Carmak

The color "Mink Silver" was a special color in 68. A good friend of mine had a Mink Silver 68 with Black Buckets with a floor shift that he bought in 68 as a 6 month old used car (the original owner bought the car specifically to take a large cross county road trip).

Years ago, I drove a friend's 66 Corsa 140 (4 carb) 4spd. It was a glorious machine, like driving a full size go cart! In the 90's and early 2000's I parted out cars as a side hustle. I had friends that were scrapers, and they would call whenever they got anything mid 70's or older. Early on one of those cars intercepted on the way to the crusher was a 66 Corvair 4dr with the 140, 4spd and a telescopic column. It was Iowa rusty and on the edge of losing structural integrity, but the engine turned over and I don't think it had been taken off the road much before I got it. What a cool 4dr that must have been when new!! I sold it to a local Corvair guy as a parts car so he could upgrade his more standard 65 coupe (he really wanted that improved 66 4spd trans).

First off, not a Nader fan, but..... I read "Unsafe at Any Speed" years ago. The book does not focus on the Corvair in particular. Where the book does discuss the Corvair it explains and shows how the 65 rear suspension resolves the issues with the 60-64 rear suspension. The reason everybody knows Nader - the book - it's connection to the Corvair is GM. They attempted hired a group of people to attempt to ensnare Nader with a young woman to smear his reputation. It blew up on GM and became front page national news. GM's attempt to smear Nader actually got him the publicity the books release did not. Nader didn't kil the Corvair, the Mustang did. When GM released the F-body cars (Camaro/Firebird) to compete with the Mustang there was no need for two sporty coupes. GM made Corvairs until 69 but effectively stopped development after 67.

I also plan to build a Coronet 500 using the R/T kit. The 1:1 68 Coronet has stamped aluminum headlight bezes with the mesh area in the bezels as raised ribs. The center grille is a thin aluminum eggcrate. I am going to cut the center out of the kit grille and replace it with a fine mesh (I have to find one). Remember - unless your Coronet 500 or R/T was a dark color the radiator support was painted black so you could not see body color thru the grille.

The AMT Craftsman kits do not have engines. They are "curbside" style kits as are many European and Japanese kits. The AMT "Craftsman" kit type dates to the 60's when AMT would sell unassembled promo cars (typically molded in color) as an entry level kit for younger builders. The modern Craftsman kit are designed to accept an engine if the builder chooses as they have a separate engine plate, the hood opens, they have a firewall and radiator support detail. In the future these kits may be issued with engines. The 63 Nova wagon was initially issued as a Craftsman and later issued with an engine and other parts (trailer with a separate engine). Craftsman kits also work well with the trend of using 3D printed engines. Hope this helps. Carmak

I will speak to two different versions of (MPC/AMT/ERTL) plastic model kits. The first version of the General Lee was made by combining pieces of a Daytona stock car kit, original 69 tooling and some 71-72 Charger tooling. The body had the Daytona flush rear window, It didn't have and taillight bezels, the grille inserts were 71-72 Charger, nothing fit really well, and the tooling was worn. It then became the best-selling model car kit of all time. The second version was revision of the first version. The rear window was fixed. The tail light bezels were sorta molded into the body. It got a little better in some places but the tooling was even more worn and nothing fit. I grew up building these kits (multiples) and I loved them. An okay model can be built using either of these kits (not accurate, just okay) if you put some work into it. If I wanted to build a nice, detailed replica I would use the Revell kits.

Thanks Bill! I also noticed the NASCAR kit was much more common than the SM kit in the 80's (I didn't see my first SM kit until I went to a major Chicago area swap meet in the mid 80's). Maybe they only ran it when they could get white styrene

When was the first issue of the NASCAR version? Was the NASCAR version available concurrent with the SM kit in the 70's or 80's?

I design medical devices (30+ years). As you might imagine my industry is highly regulated (we sell around the world, so we comply with multiple sets of regulations). The high level result of these regulations are: The good: Our products are safe and work as intended at a very high percentage. By law only properly trained individuals can use our products. The bad: The cost of the rigorous testing is included in the cost of our products and the regulations can limit innovation. The aftermarket auto parts industry is nearly the opposite. Sure there are some voluntary industry standard groups, but they pale when compared to the medical requirements. In the absence of any regulation the free market will tend to drive the cost down to the point where everything is garbage. As a car guy I am not a fan of regulation but currently the pendulum may have swung a little too far.

There have recently been a couple discussions interchangeably for bumpers between the AMT 71 and the MPC 71-74 Chargers. One of those recent discussions included pics of bumper test fits. You should search "Super Charger". The short answer is they don't fit correctly. An option would be to cut the grilles out of the 73/74 grille and put them in the 71 Bumper. Same concept should work on the rear bumper. Hope this helps

Well over a decade ago I bought a Page resin at a swap meet in Northern Illinois (I think he lived in that area at that time). It was a 61 or 62 Cadillac 2drHT. It was a nice casting with good proportions. I thought I heard he relocated to the Minneapolis area a few years ago. Hope this helps.

I am with Alan Barton and Les on this as well and for the same reasons. I'm glad you are finishing it "as is". I have a small display of kits I built in grade school and Jr. High. It is a nice reminder that we all start somewhere.

