Chuck Most

Nothing finer than a hot-rodded Ford pickem-up with a lived-in look.

I'd certainly be interested in an XNR. Not sure on the others suggested, but I'd think there'd be more than enough demand.

Oh... my white Neon also had the popular bare metal option on the roof, and the majority of the trunk lid by the time I got rid of it.

Every GM vehicle I've ever owned was complete and total trash, except for the series of '81-'83 Delta 88s I had. But since this is asking for the worst car... I'd have to go with the early Neons. My 96 two-door Plymouth version had a mere 74,000 when I got rid of it- by that time, it was on its second instrument cluster (both fixed for free, but a total of four days I had to find alternate transportation), near the end the engine would only run for about ten minutes at a clip before it needed a break, and the three-speed automatic (yep, three speed- Chrysler didn't offer a four-speed so they could run a passenger's side airbag) started to sound like a coffee grinder at about 70,000- not to mention the hard 1-2 upshift. And there was that weird high-speed vibration no shop could seem to track down. And not only was it starting to fall apart rather rapidly- there was quite a bit of built-in badness. The upholstery pattern looked like a microcscope slide of some nasty bacteria, the wiring looms looked like they'd been strung by Chef Boyardee (the guy I sold it to went through said harnesses and managed to fix about half of the car's electrical ailments), and the interior of the car reeked of cheap plastic, especially on hot days. I will say that it got fantastic gas mileage, but that's mostly due to the fact it spent so much time not running. I hear the later '96 and newer Neons were actually halfway decent cars, but I'll Never Ever Own 'Nother Neon. The '98 Tracer which replaced it (320,000 miles and counting with no significant problems, though it is obviously due for a little R&R at this point) was like some kind of starship by comparison.

If Don and Carol have absolutely no plans to ever reissue the '58 Plymouth, you could always ask them if they'd grant their permission to have someone else cast their old kit instead. Worst that could happen is they'd say 'no'. But since this kit is coming back out, and there seems to be more than a little demand for the better-looking ex-JoHan body, maybe they could be convinced to reissue the kit or at least just the body if they get enough people asking about it. Just a thought...

Sweet! Love that orange- kind of fitting given the incendiary nature of the early Pintos too, when you think about it.

Prospector was an option package on the W and D series Dodge Trucks- not sure if it was available on the Rampage or if the owner added that later.

If you're looking for a heavy duty Rockwell rear suspension, the AMT Autocar dump truck kit has one. Speaking of- there's quite a bit of easy interchangability between the AMT Autocar, White Western Star, Diamond Reo, and White Freightliner Dual Drive reissues regarding tire/wheel options, engines, and the like.

Can't tell you how many times I've told myself the same thing. This year alone...

If there is I haven't seen one- and I've been looking for the same thing myself. JoHan's '75 two-door snap kit is the one you're most likely to find- you might be able to rework one of those into a '73 four-door.

Exactly. Now toss in what cachet the Cadillac name still has left and you'll have the only two factors that'll sell this car.

It's from a third-world country- where US vehicles are allowed in but parts for same are not.

Nice! Only thing I'd have done differently would have been to cut out the entire rooftop. Not saying I don't like the way you did yours, just putting it out there.

Well... I think it's a Mack. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Studies show that the kind of people who want to buy a hybrid want it to 'look like' a hybrid, not just a standard car with hybrid badges. At this point it seems like hybrids are more about making a statement than anything else.

Got mine for a pretty good price, unbuilt and completely intact. I'd really love to see it reissued. I really want to do a replica of Marilyn Manson's Tainted Love-

I remember a bunch of guys on some other forum going on and on about how these kits were just going to sit on the hobby shop shelves and collect dust. Looks like those guys are officially idiots now! Now, FINISH the thing already!

For me, personally, it usually isn't an issue. But in this case the lack of an up top might be a deal breaker for me, since both of the versions I want to build of this will require the lift-off hardtop. I'm sure it's possible to find a workable top for one, and/or wait for a resin caster to fill in the blank, and if that happens I might still get a couple. But until then, I don't have much use for a kit that's not 100% complete from the box for how I need to build it.

That Autumn Red is a tough one, Jacen. I know Ford currently has a color called Autumn Red, and it is metallic, but the shade is all wrong- Ford's Autumn Red is more of a burgundy or maroon color. In fact, most of the Autumn Red paint chips I've seen are way too dark, except for the non-metallic one used by IH in the '80's, which is a bit brighter but might work if you can get some. Most of the 1:1 Christine clones seem to use Plymouth's 1958 Toreador Red, which was available from the factory on the Belvedere, and was not metallic. I never could find a specific brand or name for the red used on the movie cars- I'm guessing they just grabbed the first off-the-shelf bright red paint the set designer's gopher picked up. All I found was information along the lines of 'the cars were painted red'... no mention of brand name, etc. And since all but a handful of the cars used in the movie were actually Belvederes (not Furies) it is possible a few were in fact painted in the factory Toreador Red. Oddly, though, the signed trunklid in your picture does look like it is a metallic red. The cars in the movie and most of the clones don't appear to have a metallic finish. Huh... I suppose it would be like a General Lee or an Enterprise model... use whatever shade of red looks right to you, naysayers be damned. Personally, I'd go for something that resembles '58 Toreador Red.

At least it isn't as bad as the twilight years of RC2- who remembers the '70 Dodge Daytona kit with the '68 Roadrunner chassis, K-H 'recall' wheels, and what appeared to be a few scratchbuilt underhood details... none of which came with the kit? Or the most recent reissue of the '60 Apache fleetside, which showed the old SMP longbed version with side trim, not the short bed, sans side trim version the kit builds into. That certainly isn't misleading or anything.

Revell screws up every so often with the box art (remember the pic of the stock grille on the '48 Ford coupe kit that looks nothing like the stock '48 grille and is nowhere to be found in the kit?). But honestly I didn't even notice the mention of printed whitewalls until you pointed it out.

They don't look anything like a '51 taillamp- I seem to remember seeing a very similar set on a 1:1 '49- just a round red lens in the middle, and they bolted on in place of the stock housings. The 1:1 was customized in the early '60's- about the time this kit originally came out, so it might have been inspired by that, or maybe the 1:1 was built by one of the guys AMT used as custom consultants back then.

Wonder if that guy is broke and living under a bridge now? I sure hope so!

I've heard the SnapFast Slammer '58 Plymouth's body proportions actually aren't all that bad (compared to this one). Any truth to that? Might be a bit easier on the wallet to kitbash that body with this kit if you want a better looking model and don't quite feel like ponying up for a JoHan or Modelhaus body.

I hope if they manage to sell off all those '70's truck and van reissues they'll at least consider doing something modern. But I doubt it.