Mark

The last couple of threads on either the screw, or the frame of the glasses, are probably messed up. A slightly longer screw of the same type will usually take care of that.

Animal farming? Starting to look like "Animal Farm" to me...

Don't count on that nice chrome staying that way during the mold making process. Because it gets wrecked anyway, I strip the plating off before starting, so the castings will be as clean and crisply detailed as the original part. Starting out, use products from one supplier to ensure that everything you use works together. As stated by others already, certain mold materials will not cure if they come into contact with certain types of clay that is used in the mold making process. Certain resins don't cure when used with the "wrong" mold materials. Get everything from one company to avoid problems like that. The learning curve can be steep enough without having to diagnose problems that arise due to incompatible materials, not to mention time and money wasted.

Non-stock with that last one involved wheels (chromed/reversed, with small Indy car tires all around) and the three-carb intake (which was also included as "stock" in the annual kits).

That engine is definitely from one of the AMT F-100 kits. 1960-63, there was a pickup kit in 1964 but it was a reboxed '63, with "1963" in fine print on the new box. '63 was issued again in '68, but not 100% stock.

Monogram used the PC ("plastic car") numbering system prior to their tie-up with Mattel, so the PC number kit would be the first issue. Also, the "200" suffix on that one would indicate the original kit's list price, $2.00. Prices started moving up around 1970: AMT went to $2.25 for most car kits during 1970. They went to a "225" suffix on theirs, but it appears Monogram dropped the list price suffix when they went to the Mattel numbering system. I do remember having a mid/late Seventies Badman kit with photographic box art, and clear parts that were not tinted in any way, totally clear.

Around here, a landscaping service has at least two front-wheel-drive trucks made up of Toronado chassis front half, with '88-'96 Silverado cab and a four-wheel trailer as the rear half. However many there are, they all look similar and look to be well constructed. Maybe someone was building them professionally. I'm pretty sure I saw one last summer, if so it must have a lot of miles racked up.

The kit pictured is the annual kit, the only one with Fury side trim and stock parts including wheel covers and complete interior. The side trim is Fury while the bucket seat interior is Sport Fury. The 426 wedge engine is quite good by 1964 standards, not too bad even today. No Hemi engine, as it was not yet known in late 1963 when the kit was issued. Chassis detail is typical Jo-Han, molded in exhaust and rear suspension detail. There was a convertible annual kit also, I believe it included a raised convertible top. The hardtop was reissued in 1968. Hemi engine replaced the Wedge, side trim and stock/custom parts removed, early Logghe Brothers funny car chassis included. Could only be built as a phantom funny car (chassis was too new for '64) or Richard Petty NASCAR. Reworked again around 1972 to delete the funny car parts, remained a Petty NASCAR version only for the remainder of its existence. Totally unrelated to the Lindberg '64 Belvedere kit that Round 2 has issued as a Petty NASCAR version, Lawman Super Stock, and stock version.

Same. The trailer and Chrysler "display" engine from the Buick wagon were reused in the original Nova wagon. The currently available Nova wagon kit was tooled recently and shares no parts with the original one.

Recycled carbon dioxide? Put up the collection facilities around DC and the state capitals...

Lettering was probably gold leaf, Ivo always had sharp looking cars. Most kit decal sheets substitute yellow; to get something closer to gold leaf you'd have to go to an aftermarket sheet like Slixx. Seventies MPC sheets usually substitute mud brown for the gold leaf. The color panels on the kit sheet may very well have white printing beneath, Round 2 has done that.

My mom had two Chevettes; not sure about the torque tube, but you'd probably want something a bit more substantial for a rear axle if you swap to anything with more juice than the stock engine anyway. Buick V6 might be a good swap, I might not be remembering right but the Chevette automatic transmission was a TH150, which later ended up behind V6 engines. I'm not saying a Chevette TH150 would bolt up to a V6, but if both used that transmission then the V6 version might just fit into the same space. A local guy had a Chevette with a Buick Grand National V6, every so often he'd show up at the local 1/8 mile strip. His GN engine was the early one without the intercooler, but it was pretty quick anyway as I recall. That car didn't have huge tires out back, but it was a "rear half" car with a roll bar in it. I do remember it had Centerline wheels all around, the narrow fronts having donut spare tires mounted on them...you could see the lettering on the tires. I haven't seen that car in recent years, not even at outdoor car shows or on the street...wonder what happened to it. Don Hardy did for a short time sell a kit to swap a small-block Chevy into a Chevette, but not for long. My older brother measured one up for such a swap, I recall him saying the engine would squeeze in but the transmission tunnel would need to be cut out and enlarged. I remember it being tight in front to start with, though I did know a guy about 6'6" who put about 200,000 miles on one (a Scooter, no less...)

