tim boyd

Very, very cool, Bill! Great work and thanks for sharing. There is just a certain magic to the earlier generation of 1/1 scale funny cars, and your models do a great job of sharing that magic....TIM hanat w

The link below is a very (probably way too much so) comprehensive series of images and captions on how I rebuilt my mostly destroyed 4th Nationwide winner from the 1968 Dodge/MPC/Car Model Magazine funny car contest. When first posted six years ago, someone posted a very snarky comment about how unrealistic it was (engine behind the rear axle), and of course, he was right. But yes, even as a fourteen-year-old, and having studied the Car Model Magazine coverage of their prior two funny car contests, I realized that only something very radical (and as a result, probably unrealistic in 1/1 scale) was going to register with the contest judges. MIssion accomplished, so to speak. Anyway, way too much detail in this album link for almost everyone, and consider yourself forewarned, but for those who still want to take the leap, here's the link. And best wishes to LDO/Lee as he constructs his own version of the first place Jim Keeler "Dodge Fever" here at the MCM Forum...TIM

Lee....several reactions.... 1. Super-ambitious project you have going here. Fascinating to see how you are adapting the basics of Jim's approach to a build project 55 (!!!) years later. Will be following your progress for sure. 2. Amazed that so many others watching and following this thread remember the car and the Car Model Magazines that covered it so long ago... 3. A photo from the final GSL in 2023 where the 1968 Dodge/MPC/Car Model funny car contest winners of first, second, and fourth place were lined up together for the first time ever on a display at the event. And yes, #4 was mine. Best wishes on your progress and your posting of further updates....TIM

The original AMT 1968 Riviera annual kit does not have a vinyl roof. Here's one my brother Robert started in 1968 and I finished sometime in the early 1970s (note the cracks in the old AMT lacquer paint job).....There was a seperate add-on vintyl roof and trunk area piece in the kit...perhaps that is what you remember. (More on this below the picture...) I don't have the original 1969 Riviera annual kit, but I do have several reissues including the first reissue (I think), the 1977-ish"Countdown" series boxing. None of those have an engraved vinyl roof either. Here's a shot with the optional add-on vinyl roof/trunk piece mentioned above. Hope this definitively closes the inquiry on this ( )...TB

The original Revell Malibu Grand Prix combo kit (pictured above) was a personal favorite here. In the earliest days of what became the NNL Nationals, we would include a visit to the 1/1 scale Malibu Grand Prix tracks as part of our NNLs, which were really entire weekend events with the model event as the center attraction, but other events like attending the Oakland and Portland Roadster shows and Detroit Cobo Autorama, visits to the famous old Ford Fiberglas parrs replica company in Oregon whose name escapes me, and yes, 1/1 scale "runoffs" at the lMalibu Grand Prix. I recall us doing this at the Malibu tracks in Redwood City, CA (south of SFO) and Columbus, Ohio. Just another tidbit of NNL lore that probably no one cares about today (laugh...smile)....TB

Jon,,,that is one really sharp piece of model car building. So many cool details. Way to go! TIM

Heh Alan..big thanks for that! Cheers....TB

Just a reminder that the newly reissued (for the first time since it was originally introduced in 1998) AMT 1968 El Camino Street Machine has fully 25% of its parts count unique to the street machine kit vs. the factory showroom stock version from the same basic tool. The kit includes unique engine induction components, realistically lowered front and rear ride height, mildly tubbed pickup bed and sidewalls, electric (instead of fan belt driven) radiator fans, and more. Now I'm not going to claim that the street machine engine parts and wheels/tires/brakes are fully 2025 state of the art (because they aren't!) but with a bit of kitbashing or aftermarket substitutions in those areas, this kit goes a fair way toward the pro-touring or (more accurately) restomod genres than most kit buyerswould expect. Especially considering it was originally introduced 27 years ago. Food for thought, anyway. TB PS - when I finally get around to it I will be posting pix of my recently completed build of this kit with the above suggested modifications...

AMEN, brother! TB

Thanks Justin....I'd be curious to hear an update after the kits go on sale at your store, if you get a chance or see any definitive reaction. Best...TIM

Hi Justin....just a little curious...wondering if any of your customers have had any reaction to the Round 2 reissue of the little-known street machine version of the AMT-Ert 1968 El Camino Street Machine kit? As I am sure you well know, it does not have a full Pro Touring suspension, but it does include modified suspension parts that deliver a realistic lowered ride height. And well some of the Street Machine parts are arguably out of date for today's taste (engine induction and valve covers, wheels and tires, etc.) it does have about 25% f the kit parts changes from the Replica Stock kit to be a more accurate street machine. Sort of "pro touring lite", I suppose. And thse outdated parts are easily swapped for more current alternatives. Fiurther, while the kit engineering is innovative and IMHO very well done, there are some final assembly issues and the knockout pins (aka ejector pins) are not at all well handled. But still, I think it is a bit of a sleeper kit that deserves a closer look by those who like models that tilt toward the 1/1 scale aftermarket trends. But that is just me....has anyone else noticed? Or am I off in the ether on this one? Always fun and insightful to hear your views on new kit releases! Best...TIM

