Mark

At the time the '68 was announced, Revell's people were saying that the alteration was permanent, they wouldn't be going back to the '69. Keeping it a '69 would have made more sense had a Swinger version been part of the plan. Otherwise the '68 was the way to go, with the Super Stock Hemi version in the mix. Yes, it isn't a full-on Hemi version (door panel and seats not being included) but it's most of the way there.

There is no Moebius Barracuda kit. It's AMT, it's a '65, and it's coming later this year.

The '69 was only issued once before being converted to '68 spec. No vinyl roof on any '69 kit.

No V8, it includes the stock four-cylinder engine with some optional parts. It's well detailed, as is the rest of the kit.

Pretty sure the Atlantis (ex-Monogram) kit was developed during the period when Monogram was owned by Mattel, and the kit assembly revolves around the body (no chassis detail). The MPC kit does have a chassis, molded in two halves. The body is likewise split down the center (from the engine back) with the front portion being split along the sides. The Atlantis kit is probably easier to build but harder to build differently than straight from the box. The MPC kit is probably more fiddly but will have more parts and more detail.

No license plate, no trim rings on the wheels...probably not secured properly on the top deck of the rail car.

Might just be a misprint.

Handles like it's on rails!

Not X-Acto knives; each has only one collet. The two pictured are different sizes. There are instances where more than one X-Acto handle uses the same blades. The wide chisel blade in the knife at right is tapered down at the collet end. One of the X-Acto handles might accept the Tamiya scriber blade, but you'd have to test fit. But it would have to be a tight fit, if it were sloppy it could move or slip while you are working with it. The off-brand knife handles are often just slightly different from X-Acto making the blades a poor fit. Some are too wide, others too narrow. If the Tamiya scriber blade is a sloppy fit in the closest X-Acto handle, one of the off-brand ones might work, but figuring out which one would be a problem. A lot of the off-brand ones have plastic parts in the collet which makes them a non-starter for me.

The artwork shows a Pontiac engine. Those Atlantis kits include two engines; not sure which other one is in that kit as it has not yet turned up around here. The Chrysler 392 has been used in the Studebaker kit, the small-block Chevy with the supercharger atop the engine is now in the '57 Chevy hardtop kit. The turbine engine isn't really "right" for a dragster (and probably doesn't fit the dragster chassis anyway). So, besides the Ford 427, Pontiac, Cadillac, and the other small-block Chevy, that leaves the Buick yet unused. Hopefully it will resurface in one of these kits soon.

Those were the tires AMT used in their two Indy car kits (Lotus and Watson roadster). The Ford pickup used four of the smaller front tires, as did a few other kits. AMT also had a series of sand dragster kits out around the same time, each of those used four of the larger rear tires as duals for the sand dragster. Their snap-together "furniture van" kit used a bunch of the larger tires also. The original AMT company probably scrapped the tooling for those solid Indy car tires, as the Seventies reissues of the Indy cars used two-piece plastic tires. Those had sidewall lettering that the solid tires lacked, but had no tread detail like the solid tires had.

MPC Super Trailer (the enclosed four-wheel trailer with see-through roof and side panels). It uses the stock wheel covers from the AMT '65 Coronet annual kit (which was produced by MPC).

Comparison? None at all. Save the Rustoleum for the rusty lawn chairs.

One thing I noticed: Revell got the injection molding pressure just right this time. No sink marks on those beautiful mag wheels, no distortion problems with the tires and slicks. Everything looks just right. It's fair to voice complaints when things aren't up to snuff, but this time an "atta boy" is warranted.

The Lindberg/AMT Dodge will also have other usable parts, like the bench front seat and better open wheels than the Moebius units. The Lindberg stock Dodge 330 with a blue car on the box will have the bench seat. Red car on the box = has the A-100 seats, not the bench.

Only the stepside ('55 or '57) will have those covers. The Cameos only include stock parts.

BTW, the small license plates are choices for the cycle. "C-1163" was the item number for the original Harley parts pack cycle. "H-1292" is a bit off for the original issue of the '29 Ford pickup (the one I checked is H-1272).

Ask, and you shall receive...

Higher out back because the rear suspension is stock height, to accommodate the stock wheels and tires that are no longer in the kit. The dropped axle included for the front brings it down quite nicely.

The six shouldn't be different by much, if at all, between the two years. I'm not positive, but the Torqueflite may have changed from pushbutton control to column shift for '65.

My understanding of CA emissions regulations is that, when the car and engine are of different year of manufacture, the car must then meet the regulations applicable to the newer of the two. There are difficulties in finding correct parts for some newer cars, particularly GM vehicles. They have been discontinuing many mechanical parts for older vehicles. I have read about owners of Nineties Corvettes having trouble getting parts for the ABS brake system. The emissions and fuel system parts are a bigger issue for them in CA, as only OEM items are allowed. If the OEM discontinued them, you are then limited to the existing supply. The sellers of those parts will know that and raise prices accordingly.

The difference might be in the shipper. After reading about "silk fingernail wrap" here (for reinforcing seams between cut parts) I decided to try it on a project. I ordered it on 2/24, pretty much right away it got a postal ID number for tracking. It sat at the seller's chosen "shipping partner" for a week or so before starting to move again yesterday. I'll probably get it on Monday. Contrast that with Spotlight Hobbies, where I can place an order and have the darn thing waiting on my porch two days later. Three business days this time, I think I placed this order very late in the day.

There was one reissue of the GTO after the Elegance Series but before the Modified Stocker. That one did have all of the other parts restored to it. That's all moot now, with the newer Craftsman Plus hardtop kit. The engine from the old kit is pretty close to a drop-in deal.

On one hand, it makes considerable sense. It will keep a lot of occasionally driven vehicles on the road, generating registration fees every year. Maintenance items sold will also generate sales tax revenue. On the other hand, it is still California we're talking about. The details differ from state to state, but here in NY if I had several collector cars I'd probably get a dealer/transporter license plate. Those can be used on any car, said car doesn't have to have a current inspection or registration on it. Too, we pay sales tax on used cars when they are registered (but I don't know how far I'd want to push the sales tax thing). You do need to carry substantial liability insurance with those plates though, and to be a "dealer" you might have to buy/sell X number of vehicles each year. I did know a couple of guys who operated an AMC franchise a bunch of years ago; in some years they only sold one or two new vehicles, not sure how many used cars they moved in a given year but it wasn't many.

I was watching that for a while yesterday; the car was upside down, and they pulled up the frame of the car with at least a couple of the wheels still attached. It was mostly buried under stones and silt, they were using a vacuum of some sort to clear all of that away. What was visible looked fairly intact, as it's in fresh water as opposed to salt water. It will be interesting to see what they find out. There was a similar case some years back; they pulled the car out with the transmission still in Drive which would indicate the car had driven in as opposed to being pushed in in neutral.