Dave Darby

The one and same tool used for the Yankee Challenge. But the stock version. Not bad if you want a convertible. Not ideal for a hardtop.

I think most of us know what this consists of.

We covered these roofs in the current (221) issue of Model Cars magazine, but we didn't have room to tell you why these are are better than the kit pieces. AMT did two versions of the 57 T-bird. The glue kit, and the Trophy Jr/Craftsman kit. The hardtop in the latter kit is more accurate than the one supplied in the glue kit. The Craftsman roof is wider in front, allowing it to cradle the windshield like the real car. The rear window is also more realistically shaped. (The DCC parts are the lighter colored parts on the left of the stock parts in the photos.) Here's the porthole roof. Like the non-porthole Craftsman roof it was mastered from, it's wide enough to wrap around the windshield frame, and presents a more level (and accurate) window line. For contrast, below is the glue kit roof. Note how the window line runs uphill, and comes up too high on the windshield. The difference in the rear window opening is readily apparent here. The Craftsman style roof has a more trapezoidal shape that matches the full size car. Both Drag City Casting roofs (Porthole and non port hole) share this feature. Ed also provided this cool teardrop hood that makes me want to build a period 60's 427 Drag Bird. So whether your preference is plain or port hole, these parts from Drag City Castings will help you build a better 57 T-bird. You can get these parts at http://Facebook.com/dragcitycasting

It does have a nice chassis. The floor pan would probably have to be narrowed down to fit though. The 56 (kit) body is a little wider than the 57. I actually used a number of 57 Engine parts on my 56.

X2 Tim. Makes me want to hunt one down and build it.

I think the AMT/Ertl issue had the stock coupe roof as well.

The AMT grille is so much nicer than the MPC piece!

Mine too. Haven't gotten to do a deep dive yet, but looks great. Tim K did a pretty cool Bronco conversion.

I think this is the first time I've seen a notchback with the TRX package. Prett cool looking ride. I was never huge fan of Fox body Mustangs but my 7 year old, Max loves them. They're his faves. He loves 80s everything. I was actually going to buy a new Mustang in early 81, until I saw you could only get the 255 for a V8. I decided to stick with my 64 Fairlane. I should have been more clear in my first post. A friend of mine had a 79 Mustang with the 302 in it (and the TRX package in Medium Vaquero Glow (kind of a coppery metallic). I just don't remember if they referred to it as a 5.0 at the time. Hence my statement of the 5.0 coming out in 1982. But yes, 80-81 topped out at 255.

The 255 was only available in 1980 and 81. They never referred to it as a 5.0. The 5.0 (as a designation) came out in 1982.

Good point.

Only thing is, Ford raised the roofline (above the rain gutter) on the 64 and later trucks.

I'm actually playing with one right now, and I think the biggest problem child fit-wise is the interface between the dash/upper door panel unit and the body. It fits into the notches at the top of the doors. It might take a little filing on the ends to fit into the notches. Also the lower rear outsides of the unit are are a bit thick (even after removing the flash), which squeezes it in a bit, not allowing it to expand out to fill the opening in the body. (It fits within a pair of tabs on the rear of the interior bucket.) Take your time test fitting and filing, and the rest should fall together. This is probably AMT'S oldest currently running tool, having been first used to make the original promo models in 1957. Looks like I need to file a little more off on the driver's side so it can come forward a bit on that side. (Note the uneven gap in front of the dash).

It's a cheap acrylic from Walmart.

Looks great! The Scale Survivors crew is gonna love it.

It is very odd. Ertl announced they were going to reissue it as a Richard Petty NASCAR racer (I think around 1996), then ended up canceling the release because they couldn't find the tool. The irony (and why at the time I thought they'd cancelled it) is that they had to restore it back to stock for the 1987 reissue. In 87, AMT/MPC/Ertl were still producing stateside in Dyersville, Iowa, so it seems odd to me they could lose the tool. But, my sources tell me that like a number of others that were run as recently as 2009, it is MIA.

That is awesome. It's like a 49 Thunderbird.

I love it, and am looking forward to your Faux-vivor Friday post. What did you paint the body with? Love the color!

Looking good Alan! Hope to see it Faux-vivor Friday.

No, separate tool. It was most recently reissued by MPC/Ertl in 1987, then the tool mysteriously went MIA after that.

Tim always does a beautiful job on the layout work. The Vintage Workbench returns this issue with sort of a "Part 2" of the AMT 25 T kit history, featuring some handy building tips and ideas.

I agree with you. The grille is short and squat. But the 70s AMT 3 window has a similar problem, plus oddly shaped side windows. I've picked up the AMTs at swap meets, opened the box, looked at it, then put them back down in the past. The Aurora 34s aren't ideal, but they aren't as bad. I have some plans for the newer tool AMT kit. Stay tuned.

I've had a few in my collection. See below. They weren't as good as the current tool AMT kit, but I the think 70s AMT 3 window was definitely worse. Didn't it (like Revell) share the 23 T chassis and running gear?

When Monogram bought out Aurora the order was given to scrap any tools that were deemed as duplications of existing Monogram subjects, or not viable from a marketing standpoint. I doubt the 34 tool still exists, but it sure would be cool if it did. And yes, as I recall AMT/Ertl did utilize an Aurora 34 body on the the original box art model.

Yep, that's the original. It was widely panned because the body was too boxy (resembling an oversized British Model Y). A few years later, they created the new five window coupe body mastered off the real one in John Mueller's garage. Here's John's finished project. Obviously he chopped the top after they measured it.