Mark

The camper originated with the '65 El Camino annual kit; it was included in one issue of the '59. It doesn't really fit the '59 very well.

It's coming this year, I have seen it listed in a couple of places. Not sure which issue will be replicated this time. The parts in previous issues are unchanged except for one Seventies issue that left out the trailer. The new one will have it though. The 1:1 was supposedly stolen in the early Eighties, and buried somewhere by whoever did it. I don't think it had been shown anywhere since the mid-Sixties.

I remember seeing model kits in Sears around Christmas every year too. One year (probably 1969) I wanted to buy one the day before Christmas. Had to have it, the box art was so cool. My parents told me "you'll probably get a few models for Christmas", but also said I'd saved the money so I could spend it on whatever I wanted. So I got my AMT Chevelle "Surf Wagon" kit that day. I did get a couple of kits for Christmas, but not another Surf Wagon. I don't think I saw that issue again in any of the department stores, and didn't see another one until many years later.

I remember seeing model kits in Sears around Christmas every year too. One year (probably 1969) I wanted to buy one the day before Christmas. Had to have it, the box art was so cool. My parents told me "you'll probably get a few models for Christmas", but also said I'd saved the money so I could spend it on whatever I wanted. So I got my AMT Chevelle "Surf Wagon" kit that day. I did get a couple of kits for Christmas, but not another Surf Wagon. I don't think I saw that issue again in any of the department stores, and didn't see another one until many years later.

AMT only did a couple of windshields with the molded-on mirror that I can think of: the Nova, and the '68 Camaro Z/28. That one was done during the Lesney era. I remember seeing a Matchbox car or two with that detail, maybe Lesney thought it would work in 1/25 scale also. When Ertl took the mirror off of the Nova windshield, they did the same with the Camaro also.

Some guy did taunt an alligator there. After that, everyone called him "Lefty"...

Aren't the Raiders headed there?

I'll check again, but the Jo-Han engine is on the small side and has an axle hole through the block. Too, I'm pretty certain that engine originated with the '63 American, so it would be the earlier six. The later six came in during '64. Excellent engine, I put over 200,000 miles on one...still ran great when the body fell apart around it. AMC still used the flathead (!) version of the older six through '65, but I think they had gone completely over to the later engine for '66.

AMC completed the Jeep deal in mid-1970; they took a year or so to convert everything away from the engines Kaiser had been using. Some Wagoneers (and probably Gladiator pickups also) had already been built with AMC engines, so that one would have been done first. The CJ was probably next to be switched over. The Jeepster (Commando) seems to have been last. '71 still had the V6 engine, '72 got the restyled front end (lengthened a couple of inches if I remember right) so the AMC engines would fit. The MPC '72 kit still had the V6 so it is incorrect in that regard. The postal Jeeps got converted towards the end too. I'm pretty sure the '71 version still had the Chevy II four cylinder engine. Either AMC got a bunch of those engines in the deal and used them up, or maybe the contract required that engine and couldn't be changed. Those early postal Jeeps also had a Powerglide transmission with a small torque converter.

In the late Seventies, my older brother bought a bunch of stuff from an auto parts store. They'd relocated up the street from another location (lost the lease), and the new place was bigger so they could put more merchandise out. He found/bought/resold a bunch of early Sixties kits (they had stuff from the latter half of the Sixties), a couple of Erector sets, tin toys, all new in the boxes. In 1977 I had just started driving and had graduated high school, and heard the guy was closing up shop at the end of the month. He didn't have any kits left, but I bought several Revell parts packs at retail price, and got the store display along with them. I asked him what he'd take for the display, his reply was "buy the stuff that's in it, and I won't need the display any more!". I took that home and stuck it in the basement. In 1989 when I bought my own home, I took everything out of the display to box it up separately for the move. The display still felt heavy considering it was empty. I looked at the back, and there was a flap that opened to the underside of the display. There were twelve parts packs in there that he and I overlooked. Probably a good thing, as I had just about enough money to pay for the thing when I bought it in the first place. I've still got the display, I've only seen one or two others since then.

Not competitive as in "on the field", but rather competitive as in the potential selling price of the team relative to other teams. Now that LA has two teams, which city will be the next boogeyman (the place they mention for a potential move next time someone wants a new stadium)?

My MPC '66 Corvette is gray too. It didn't include a big-block engine, but MPC did include a second set of cylinder heads and valve covers to dummy up the small-block. They're pretty lame. As for molded in color annuals, the MPC '65 Dodges (the full-size cars, not the Coronet sold by AMT) were both molded in gold. Sometimes extremely swirly, brittle gold. I've got a convertible kit with a body that is in three or four pieces, broken along the swirl lines. The convertible I built in the early/mid Eighties didn't have so much swirl in the plastic, and I don't remember having any trouble with that one. I want to stick the second one together with the custom parts. I've got a couple of hardtop kits too, no problems with brittle plastic in either of them. A few of the AMT '63 annuals were molded in color. The Mercury Meteor was molded in light blue (in addition to white), and the Fairlane was molded in light blue, cream, and white. I've heard of Ford Galaxie convertible kits in light blue too, but I've never seen one of those.

