Mark

I believe it was '37 through '40 in the USA, though it lived on a lot longer elsewhere. It was probably a "delete option" here, meaning you got the 85 hp engine unless you specifically ordered the 60. The 60 brought with it a few unique parts, like the lightweight tubular front axle on 60 equipped 1937 cars that is highly sought after. I would get some good images of a 60 with transmission attached, then scratchbuild the thing. It's basically a miniature version of the regular unit, and those don't seem to be terribly complicated in terms of shapes needed to duplicate it in scale. I want to stick one of those engines in an Anglia or Thames, so when that happens I'll probably scratch the thing.

The 1/25 scale 60 hp V8 ends up being about the same size as a 1/32 scale 85 hp V8. The transmissions are about the same size relative to one another; that is, the 60 transmission is that much smaller than the "big" unit. So, you'd have to find a 1/32 scale part, or scratch one proportionally smaller to work with the smaller engine.

Haven't seen an aftermarket one; however, one version of Revell's 1/25 scale midget racer kit had a modified V8-60. No transmission though, only an in/out box.

Plastic parts and wet belts don't belong anywhere near an automobile engine.

The two are different kits entirely. The instructions for the Thames panel truck would be helpful for the Anglia. The Henry J and (Revell) Willys pickup use the same chassis as the Austin, so either of those instructions would work for it.

Of all of them, Packard WAS building cars only eight years prior. Of course, the end product was the Sixties equivalent of a Cadillac Cimarron, but it was only meant as a placeholder until Studebaker-Packard could get funding in place to build "real" Packards once again. Which, of course, never happened. Interesting that Exner didn't take a swing at a Cord, technically one of the most interesting Thirties cars. Glenn Pray did build a miniature replica...but if you really think about it, Oldsmobile did a better job with their attempt in 1966...

Those items were included in the AMT/Ertl Customizing Series kits from the late Eighties. There was a '50 Ford convertible, '49 Mercury, '66 Buick Wildcat, and '66 Thunderbird. Also included was some two-part putty in two ("A" and "B") packets. The two things on either side of the tweezers was a sanding stick. The two pieces snap together, you're supposed to cut a piece of sandpaper to wrap around the larger stick and then snap the smaller piece on to hold it in place.

The 429 version of the kit was done long before the 302. The towers must be correct for the 429, otherwise the engine wouldn't fit. The 302 is the incorrect kit, using the 429 kit's body unchanged in that respect.

Those aren't old tires. They are from a pre-Round 2 tooling that has probably worn out, as R2 has retooled that tire which looks a little bit different now. AMT introduced that tire with the '64 annual kits, and used them into the Seventies. Early ones didn't have wide whitewalls as auto manufacturers phased those out prior to then. AMT (the original company) never made those with wide whitewalls.

Not '57 Ford.

Gotta be Round 2, most likely a Fifties car. I'll guess '57 Ford, but I won't be able to check for a few hours. The original AMT company did print both sides on rare occasions, but always narrow stripes. I have had a set or two with narrow white stripes on both sides. Most often they were red on one side, white or blue stripe on the other side. But the one pictured is definitely more recent.

The promos often had updated chassis compared with the kits. The '69 and '70 GTX promos have correct underbody detail while the GTX and RR kits have a slightly changed '64 B-body piece. The Ambassador and Rebel kits all use a modified '66 Marlin underbody while the promos are more correct. Same goes for the AMC engines; all are based on the Marlin block, ironically that was the only kit for which the underbody and engine were 100% correct. AMC phased in a new V8 during '66, for '67 the earlier engine was gone. But to an extent, AMT and MPC tended to update chassis, interiors, and engines less often than the car bodies. Both were cranking out big-block Corvettes through 1977, and MPC's Barracuda and Challenger kits had Hemi engines right to the ('74) bitter end.

The '71 annual kit included the Air Grabber and louver inserts as separate parts. MPC probably just left both in the '72 kit not knowing about the change, or not wanting to spend the money to make the change.

Maybe it was repossessed?

Nobody has brought it up yet...the engine/transmission and underbody parts in the '71-'74 annual kits are carried over from the '68-'70 Coronet. Same short Torqueflite with the tailshaft molded as part of the exhaust/rear suspension piece, same headers, and so on. Alterations were made to fit it under the Charger body. The custom station wagon roof pieces are a pretty good fit on the new-tool '71 Charger. I was going to go that route, but lucked into a built '73 that had already been converted. The wagon roof was missing, as was the hood, but I did turn up replacements for both.

All of that older stuff getting scrapped was long before Round 2, or even Ertl, entered the picture. Ertl got pretty active as far as unearthing old tooling, and Round 2 is picking up where Ertl left off. They aren't going to say what is there or not there. That way, if something were to be found but later discovered to be not usable, they don't end up with a bunch of people mad at them for not bringing it out.

Tooling still in their possession had to be assigned a value. If, at the time, they didn't see any potential use for it in the future, they'd declare it to be worthless and "write it off".

Check the kit's parts against the instruction sheet. Moebius kits sometimes have open space on a parts tree or two that give the appearance of missing parts when there are none.

If you can't open them by hand, turn them over and flow a couple of drops of lacquer thinner between the cap and bottle. Let it sit for a bit, then try opening. Pliers or channel-locks are tools of last resort. Make sure you have a replacement cap. I keep caps from used-up bottles. The electric paint shakers are okay, but the first mix after sitting a long time must be manual. I just did this with a bunch of older paint, I used a stainless steel mixing tool. Easily cleaned with a thinner soaked rag after each use. Add a few drops of enamel thinner if needed, then into the paint shaker it goes.

Those two 1969 reissue series ("Wild Flower" and "desert racers") were the last roundup for most of those kits. A few have survived but some were modified later. The Fifties cars were likely thought to be obsolete, as by 1969 the only place you saw many of the 1:1 cars was at a demolition derby. Too, the tooling for those was probably worn slap out, as they had been promotional models, annual kits, then Craftsman series kits, all of which sold in way bigger numbers than anything sells today. Interesting to note...no Chevrolets in either of those series. The earliest ones were probably worn out long before that. I've got a '59 Impala convertible Craftsman kit that never got built because one of the chrome parts was molded incompletely (the broken end of the part is plated over). The tool probably got pulled and scrapped once that was discovered. A hardtop Craftsman Impala was announced but I don't think it ever got produced for just that reason.

"The bigger the skull and crossbones on the container, the better it works!"

The "shock tower" Fords are related but not exactly the same. Not a lot of parts interchange between them. They are similar only in that they could be built on the same assembly line, provided the guys putting the parts on were given the correct ones. Even among the early Falcons, a lot changed once the V8 was offered. The small-block Windsor Ford engine into a pre-1963 Falcon is NOT a bolt-together deal, nor was it easy to get five-lug wheels on the front of those cars prior to disc brake conversions being readily available. Same goes for a 1970 Maverick (six-cylinder only that year; V8 option came in for '71) and a '74 Mustang II. There's a lot that changed under the surface after the first year. Ford really wasn't good at planning ahead with some of those cars, and had to scramble when they wanted to offer V8 engines in them later.

The Jo-Han Maverick kits did not include shock tower detail. The cast piece was apparently offered to correct that.

The Leal kit is the only one with that body/engine combo so far. There will be others (my bet would be on a Shirley Shahan version next) but right now, there isn't a choice.

I might be misinformed, but my understanding is that the Golden Commandos versions were commissioned by members of that group, so they could sell them (and autograph them) at various gatherings. They did allow Moebius to sell X number of each version through their regular channels however. The Melrose Missile was a Model King deal and was thus easier to get. Not sure about the California Flash version.