Mark

But sometimes that second version takes a few years to surface. The GTO for example probably sold well enough in the stock-only version, to delay the 2-in-1. Monogram likely waited for sales to start slipping on the stock one before releasing it with the added parts. Then there's the AMT '62 Thunderbird, which has optional parts that didn't get released until after the company changed ownership...

There were two AMT Pintos, "Crazy Horse" and "Crazy Horse II". The first was a '71 (sedan), the second a '72 (hatchback). The stock kit body was used, separate hood and all. AMT probably had to do the "II" due to the body style difference.

Maybe there is one that just never got released. I've got a bagged test shot of the Monogram '64 GTO that includes the optional "street machine" parts; I got it long before the 2-in-1 version was released...

Smaller/lighter than typical American compact car tires, likely higher quality too, probably designed for high speed applications...just common sense at work...

The Studebaker body tool was likely new, but was based on a wooden master done at Revell for a stock '53 Stude kit. Revell stopped work on theirs upon seeing AMT's kit at a trade show. When Revell dropped their Studebaker kit, the masters for some of the parts were likely done but had probably not yet progressed to the toolmaking stage. Had Revell done a stock kit, might it have had opening doors and trunk like other car kits they were making in the '63-'66 period? The Miss Deal chassis is NOT new; it is an extensive rework of the Parts Pack custom chassis (actually a C1 Corvette unit). A few new parts were tooled: roll cage, seat, rear suspension, likely a few others. But the wheels, engine, front suspension, and frame were based on tooling for Parts Packs that were no longer being offered by then.

Charger has a different fuel tank/spare tire well area, so avoid it unless you have one on the shelf and are willing to modify it rather than buy another kit. I'd probably go with the Lindberg underbody even though it has a couple of glitches (widened rear wheel tubs, "too new" rear axle). One of the Moebius Plymouth kits might be worth a look too. Pricey for a parts donor, but the Jo-Han Mopars are getting thin on the ground, and are worth the effort and expense to get a better end result. If you sell on eBay or at swap meets, you might be able to sell the leftover body to a slot car guy (or buy a leftover chassis from one). The Lindberg interior could be modified to fit the '62. When you are swapping underbodies to get more detail, why mess with the one-piece blob interior?

The 1:1 borrowed the artwork and name from the kit, which existed first. Jo-Han never made a Gremlin kit; these are all AMT. The chassis was shared with AMT's Vega wagon and Pinto funny car kits.

The Vega is "funny car only". Truth be told, the body is "blocky" compared to the 1:1. Had it been more accurate, maybe AMT would have converted it to a stock version at some point, as they did with the Gremlin. The boat and trailer were offered most recently by Model King (with the MPC '70 Bonneville convertible), but I'd suspect Round 2 will offer the Aquarod set at some point. The MPC '72 Chevelle hasn't been available in about thirty years. The most recent '72 is the AMT, which was backdated to a '70 but apparently can be issued as a lousy '72 also. The parts tooled for the most recent issue of the '72 are not very well done.

I'd put the Red Alert at about 3, the Vega wagon and Aquarod at about 6-7, and the Strip 'n Surf Van at about 9. The Red Alert was a K-Mart shelf staple for several years; though it's difficult to find an untouched one, the likelihood of doing so is greater because so many were made. The Vega wagons don't seem to be that tough to find even now (I bought a '73 as pictured not long ago) but if you want a specific year, you'll have to do some digging. (If you just want one period, there were seven years to choose from.) The Aquarod was in the catalog for a couple of years, while the Strip 'N Surf van was a one-year-only item, and has a lot of parts that aren't in the later issues. The body in that kit has a separate hood and separate insert pieces for the window areas; watch for warpage and/or breakage in the cowl area.

Not the first time this happened...there was the '60 Starliner convertible in one of the mid-Nineties catalog. The first draft '87 catalog included a reissue of the '64 Galaxie (not the Craftsman kit, but the 3-in-1 kit which had been butchered into the Modified Stocker long before. The same catalog included a '70 4-4-2 reissue. AMT did sell a '70 4-4-2, but it was a repackaged Jo-Han kit...Ertl couldn't reissue something AMT never actually had. That late RC2 period included a bunch of announcements that didn't couldn't materialize, though...

The Coronet does exist...it is now the '70. The original chassis got shortened a bit, and migrated to the original MPC '71-'74 Charger kits. Someone at RC2 probably looked through old catalogs or a tool listing and thought the '68-'69 version still existed.

The "titanium tube" car was not the same one as those pictured. I believe it was built for the '65 race. If I'm remembering right, the tube (huge diameter) functioned as the fuel tank and everything else (driver, engine, suspension) hung off of the tube. The engine was an aluminum small-block Chevy with most external parts (including fuel injection) fabricated by Thompson. A HOT ROD Indy preview article showed the car under construction. The car didn't qualify: a recent HOT ROD Deluxe photo article on racing in 1965 mentioned that the Thompson car was given the wrong fuel blend (very likely on purpose) for qualifying laps and fried the engine. An accompanying photo in the article shows another team's pit blackboard with "fire all California engineers" scrawled on it. Thompson was a pariah at Indy following the '64 first-lap crash, which a number of Indy insiders blamed on him. He pretty much walked away from Indy after '65.

