Mark

Every time you click on an "I agree" box, you're accepting whatever new terms they see fit to offer. Same thing with your online banking and credit card agreements...you're incrementally giving up rights. And, they browbeat you into a new agreement every time you sign up for an update or a new service. With online banking, they'll shoot you a revised agreement every so often, and if you don't accept the new terms then your access is blocked.

The '63 Galaxie was the big news in that series; it hadn't been out since '63 (the original annual kit) and was thought to have been long lost. The following year, the '63 Impala was a big deal. I remember talking to the AMT guy (John O'Neill) at the MCCA convention in Dayton. They had a display there, and were showing off the whitewall tires. The story he told was that they found the equipment AMT used to stamp the tires, but had to science it out because nobody was there from when it was last used. The stamping on the lettered side of the tire was something they couldn't prevent. At the time, the Firestone Supreme tire tooling hadn't turned up, and he (O'Neill) opined that it was lost, so they were using the tires they had.

Besides the display base (which was the one from the MPC 1/20 scale Indy Turbine car kit), the Prestige kits included printed whitewall tires. AMT hadn't included them since the mid-Seventies, and nobody else was doing them at that time. The thing was, they hadn't found the tooling for the Firestone Supreme tires so they were printing the whitewalls on Firestone Deluxe Champion tires which had raised lettering on one side. Nobody was making sure the non-lettered side got fed into the machine for printing, so only about half the tires were any good.

Both the Barracuda and Fleetside went from AMT to MPC for '68. If anyone knows why or how that happened, they've never said so. After going without for '68, AMT then created another Chevy Fleetside kit for 1969. Both kits have the same incorrect inner fenders in the engine compartment (they should look like the ones on the AMT Blazer/Jimmy body). AMT annual kits (except the '67, of course) had a big-block engine and molded-in dual exhaust on the chassis, the AMT '67 and '68-'72 MPC trucks had a small-block and single exhaust.

I like being able to fix (if not fix, at least diagnose) what's wrong with my vehicles. As for older cars being unreliable, people drove them cross-country back in the day. If they are maintained, they can still be used on a daily basis. No software needed. I'm intending to get back to doing that with my Fairlane, at least in the summer. In traffic, the non-power drum brakes work just fine. After a quick stop, I'm more worried about the modern, ABS, four-wheel-disc car behind me that has a driver with a phone in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. No power steering...no problem. Radial tires make it steer more easily, and you remember to turn the large-diameter steering wheel when the car is moving...no power needed. You don't hear the tires howling and scrubbing on turns like some modern cars with poor steering geometry. I might check the pick-a-part yards to see if I can scare up a set of accessory brackets and pulleys to hang an A/C compressor on the engine. Then I can track down an under-dash unit (that's all that was available back then; no built-in units). A dual master cylinder would be a good idea too, and there are units that will virtually bolt right in. No power steering or brakes, but A/C. Parts availability is still good. Five or six years ago, I needed a new windshield and was able to get one. The side glass is flat, and can be cut by any shop that can get a template (or work with one that is supplied to them). A couple of years ago, I picked up a starter at Pep Boys. The girl at the counter rang it up ($26), did a double take, then checked with the guy at the counter in back where I got the starter. "I had to check that...I know what these usually sell for, I've never seen one that cheap". Back home in the driveway, reach in from the top to detach the cable, crawl underneath to get the bolts (I don't remember even jacking it up)...old one out, new one in in about fifteen minutes. Try that on some of the newer engines. If I remember right, the Northstar Cadillac engine had the starter under the intake manifold.

Wherever people like that are going, whether or not they even know where they are headed, count on one thing: they absolutely must be in front of you while they are going there...

I'm pretty sure I've seen pics of S&M's '68 Hemicuda with a '69 nose on it. I guess NHRA didn't care too much about the "updating" back in the day. Interesting. They may have been running it in Pro Stock at the time ('69 or '70). Some of the Super Stock Hemi cars (Darts and Barracudas) got retrimmed as 1969 cars, a couple of Darts even got reskinned as 1970 cars. As for the Barracuda kit, several casters offered '68 grille/header panel/taillight conversions for it years ago. The Miss Mighty Mopar issue body had 1968 side markers on it, as did the street machine issues after that, up until Ertl reworked it back to the stock '69 383 car.

I've seen a lot of what is available in late model vehicles...I just have no interest in any of it. That's why I'm still driving a 2004 truck. I don't see the need for a rear view camera, for example...just make the windows big enough to see out of, then turn your head and use the mirrors, like people used to do. There are times when the simpler way works better. That said, I should think about picking up a new vehicle before much more of this garbage becomes mandatory...

