Harry P.

But that has no bearing on whether collecting them is popular or not. Antiques are also quaint artifacts of a past era, but millions of people are into antiques.

Stamp and coin collecting are hardly "dead or dying" hobbies. They're probably among the most popular hobbies in the world. Collecting dust, on the other hand... not a lot of people into that, but as far as cheap hobbies go, you can't beat it!

Well, that's what 29¢ worth of "awesome" looks like!

What do you expect for 29¢???

We'd all be scrapbooking...

The valve covers may indeed be upside down, but come on guys... looking at the overall model, the amount of scratchbuilding, the craftsmanship... how many of us could build even close to that level? Not many. Yeah, calling out the fact that the valve covers are upside down, or the gun trigger was on backwards, are legitimate, and John acknowledged his mistakes. Points made and points taken. Onward. BTW... I don't know if that car was a serious attempt at a custom, or someone's idea of a joke! That has to be the ugliest, gaudiest, most over-the-top (in a bad way) creation I've ever seen... tasteless, schlocky, and garish aren't strong enough adjectives to describe it. Maybe "revolting" is closer. But regardless, John's recreation of it is flat-out amazing, even with the upside-down valve covers!

It's about time they dropped the horse and buggy "technology" and brought the Mustang into the 21st century!

I can also retouch photos so that you would never be able to tell. I do it for a living, I'm a graphic designer. I retouch photos for brochures, ads, etc., all the time, where the last thing the client would want is for the photo to look the least bit faked. The Photoshop work has to be completely undetectable.

I have about 30-40 more if you need more proof.

I'm way too good with Photoshop. You guys would never be able to tell...

They keep re-issuing and re-re-issuing and re-re-re-re-issuing kits for two simple reasons. One, they're cheap to do. The tooling was paid for long ago, so the cost to put out a reissued kit is far less than to tool up a new kit. And two... people keep buying them! It's our own fault. If model kit buyers would stop buying the old reissues, the kit makers would stop reissuing them and put more effort into creating new kits. But as long as people keep buying all the old kits being cranked out, the model companies have less incentive to invest in new kits. By continuing to buy all of these old, lousy kits, we are causing the problem of the never-ending parade of old kits in new boxes.

A lot of kits currently being sold are reissues, which means the molds were engineered and created many years ago, and the model companies are just reusing the old molds to crank out "new" kits to sell. These old kits were originally designed when the largest chunk of model car buyers was kids, who didn't really care all that much about accuracy and detail... they liked lots of chrome parts and decals. So we see a lot of sub-par models on the shelves today that were actually designed ages ago. We also see brand new model car kits that also leave something to be desired. Sometimes the manufacturer made a mistake, sometimes they cut corners. And some manufacturers just seem to care more about detail and accuracy than others do. It's a real mixed bag out there... you will find model car kits ranging from nearly perfect to barely more than junk. They're all out there. As far as why kits are so "expensive," that's a matter of personal opinion. I don't find the average car model kit to be all that expensive ($20-40). Some people might think that a model kit should still cost 5 bucks, but model kits, like everything else, have gone up in price over the years. For some reason, there are a lot of model car builders who are incredibly cheap and complain about price. Maybe those guys are today's adults that remember building model cars when they were kids, when the kits cost just a buck or two... and they can't understand why a model kit doesn't still cost only a buck or two. After all, the basics of manufacturing a kit haven't changed... you still need to cut the tooling, you still need injection molding machines, you still need packaging and distribution... if they could make kits for two bucks back then, why can't they do it today? But the fact is, nothing that sold in 1962 still sells for the 1962 price in 2013. People today make 2013 wages, not 1962 wages, and all related business costs have also risen accordingly. It would be unrealistic to expect a new refrigerator or a new car to cost what it did 40-50 years ago, and model kits are no different.

Well, it looks like ROM is coming to the end of the line. After 200+ of these, it's just getting too hard to find photos that will fool most people. Impossible, really. There are only so many photos out there that would work, and I've probably used most of them... some more than once! And most of the photos that I've had sent to me were way too obvious to fool anyone. I might run ROM every once in a while, but not regularly any more. Next Monday there will be a new Auto ID.

You do realize that a funny car body is a one-piece fiberglass replica, not made up of sheetmetal panels like a "real" car body... so there would be no rust.

List most others, I don't have any pre-set limit. And the most I've ever spent on one kit (the kit plus aftermarket detail items) was about $1,000. That's just the kit and the aftermarket parts alone... I don't count supplies like paint, glue, sandpaper, X-acto blades, etc., as that is all just general supplies that are used on all kits, and an ongoing expense as needed.

Ausgezeichnet!

That's a lot of intensive handiwork there. But the end result is pretty spectacular!

I'm pretty sure the windshield surrounds were black rubber and not chrome.

But first you'd have to have one to restore...

A tattoo on your arm? Way too mainstream. Got any others in more "crazy" places?

Steering wheel???

Cool. I have to wonder why they molded the driver figure in clear?

Those are some crazy colors you have going on under the hood!

You may be right that it doesn't sell... but you never know. On any given day anything can happen.

And that statement is based on what, exactly? What it's worth (what anything sold at auction is "worth") is whatever the highest bidder is willing to pay for it. "Worth" is a function of the combination of rarity and demand. If it sells for two million, then to the buyer that's what it's worth.