Mark

The first issue of MPC's '57 Corvette was in 1966. Molded in white/off-white, seven versions (many of them using the same optional parts as the '60, first issued two years later). A stock version was included, but the rear wheel openings on the body have been radiused from day one. The first issue was called a "1956/57". MPC included unplated headlight buckets (main visual difference on a '56) in addition to the plated ones.

I had one of these sets. For some reason, some of the plastic parts deteriorated to a point where they would crumble when handled. It wasn't all of the parts, but it was either all of the "girder" pieces or all of the connecting pieces. Either way, the deteriorating parts didn't leave you enough to build anything afterwards. If my experience was typical, I'd bet most of these sets were tossed once that was discovered.

All MPC '57 Corvette kits, including the first issue, have the radiused rear wheel openings.

The guys designing kits at Ertl in that period were apparently being given more opportunity to express themselves and their knowledge through their work. It seemed like, at that time, they were trying to get something different into each new kit, and for a while they were doing just that. The DOHC setup in the Coronet, the Stage V hemi conversion parts in the '71 Charger street machine, and the Art Morrison chassis in the Wagonrod kit are only three examples. If you compare the "stock" and "street machine" versions of some of those newer tooling kits to one another, on second glance you'll often see a lot of little differences you may have missed at first.

AMT '60 Comet, mid-Sixties gasser...Olds powered, maximum engine setback and crankshaft centerline height per the rules of the day. The interior is gutted (front and rear seats originally molded in as a unit), exhaust detail removed from the chassis, everything from the firewall forward pretty much scratched. The body was a glue bomb, I spent a number of hours grinding out and sanding off glue, and filling accessory holes. The original steering box placement clashed with where the headers are going, have a new setup worked out but haven't gotten around to doing anything with it...

With the old annual kits, there was AMT and there was MPC. Two competing companies back then. If you want parts to restore an AMT annual ('70-'77) then first choice would be the AMT/Ertl kit (the backdated one). If you are restoring an MPC annual kit, you want an MPC kit. MPC annuals were produced through '81, there are a couple of non-stock issues of the later annuals that have all the chassis and engine parts. The chassis parts in the Round 2 '79 Trans-Am are the same too, though the exhaust system is a bit different. The ex-MPC Blackbird kits (those produced after 1980 or so) are similar to the annual kits but not exactly the same. MPC tooled that one later because the Blackbird was selling so well that they didn't want to stop producing them while still doing other versions like the 10th Anniversary T/A. The Blackbird chassis parts might work, most likely if you use the whole chassis rather than individual pieces. That's not to say that absolutely nothing from AMT will fit MPC, or vice versa...but more parts will interchange and be similar to the originals if you stay with the same brand. I haven't messed with either company's annual kits versus the newer '70 Z/28, so I can't kick in anything of value regarding its usefulness in rebuilding an annual. Generally, when I restore an annual kit, for some irrational reason I try to stay close to the kit's original configuration, flaws and all.

Hope all the other parts (headlamp shells, hood) still match...that color actually looks pretty nice!

If you have one with wire axles and a one-piece interior bucket, it's an old AMT kit. Started out as a '70, updated through '77, issued as a T-roof version, then backdated to the '70 Z/28. That one didn't sell too well, so later Ertl tooled up another one from scratch...much better.

The Wankel engine block is from an MPC Chevy Vega kit. I'm pretty sure it was in the '73-'75 annual kits. The Corvette kits also included one, but I think that one had an automatic transmission.

The three HL stores around here reset their inventory twice a year; March and September. I'd bet they will run out of General Lee kits at some point around the next reset...

Don't get in his grille...or is that grill...

Top piece is a custom front pan from an AMT '66 Galaxie. Next one is a custom part from the old opening-doors Revell '56 Chevy. Next piece might be a '62 Mercury rear bumper, with the attached trim piece trimmed off. Fourth one is a '63 Imperial rear bumper. Fifth piece (the one with the holes) is a custom rear piece for a '62 Mercury. Last one is a console piece from a '64 Grand Prix.

None of these had a "pro street" chassis. They all used a stock chassis with molded-in exhaust system detail. The front half of the chassis was shared with the Nomad. Both had single exhaust because the Nomad was tooled first, and the 1:1 '55 station wagons weren't available with a dual exhaust system as stock. The stock/street machine issues had stock parts including the front seat, the street machine issues did not have some of the stock parts but did have the (unplated) raised front axle and the mag wheels from the Nomad.

Outside of a couple of magazine articles back in the day, this might be the first time I've seen that interior parts pack actually used.

"Used to" is the operative phrase. Dry transfer lettering used to be standard equipment for draftsmen and architects. That market dried up (they don't use it anymore) so the selection is way down now compared to years past. The local drafting supply store around here doesn't even carry the stuff. Selection at craft stores is limited, and even the Woodland Scenics product selection isn't that great when it comes to lettering. Hobby Lobby and other craft stores sell a "make your own" kit. I've got one, haven't messed with it yet but I'd guess that you are up against the same printing limitations as you'd be with decals (printer can't print white or metallics, and so on). The used/partial sheets you see on eBay, etc. probably won't be of much use. The more often needed letters usually disappear first, then the user tries to unload the leftovers.

You might be thinking of those little ones that were molded in light blue or avocado gold. Eldon made those, and they were 1/29 (?) scale. They had poseable steering but not working suspension. Neither had interior detail, the windows were tinted very dark. The gold ones had a battery-operated electric motor, the blue ones did not. They were styrene plastic. I had both of those back in the day, and might have a body from one laying around here somewhere.

