Mark

I'd say $110 is way out of whack for a busted one.

Reissues usually bring a barrage of "let's see if I can unload this before word gets out" listings...

That's definitely an AMT body. The tool that produced the body started out as a 1970, from which the promotional models (and a $1.00 no-engine, no optional parts kit) were manufactured. The promos and $1 kit would have had that molded-in radiator wall. The Red Alert kit was run so many times over several years, that for one run someone may have set the tooling up incorrectly putting that radiator wall into the body.

When the question came up on the (then) Hobby Heaven board, the first guy I thought of was Don Prudhomme. McEwen would have been right up there because he and Prudhomme were joined at the hip for so long. Nicholson was certainly up there too. A lot of other guys/teams don't seem to get past five or six, if that: Garlits, Sox & Martin, Ivo, Montgomery. Bill Jenkins only has three, though I wonder if he held off for a long time due to the lousy job MPC did on that Vega...

I was able to find ten Tom McEwen cars without getting away from 1/24-1/25 scale... MPC 900/12 '69 front engine dragster MPC 855/12 rear (mid) engine dragster Polar Lights 953 Barracuda funny car Revell '57 Chevy funny car Revell H1455 Demon (likely the Navy sponsored Duster) Revell H1463 rear engine dragster Monogram 6763 Hot Wheels Duster Monogram 5695 Hot Wheels front engine "coffin body" dragster (reissued later by Model King) Monogram 7529 Hot Wheels rear engine dragster Revell H1455 English Leather Duster There might be another one or two 1/25 scale cars among the Revell "tin box" Nineties funny car kits, as they did issue several cars in that series that had not been issued in the Seventies. The Graham books don't go beyond 1980. There are at least two 1/16 scale kits, and one in 1/32 scale also. There's also a HOT ROD series double kit with a dragster and a funny car, but I believe both of those are already counted here.

While you're at it, fit the engine lid to the opening...

Got my car insurance bill last week...it went down. Six months' insurance is now only $10 more than I was paying on a fourteen-year-old pickup. Opened today's mail, and there's a refund check for the difference on the previous six months. Not a huge amount, but it's better in my pocket than theirs...

The Barris Rolls did not have flared fenders. It did have the open sunroof. The stock body in the first issue "3 in 1" kit I have has a mold line on the roof where the sunroof would be. I'm pretty certain both bodies were produced from one tool, and the flares were added to that body later. The convertible body would be another tool, and the cut-down Baja sedan yet another. Not sure if it has been mentioned, but the sedan versions all lack inner door panels. I have that last version of the sedan, tried cleaning that thing up but it is a lost cause. The body tooling is thoroughly beat.

Yes, but since the markings don't match up, the idea of that kit being a "Nicholson car" is a pretty long stretch IMO. Your mileage may vary...

I had the Gunze Ghia kit; as I remember it (could be wrong) it had some vinyl parts including seats. I've still got the oval-window Beetle with all that vinyl stuff, and am not wild about the idea of having to use all of it. And WHEN will someone do a split-window Beetle in 1/24 scale? The lack of one is absolutely baffling...

But Nicholson never campaigned the car with the STP livery. It would have been repainted to the Eliminator scheme, of which there were two: the MPC version, or the Slixx decal sheet version.

Did anyone ever place an order with the old (original) Auto World company, and actually get everything they ordered? Years later, my older brother told me they were probably scamming people by "not having everything" and issuing a credit, which in most cases guaranteed another order later...

Too, weren't the Nicholson "Cobra Jet" decals included in the first issue of the Revell '69 Mach I (HOT ROD Magazine issue)? I don't recall seeing a '68 kit with them...

The STP Cougar kit mentioned is the one in the Model King drag team kit, the one with the '79 Bronco tow vehicle. That's the Roy Steffey "Cougar Country" car; no connection to Nicholson there.

The Model King issue of the Cougar funny car was the Kenz & Leslie car, not the Nicholson car. The MPC Super Cat was the only MPC '69 Cougar kit. It's not based on the AMT '69 Cougar (remember, AMT and MPC were competing companies in those days). Tom Carter of Spotlight Hobbies looked into this question some years back, I believe Tom McEwen was the answer back then. Round 2 has since issued a couple more kits which probably puts him further ahead.

Not the same piece, they just happen to have the same general shape.

The Gunze Ghia is a convertible, with a separate roof molded in clear, windows and all. If you are okay with a convertible, fine, otherwise the Tamiya kit is the way to go.

The plastic jug may have been a later "service replacement" also. Once Ford stopped using the bag, they would probably have designated the plastic container as the replacement part.

The one in the first pic looks like an overflow catch jug, and an aftermarket one at that. The hose wrapped around it appears to be coming off of the radiator.

Actually, those could have come off a lot worse than they did. Looking at the revised versions of these kits, it's surprising how much they were changed...

Actually, the original issue of that kit was called a '28 Chevy. The kit was based on the 1:1 Hugh Tucker drag car, which was a '28 Chevy body on a '34 Ford frame.

For a "corrected" Eliminator II, I'd use this kit's body (with the rear wheel openings moved back to stock) rather than mess with the new-tool '67 body. I'm not sure how the stock grille and hood from the newer kit will fit the older body, but they shouldn't be too far off. The lower body sides on the newer kit are just plain nasty; the styling creases are all over the place.

On a somewhat related note, here's some more correction of past AMT tooling butchery... I just need to pull the trigger on scribing the door lines. I've got the templates, just need to do it. Plans are for a two-door wagon, with a Nomad-like slanted "B" pillar...

Might be Sam Walton's truck...I've seen a diecast of a similar one at WM.

Maybe three...restore the rear wheel openings to stock, then drop the body onto the new-tool stock kit and get rid of the awful body in that one..