There is a FB group called "Scale Survivors" that is focused on plastic model car kits built during the first golden era (before 1980) that have survived in their original built form. I have been collecting survivor builds for decades. Most of my survivors were found locally by word of mouth. The majority of my survivors were acquired from the original builders or their heir. I really like the charm and nostalgia of a vintage kit built when new (often by a teen or young adult).

Hypothetically, if someone was going to make a 65 Falcon or Comet wagon would the 61 Ranchero be the correct windshield size to start with?

I looked into the original 1974 Dodge Charger Color and Trim Book pages to see if either of the upholstery designs used in 74 were correct. I discovered this funky cloth insert was available in 74 on the buckets. This is definitely going to find its way into a build!

This is really interesting Steve. What jumps out to me about your buckets is the center button with center pleat. This COULD explain the softer headrest detail - maybe??? I just looked up the upholstery pattern in 1:1 Dodge Chargers in 74 and there is no center button/pleat (it is unchanged from 73). It is possible that Dodge had INTENDED to change the pattern in 74 but the change did not make it to production. MPC may have run some promos and kits with the proposed pattern and then corrected it to remove the center button/pleat. The only 74 promo I could find a pic of that clearly shows the seats (see pic) does not have the center button/pleat.

Some more observations and comparisons of 72-74 annual bodies and interiors plus the 72 NASCAR Baker body and the early 73 NASCAR Petty body and hood. All bodies look to have the same trunk emblems. Both 72 bodies have the same C-pilar emblem with no rocker trim, both 73 bodies have the same door emblem with ribbed rocker trim and the 74 door is very slightly changed from 73 but with the same rocker trim. Both 73 hoods look the same except for the hood pins on the Petty hood. All interiors look to the same basic upholstery patterns, but the headrest shape are looks to have changed in 74 (and the Super Charger). The Petty Charger body has the posts blocked off but still has the station wagon cut line that the 73 and 74 annuals have.

I will try to get some pics up tonight.

Some observations on the MPC 72 and 73 Charger stock car kits. *The 1972 Baker Dodge Charger kit (the white #11 car). All of the examples I have seen (I have 3) are essentially stock 1972 Charger Hardtop bodies with door handles, sides markers, wheel lip trim and emblems. The bodies do not have the Charger Rallye door indents (the MPC 1972 Charger annual kit represents a Charger Rallye). These kits also have flat hoods. I am not 100% sure all versions of this kit use a stock body. Please comment if you have seen one that has been modified to cover the door handles. As Jens demonstrates a couple posts up this is a great body to kit-bash with the AMT 71 R/T kit. *The 1973 Petty Dodge Charger kit (first version of the kit/early examples) The very early examples of this kit use an essentially stock 1973 (1974?) Charger Hardtop body with door handles, sides markers, wheel lip trim and emblems. This version of the kit has a flat hood. I have one example of this body and I have seen one other. The modified body version (that also has a bulge hood) is much more common. If you can find this body it would be great to kit-bash with either a Super Charger kit or the AMT 71 R/T kit. The Baker kit can often be found at a very reasonable prices as a rebuilder. The early Petty kit with the stock body can be hard to find in any condition.

Nathan, This might be something you could try to tackle yourself. You would need to modify the center of the front bumper, make an open headlight grille, remove the center rib in the taillights (or scratch build them as the shape is very simple, and remove the hood scoops. Someone recently started 3D printing open headlight grilles for the 69 GTO which would help. Since the GTO was based on the LeMans model things like the seats are the same.

I would say Fords big cars and specifically commercial cars are an exception. I am speaking of car like the Focus and Escape. I know someone with a very high mile Escape so there are exceptions to that as well.

Nice info Bill! If you look carefully just below the ends of the torsion bars you can see where the tool cut was done. Notice there are two gussets in this area between the rockers and the floor on the Coronet chassis and only one on the Charger chassis.

There is another option. The original 71-74 MPC Charger bodies fit on the modern 71 AMT Charger platform. The hood, bumpers and clears interchange as well. I am thinking a partial clone using original 73-74 Charger body and bumpers. You would need a new body, bumpers, seats and interior side panels. Everything else from the 71 Charger. Not perfect but fairly close.

Steve got Encephalitis and nearly died. He was in a coma for 5 months. He had to sell his house and 1:1 cars. I am really glad he hung onto his models.

So, I am a design engineer at a medical device company. While I would never say engineers should be without blame, I would say you need to walk a mile in our shoes to appreciate the world we work in. Just some of our typical challenges are: Component cost, Assembly cost, Weight, Component interaction, External and internal envelopes (the space available), Fastener visibility, Serviceability, Lifecycle. Toyotas are designed to be serviced by car owners (who are frugal). Lincolns are designed to be serviced by technicians for customers that are perceived to be affluent. The Lincoln air filter is not bad engineering, it is an intentional decision by management. On the topic of the Ford plastic intake manifold, Ford might be the best at designing vehicles that last to the third owner and then fail on multiple levels. They study the market carefully, so their cars satisfy the original buyer and are reliable enough to command good prices as a late model used car. Once they get to a third or fourth owner there is no value to Ford if the vehicle is reliable.