the other Mike S.

That makes sense. At the end of the day, it's still a profit making endeavor/business no matter how much we like the old promos and the annuals/reissued kits that were based upon them. The question I have is how much did the dealers profit on these dealer promos? What was their incentive to order them? I know they were originally designed promotional sales items to showcase the new 1:1 car models from the auto manufacturers. However, by the late '60s, I'm guessing most of the promos were being sold for a profit like a model kit inside the dealership sales/parts departments. That is, unless the greedy owner/sales people/dealership personnel didn't scoop them up on them first. Whenever you see large quantity of old promos for sale these days, it's typically from a individual/s who were associated with the car biz. That's probably where Wheat's Nostalgia gets most of his unless he has a Delorean time machine at his disposal. lol! When I would go to the dealer and look for them back in the day, there either were sold out, didn't have them or didn't know what I was talking about. lol! Of course, that depended on if they ordered them in the first place. Obviously, not all dealers participated in the promotional promo model car program. When I got into collecting them back in the mid '80's, they were being sold inside the dealer parts department in plain little white boxes. They certainly were not being given away to people who visited the dealership. Heck, it was even hard getting the brochure at times. I wonder when the story book method of promos being given away to kids finally ended (if in fact that was actually true) and they started selling them for money like a model kit in the parts dept.? The free promotional thing might have been true back in the '50's and the early '60's. However, by the time the mid to late '60's rolled around, I'm guessing they were being sold for profit in the parts department. Apparently, there was still a "market" for them to continue production up until 2017. Now, there is nothing. What really surprises me was no 2020 Corvette promo available this year. The Corvette promo is the only car, I can think of that has been in continous production from nearly the beginning. Every year since the '50's, there had been at least one Corvette promo available (except for 1983) until 2018. Even though people like to say the promo model car market mostly died back in the '70's, it actually dieduntil '18 when nothing was available, not even the Corvette.

What was the point in a separate hood if there was no topside engine detail? I've seen a few old promos made that way, but I know that probably made it easier for them to do a kit based from the promo tool without any changes to the tooling. However, I'm not sure what was changed to the tooling to make the molded in hood on most promos and then make a kit with a separate hood. Sliding insert with separate hood? Or, shutting off the gates on the part of the tool that flowed plastic to the hood section?

I can see the point about it not being an important foresight issue to preserve everything they did back in those days. However, the way they disregarded things like using tooling inserts for ashtrays in the office or leaving the expensive tooling sitting outside back in Baltimore is kind of suprising. Even back then, the thought of reissuing popular releases had to be on their minds. Did they think the annual promo contracts and the kits that were based upon them would never end? Thinking back to the X-EL days at Johan. The existing tooling they had at that time were of promo/kits that were getting somewhat collectable even back then. Yet, this same type of behavior prevailed and tooling was lost, damaged or outright destroyed. Of course, that depends on how much you believe the old rumor of exgruntled factory workers stealing parts of the tooling to sell for high scrap metal values.lol!

I think you are referring to the '69 which is undersized on the MPC kit. It's more like 1/26th scale from what I've read. The AMT version was more accurate when it came to the size (1/25th scale), but the kit/ultra rare promo is practically unobtanium now unless you got super deep pockets.

I wonder why they didn't save the original engineering drawings? I've seen pics of some of the old tooling masters that were kept intact. Anything that important and critical to the tooling should've been saved in an archive file of some sort (you would think).

The only one that interests me on that list is the '57 Eldorado Brougham in 1/25th scale. However, I'm thinking that's probably a typo and it's really 1/32 scale. Meh.

Johan '75 Cutlass promo compared to the real 1:1 scale 1975 Cutlass and 442 model.

I see what you're saying on the front fender profile. It's looks straighter. However, the side window profile on the MPC kit is pretty funky compared to the real car. To get it to look accurate, you have to file the upper drip rail line to reduce the slope and open it up larger. Then, after you do that, you will need to replace the upper drip rail detail because you will lose most of it when you file it to a more correct angle/shape. The AMT kit is much better when it comes to the side window profile, at least. However, it is more easily correctable compared to the fender curve shape, I guess. Here's a pic of the inaccurate side window profile of the MPC kit. I apologize if this is a pic from someone here..

In the pic, it looks like the AMT version is a little better in the (side window profile) drip rail section than the MPC kit. They should've chosen the AMT kit for the 007 version IMO.

