Mark

Round 2, in particular, is in the nostalgia business. The aura and mystique surrounding the original kit will occasionally be overlooked to get better detail here and there, but overall when they do a new/scanned kit they are going to keep it much the same as the original. Atlantis is in the nostalgia business too, but they are a smaller company. They'll probably have to scan parts in order to restore a kit, but it's probably less likely they will attempt an all-new kit anytime soon. But their people have expressed interest in doing so, so maybe they will...

Studellacs were '53-'54. Demand dropped to near nil with the '55 restyle. I've heard the Studebaker club guys don't get too riled with other powerplants, driving the cars is their thing. The early Cad engine wasn't that much heavier than the Stude mill. The latter was on the heavy side, especially for its displacement capability. None of the 304 engines were sold to the public, 289 was about as big as it would easily go. Studebaker planned for higher compression ratios in the future, not more cubic inches. Supposedly they had a second generation V8 under development in the early Sixties, but I tend to doubt that. What they really could have used was a better straight six; the cobbed together OHV conversion wasn't very good. I've got a '66 Studebaker brochure; the illustrations of the engined (very small with little detail) are still Studebaker engines! I'm thinking the sixes had intake/exhaust on opposite sides from one another.

What really kills the sedan is the fenders. Way too narrow, narrower even than all of the Model A kits out there. The sedan got a huge backlash when it was released, Ertl probably created the 5W coupe in order to recycle the chassis tooling. One of the kit designers at Ertl owned a '34 coupe, probably still does. But, a new sedan, based on the 5W coupe fenders...now you're talking...

Also, the Pro Stock Chevy Vega bodies are new tooling, matched up with the remaining parts from the original kit.

The entire kit, in both cases. Both are all new tooling, the original Nova wagon still exists but has been extensively altered. The Coronet underbody was later altered and reused in another kit, and the body was updated through 1970. So no tooling from the original kits exists intact to be reused. Don't forget too, the bodies in the '64 Olds Cutlass and 4-4-2 kits are new, scanned and cleaned up from original bodies, and packaged with the remaining parts from the original kit tooling.

Both the coupe and sedan use the same chassis. But no body panels interchange except for the hood side panels. The sedan was WAY off, I would suspect the coupe conversion was done without any thought of going back to the sedan.

The car pictured looks like it is on the stock wheelbase, with the interior converted to a two-seater and shifted back. Lots of work there; it doesn't look like the door openings are the rear ones of a four-door, that would have been easier to do. Shame about the original engine. A small-block Chevy is perfectly good, but that car was built with a Cad and should have stayed with one. A similar car could be done in scale. Only one convertible body would be needed: just rescribe the door lines and move the cowl back. The interior might be tougher than the body, with removing the original rear seat. The original engine looks like a pre-'49 V8. I'd pluck a V16 out of one of the Jo-Han classic car kits, and maybe throw in that big Miller-like blower from one of the AMT early Sixties Ford pickup kits.

There are two different cabs (stock and separate front end) as well as two interior buckets, and two beds (stock and stepside). Only one chassis (drag version has stock front suspension). MPC issued the Datsun pickup with every combination of parts anyone could dream up. But the flip-front version always had the Chevy engine, the stock cab versions always had the stock engine.

Never saw it, but did win a set of the three kits at an MCCA convention (Dayton, Ohio, if I remember right). There was a board with something like 25 parts from model car kits. I was able to ID more of them than anyone else. I think I got something like 23 right. The parts were all over the place, too: new, old, domestic, foreign, stock, custom, show car, drag car. I figured I'd be in the running, thought maybe I'd get about half of them right. The kits weren't in general release yet. I'm not sure the movie had opened yet. One NASCAR fanatic offered me $20 apiece for them before the day ended, and I took it. I don't think I've ever seen anyone get that much for any of them since. Since then, someone gave me a little cardboard thing with the Days of Thunder logo, that would be tucked in between the bottom row of kits on a hobby shop shelf, and hang over the shelf. Haven't got the kits to go with it though!

Slot racing's heydey was from about 1962-66. It rapidly fell off, and, other than HO scale (which Aurora pretty much owned at that time), slot racing was a small-time thing by the end of the Sixties.

I've got a complete original issue kit. Those were molded in off-white, solid white, and gray. At one time I had all three colors. The kit never included a tonneau cover for the interior. The Victoria roof was chopped and was intended to be used with the chopped windshield frame. The Carson/Hall style top was modified into the Deville half top that is in the current issue. Missing parts include the Stylizing rear fins, fender skirts, and a custom rear bumper piece. Maybe a couple of other small parts also.

For first efforts, those kits weren't bad. Some of the parts look like they were cribbed from other kits. The Sand Draggin rear tires look like the two-piece plastic sand tires in some AMT and MPC dune buggy kits, only rubber and one piece. The Toronado drivetrain in the Sand Draggin looks like it is copied from Jo-Han parts, with custom valve covers from the Revell Anglia/Thames kits.

