1972coronet

The best thing about the original issue ? It was produced when Revell-Monogram still made their kits in the U.S. ! I can't believe that it's been 10 years already since this kit hit the shelves !

I live in the smog check capital of the U.S. : California . White Glove test for every and any 1976 & newer vehicle ; visual and dyno (tail pipe) tests . Back in 1998 , testing for vehicles which were then-25 years old and older was dropped ; 1973 & earlier vehicles were now exempt ! This was supposed to be a rolling 25 year exemption (today , a 1988 vehicle would be exempt) ; however , our former Governor , "Ahh-nohld" , kissed butt to the wench at the C.A.R.B. (Calif Air Resources Board) , and suddenly , the cutoff is now 1975 . While I like clean air , I also realise what a joke these visual tests are ! Who cares what's under the hood so long as it's clean out the pipe ?!?!? I have seen vehicles fail the visual , but run clean out the pipe ; and I've seen cars pass everything else (visual) but fail the pipe test . It's been proven twice that modified vehicles run cleaner than if all of that archaic equipment was in place ! Once those EGR valves become obsolete , the charcoal cannister is no longer serviced , and the distributors with stiff-as-a-carcass advance springs all fail , the car will run dirty ! I'm just glad that my 1972 Coronet is exempt from Calif's smog check scam / money grab !

When my uncle saw my 1972 Coronet for the first time ---I've had it for eight years now--- he said , "Seventy-two , huh ? I'll never forget this year [of these cars] as it was the first year that the [LASD] finally got air conditioning !" Whittier ( Ca.) , LAPD , LASD , etc. , always had mid-sized cars from as far back as I can remember . LAPD tested and had a small group of 1976 Valiant A38's ; but , they were hampered by a single exhaust / cat con , which whittled the 360's output to 195 hp . Most were either 318's or 225's ; some had the 360 . By the way ; the 1978 Fury from Colors (1988) was parked under US 101 Hollywood Freeway at Bushard (across from the main LAPD vehicle storage / repair facility in Downtown ) . Last time I saw it was in 2001 . It was still in that yellow colour ; 360 four barrel. I was stunned when I saw it , caked-over in dust , just sitting under the freeway overpass !

I wonder if those were Cavaliers Cimmerons ! Ha ha ha ha ! Early 80's ... the end of Brown's dark reign over the state . Oops ! He's back again ! My dad still curses him on a daily basis , as do I .

Jerry "Moonbeam Condor" Brown did more to ruin police cars that any single 'person' . The CHP used to be able to special order cam specs ... ... then good ol' Brown descended upon Sacramento in 1975 , and bequeethed that all police cars must meet the same emissions standards as their civilian counterparts : farwell to higher-lift , longer-overlap cams for the CHP ! It came to a boil in 1980 when the then-new R-Body St. Regis / Gran Fury was limited to the severely-emasculated 120 hp (!!) 318 four barrel . Out of state , the E58 360 was available ; it was vastly-superior to the "Jerry Brown Special" . My uncle is a retired LASD Detective (1960-1984) . He was piloting vehicles built during the golden age ; 365 hp 426 Wedge Dodge 880's ; 330 hp 383 Coronets ; and other "4 door muscle cars" . The 318 "powered" St Regis made the Los Angeles Times' front page "New CHP cars can't catch speeders ; cars won't do 100 mph !" . But , I divulge ... The 1980-1988 M-Body Diplomt / Gran Fury biggest downfalls were : - Poor build quality - Heavy weight (especially when loaded with all the field equipment !) - 4 catalytic converters (not kidding !) - Computer overheating (many were relocated to the passenger compartment-side of the firewall from their air cleaner location) - Fuel starvation on sharp turns The 9C1 Nova was a sweet package ! They were quick and handelled well . I wanted one when they went to auction in the late 80's ---well past their "expiration" ; they were that popular !--- but I couldn't afford one . A neighbour had one , a 1984 LASD model . Its engine was replaced with a 383 stroker ; a 200-4R with a hard shift kit was installed ; and 3.42 gear . Front wheel drive is a horrible arrangement in a police car , esp a pursuit model ! Even a patroller version is a bad idea if there are loads of potholes , rail road crossings and curbs to jump !

These are some excellent ideas , my brothers ! Now , how 'bout a really obscure police car : 1976 Valiant / Dart "A38" with the 220 hp E58 360 and best of all no catalytic converters (the 360-powered models were sans the dreaded cat cons !) ! Now , I realise that there's no way that any of the fledgling kit companies would ever tool up an oddity such as a 4 door Dart or Valiant ; but , how about one of the resin casters ?

Y'mean like this one :

Dodge did offer Gun Metal ... but not until the 1971 model year . Its code was GA4 (Light Gun Metal) and GA8 (Dark Gun Metal) , with the latter being a C-Body only offering . Plymouth called the GA4 "Winchester Grey" . GA4 was available through at least 1973 or 1974 . The 1969 A4 (EA4 , perhaps ?) was a different silver all together . Super nice Super Bee , by the way !

Luc , you are right on the point with your suggestion for a 1969 Polara A38 ! I am not certain as to why I overlooked that brute in my original post ... it was only the quickest and fastest police car for many years ! Pat , of course an M-Body would be welcomed ! Little known deal regarding the then-newly-redesigned 1980 M-body : it was the last year for the coveted 360 in a passenger car (except out here in good ol' Cali ; we were restricted to a wheezing smog hog 318 four barrel pig ). How about the ill-fated Dodge St Regis / Plymouth Gran Fury twins (the R-Bodies) ?? It would be great to see the correct air cleaner housing for the Lean Burn equipped models (1976 & later 400's / 440's , et seq.)