The '59 Dodge was offered as an annual kit with an interior...one of only four car kits (all hardtops) made by Jo-Han that year. First year for them in the kit business.

Everything for sale on eBay is rare; some items are very rare. Just ask the seller. eBay Motors advertises X million parts. And, in whatever search you do, all of them fit every vehicle ever made. Seriously, the Testors kit is a reboxed Fujimi ES kit, and a very good one at that. Fujimi has done some curbside Porsche kits, but to my knowledge none of those were 356s; all of the 356 kits are full detail and then some.

The previous issue (Curly's Gasser) included only the coupe body. The original AMT company did this in the mid-Seventies also, releasing individual coupe and pickup kits.

If you have a work ethic, you have a leg up on 90% of the people out there.

Tweedy Pie with Boss Fink hasn't been reissued, ever. Revell reissued the Outlaw with Robbin Hood Fink, but never the other one because they were so slow to fully restore the Tweedy Pie that it was based on.

Back when the annual Corvette kits were released, the convertible and coupe were produced using different tools. Both were updated through '67. The coupe was reissued several times as a '67 (Color Me Vette, Candidate, Funny Car) before being backdated to '63 trim (but still with the '67 engine). Ertl put the small-block back in later. The '67 convertible had the "sedan delivery" add-on custom top. It was then altered into the T.H.E. Cat TV show car. The body in that issue has the separate headlamp door setup from the '63 annual. After that the chassis was reused in the AMT 1968-only annual kit. AMT then tooled a new Corvette kit for 1969. The '68 only kit got reworked into the ACcellerator custom, later the Greenwood GT IMSA version. The Round 2 reissue '68 is pretty much that kit, with some other stuff unblocked and included. MPC '66 and '67 annual Corvette coupe kits (they didn't offer convertibles) had the faked-up big block, as well as the AMT Greenwood GT. Those kits share no parts and are not related to one another as they were issued by (then) competing companies at different times.

Not sure whether or not the Prestige issue Corvette had both tops. The convertible body and related parts were tooled by Ertl in the late Eighties and are unrelated to the annual kit parts.

The roofline of the car in question isn't 100% clear, but it does look like the one with the flatter rear glass. In that case, the AMT hardtop body would be the better starting point. Removing the Galaxie trim will of course be needed, as well as reworking the roof to add the frames around the side glass (at the very least; more work in other areas may be needed).

Maybe the Chicken Dance was overshadowed by the Hokey Pokey. I've heard that the guy who invented the Hokey Pokey has since turned himself around...

Also, besides the non-existent fullsize '70 Oldsmobile, the AMC Rebel was never offered in pre-assembled form. The '69 and '70 Rebels (and same years Plymouth Road Runners) were among the few annual kits Jo-Han did that were not first offered as promos.

One to take a look at, if you have one laying around...MPC flip-front '57 Chevy. Their flip-front '53 Ford pickup used the same chassis. It would need to be shortened, but it looks a lot like a lengthened version of the Willys frame. As with any frame swap involving the Willys, getting the tilt front end to fit and work correctly will take some doing.

The MPC Super Stocker series kits all use one chassis, definitely an oval track design. All have 180 degree headers that are routed through the body of the car. Not really a good choice for anything but an oval track car. The earlier cars ('34 Ford, '36 Chevy) also use a single chassis, in this case '55-'57 Chevy. Might be too wide in the area of the Willys' firewall, and again there will be a definite oval track influence in the finished build.

Maybe the forecast came from Al Sleet, the Hippy-Dippy Weatherman...