I've got a Tyco HO scale Bicentennial train set, a few extra railroad cars, a Tyco slot racing set, and a couple of crossover sections to cross the train track over the racing track (those were discontinued not long after I bought them, and always seemed to be hard to find). I've collected HO scale slot cars too...nothing rare or valuable, just trying to get one of each brand and type (Aurora, Tyco, Atlas, Bachmann, Lionel, etc). I never did get a Faller HO car. Got everything except a place to set it up! I've had the train track and race track set up on a 4' x 8' table...should try to find a place to set it up again.

There may have been a hardtop body available for the Monogram '41 Continental, but nothing for the Pyro/Lindberg '48. The kit dates back to the mid-Fifties...multiple piece body, unorthodox parts breakdown and assembly that doesn't lend itself to aftermarket conversions. Proportions are a bit off (short for 1/25 scale) but it's not bad compared to the Pyro/Lindberg Cord though. Just build it, make improvements wherever you can, and take it for what it is...a very early 1/25 scale kit.

MPC did that with the '76 Dodge pickup also...none of the long-bed annual kits '76 through '78 had two-wheel drive parts.

The 1/32 scale Continental was reissued in the mid-Nineties, in the SSP program. A couple other 1/32 kits ('56 Ford convertible, custom-only '56 Chrysler) were also issued back then.

Both AMT and MPC made Corvette kits every year '68 through '77. Both companies' kits had big-block engines (except for the AMT '68, which I'll get into in further detail). AMT's had manual transmissions, MPC's had automatics. If you turn a built one over and look underneath, that's one way to tell them apart provided they are built out of the box. The AMT '68 is something you'd be interested in only from a collecting standpoint. MPC made the promotional model that year so AMT was not provided with advance information about the '68. They apparently wanted to get a kit out so they basically guessed at the body, and made one to fit the chassis from the '67 kit. It is a convertible with a separate glue-on roof (not the removable convertible hard top). The AMT '68 Corvette kit body is not accurate (fenders rise up too high among other issues) leaving the built model looking like a Palmer kit. AMT did a few other kits like that, without accurate information ('68 "Chevrolet SS 427", basically a bizarre custom '67 Impala, and a Camaro and Firebird that were basically the same kit with different engines and exterior trim). The "Chevrolet SS", Firebird, and Camaro (and Corvair?) are marked "for 1968" on the boxes as opposed to "1968" on the normal annual kits which can be built as correct stock 1968 cars. I don't think the Corvette kit was marked "for 1968" though. As bad as the '68 was, they issued it two more times: as a promotional item for AC spark plugs, and again in the early Seventies as a John Greenwood GT racing version. Great box art, not so great box contents. AMT did a better Corvette kit for '69, and issued it as separate hardtop and convertible kits through '76 even though there was no 1:1 '76 convertible. For '70 and '71 only one box was used for the coupe, and one for the convertible. The boxes were not marked with either model year, and didn't match up with the annual kit boxes. AMT did the one-box deal with their Camaro kit for '70/'71 also. For '77, only the coupe was issued, with no optional parts. The only extra in AMT '77 annual kits was a CB radio and a couple of overly thick CB aerials. The '77 annuals were AMT's last until the late Eighties, when Ertl repackaged the MPC annual kits as AMT. All of the AMT Corvette annual kits still had the big-block engine even though 1:1 Corvettes no longer had it after '74. The chassis and interior got recycled into the Eckler custom hatchback kit not long after the '77 kit left the catalog. MPC had the promotional model contracts for Corvettes in most of these years, so the AMT annual kit bodies don't look quite as good as MPC's. If you are really into Corvettes, you'll probably want both anyway. I'm not positive but I think the AMT convertible kits included separate hard tops. MPC issued their Corvettes as separate hardtop and convertible kits '68 through '76 (again with the phantom '76 convertible), and coupe only for '77. All have big-block engines. Kits through '75 have the working front suspension with metal coil springs. '76 and '77 annual kits lost the metal springs but still had poseable steering. The '78-82 annual kits were retooled (different from '68-'77) with a small-block engine, catalytic converter exhaust, and so on. The '78-'82 kit chassis will fit the '75-'77 body/interior and is an easy fix for the wrong engine/exhaust deal in those kits. MPC sprinkled in a couple of customs over the years (Astro-Vette concept, 'Vette Van) with annual kit chassis and interiors. The Mako Shark variations are not based on the annual kits; the chassis is entirely different. The AMT/Ertl '70-'72 Corvette kits are all-new (nothing shared with any of the AMT or MPC annual kits). These have small-block engines. AMT/Ertl issued a '70 LT-1 coupe, '72 convertible, and '72 coupe street machine with an altered chassis. Racing Champions or RC2 later issued a '71 convertible, but I don't know if anything about it is any different from the earlier '72 convertible kit. They also did a '70 coupe snap kit and assembled retro promotional model.

