on the car still has a nice shine. The seam between the original kit roof and the balsa extension piece is visible, but not obtrusive. A detailed build article appeared in the July 1964 issue. This model was entered in the Revell/Pactra contest series in 1965 (the third and, I believe, last series). I don't know how it did. Probably for the contest, the wheels and tires used in the original build (from the base kit) were replaced with AMT '55 Nomad wheels and tires. A custom grille bar from an AMT '56 Ford kit was also added. And no, I don't get the Ford oval decals on a Cadillac-powered Chevy. -The '49 Mercury appeared on, and in, the May 1966 issue. Two Mercury kits were used, the second one donated body sections for the custom front end and to stretch the chopped top. The Hurst mag wheels and tires appear to be from the '66 Mercury annual kit. The chop is incorrect compared to a 1:1 Merc, in that the top is stretched and the rear window area is cut. Good 1:1 Merc chops shift the roof forward without extending it, and tilt the rear window area forward to close the gap. The tempered glass backlite can't be cut anyway. Plans are to clean this one up, reattach the loose parts, and then build a clone with another two Merc kits. I'll do the "wrong" chop but will cut the two bodies so as to have fewer seams to fill. The original build stretched the roof with a piece added in at the center, with the B-pillars being spliced in towards the end of the job. I'll do it differently but it will look the same. The paint on this car is Testor's metalflake blue, from the Ed Roth color line. One of the newer Testor's custom lacquers should approximate the color. I might even use the custom wheels from a reissue '66 Merc, just because. -The '65 Coronet appeared in two issues (November and December 1965) and on the December cover. My November issue doesn't have a cover, so I don't know if the Dodge appears or is mentioned on it. The November article outlines the wheelbase alteration, with December allocated to paint and hand lettering. Different themes were used on opposite sides of the car. This model is in one piece but isn't in great shape: the paint is on the heavy side and exhibits a lot of cracking on the hood, roof, and deck. I wanted to get this car in particular, as I thought someone not knowing what it was might tear it down and strip the paint for a rebuild. I'd like to build a new one of these (or more likely two, each with the same lettering on both sides). Maybe two Polar Lights Coronets, or possibly an original MPC for one car and a Moebius Plymouth Satellite for the other....

Nope, no story. I don't have the paperwork for any of my eBay purchases, but I'm thinking that I got a 1959 (first volume) Auto World catalog from the same guy some years back. That guy claimed to be a distant relative to the Koveleski family (who owned and operated Auto World among other things). The catalog I have has no mailing label on it, which to me would be unusual because the company started as strictly mail order. (From what I have heard, they never operated a regular store; the walk-in Auto World was supposedly just a counter, where you'd walk in and tell them what you wanted, and they'd get it from the "back room".) I got three cars, all of which appeared as "how-to" articles and all of which made the covers too. I'm starting a separate thread on the cars I got, so as not to water down Snake's thread.

I'll have to have a look at that article again. The "recent" issue Fairlane Modified Stocker has a lot of "unblocked" parts that aren't needed in that version; I'm not sure if the traction bar setup is among them.

I'm not sure when the article about this car appeared, but I'm pretty certain it was during '65, long before the MPC kit came out. But, I do remember the build being based on an AMT kit. I'm pretty sure the hood blister was carved from wood. The MPC '66 kit has a hood with a poorly shaped blister (got one in a parts box here somewhere) and the MPC kit also had separate door handles. I had a sealed one of those, sold it last year at NNL East. As for the chassis, who can know for certain? I'd look for an original AMT single-exhaust chassis (duals were added much later, for the Mach I concept car) and try to duplicate the original build as closely as possible. The '57 Chevy sedan delivery I got has different wheels and tires from the original 1964 build article. Those probably got changed prior to the model being entered in the '65 Revell/Pactra contest series.

The MPC '68 Mustang kit that I had was molded in white, but I have seen other MPC annual kits molded in various colors in addition to white. No longer having an early MPC Mustang kit, the one pictured is definitely an early one, could be as early as '66.

The same chassis was used through '73, with alterations. On the later, longer wheelbase versions, you can see where pieces were spliced into the tool to stretch it.

Chalk it up to a bad decision (wisdom is gained through experience, and experience comes through bad decisions!) and foot the bill yourself. Next thing to do is start shopping insurance. If the agent is keeping secrets regarding what is covered and what isn't, he/she isn't working for your best interest...

The kit is correct in that respect; the actual car is difficult to fit wide tires to, and it's tough to change tires on one if wide tires are fitted or if the car is lowered. You'll end up with either radiused wheel openings, or with the rear frame rails moved in and new inner wheel wells fitted.

It will shrink as the cement evaporates. I have used it, it can be useful provided you know, and work within, its limitations though.

They've got them in my area, also the Revell '68 Chevelle. It appears that the local store managers might now have some latitude in how things are run. I've seen where stores in other areas are still blowing out discontinued items cheap; the stores here aren't doing that. Looks like they are no longer doing a stock reset at specific times of the year, but are instead phasing new items in one by one.

I used liquid cement because it softens the strip stock a little, which helps it make the tight turns at the corners without splitting. One other thing I forgot to mention; the cut at the end I started at was a diagonal one, so the other end would tuck under it.