1972coronet

Has the world changed or have I changed?

My friend Brad Miles visited there a couple of months ago, and he took lots of photos. All that I can say is !!!WOW!!!

Well, at least I actually owned a 1:1 Coronet of 1972 vintage (haha).

RE: 1980 Annual: Yes, they were annuals. By c.1979 or so, MPC wrapped the boxes with a clear 'band' which proclaimed "NEW FOR '80!" (for example). Oftentimes, only the customised version of the kit was featured on the box art; sometimes the stock version was featured in the background (c.1978); other times, the stock parts garnered a text-only mention of their presence. The Duster name was indeed "reimagined" for '77 or '78 as a trim level for the Volaré, with the same 1972-1976 'DUSTER' emblem, now with flat black instead of beige.

I have an original 1980 annual (moulded in black), as well as the reissue (and a 1977 annual). They're a good source for a 318-340-360/ T-Flite combo, plus engine compartment items for the MPC 1971-1976 A-bodies; and a cool subject matter unto themselves.

Surfin' Bird by The Trashmen is one of the finest songs ever composed

MC5 at the 1968 DNC in Chicago.

RE: 1972 Road Runner: While I, too, would love to see Round2 release the 1971/1972 Road Runner, I also realise that it would be best be done via the Nova Wagon, Grumpy's Toy, 1968 Coronet, etc., etc. manner. The 1973/1974 Road Runner has a different interior (dashboard is the same in-scale) and, obviously, different front and rear 'clips' (likely tooling inserts). The 1973/1974 Road Runner tooling is long in the tooth. The copy of the recent reissue I'd recently purchased exhibits the age of the tooling: asymmetrical body ('core shift' - body is off side-to-side); more flash than an old pervert wearing a trench coat; and diminished details. A scan-upgrade approach would be best: cleaner body marques; improved interior (maybe the standard door cards); better engine; correct engine compartment; Dana 60 and 8 3/4 diff assemblies; separate exhaust, and so forth --- just like the upcoming 1968 Coronet. Release the 1971 first, then the 1972 -- heck, maybe include both years' parts in one kit.

The media is the propaganda machine of the various worldwide governments, some more blatant in their M.O. than others. It's called Manufacturing Consent (title of Chomsky's 1988 book), and certainly isn't exclusive to ex cathedra war consent, but likewise the argumentum ad populum.

On a related note: here's an excerpt - almost complete - from Joan Didion's The White Album [1979] whose chapter is titled The Bureaucrats [1976] I have edited some of it for clarity This chapter pertains to Cal Trans [et alia] Los Angeles headquarters at 120 S. Spring St. The Santa Monica [ Freeway -- I-10's westernmost portion] normally carried 240,000 cars and trucks every day. These 240,000 cars and trucks normally carried 260,000 people. What Caltrans described as its ultimate goal on the Santa Monica was to carry the same 260,000 people, “but in 7,800 fewer, or 232,000 vehicles.” The figure “232,000” had a visionary precision to it that did not automatically create confidence, especially since the only effect so far had been to disrupt traffic throughout the Los Angeles basin, triple the number of daily accidents on the Santa Monica, prompt the initiation of two lawsuits against Caltrans, and cause large numbers of Los Angeles County residents to behave, most uncharacteristically, as an ignited and conscious proletariat. Citizen guerrillas splashed paint and scattered nails in the Diamond Lanes. Diamond Lane maintenance crews expressed fear of hurled objects. Down at 120 South Spring the architects of the Diamond Lane had taken to regarding “the media” as the architects of their embarrassment, and Caltrans statements in the press had been cryptic and contradictory, reminiscent only of old communiques out of Vietnam. To understand what was going on it is perhaps necessary to have participated in the freeway experience, which is the only secular communion Los Angeles has. Mere driving on the freeway is in no way the same as participating in it. Anyone can “drive” on the freeway, and many people with no vocation for it do, hesitating here and resisting there, losing the rhythm of the lane change, thinking about where they came from and where they are going. Actual participants think only about where they are. Actual participation requires a total surrender, a concentration so intense as to seem a kind of narcosis, a rapture-of-the-freeway. The mind goes clean. The rhythm takes over. A distortion of time occurs, the same distortion that characterizes the instant before an accident. It takes only a few seconds to get off the Santa Monica Freeway at National-Overland, which is a difficult exit requiring the driver to cross two new lanes of traffic streamed in from the San Diego Freeway, but those few seconds always seem to me the longest part of the trip. The moment is dangerous. The exhilaration is in doing it. “As you acquire the special skills involved,” Reyner Banham observed in an extraordinary chapter about the freeways in his 1971 Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies, “the freeways become a special way of being alive … the extreme concentration required in Los Angeles seems to bring on a state of heightened awareness that some locals find mystical.” Indeed some locals do, and some non locals too. Reducing the number of lone souls careering around the East-West Corridor in a state of mechanized rapture may or may not have seemed socially desirable, but what it was definitely not going to seem was easy. “We’re only seeing an initial period of unfamiliarity,” I was assured the day I visited Caltrans. I was talking to a woman named Eleanor Wood and she was thoroughly and professionally grounded in the diction of “planning” and it did not seem likely that I could interest her in considering the freeway as regional mystery. “Any time you try to rearrange people’s daily habits, they’re act to react impetuously. All this project requires is a certain rearrangement of people’s daily planning. That’s really all we want.” It occurred to me that a certain rearrangement of people’s daily planning might seem, in less rarefied air than is breathed at 120 South Spring, rather a great dealt to want, but so impenetrable was the sense of higher social purpose there in the Operations Center that I did not express this reservation.