It's the "new" one. The original annual kit was updated yearly thriough '76, and ended up as the Eckler hatchback custom version.

AMT/Ertl '72 street machine. Only issued once in that version, but you should be able to find one reasonably if you look around.

I'm surprised that John Callies' car didn't pop up here, though his may have been a Simca (looked exactly the same, though). That one was a real bad boy, it was featured in HOT ROD in the early Seventies if I remember right. The AMT body has the hood top "louver panel" detail as well as a full roof. Like Snake says, the nose is a bit long but that's no big deal. My older brother had a 1:1 steel Topolino nose section years ago (bought it at a flea market, sold it on eBay for stupid money). As I recall, the grille was stamped as part of the nose but had a thin stainless trim piece that went around it. The engine in a stock one sat way forward, access to it was by removing the nose and that louvered panel. To make the AMT body "more stock", you'd have to attach the separate hood piece, then shorten the nose and possibly the front of the hood. I was messing with one awhile back, and (to me anyway) Revell Anglia front fenders seemed to be a good starting point. It wouldn't be too tough to vacuform a set of fenders either. The Revell parts pack body was promoted as a Cal Automotive piece on the package, and it does look the part. The AMT piece is workable though, and a lot easier to get. There's a decent stock version kit out there, in 1/35 scale. I'm surprised Heller didn't do a stock one in 1/24 scale years ago.

The Country Squire kit didn't include ANY windows...not even the piece of clear sheet plastic. No templates for cutting windows from flat stock on the instruction sheet either. The Revell 1/32 scale '55 and '56 annual kits were the same in this regard.

I don't remember specifics because I wasn't looking for one, but I'd bet that you could have picked one up at NNL East earlier this year in that price range. eBay is probably on the high side because you're looking at a lot of sellers who are trolling the same items over and over.

The Model King issue is dated 2004. Hard to believe it was 11 years ago that they had that kit run. However many were produced though, you can still get one for around the retail price of a current kit if you pound the ground.

Because the original parts that were removed probably no longer exist. Comparing the plated tree in the current kit to one from an original, the parts still in the kit are arranged differently in relation to one another. That would indicate that the original tooling was reworked (possibly cut apart, or individual inserts removed from it and rearranged). When that happened, it was seldom done with the thought of putting it back together later in the original arrangement. At the time (early Seventies) the thought was probably "let's dump these outdated custom parts". Like the Tom Daniel kits show rod kits that were restored to original versions, reworking the Ford pickup back to the original near-stock version would likely have to be done with newly tooled parts. The same type of alteration (rearranged parts) was done with one of the other early Ford kits I checked; if I remember right I checked the '30 Ford phaeton kit when I had an original one a while back.

I did one of the Revell kits last summer; on it I did the "washboard" area with the matte aluminum Bare-Metal Foil, and the rest of the trim with the regular chrome finish foil. Painting the washboard area with aluminum silver would work too. You're looking for something of a contrast between the anodized aluminum insert, and the polished stainless trim.

If I were going to dive into a project like this, I'd start with a solid car.

The body is more accurate than the Lindberg Belvedere, but the Jo-Han chassis has stock exhaust detail molded in. Combining the Lindberg chassis and interior with the Jo-Han body would give you the best of both kits, though the Lindberg kit has some inaccuracies ("too new" rear axle, too-wide rear inner fenders).

I've never had much trouble with "tire burn" in Jo-Han kits; certainly nothing on the level of MPC or (the worst) early Sixties Revell kits. Revell used to bag their tires back then; trouble is, they put the taillight lenses in the bag with them!

There's also the '61 Oldsmobile F-85 wagon. Again, not offered as a kit when new, but first available in kit form (and in styrene, not acetate) in the USA Oldies series. Most of Jo-Han's subject matter wasn't considered cool back in the day (Ramblers, Olds Toronados, big Chryslers) but a lot of us appreciate that stuff now! It's highly unlikely that we'll ever see new kits of many of the things Jo-Han did as promotional models, so if you want a big mid-Sixties Chrysler or Plymouth, or a two-seater AMX, your only alternative in most cases is the Jo-Han stuff. People are realizing that whatever is out there now is all we will ever see in the future. I don't think any of us realized or understood just how small Jo-Han was compared to AMT, MPC, Revell, or Monogram.