For 1970, Palmer made three 1/25 scale car kits that were an attempt at competing with AMT and MPC: one-piece bodies, more detail. Their Corvette was pretty much a copy of an MPC kit, with some different optional parts. Same for their Dodge Challenger. Their Boss 302 Mustang (with a 428 engine!) copied parts from AMT and MPC. These kits had a few unique parts like Firestone radial tires (so lettered on the sidewalls). The Mustang had the Ford "black stripe" hubcap/trim ring wheels that nobody else included in a kit until Round 2 put them in their '71 Mustang reissue. These three kits ended up with Lindberg and were reissued by them with some changes. The Mustang had been modified by Palmer to look somewhat like a '71, the Challenger was updated to '71 and later '72. Lindberg's '40 Ford coupe was also an ex-PSM kit, one they never released. It was largely cribbed from AMT's kit. Supposedly they had started on a '36 Ford kit (another AMT copy) but didn't get too far on that one, if at all.

I don't remember ever seeing the Eldon packaging of these kits in any store back in the day. I did have the Sand Draggin, but I got that one as a gift. The model car kit market was in a decline in the late Sixties, as baby boomers were going to college, getting married, or getting drafted. That would have been a tough time for a newcomer, as Palmer's PSM brand proved, as did Aurora's short-lived comeback attempt around that time.

The Victoria hardtop in the first issue '50 Ford convertible kit was chopped, to fit with the chopped windshield frame. Actually, a "short door" two-door sedan wouldn't be a bad choice for a body. A lot of the "shoebox Ford" guys favor that body style over the coupe that AMT did, as clean looking as the coupe is.

The Sand Draggin box fine print reads: "made in Japan to Eldon specifications". Doyusha probably tooled those kits for Eldon to sell in the USA market, and retained ownership of the tooling when Eldon exited the model kit business. Why they quit is a mystery; these kits aren't bad, especially for first efforts. Doyusha has reissued five of the six; for some reason the Sand Draggin has not resurfaced. The kit choices weren't bad: the Invader is one of a handful of Oakland Roadster Show/AMBR winners made in kit form. They weren't all built by Bob Reisner as mentioned on the Doyusha reissue boxes. Dan Woods built the Milk Truck, Jim "Jake" Jacobs built the Outhouse, Joe Bailon built the Pink Panther car. Reisner did build the Invader and (probably) the Sand Draggin. I don't recall who built the Bathtub (George Barris built the single tub version that Monogram kitted-- the only Barris car that company ever did).

The AMT spray can dates back to the early Sixties. The Testors bottle pictured is more likely from the Seventies, though Testors paints go back way further than that. The AMT lacquer might still be usable, if it is a metallic and still has propellant in the can. The solid colors usually aren't usable as they have settled, no amount of shaking will bring them back it seems. An AMT can was on eBay the other day, with a couple of hours left to go it was somewhere around $88. I guess a couple of knuckleheads locked horns over it...

The Ramchargers Dodge is a Jo-Han '64. It's actually the third issue, from 1968. That was the first one with the Polara side trim removed, and the only one with the Logghe Brothers chassis as an option. It couldn't be built stock, the two versions were the funny car or Super Stock. The Ramchargers didn't race a hardtop in '64 but did have one as a display car (and backup if needed). I believe it was a wedge engine car though.

The newer ex-Monogram 1/25 scale kit has been released as a hardtop also.

One other thing with these kits: take a good look at the hood, at the back corners. Those areas are thin and usually curl upward after the hood is painted. I've got a '55 in progress, I very slightly routed out the underside of the hood at the corners and super glued in pieces of bent music wire. I filed those somewhat flat afterwards, they shouldn't stick out once everything is painted. And, like other Revell opening-doors kits, the hinges are sloppy letting the doors droop when opened. That can be dealt with in several ways.

The opening-doors '55 is the best of the four Tri-Five Chevy kits that Revell did in the mid/late Sixties. The '57 came first (1963), the '55 followed in '64, the '56 in '65, and the '57 Nomad in '68 or so. This '55 never came with a straight axle. All issues have two engines, stock small-block with three-speed and 348/409 with what looks like a cast-iron Powerglide. Small-block has a 1958-up block with side engine mount detail, and rams' horn exhaust manifolds which first appeared in '57. Various issues have different wheels and tires. One inner rear wheel well is narrower than the other, the wide tires in the Skip's and Hot Rod issues will probably not fit on that side without some rework. If you want to tackle one of the opening-doors Revell Chevy kits, the '55 is probably the "easiest".

I'm not aware of a Revell issue of that kit. Testors, maybe? Anyway, the Lindberg issue had different tires, indicating that they probably didn't get any tire tooling.

The week starting tomorrow is NOT the discount week. Last week was, so the week after this coming one will again be.

I think the IMC tire tools travelled along with the corresponding car kits, many of which are apparently lost. If Lindberg had gotten all of them, they would almost certainly reissued one or both '48 Fords (this was before the Revell kits appeared), probably the VW Beetle, and maybe they'd have gotten into the Ford GTs and other racing cars.

Modified Production started declining in the early Seventies when some of the "off the pace" Pro Stock teams would make sufficient changes to drop into the Sportsman classes. Prior to the tube frames and Lenco transmissions in Pro Stock, pretty much all that was needed was a switch to steel fenders, doors, and hood, and maybe a little more weight beyond that. Throw in some of the Chrysler guys following factory orders when they didn't like the weight break given to wedge engine cars versus Hemi cars, and you end up with an invasion of big money into those classes. The sanctioning bodies tried to create new classes like Super Modified and Econo Altered, but the big money guys moved in with high-buck engines and ex-Pro Stockers and took those classes over too.