Mark

Definitely MPC. They used the same pattern for a bunch of kits: Monte Carlo, Monza, Corvette, and Chevy/GMC pickup. There's even an issue of the Model A roadster pickup with that engine.

I'd have been even madder in the Fifties or Sixties to find some monkey drilling holes in the trunk lid to attach one of those diecast insignia. Those things were made from the cheapest junk pot metal, and started pitting pretty much from day one. The last three vehicles I bought only had license plate frames put on them. I was thinking about taking them off of my last car when someone rammed into it and totaled it. The new car will probably keep them, as the frames are on a lot of cars sold around here which makes them kind of anonymous.

Which one?

Revell is now a German company; only a few employees on this side of the ocean. Atlantis and Salvino each probably employ more people here than any of the bigger companies.

Use the floor piece to help align the chassis during assembly. The floor will eventually be attached to it, why not use it to make sure everything lines up?

My decal sheet is dated 7-72 on the back...it would seem to be from one of the MPC '73 annual kits (coupe or convertible).

Round 2 parts pack, also in a number of kits. Looks like a clean recent build of an original kit.

The '72 kit had decals that match the illustration on that box. That's not to say that some of them didn't come with the Stroker sheet, but that would be an exception and not what usually came in the '72 kit.

The air intake is for a small transmission cooler. The cooler wasn’t part of the radiator like it was later on.

Didn't Academy announce it awhile back?

I have that decal sheet, it is 1/25 scale. The built model pictured is 1/25 also. The 1/20 scale MPC Corvette kits had Hurst Mag wheels, the 1/25 scale kits had the ones pictured. Original decal sheets from that era (AMT and MPC) will have a date code on the back. A mid/late 1969 code (7-69 or similar) would indicate a 1970 annual kit. Many of those hit the stores in September or thereabouts.

I believe it is the 1/25 scale 1970 MPC annual kit.

They did it once, they'll do it again. Moebius didn't tool that kit to sell only 6,000 of them.

I'd say yes, but not right away. Different decals will freshen the kit when a reissue is needed.

My car is a Fairlane (unit body) so it's VIN is stamped into the drivers' side inner fender. Presumably, if that car were wrecked badly enough to damage the number where it is, it would have been a total. The full size (body on frame) cars probably have the VIN somewhere on the firewall. But that would only be that number, with no other info.

Where was that plate located? I don’t think it's a VIN tag, but rather a patent plate. It looks different from the examples shown in a Ford parts book that I have, that covers 1960 through 1964 passenger cars. You might need to get a look at a shop manual for Canadian Ford products to decode that one. US market Fords have a date code on the patent plate. This Canadian one does not have one.

If those two are noticeably smaller than the AMT body, then they are indeed from the Revell '34 kit. If they are a bit bigger, they could be Monogram ZZ Top Eliminator kit bodies. Those also have a separate roof and trunk lid.

There's one well-known mail order/internet vendor who sets up at NNL East, selling rebranded kits that are disclosed to be rewrapped. A few years ago, I asked to open one (an MPC kit with a clear body), saying I'd buy it for his price provided the body and related parts were as described. No problem. I cracked it open, it was exactly as described, and money changed hands on the spot. Some guys are honest about it, they probably do it so parts aren't lost and the box doesn't get shop worn any more before it's sold.

One store here (now closed) used to reseal returned kits, supposedly checking them (but not always). A guy I know bought a Jo-Han hearse kit (years ago), found a couple of defects, and returned it. A couple of weeks later, he bought "another" sealed one there, only to open it and discover it was the one he'd returned.

I have paid more than $135 for a kit, but only a couple of times. None were Jo-Han. As for the SC/Rambler, in the early days of eBay I scored a carton of twelve of the Pro Street issue, sealed, delivered to my door, for right around $40. For the carton, not per kit. Sold three of them right off the bat to make the other nine free, later sold a couple more to pay for a couple of very early (wire axles) SC kits I turned up. The SC was one of the last items produced by SeVille/Jo-Han. If those are getting up there in price, then people are finally coming to the conclusion that the original stuff ain't coming back...

The rear-end collision exploding fuel tanks on Pintos were a thing. The people responsible did figure it out, and had the fix figured out too. But some genius weighed the cost of the fix against the cost of the wrongful death and injury claims, and thought it would be cheaper to pay the latter than the former. Once a jury saw that information, that's where Ford got penalized for thinking that way. The Vega was actually a decent car. Nice ride, etc. The rust problems on top of the engine problems did it in. GM should have just stuck the Nova four in there, then they'd only have had to deal with the rust problem. Shipping by rail did weigh into some product decisions. I read somewhere that Lee Iacocca shortened the overhang on a car by a couple of inches, to fit four more of them onto each rail car. In the Thirties, Chevrolet fenders were designed to stack tightly together, like ice cream cones in a box. (Look at the 1937 for example.) Some other companies' fenders didn't stack that way, meaning far fewer of them fit in a boxcar.

The Gremlin, which was later restyled into the Spirit, outlasted both the Vega and Pinto. So much for AMC not being as good as the Big Three.

The kit (as well as the 1:1 car) were '63s. Arnie's car was converted from one of the factory FX cars. None of those were orange. It was probably just repainted with a "fleet" (truck) color. Just match it as best you can with whatever paint you normally work with.

If I didn't have money for a tip, I'd eat at home.

I'm pretty sure those are from an MPC '66 Dodge Monaco.