Great info. Thanks Tim!

Thanks. I thought the Cutlass S shared the same front grill/header as the 442 in 1:1 scale. On the Johan promo, you can still see the more beveled header remnant from the '73 tool. However, they didn't do that bad of a job with the front bumper/grill to disguise it. Another tidbit...the Johan '64 Cadillac still had the '63 style rear fins. If you look at the real car, the fins on the '64 were reduced even further in height compared to the '63. That makes me wonder if that was a last minute pre-production decision as well. I'm thinking not because Bill Mitchell's design directive at that time was to gradually reduce the height of the fins (over several model years) after the outrageous peak in '59.

The 442 and Cutlass S shared the same front grill/header panel, I believe The grills on the '74 are a little larger and the header is slightly more squared off compared to the '73 422 and Cutlass S. By '75, it became even more inaccurate when GM redesigned the grill and header panel to be even larger and more squared off than the '74. So, the '74 can sort of wing it if you don't look too closely. It's too bad they didn't make a '76-'77 version, though. I still have a few snaps and promos of the Johan Cutlass because no one else did a stock mid '70's GM A-body intermediate. Except for the Nascar only Chevelles by MPC, the Johan Cutlass was the only game in town if you wanted a scale model of a stock midsized GM intermediate coupe from the mid '70's.

I'm not really a Fox body Mustang fan, but I was looking forward to the Mustang LX notchback from Revell when they announced it. Unfortunately, much to my disappointment, I found they totally fubared the greenhouse section as a chop top. I wonder if the Hobbico financial drain contributed to this or was this a failed in translation between the designers in China and the lack of a 1:1 scale car to look at? Yet, they produced the new tool '83 Hurst Olds which is about as perfect as you could get, at least when compared to the older MPC annuals like the '79-'80 Monte Carlo. It seems it was big hit or a big miss in those days. I'm very thankful they got the Hurst Olds right though.

Makes me wonder how specific the manufacturer was with these promos? With Johan, their '75-'76 Eldorado had slightly short fender tips that did not extend as far as the real car did if done properly to scale. Also, the '75 Cutlass had a totally inaccurate front grill/header panel due to it being the '73-'74 body with just a new front grill/bumper. Would a slightly inaccurate promo chassis with dual exhaust instead of single exhaust be such a big deal? Just curious.

Yeah, but three times?

Well, if they can "clone" car bodies now, then everything is back on the table again. From the Skylark to the Grand Prix. Let's do this!

Yeah, where's the ROI with that one? lol!

I used to wait getting what I wanted, but not anymore. If they reissue it and I want it, I'll get it. Back in 1980, the local Kmart had the '80 "Class Action" Monte Carlo in their model aisle. They used to dedicate an entire aisle for the new annual kits back in those days. I was pressured to wait until later to get it. When I went back, they were sold out. I had to wait nearly 30 years until Round 2 reissued them again. I know AMT/ERTL did a release back in late '90's early '00's, but I didn't catch that reissue. Also, I didn't like that gray plastic they were using at the time. When Round 2 finally reissued it again in that nice white plastic with the retro art box over, I had to get one. In fact, I got two.

I wonder what the reason was for so many chassis's?

I remember looking at those things when they were brand new on the dealer lot and the silver paint was dull even then. So, within a few years, I could see it looking exactly like the paint on the model. Very realistic!

It would be great if they could restore the '72 GP back to stock.

Didn't Revell offer both new and old style Raptors recently?

That's part of the fun with this hobby. No?

I don't know about the rest of you fellas, but I'm looking forward to the Craftsman '63 Chevy II station wagon and the '64 Cutlass kit. I know most won't agree, but I'd to see them mold the wagon in color so it can be polished out to look like a promo. Since those early Craftman kits were basically unassembled promos anyway, why not?

It sure would be nice to have a '98+ style Crown Vic. I wonder what the business case was for duplicating Lindberg's '97 Crown Vic. "Well, since Lindberg had great success with that model, maybe we can offer one too (but a slightly different civilian version) and make lots of money. " I think this type of thinking is rather shortsighted from a business perspective. Instead of duplicating the well done efforts of Lindberg's Crown Vic, which is the better kit anyway IMO, they should've pushed farther and tooled up the '98+ style version. Since Lindberg had already committed their resources to making the older version, Revell could've cornered the market with a more current '98+ style version.