Don Sikora II

Same here, my first "classic" AMT kits were mostly Countdown, Cruisin' USA, and Reggie Jackson releases. When those early Ertl reissues of Trophy kits and old annuals started showing up in the early 1980s, they were completely new to me.

Revell-Germany actually issued issued a E36 M3 kit, but it was a reboxed Dragon kit. Agree, it would have been nice to have one with an engine.

The Revell-Germany and Hasegawa BMW 325i sedan (E36) kits are not from the same tooling, and only the Revell kit has a full engine.

The 4-slot mags measure approximately .600 inches in diameter where they fit in the tire, so they are 15 inch too.

Thanks, Mark. The only AMT Monza kit I had as a kid was the '77 annual, but don't have one now. Here are quick snapshots of the contents.

Mark, was there a '75 annual, or was the original box that the new one is based on the '75 kit? I did buy the new one. I also have the original kit that used the box art the new one is based on (T434), the 1976 annual (T469), and the Monza SS (2214). The parts in the new one do not exactly match T434. I haven't carefully compared all my kits yet, but I've noticed that the new kit is missing the chrome taillight, front turn signal, and driving light lenses for the custom front and rear ends (the area on the tree was revised for the SS kit and those parts are present in the new one), but they have been replaced with decals that honestly might look better than the old chrome parts. The chrome side pipes in the new kit are the two-piece units from the Monza SS, which are different than the originals too. The new kit also has a tree of what must be retooled pieces. These include a dashboard like the one in T434 (the other kits I have use a different dash, and it is included in the new kit too), a two-spoke (stock???) steering wheel (there's two other steering wheels in the kit too, one of which looks stock to me), and four inner wheel halves. Stock tires in the new kit are vinyl BFGoodrich (I think originally made for the 1970 Monte Carlo lowrider) that are very similar in size to the original kit's two-piece hard-plastic Goodyears. Custom tires are four of the larger-size Goodyears that Round 2 tooled a few years ago, but in this kit they have white tampo-printed Goodyear Rally GT lettering.

Think some 1:1 Firestones in the '60s ran gold lettering. No inside info, but that's probably the look they were going for with these. If they do Goodyears, i'd guess those will have white letters.

That one looks like it was designed in the 1960s by Revell and is probably from one of the issues of the Stone, Woods, and Cook Willys.

I'm curious too. Would really like to see Round 2 work their pad-printing magic on a set of big 'n little "Indy" tires.

Man, that's an incredible find for $15!

Yes, the AMT Customizing Boat kit was originally released in 1959. The '32 Ford roadster and the Customizing Boat were the first two AMT Trophy Series kits.

Yes, the Z-28 kit with the green car on the box is from the new tooling....the current-production version of it has an orange built up on the box and the name of the car is inside of an orange stripe below the picture.

The red one is actually the 1/12-scale kit. The Miami Vice kit was also issued in the Exotic Car Series, but the 1/24 kit has a yellow car on the box.

Great find! If you have the time, please post pics of the parts and decals.

If I remember correctly, all three of the Hot Curl kits were listed and available for pre-order at Tower Hobbies soon after the iHobby show. I did have each of the available kits pre-ordered, but they were cancelled relatively soon afterwards. Hopefully they will bring back one, or more, of the Stroker McGurk kits.

Looks great, especially the pattern on the seats. When I was a kid, the neighbor had a dark red Pacer wagon with that same interior in red. From what I remember, the original annual issue of the stock wagon didn't come with any decals. The original-issue of the custom panel version had a sheet that included markings for Tony Packo's Cafe in Toledo, Ohio. The old sheet references Hungarian hot dogs which I'd guess inspired all the Hungarian-themed decals in the new kit.

Very nice!

Not that I remember.

Looked at my original-issue 1/16-scale MPC '82 Firebird, and it does have the defroster and black area engraving on the inside of the rear hatch. The black area is frosted as well. My kit has dark-smoke-tinted "clear" parts as was pretty typical for MPC kits when it was released. Also, the MPC kit has a solid roof that the builder has to cut out for the t-tops. Don't have a Revell 1/16-scale '82 Firebird, but do have the '83 kit and it's t-top only.

Think he means that one of the first Round 2-issued AMT kits was the '49 Ford in the Street Rods box.

I agree with RancheroSteve!

Very nice. Agree, I'd be crazy happy about a plastic 1/24-scale 991 GT3 or GT3 RS. Have both in 1/43 diecast and the Minichamps 1/18-scale GT3, but still want a kit! Spark made an assembled resin 1/18-scale RS promo for Porsche, but it's way too pricey for me.

Revell also issued the water craft kit with a resin figure of racer Mike Follmer and a resin "wave" base. Those don't look very expensive going by finished eBay auctions. That kit also came with the trailer from the custom Silverado set. The trailer was based on the one that was included in some of the old Revell combo kits of the late '70s or early '80s.

Cool. Wondered if the derby car tool might have survived. I've never had the kit but finally found an empty, and unfortunately ratty, box in the last couple years.

No, the L.A. Street Chopper was a Revell kit, this one is an old Monogram kit.