Charles....yes and I still feel that way, too....thanks for your comments...TB

Thanks Scott...TB

Bob...yes,,,if my memory serves, it was based on the '25T Double Kit hot rod chassis parts....TB

Hi Jim....yes it did IIRC. It became a cover article in MCM a couple of years back (look in the upper right corner of the mag cover) and this was the finished project....thanks for asking! TIM

FWIW, I agree with Dave on this subject...TB

John is spot-on here. The E58 '74 360 was by far the best engine choice for any '74 Mopar, and easily among the best choices for any car that year (the Pontiac SD-455 and hi-po Camaro Z-28/Corvette 350 being the others). Mother Mopar did a great job bringing this performance-oriented engine to market for 1974 in spite of government and insurance industry plots (err...let's make that "actions" instead) to undermine any performance-oriented auto offerings those years. What Chrysler - and most of the enthusiast rags - horribly failed at was getting the message out to performance car buyers on this engine. At the time most media scoffed and called it nothing more than the C-body 360 wagon motor with a four barrel carb added, listing net hp ratings of somewhere between 180 and 200 hp, and thoroughly dissiing the effort. This was happening even as recently as 20 years ago in some very respected publications. I've got a whole file on this subject (and had written a detailed sidebar on it for my "Collecting Muscle Car Model Kits" book a few years ago which I had to drop because I was way over the contractual word count for the mag). Short story is the E58 was rated at 245 net hp (equivalent to 305-315hp under the 1971 and prior gross hp rating system), had nearly all the 340 gubbins inside except the cylinder head and forged crank (some sources even state it had the same cam and specs as the original 1968 340 automatic), and possessed low-mid-range torque a 340 could only dream about. (The NHRA soon refactored the recognized HP for racing classes at 270-280net hp). After I took delivery of my '74 E58 road runner, the son of the local Shell Station owner ordered his like mine, except he wanted to "upgrade" to the 400 4-barrel. I gave him all the reasons not to do so but he did so anyway. Big disappointment. All of the above applies only to the 1/1 engine discussion. As much as I'd love to see newly tooled '71-'74 B Body model kits, my business side suggests there are considerably more promising venues for Round 2's limited kit design budget at this point in time, even though I wish that wasn't the case. Best...TB

Jens....that is one beautiful piece of work...big congrats! TB

I built my first model kit in the summer of 1962 at age 8 and it was a Revell 1/25th scale Dodge Lancer GT. TB ______.

Interesting thread. Car engineers are faced with many competing priorities much the same as those characterized by Craig above. But on top of those they must contain many competing priorities from governmental legislation, and not just single governments but political entities across the world. Then add on NGOs like the insurance, safety and anti-petroleum lobbies and their agendas. Some of the resulting requirements are exceedingly poorly envisioned and driven by political considerations rather than what is truly best for the customer and the world. They often overlap and compete against each other and require sub-optimal results. So much of what people complain about automobiles today is the result of factors the automakers have little or no control over. Automotive engineering in particular is a series of tradeoffs. Ease of repair is almost always a consideration in design of autos but when placed up against the many other issues auto design must contain these days, it does not always end up at the top of the decision matrix. Just a comment from the sidelines from someone who worked in the regional (US) and later global automobile industry in sales and marketing and later on in design, with about half of my 35-year career in executive level assignments....TB

x2!!! Nice job too on the canopy vinyl roof converssion....TB

Thanks John....I have a pretty extensive library of Mopar Action back issues but do not recall reading the above....really helpful and really appreciate the update. And yes, the color was B9. I have been slowly collecting info on the car from my late Dad's files....I did find the window sticker not too long ago and it did show 999 on the color position. Only a few days ago I found a packet of color negs and it appears to have a front 3/4 and rear 3/4 image of the car...need to find a place to print photos for me and my brothers.

UPDATE - that "Might Have Been Musclecars" article referenced above, for those of you with Scale Auto back issue collections, appeared in the June 2016 issue. The '71 Charger annual kit prototype spoiler is shown on page 26; the '72 Charger and Challenger R/T promo decal sheet is shown on page 27.... TB

Smile....kinda sad though too, isn't it? TB

Not sure what specific cars are involved in the Edit statement, but for 1971-74 the Charger and Road Runner/Sebring 2-doors used the same wheelbase dimension, 115". The '71 to '74 Coronet 4-door sedan and wagon and Belvedere 4-soor sedan/wagon shared a longer wheelbase chassis, listed as 117" or 118" in a quick google search, although 117" seems more familiar without doing a deep dive into my reference archives...TB