Mark

I would expect to lose at least some of the epoxy or two-part putty when stripping the paint. The stripper might not remove the putty, but at the very least will be absorbed into the surface. Trying to prime and paint over that will become a cluster. I would try first to remove paint by sanding. Next up would be stripping, with the proviso that the topmost putty will need to be sanded or ground off and redone.

If the item in question has a bar code on the package, in general the value will drop off at some point. Most times, the first reseller will come out ahead, but that's about it. NASCAR diecasts are another example. People who loaded up on those are finding out that current fans and "collectors" don't care who won some race twenty years ago.

The turbine was in the annual kit only.

The turbine engine was also included in the MPC 1969 Camaro annual kit. Makes sense, since it did share a lot of tooling with the Firebird kit: interior bucket (both had the Firebird upholstery pattern), chassis, and clear parts.

All of the kits I bought at two local stores (two Ford vans, one dragster, one '64 Galaxie) have 2021 production dates on the box trays. From what has been reported here, between all of the stores there are maybe a dozen different kits in this group. If that's all there are, that ain't bad. The occasional item going to closeout isn't a terrible thing. If there were none at all, then maybe they're not cranking out enough stuff. As long as they aren't dumping a large percentage of a first/only production run, again not a bad thing. A couple of these are due to timing IMO. The 3-in-1 Nova wagon came out not long after the Craftsman version...for a few bucks extra you got two engines, a ton of customizing parts, and a trailer. I know that swayed me, though I did pick up a Craftsman wagon after getting two of the 3-in-1 kits. The Ford van came out not long after the Cruising Van issue, that probably affected sales on the later issue. I did pick up a '64 Galaxie out of reflex...as I was walking out of the store, I remembered that I had two more than I thought, having bought two of the Falcon drag team sets...

As I recall, the excellent Dean Jeffries book has parts of the scale drawings of the Manta Ray (that Jeffries submitted to MPC) printed on the inside cover. I've got to admit that, as a kid back then, I didn't get what Jeffries was trying to do with that car. I have grown to appreciate it in recent years however.

I believe it was MPC that made the Manta Ray slot car body...if so, I wonder why it never got issued as a kit, even a curbside version...

Collecting is...collecting. Many of these kits were one-shot deals, never to be made again. The funny cars in particular are way more rare than the corresponding promos. Someone who owns a 1:1 documented Mr. Norm prepared Dodge might just lay out a grand for that kit, to round out their collection.

Being sealed kits, they're strictly in collector territory now. I don't think I'd crack one open now...in all likelihood you'll find tires stuck to the clear parts and/or decal sheet. Besides that, with other kits having been released since, the Charger in particular isn't even the best starting point for a replica of that car. MPC did do a few funny car kits with bodies that closely resembled the 1:1 cars they were modeled on. The vast majority of them, however, consisted of promotional model bodies (minus chassis mounting posts) draped over the chassis in the tooling bank that provided the best fit. The funny car (and later Pro Stock) kits were mainly a way to get a second hit off of the costly body tooling each year. That's why there were kits of Dodge Coronet and '70-'71 Mercury Cyclone funny cars when you never saw one at the drag strip.

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting...

"Rare" in Hot Wheels terms means they probably made "only" two million, as opposed to three or four million. The hoarders/resellers have been doing that for many years. This happens with "collectible" figures also. Tactics range from checking stores every day (how much time/gas are they wasting?) to knowing someone who works at the store, and having them set aside the "good" items before they get on the racks. Some stores (Target was one, don't know if they still do it) try to discourage hoarders/resellers by punching holes in the hanging card packaging to deface it, making it less desirable to collectors.

Fishing for someone who is willing to spend that much. Who knows, someone may be out there.

A is '64 Corvair rear B is '62 Comet rear C is '62 Tempest front D looks like '62 Comet front (grille cut off) E is '60 Edsel rear

I'll tip well for decent service. Every other weekend, I'll have breakfast at a nearby restaurant on Saturday or Sunday. I get coffee refills without asking, get steak sauce and/or hot sauce without having to ask twice, and every so often they'll "forget" to put the coffee on the tab. If I go somewhere and get lousy service, I don't pull any nonsense like I have heard other people do...I'll leave a tip, but I don't go back. Poor service is rare around here, the restaurant business is highly competitive and the good business owners cover the basics.

I can see the pre-calculated tips, as fewer and fewer people seem to be able to do math, let alone do it in their head. The upscale percentages suggest the establishment is trying to give their servers a raise, but out of your pocket. They've all been trying to talk tip percentages upward for some time now, just like real estate sales people have been trying to talk commissions upward...

As for the Popcorn Wagon, I'd bet that it did run, even if it just had a carburetor under all that. Carl Casper's stuff ran, all that I'm aware of. He used his Paddy Wagon (Ford FE with four four-barrel carbs) as a push truck for his Young American dragster on occasion.

At absolute best, the one-on-top-of-the-other setup MIGHT work NEARLY as well as a single one. Nobody has brought up the "pyramid" dual supercharger setup used on some other show rods. That started out as a serious attempt, but racers quickly figured out it was cheaper and easier to just install a larger supercharger or change pulleys to drive a single one at higher RPM relative to engine RPM.

There were a number of kits during the period 1967-74, including Oldsmobile Toronados and 4-4-2s, '72 Ford Torino oval track racer, Ford Maverick pro stock, and Dodge Challenger funny car. Nobody "on the inside" has ever stated which company initiated the deal, or why some items were chosen but not others, or why it ended. As for why, the obvious reason would be that AMT kits had better distribution, selling in places Jo-Han couldn't get a shoe in the door. AMT added items to its catalog for little to no cost, Jo-Han had some guaranteed sales though at lower profit.

My kit has neither, I suspect the kit pictured hasn't got one either.

Mine did not have the clear windshield material. No issue of this kit (there are many) ever had a molded windshield. Like many other Revell kits, a piece of clear plastic was included, along with a template for the specific kit.

This issue isn't 100% like the original. The original issues of this and the Robbin Hood Fink did not include the vinyl tires but did have all of the other parts including the "normal" wheels which were not used. This kit does not include the original Tweedy Pie wheels because they haven't been on the plated tree since the late Sixties. The early Seventies modified reissue (Rodfather) made some changes to this kit. The air intakes on the carburetors were altered from forward facing to straight up, wheels were changed, and some original Tweedy Pie parts like the gas tank and grille shell were deleted. The last reissue before this one (Revell restored Tweedy Pie) included new wheels and a new gas tank in the style of the original parts. The basic kit was molded here with the new parts being made overseas. Atlantis probably did not get the tooling for the restoration parts.

The "elephant standing on the bathroom scale" logo. As an anti-theft measure, they can just make the emblems bigger...

Going by the first one, and much of everything they have produced since, I would guess not. If anything, they seem to have doubled down on corner-cutting.

I remember test driving the first-generation Colorado when it first appeared in 2004. Cheap, cheap, cheap. The inner door panels flexed when the power window went up or down. I tested four trucks; the Colorado was the first one knocked out of consideration. Chevy dealers clearing out the last of the S-10s before bringing in the Colorados should have been a sign. I'd probably have tried an S-10 had any been on the lot other than crew cab 4 X 4s. Later I found I had dodged a bullet. The straight five cylinder engine struck a balance: the performance of a four with the economy of a six. No GM for me, thank you.

The one thing you can say about that guy, was that he put his money where his mouth was, and wasn't content to just let others test the thing out by themselves. The other thing is, it's about time that site was left alone. It's a gravesite, not a theme park.