Sweet Lincoln! It'd look right at home here in So Cal. Reminds me of something one may see in a 1960's surf & beach film (think: Don't Make Waves).

Here's an interesting article on the "last" Dart built, a 1981 model: The Last Dart: 1981 Brazilian Dodge Dart Coupé de Luxo | Allpar Forums

"Repeatedly pulsating sounds and gyrating dancers...", is how a critic described Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable 1966-1967 travelling multi-media events

So long as you recover Parnelli Jones's Oly Bronco then all's well.

Dynamite save and restoration/upgrade of that bad boy! Perfect choice of colours -- unique for sure! (Enquiry unrelated to your work: Where ever are the back-up lamps?)

I'm no musician - I have no abilities whatsoever - but this seems like an impossible-to-perform-live song due to its studio manipulation. I wish that Marty Stuart and his band could've played this back in April, but I understand the limitations of a four piece band (of immense talent). None-the-less, here's a sweet live version from a few years ago, as performed with Roger McGuinn, Chris Hillman, Marty Stuart, and company.

Great live version of All By Myself [written by Walter Lure] by Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers (sans Jerry Nolan) from GBGB's, 1983.

Persona non grata is typically ex cathedra.

I'm down for the Streaker 'Vette (sans graphics), as I remember what fun I had building one back in c.1982. I was hoping for a resin figure of Berkowitz to accompany the U.S. Mail Pinto, but you can't always get what you want.

Made in Brasil with CKD (Complete Knock-Down) kits from Chrysler U.S. While resembling the 1969 Dart of the U.S. market, that's where the similarities end. Engines were -performance-wise- 318 (5,2 litros) with, in es, 340 top end. Rated at 230hp and completely free of any smog equipment (except for the useful PCV valve). Interiors were unique, made of locally-sourced items from local suppliers; this wasn't limited to the interior. The tyres were sourced from Good Year's South American plant (white letters read Banda Larga [Wide Band; colloq., Wide Tread] ) Oftentimes, the interiors were more luxurious vs. their U.S. counterparts. The Flying Buttress of the R/T was designing nod to the 1968-1970 Charger. I am certain that Señior Gustavo will correct/amend any info I've shared here. **EDIT** Here's a decent article about the Brasilian Dart et alia models CC Global: The Brazilian Dodge Dart/Charger – Genuine Mopar V8 This Time Around | Curbside Classic Similarly, AutoMex (Chrysler de Mexico et alia) built and sold a Valiant Super Bee (1970 1971-1976 Demon/Dart Sport) ,GTS Dart (two door hardtop), and F-body (Aspen) Super Bee (1976-1980).

At one time, there were Chrysler-Plymouth , Imperial (standalone), and Valiant (1960-1962, sold through their own dealerships. No Plymouth nameplates to be found). By c.1970, there were Chrysler-Plymouth-Imperial , and sometimes Valiant (artifact of the 1963 model year). In the U.S. at least, Dodge was its own entity. Canada had Dodge-Fargo, IIRC.

NICE !!! I love the Brasilian Dart-Chargers, and your builds are fine examples of them. Did you include the engines? If I remember, they are either silver or gold.

C.A.R.B. (California Air Resources Board), which is an entity consisting of appointed staff, voted to ban all new sales (versus sales-of-new?) of I.C.E.-powered vehicles by 2035 (emphasis mine). "Not ready", is the understatement of the decade. Another reason to move from this state (no place is perfect -- sensibility is all I'm asking for). Once a few certain high-profile figures consisting of former second-in-command personnel and de facto politicians relinquish their personal jets, then maybe CARB et al. decisions would be viewed with less derision .

I was being facetious, me fellow Scot. Looks like a cool item to have!