I'm certain that this topic has probably been discussed before , but I'm too lazy to check . What kinds of new-tooling police cars would you like to see ? Also , should a civilian building option be included ? A taxi version ? Here's what I would personally like to see : - 1994-1996 9C1 Caprice - 1999-2012 Crown Victoria - 1971-1974 Coronet / Satellite A38 - 1975-1978 Monaco / Gran Fury (the B-Body versions) - 1974-1977 Monaco / Royal Monaco / Fury - 1978-1990 9C1 Caprice - 1984-1986 LTD II - 1971-1974 Matador What additional kits would you guys like ?

Good call on the white pinstripe on the rocker panels , Jason ! I noticed that you added a power brake setup instead of the kit's non-assist master cylinder ; is that the setup from the Revell-Monogram '68 / '69 Dart ? I like what you did with the exhaust manifolds ; that's spot-on ! Personally , I've always painted the manifolds in Gunze's Burnt Iron , then "dusted" them at an angle with engine colour . Keep up that great work on your 'X' !

Kevin , Tom E. , et al. , that Chevelle looks super ! I can hardly wait to see an assembelled version or two . Here's some inspiration : The "most expensive Motion Chevelle built " ($12,000 in 1973 !!!) .

Those Sox & Martin Pro Stock Barracuda kits by JoHan are rare , expensive and require some fiddling to produce a nice finished product . They were reissued under the Testors banner back in the 90's . As a side note : the real S&M car was a 1970 body-in-white and was updated to 1971 fascia for that season (it had the 1970 tail lights / panel , at least early on).

I believe that Keith Marks makes a scale repro of the 1969 Mod Top pattern .

- Blues Brothers - Bullitt - Duel - French Connection - Seven-Ups

Interesting nugget here ... I didn't realise that there were so many subtle changes during the lifetime of Chrysler's Corporate Blue (et al.) versus the 'official' Petty Blue . I read some-where that Petty mixed his blue from a combination of Ford Blue and white . Whether that's a valid story or not , I don't know . All that I do know is that my 1973 Duster was TB3 with black interior (318 / 727 / 8.25") , and that I miss my Duster

Excellent choice in tunes for working on your Charger ! Personally , I like 1975's Sabotage as background music for working on cars :D . I also recognise that you're a fan of Pink Floyd ; so it begs the question : do you also like their 1965-1972 works ? Syd Barrett is the tops !

Those canopy sunroofs are rare . I know that Chrysler used them for the 1971-1972 Duster and Demon ; I've seen two Buick Skylarks with the same roof as the pictured Nova ; and , I *think* that FoMoCo may've used them as well . I believe that these canopy roofs were installed by "ASC" (American Sunroof Corporation) and-or "C&C" (Cars & Concepts) , both in the Detroit area .

Looks NICE !! 1968 blue was most-likely UU1 ; 1969 would be EB7 or EB5 (I emphasised the "E" because "B5" and "B7" changed *frequently* ; 1971= GB5 / GB7 ; 1976 = MB5 / MB7 ...) .

I like the other one better .

Chrysler's paint code for Petty Blue is TB3 ; this colour code dates back to 1962 . As Magnum stated , its 'official' name was Super Blue (Dodge) and Basin Street Blue (Plymouth) , and became a regularly-available colour for 1972 .

COOL !!! The LAPD's "Freeway Enforcement" programme is virtually esoteric , so few know of its existence . My uncle is a retired LASO Deputy (1962-1984 ) . Apparently , the Sheriff's Dept had a similar programme , during the same era as LAPD's programme . He drove a 1963 Dodge 2 door sedan with a built 426 Wedge / Torqueflite . This car was used for pursuits on Imperial Highway (CA 90 / CA 105 ) and the Long Beach Freeway (CA 15 , et seq.) . I've seen photos of the 1964 Oldsmobile Delta "B09" ( and I could swear that a B09 F-85 was used as well ... ) in addition to the Pontiac you're replicating . Keep up the great work !

SpkGibson , et al. - While I certainly agree that "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery" , I also completely understand where Steve's coming from ; I absolutely empathise with this righteous assertion that (to paraphrase) : " I don't want someone turning out [my 1972 Demon grille] as a poor attempt at copying my original part..." Personally , I had some of my artwork plagerised ; and , no , I wasn't very happy . To wit : the elementery school I attended (1975-1982) had a Lynx mascot . In 1980 , the school held a contest to see who could design the best illustration of a Lynx , and said illustration would be chosen as the school's newsletter's header . I won the contest ; all was good . Fast-forward to c.1985 . One of my sister's friends went to the same school where I created their mascot . On a t-shirt she was wearing was the school's name , and my Lynx design ! Too add "insult" , my signature was ostensibly missing ! At first I was irritated ; then , the more I thought about it , I concluded that , "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery" ! I know , apples-to-oranges . However , the sentiment is the same : the creator of "x" original item , etc. , should feel that righteous sensation of "Don't mess with my design !" . Please keep on creating your awesome parts for our beloved scale MoPars , Steven ! Your work is nothing short of amazing !

Tom Metzner - Thanks for the info regarding how these "proofs" were made ! That whole computerised-CNC-machined deal is such a sweet invention . First time I saw a product made in that fashion , I couldn't believe it ! My cousin had some golf Putter 'alignment-shot' deals made from "CNC-Printed" plastic . I had to ask him repeatedly to confirm that the tools were , indeed , "printed" ! Absolutely amazing stuff

I'm gonna guess that it's the acrylic clear that chemically-reacted poorly with the decal . An enamel or lacquer clear *most-likely* wouldn't have reacted as such , The 3-day wait to clear was the right thing to do .