Junkman

I frequently used Plymouth Volare motor pool cars when I was working for HQ AAFES Europe in the early Eighties. Those were lowest spec fleet purchase cars, most of them painted no-sale-blue-metallic and packing a Slant Six. Despite they were used by many drivers, each of whom making it his mission to break them in the shortest possible time, they gave sterling service and were actually quite nice to drive. If you were lucky enough to get one of the few 318 powered ones, you could give the odd quite surprised BMW and Mercedes driver a rather good run for his money. My favourite was a beige one with brown interior and the 318 Lean Spark in combination with the Police/Taxi/Export 2.41/1 diff and a triple core radiator. I pushed it to over 140 mph once, clocked by a passenger with a stopwatch using the signs posted every half kilometer on German Autobahns. We had to do it that way, because the speedometer ended at 85 mph. But I drove it regularly in the 120 mph region over extended periods of time and at that speed, it didn't even sound stressed, let alone felt like it was. They weren't bad cars at all. Especially if you like your cars to be dull, because that was really the only seriously bad point about them. That and that you always had to wait six weeks for new tyres. Nobody in Europe stocked 14 inch 75 profile tyres back then, they always had to get shipped over from the States. However, the styling went down well with Europeans and was often the start of a conversation. They were perceived as being rather elegant considering they were American cars. Yes, of course they suffered from the typical quality problems associated with US cars, like the clearcoat not surviving the first Winter, windscreens delaminating at the edges, dash pads warping in Summer, locks and keys being crudely made, instruments looking like they were purchased at the Pound shop, switchgear having no quality feel whatsoever, but most Europeans do indeed consider these things "The American Way" and live with them if they decide to buy American. Sadly at the time Chrysler-Talbot Europe was in free fall, so the Aspens/Volares were never marketed here. I bet they would have sold quite a few.

coopdad scratchbuilt an astonishing model of the Big Oly. It eventually was finished, although the thread was abandoned.

Trailers are readily available. Make it a tandem axle, those boats are heavy.

This is the old Palmer kit, interestingly labelled as a '1960'. This is what the Owens box looked like:

1/25 1959 Century Coronado Boat Hmmmm... Lovely!

The newly tooled Estafette and the also newly tooled Ferguson tractor have not yet been produced. After the Maped acquisition, it was decided to continue kit production, why else would Maped, actually a stationary and school untensil company, have acquired a kit manufacturer? However, the immediate future will obviously be secured by reissuing whatever can be reissued and this isn't relegeted to the car kits. Look what they are reissuing in the motorcycle, lorry, ship and aeroplane departments! However, some of those kits had been reissued quite recently and there is still plenty of stock at the dealers, which could work against Heller. Also, it looks like some of the kits we haven't seen in decades are again not considered for this round of reissues, first and foremost the 1/43 scale kits of the VW K70, Leyland Princess, Rover 3500, Peugeot 604, Citroen CX, Renault 30 TS, UR Range Rover, Alfasud, Porsche 928 and probably some others I've forgotten. Some interesting late 60s - early 70s formula 1, sports and rally cars were meanwhile released by other companies, including AMT and Union, and their continued absence from the reissue list makes me believe their tooling is either no longer owned by Heller, or at least currently not in France. My guess is, if we don't shop Heller like crazy in the immediate future, we will never see the Fordson and the Estafette, let alone some other stuff they might have had in the pipeline.

You'll see, Porkers are faster than Toyopets in the end. This must be the closest and most thrilling edition I ever saw! With merely two hours to go, we have the first two cars fewer than 30 Seconds apart. Also, make no mistake, there are still those two Aldis in striking distance, and the fat lady has yet to sing. These are going to be the best two hours of racing of EVAH.

I was, as always futilely, hoping in vain, that the endless and tedious procession of reissues of the same kit over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again, would be for once, just once, I mean once, interrupted, to reissue something nobody has been able to get for less than insane money in 55 years. Yeah, and let alone the 4 door version. For God's sake, one can snatch one of the last umpteen reissues of the Lindberg kit off eBay for the next 55 years. There was no need whatsoever to reissue it.

The old AMT original would be a genuine piece of American history and culture. The Lindberg is just another one of those naff reissues without any soul.

Alternatively, cut the rearmost inch off and make a Cadillac Couch out of it.

It would be way too good to be true, so it will never be true. Same goes for a 4 door Hudson, btw.

Is this going to be the Lindberg, or the old annual tool?

Aren't there both cabs in the FW?

EFA And I believe the Stooges one is more or less a straight reissue of the Fruit Wagon kit.

No pix yet.

So the Bonnie will never come back?

Wasn't there something, that this tool was modified into an incorect 2+2, then reverted into the Grand Prix? Or am I totally senile already?

After the Bluesmobile, Chi Town cop car and SATB Trans Am, GL now announced the Supernatural Impala in the Hollywood series. Product code is gl84032

The Gunze Sangyo kit is the best proportioned one.

You can slag me as much as you want, but IMO that Revell multipiece thing of yore can still hold its own, when it comes to shape and porportions.

Revell??? Nah, not Revell. They probably use the 1962 Mopar t00lz as sleeping pillows.