You're a year or so late...one of the "closeout" stores blew out a bunch of the Edelbrock/V8-60 kits for $8 apiece. I didn't see any of the Offenhauser version kits there, which would lead me to believe the Offy far outsold the V8-60. I'd bet that the Offy might see a reissue in the next couple of years, but the V8-60 version might not come along for the ride next time around.

The kit represents the prototype: the first Chevrolet, the only one created with the input of the man himself. Design work started in 1911, with the first cars produced for sale as 1913 models. You can't walk down the street without seeing the name, yet hardly anyone knows anything about Louis Chevrolet, or even knows that he wasn't with the company long after the first cars were built. The current issue of Collectible Automobile includes a short article on the only restored, complete, running one of these cars known to exist. (An older one of the same model still exists, but that one is incomplete and is thought to have last run in the early Forties.) The CA article would be good reference material for converting one of the resin copies to a production model. The first item I ever bid on on eBay (in 1999) was a disassembled promo model. I got it too, for around ten bucks plus shipping. Prior to that, I swapped some of my resin stuff to Mike Watgen (Mike's Miniature Motors) for one of his copies of that kit. I'm pretty sure Mike was the first person to do the Chevy in resin. This was in 1993, a few months before Mike passed away. As for an unassembled kit? Yeah, I wouldn't mind having one...but not for $1,700. I guess that's why I haven't got one in that form. But I've got two other ones, and only two real ones exist...

The Round 2 issue includes side view mirrors that weren't in earlier issues of this kit.

The working spring feature was deleted with the '76 annual kits. The Wankel engine went away at that time too; no big loss there. MPC kit #1 ('64 Corvette) did not have the working suspension feature. That was added for the '65 kit. The reissue '67 street machine kits (Streaker 'Vette, Night Stalker, etc) have the '64 chassis with the original molded-in exhaust detail knocked off. '65 and '66 annual kits had molded plastic coil springs that did "spring" (the Jo-Han Chrysler Turbine Car kit has similar molded plastic coil springs). I don't have a complete '67 annual kit, but I'm pretty certain the plastic springs were replaced by metal ones. '68 through '75 annual kits (and the Astro-Vette concept car kit which uses the same chassis) have the metal springs. '76 and '77 annuals were changed to non-working suspension, '78-'82 annuals were different tooling with period-correct small-block engine, and cat-con single exhaust with dual mufflers and tailpipes. It looks as though the '78-'82 chassis (the complete chassis/engine) should slip into the '75-'77 body/interior if you want a 100% stock 'Vette from that time frame. There was yet another 'Vette chassis, the one under the Mako Shark and its derivatives, also used in the Carl Casper Turbo Shark (custom '63-'67 body). The early versions used the metal springs, like the others it too lost the spring feature in the mid Seventies. The MPC '57 'Vette kit (the early ones, at least) had the molded plastic working coil springs. The '60 was heavily based on the '57, came out a couple of years later, every one of the first-issue ones I have seen have metal springs. '57 kits produced after the '60 came out might have the metal springs. The first issue Malco Super 'Vett drag car came out in '71 or '72, it had the metal springs too. Later variations on the '57/'60 all seem to have been converted to eliminate the metal springs and working suspension. MPC probably converted all of them at around the same time; maybe to cut costs, maybe they couldn't source the metal springs.

From the unofficial eBay glossary: "I haven't checked it, but it looks complete". When they've got other items that are complete, they're shouting it from the highest rooftop. It's just dumb luck that the only incomplete items are the ones they didn't check! Should read: "I did check it, it's not complete but if I position everything just the right way it will look complete". "Ran when parked" = "but parked nevertheless...there had to be a reason!"

I wonder if the yellowed piece with the tabs isn't from a promotional model. If that's the case, it might not be styrene; it could be acetate. And if it's acetate, there's a good chance it may not fit the kit body. That stuff does shrink. The kit piece (the sanded one) originally had the mounting tabs like the promo model piece...they were removed at some point.

I can't see $100...the Cougar was issued by itself afterwards, and the trailer isn't that tough to find if you really want one. On the other hand, that particular Bronco always did seem to sell for stupid money. I had an original issue one, just prior to the reissue in the set I sold mine for enough to pay for the set. The Bronco by itself might make a decent reissue for Round 2.

Back then, in a lot of places Jo-Han was pretty easy to miss. Not a lot of stores carried them, so your best chance of seeing them was usually in a hobby shop (or for some odd reason, in drug stores around here). I do remember seeing the Maverick kit (the one with the stock and funny car versions) back then. A Ford kit by Jo-Han (that was the first one), that was unusual. I missed a lot of those late Sixties AMT reissues of annual kits. A lot of those seemed to be one-shot deals, so if you didn't see them when they hit the store shelves you were out of luck. Of course you couldn't afford all of them on an allowance anyway. The AMT-boxed Jo-Han kits were mostly one-shot deals too, so I didn't see some of those until well after the fact. When I first got online, I did round up a number of things I had back then, wanted back then, wished I'd had back then, would have wanted had I known about them back then...

The flip-nose Datsun pickup does NOT use the same chassis as the '53 Ford pickup/'57 Chevy. The Datsun used the stock frame and suspension, and the engine was a small-block Chevy compared to the big-block in the '53/'57. The monster truck still used the stock Datsun frame but the stock suspension parts weren't included.