Rob Hall

Yeah, the gray plastic on my Jeep bumpers and side trim was faded after years in sunny Arizona.

Nothing new. My old Jeep had gray plastic bumpers, rocker and lower door trim. My newer Jeep has black wheel arch trim, not as noticeable on a black vehicle.

I've never had anything unsafe or a rust bucket, but I have had a few high mileage semi-unreliable vehicles. I never want to depend on anything with over 100k miles again. Old high mileage vehicles could be fun as occasional use weekend toys, but I don't want to depend on one as a daily again..been there, done that..having to get a AAA tow twice in the same week is no bueno.

I never had anything too sketchy, but the '79 Dodge Power Wagon 4x4 pickup my Dad had in the 80s and I learned to drive in was subjectively awful. It only had 25k miles in 1985, but the steering was numb and had no on-center feel (I would drive down the road constantly steering to keep it in a straight line)...the suspension was very bouncy, and it would stall on left turns. Another car I learned to drive in and drove some in high school and college was my Dad's '84 Ford Escort L diesel 5dr hatchback w/ 5spd manual. He bought it to tow on the back of the family Winnebago. It would be ideal today as far as the gas mileage--got up to 55 mpg on the highway, but it was slow to accelerate and was very spartan inside (red vinyl interior, manual windows, am radio, A/C was the only option I think).

Little metal springs. The 1/20th MPC Corvettes were the same way.

I never said anything about the SS. I was talking about the AMT annuals. They made a ‘62 Chevy II convertible kit. I have one.

The driver kind of looks like early 80s Kurt Russell channeling Abe Lincoln. Or Wolverine.

I saw that kit on Model Roundup..looks like a really neat subject.

I have a couple 1/24th ICM models (the convertible and sedan Opel Admirals) and a variety of resin parts from USCP. Very high quality.

Very sharp build...great color combo. I have a Danbury Mint diecast one in that color combo.

I've never had a need for a truck living in suburbia and decent-sized cities over the last 20+ years (Phoenix, Denver) ...the times I've needed one for moving furniture, etc I've rented a pickup or a van from Home Depot or UHaul. A 2 row midsize SUV (Jeep) has been sufficient for a daily driver. If it didn't fit in the Jeep, I'd have it delivered. Though a beater 4x4 truck would come in handy now as I foresee spending the next year of weekends hauling tools, etc stuff in and out of my inherited family property trying to clean up the place..

I got a set of those in the mail today to use on the Chevelle reissue. IIRC, forward_resin is MCM's Casey.

IIRC, that was one of the sensors on my '00 Grand Cherokee that went bad over 10 years ago... and the crank position sensor. IIRC, neither threw a check engine light. The crank position sensor issue happened once on the freeway, shut off while I was driving at 70 mph..had to coast to the side of the road and call AAA for a tow. Shop had it for a day, replaced the battery terminals, checked everything, couldn't figure it out. A day later, it wouldn't start after work..another 30 mile AAA tow. 2nd time at the shop they figured it out. All the sensors and electronics that go bad north of 100,000 miles are part of why I don't plan to keep my current GC past 100k.

I liked them in my STS...my DTS had heated seats, the STS heated and cooled seats. Both of my Grand Cherokees have had heated seats, which are great in winter in Ohio..

Yeah, I think CA has had the highest prices in the country...regular was $3.99 here in NE Ohio yesterday. I did notice diesel was $4.59 a gallon.

I filled up yesterday for $3.99/gallon, up 20 cents per gallon since last week. I get about 22-24mpg highway which is pretty good for a 5000lb SUV. I work from home and have no commute, and mostly only drive on the weekends so I'm fine. I remember when models were $5-8, when they were $12-15, when they were $20-25. Inflation happens over time...nothing is static. Everything is more expensive now than it was in 1982/1992/2002/2012...but salaries are higher also..

I don't recall seeing a kit of the gray Viper Defender from the show, but maybe a diecast? Been a while...

A friend of mine in Denver has been doing sports car road trips w/ his wife for 20 years... they would pack light and go out for 2-3 weeks every summer--5000 to 10000 mile drives--first a dark green '97 BMW Z3, then later an '08 Porsche Boxster S. Seems like a sports car could be a lot of fun if you included a lot of winding roads on a trip rather than just boring interstates.. for long drives on interstates I prefer my Jeep or a largish luxury sedan for the comfort and quiet.

There is a resin caster on FB that used to cast a Camaro wagon similar to that. Keith (or Kevin?) Kaucher (sp?) IIRC…

Nice to see the Lindberg '66 Chevelle SS getting the AMT Retro-deluxe treatment...it's a nice kit.

Yeah, I've always lived in small towns, suburbs or suburban parts of medium-to-large cities. I'm used to always parking in parking garages downtown or surface lots. Rarely had a need to parallel park.

The tires in the new kit are pretty meh....tiny, skinny, no whitewalls. Have to find better tires in my parts box. The kit looks good overall, though. On second check, the tires do appear about the same size as the ones in the recent AMT '63 Chevy II wagon kits..

Not sure if it will affect any of the UConnect features on my '14 Grand Cherokee... I have Sirius XM, Nav, remote start through the key fob, etc. that shouldn't be impacted. Maybe the 911 button that may use cellular might be affected. My sister's '15 Chevy Trax has OnStar, not sure if that will be affected. I know when I had older Cadillacs ('00 DTS, '06 STS) their OnStar service was expired.

The last 3 weekends I’ve been going down to my family farm 90 miles from here and working on cleaning up my childhood home. Today was the first time I brought home some of the models I built as a teenager in the 80s, which have been pretty well preserved the last 30+ years in a glass display case. I still have at least 50 built kits there from childhood boxed up and 100s of Hot Wheels and Matchbox to retrieve in the coming weeks. I liked building Monogram and Johan kits as a teenager, and many of these were molded in color and I clear coated them. Some were my first paint jobs like the ‘70 Chevy and ‘69 442.

Got the new Moebius '65 Chevy II ht and gasser kits in the mail yesterday from Model Roundup...haven't had a chance to open them yet..