The '68 CMG would have been tooled long after the first version of the Cougar. Even back then, when these things were selling in much bigger numbers, no manufacturer was going to dismantle a kit and swap chassis, to make it more correct. 99% of those who bought these back in the day wouldn't have noticed the difference, and the change would have not resulted in an increase in sales. Why spend money when you aren't going to get any sort of bump in sales from it? With any sort of racing car kit (be it drag, Indy, NASCAR, sprint, or dirt track) generally the first version released is the most authentic to the 1:1 car. But even it will be compromised if other versions are planned alongside it (or if major parts like the chassis are scheduled to be shared among multiple kits--which they often were). Later versions might get some cosmetic changes like a different roll cage, headers, wheels, or fuel tanks to keep the chassis "in the ballpark". The versions issued at the tail end would be beyond inaccurate. As long as it looked "right", the manufacturers correctly guessed that the majority of buyers wouldn't be upset about the inaccuracies.

Most drag car kits (from all manufacturers) are compromises, and were compromises even back then. The Cougar's chassis was also used in the first Color Me Gone Charger (in a slightly longer version), and was also used in the Untouchable GTO (though the 1:1 used a much different chassis). The later kits that used this chassis likely weren't part of the original plan. The Cougars at least had a dedicated, non-stock body. MPC tended to choose funny cars based on what stock bodies they already had, and then combined those with whatever chassis they had that was the best fit with the needed body. Why else did they make '68-'70 Coronet and '70-'71 Mercury Cyclone funny cars, when none existed in the real world? The name of the game was to get the most use from the tooling, then as now. More recent kits still follow the same plan; an example would be the Revell Pro Mod cars: '55 and '57 Chevies, a '55 Ford and a '58 Plymouth, all with one basic chassis and engine.

Cougar Country issue was first (clear body), then there was a Fast Eddie Schartman version (pearl yellow body), then the Dyno Don version. Somewhere in there, the body was altered a bit (roof escape hatch added) which would presumably eliminate the possibility of seeing the clear body again.

There were three AMT/Heller double kits. The third included a Porsche 907 and a Ferrari P4. These were probably a feeler for AMT to determine whether or not they should have gotten into doing similar kits themselves...which of course they didn't do. Heller did sell an AMT kit or two. I have seen a Heller re-box of the AMT '68 Shelby GT500. They supposedly sold the AMT Mercedes 300SL, but I've never seen that one. The 300SL they have sold more recently is their own; that one was tooled in the Eighties.

No '67 or '72 kit for them to copy from...

I've never seen those Uniroyal tires. Notice the hacked-out center "web" in each tire. I'd suspect those aren't AMT because of those. If they were AMT, they'd probably have molded them without that, more like the Goodyears. I've got a bunch of the Goodyear tires...they'd make passable 1/25 scale medium-duty tires from the looks of it...

First wheel is indeed '73 Caprice. The second one is AMT '67 Camaro (annual kit; dog dish cap on steel rim).

I'm 99% certain the Machine is the only kit with those wheels. Some of the Jo-Han Javelin/AMX kits have illustrated box art that shows those wheels, but every one of those kits that I have examined have included the five-spoke "Magnum 500 style" wheel with trim ring, like those in the SC/Rambler kit. The 1970 AMX kits (there were two versions sold by AMT, same parts in different boxes) also have the five-spoke wheels, as does the Jo-Han '70 Javelin kit. I have a couple of '72 Javelin/AMX kits and an AMT-boxed '74, but not a MIB Jo-Han '71. But I have looked over a number of those thinking they may have used the Machine wheel. I do have a busted-up '71 or '72 Javelin/AMX promotional model (not sure which year...rear bumper is missing, probably a '71). It has the Machine wheels.

Nope, but the kit piece wraps around as on the pictured build. For some reason, I have all four versions of this car, and scrounged a second Iron Horse for the purpose of building that version also...

Revell has reissued the Hemi engine several times. It's expensive, but you get a free '53 Studebaker along with it...

Yes, with (I believe) the second issue (the Autolite version), there's a cut line on the inside of the body, to remove much of the roof as shown. A reissue would be begging for an extra tinted clear shot, Round 2 style...

One of the Chevy engines was pieced into the opening-doors '57 Chevy kit in the late Sixties. If you look at the unplated parts trees, you'll see the Parts Pack tree incorporated into one of them (minus a few small parts). Besides the engines, the motorcycles, and the "chassis accessory" kits, most of the Parts Packs didn't sell well for long. Some of the chassis were outdated when first issued, with the rest becoming obsolete soon afterward. The "dream car" parts in particular could be had for cheap for many years. Revell would probably have to get $15-20 apiece to make it worthwhile to replace complete kits in their production schedule...how many would pay that much for a parts pack?

Looks like they restored it to the "original" Eliminator, going as far as undoing the chassis updates from the Thom Taylor Cabriolet (which, left in, would have made the Eliminator a bit more accurate). Consider it a passable curbside kit as-is...incorrect Pontiac engine and early Ford driveline.