In 1975, my mom wanted to check out a new "discount store" in a nearby village. It wasn't a typical store, it was more like a steel building with only a couple of windows. Anything not sitting directly on the floor was placed on those adjustable metal shelves like you'd have in a garage or basement. Mom was underwhelmed to say the least. I don't remember too much about what they were selling, but it was mostly hardware and household items. The stock was probably bought from some other store that had closed. There was one "toy" shelf, and I noticed one kit there, and it was opened. Checked it out, missing decals but otherwise all there. The box was a mess. I paid a buck and a half for it. MPC '71 Dodge Demon. I knew it existed, but I'd never seen one before. It was probably ten years before I saw another one, and I haven't seen too many of them since then. The following winter, the roof of the store collapsed under the weight of a snowstorm and it wasn't rebuilt. I don't think they were doing well enough to bother to reopen elsewhere.

The AMT Flying Wedge, Prudhomme Wedge, Sand Dragon, and Ivo mid-engine dragsters (neither of which are being reissued that I know of) are based on AMT tooling. The just-released Prudhomme Yellow Feather, and coming-soon McEwen (non-wedge) are both based on the Garlits Swamp Rat 14 which is an MPC tool. Both have 426 Hemi engines, but are different from one another.

The AMT dragster was issued in several versions initially, including a Tommy Ivo dragster, the Flying Wedge, the fictional "Copperhead", and the "Turbosonic" which also included a turbine engine. The McGee wedge (and a second Ivo version, the streamliner) were issued a couple of years after the others.

You've got to disassemble it. The stuff that removes paint from metal will annihilate the plastic parts, and anything that won't wreck the plating on the plastic parts won't touch the metal.

Nope, it always ran a Chevy. First a small block, later a big block (once they were allowed in the smaller cars), then the big-block with a supercharger . Shores is said to have been first to call the big Chevy the "Rat Motor". The injector scoop was lettered "Rat Motor", that would seem to back up that claim. The frame is way, way off when compared to the 1:1 frame. The 1:1 frame was wider through the middle (frame rails closer to the door sills).

They even chain the pens to the counter at the bank...

No open wheels in any of the '68-'72 Chevelles that I remember, including the annuals. The light blue open wheels could be from a '58 Impala or '59 El Camino (both of those were molded in a very light blue by Ertl). I'd have to check to be 100% sure, but I believe the El Camino wheels didn't have the axle boss on the back. The Impala wheels probably didn't either. The AMT '32 Ford coupe (except for the first two issues) has four pretty deep wheels like that too, with axle bosses, but that one was never molded in blue as far as I know.

2X on the AMT '57 Ford. I've never seen one in turquoise, but the early Eighties AMT/Ertl issue was blue. Possibly some of those came through in a slightly different color at some point. Subsequent Ertl and RC2 issues were molded in gray. Early issues (pre-1971) with the Stylizing parts did not have those wheels. The Seventies issues, and that blue AMT/Ertl issue, ditched the Stylizing parts and added a drag version; those kits have the wide rear wheels. Ertl changed the optional parts around again in the early Nineties. I'm pretty certain those wheels were deleted then; in fact, the Nineties revision eliminated all but a handful of the optional parts from the issues that came before it. I'll say it once more...I can't recall ever seeing a Jo-Han kit with wheels that had axle bosses molded as part of the wheel like this one.

The 98-cent stock-only '63 Chrysler convertible kit was molded in that dark green. The '63 Chrysler customizing kits I have seen were molded in other colors, most often a pale yellow.

I'd never heard of this company, and just did a search. Their bodies are vacuum formed over a mold like Lexan slot car and R/C bodies, only in styrene. I've sold vacuum formed styrene parts in the past (not complete bodies, mainly hoods) and I'm fairly impressed with the Straight Line bodies. I can tell you that the body might be thin in some areas (like corners) but should be extremely consistent otherwise. You could locate the thin areas by holding the piece up to a strong light. Thin areas could be reinforced by cementing material to the inside of the body. As delivered, the body should be rigid, but as you trim away excess material it will become flimsy. Because these bodies are formed by pulling material over a mold, you won't have sharp panel lines. But for something like a Pro Mod where the bodies are drastically reshaped compared to stock, one of these bodies might work out really well. The prices I saw seem very reasonable too. I don't build or follow Pro Mod, but if I did I would be intrigued enough with the Straight Line bodies to purchase one to try on a project. One other thing: these bodies will be thinner than most resin or molded styrene kit bodies. Painting the thinner material with automotive paints might be problematic, and the thinness/flexibility might cause problems. You might want to communicate with people who are using these bodies on slot cars and see how they approach trimming, bodywork/paint, and assembly before starting on one yourself.

I can't remember a Jo-Han kit wheel with an axle boss on the back like these. The front side of the wheel looks like those in a number of AMT kits, but I can't tie that color in with anything.

Recent issues of the Anglia and Thames have included one-piece tires and slicks. The picture I saw for the coming reissue showed the Ansen wheels that were in the pre-1980 issues; maybe those will be put back in. The chassis isn't too accurate, and nobody ran an Olds engine in these cars, but the bodies are well done which makes them worth having.

H-D licensing is probably the thing that would tip the scales one way or another on a reissue. If Chevy, GMC, or Ram are currently offering a 1:1 H-D edition pickup, they probably won't want a Ford kit out there at the same time.