Mark

It's a '68, the last of the three Novas he raced. As I understand, he never drove it, it was campaigned as a number two car with another driver. He ran the first of three Vegas in '72.

The engine in the annual kit was a 327. Not sure about the stock intake setup, but the '65 fuel injection setup was still included. A pair of undersized "427" cylinder heads and valve covers were also included, as an option.

Can you see a seam on the underside of the body? I'd think that, if the part doesn't look as though it can be separated from the body, the parts might be welded together with cement. The undercut on the bumper (how far it tucks under at the lower edge) would indicate a separate piece to me...just a question of where it joins the body.

That is exactly the part I was thinking of. I have a couple of earlier issue kits, should check those to see if that was there from the start...

The Camaro and Mustang II had printed cardstock ramps. The box side panel artwork showing the ramps was reworked a bit, to make them look different from the ones in the Ford and Mercury kits.

I'd check the body against earlier issues of the same kit. I've thought of "core shift" more as a misalignment between outer and inner halves of a mold. Something like that would result in an interior bucket or body being paper thin on one side, and overly thick on the other. A 1:1 engine block with core shift might have cylinder walls that are thinner than desired in critical areas.

The Corvair's tire caps were in the RC2 bland-box reissues of the '69 kit (not sure about the Round 2 issue as I don't have that one). They don't fit the tires now in the kit though.

The Mach I, Autolite Special, Superstang, and Iron Horse all have the same chassis. It's modified from the one that was used in the annual kits (dual exhaust detail added). They are pretty much the same kit, with detail changes and different optional parts (in the case of the Mach I, none at all if I remember right).

Back then, annual kits came with four vinyl tires (on occasion, six, when two slicks were included). None of this "four stock tires, four custom tires, and two slicks" like some of them have now. No annual kit, AMT or Jo-Han, had more than four tires in the box prior to '64 except for the ones that included a trailer! AMT started messing with plastic tires in annual kits for '66. A few kits had plastic front tires, some had plastic slicks, and a few had those tire caps where a different look was desired for a racing version that wasn't a drag car. The plastic tires and slicks carried over into the altered wheelbase cars in '67 and '68, probably to help keep the price down on those. The first run of the '33 Willys coupe had plastic tires also, but later runs had vinyl. I guess buyers would tolerate plastic tires in sub-$2.00 retail price kits, but once you hit two bucks there had to be vinyl, even if they weren't as good as the plastic ones.

That's exactly what it was.

The final sale amount of this one item reflects an excellent reputation which has been carefully built over a long period of time. I did a couple of builds for payment a while back, which taught me that I simply cannot do good work to a deadline. If Mr. Hettick can get what he gets for his builds, more power to him! I don't understand the negativity. If someone takes notice of it (similar to that WSJ article of a while back), it will lift the entire hobby, and people not currently knowledgeable might just take notice and think in more positive terms...

There is a '47 coupe in resin, I picked one up a couple of years ago. Vic's Resins. Not very good however, a few air bubbles in the molded-in grille detail. Body is very thick in a few areas. Mine was pulled off of the mold before being fully cured, front clip is a bit higher than it should be. Roof is unchanged from the '41 that was used as a starting point for the conversion. The '47 I see locally has a slightly different roofline, but maybe there were two coupes in those years. The subject matter deserves a better one IMO...

The Round 2 issue is most likely white. The Countdown/Swinging Sixties issue from 1977 or 78 is white also. There was a 1969 "Sweet Bippy" issue that sort of tied in with two other Laugh-In themed car kits...that one was white too. Ertl issues other than the red one will be gray. In short, anything other than an Ertl or Racing Champions/Ertl issue ought to be white.

Shoot that pic to Round 2, they should have no problem replacing that chassis. Trying to build around that piece would be like building a house on a crooked foundation.

I'd contact Round 2 regarding the chassis. Include pictures if you can. When retail prices were below $20, I didn't mind dealing with an occasional fix. Once prices crossed that line, I get replacement parts when something is defective.

The two I ordered (one each, stock '64 SS and '65 gasser) arrived yesterday. I got home late, didn't have time to crack them open until this morning. I can only say they are as described previously. Lots of extra parts on the trees in both kits...some might come in handy if you have accumulated other Nova kits and parts over the years.

If you just want to build one, the last issue is nearly the same as the first. The color of the window tint varies over different issues. Recent issues need a little body work on the driver's side below the vent window frame, involving smoothing up the area and rescribing the door line.

That isn't the kit, just the trading card that came in an early kit. As for being greedy, sellers can ask for whatever they want, but if nobody steps up and pays it, then there's no sale.

Someone must have wanted a mint in box first issue kit, maybe to top off a Tom Daniel collection.

One thing I do with the two-part stuff, once opened, is to keep the "main" tube and the catalyst tube in separate containers. The relatively small tube that the Bondo product comes in, fits nicely in one of those plastic container that some drink mixes come in. Each one of those, as bought, contains several packets that make two quarts of iced tea or whatever. Each container is about 7" long and 3" or so wide (they're oval) and has a snap-on lid. Those, or even sealable plastic bags, would keep the two parts more separate than just capping the individual tubes.

If you change the clay that will be used, be certain that it is compatible with the RTV being used to make the mold. Incompatible materials could result in the RTV not curing in areas directly adjacent to the clay. A little time in checking can save a lot of time and money potentially wasted on an unusable mold.

I didn't fill the whole body with clay. I cut foam blocks to take up most of the space inside the body, glued those together (and to the base), covered that with cling wrap, then used clay to fill the rest of the space. The foam block MUST be glued securely to the base, as if it breaks loose it will want to float to the top of the uncured RTV.

They're the Special People, they don't have to use turn signals like us mere mortals.

Left spoke wheel is from an AMT Cobra. Early issue, later ones were widened on the back side and the outer edge altered to work with hollow tires. Other wheel is AMT (made by MPC) Bill Cushenbery Dream Rod, later used in the MPC Magnum GT II (ex-1966 Dodge Monaco).

Bodies can usually be sold to hard body slot car guys. I did that with a couple of Revell Willys kits when those were hot, picked them up at the right price, and got the chassis pretty much for free after selling the bodies.