Harry P.

I don't think anyone really thinks that the MT Car of the Year award is completely on the up and up. Who knows how much back room wheeling and dealing goes on before the "winner" is named? How much money changes hands? What kind of deals are agreed to? Maybe Tesla agreed to spend a certain amount of $$$ on MT ad buys in the coming year. Who knows? I'm just speculating, of course... nothing I said can be proven. But you'd have to be pretty naive to think that the Car of the Year award is given in a totally unbiased and objective way, with absolutely no, uh... "extenuating circumstances."

John, thanks for the steering wheel explanation. It looks great, by the way. Ok... one last question. I don't mean to sound like a wise guy, I really want to know (and I'll bet a lot of members also want to know)... so why do you always redo all the plated parts with Alclad on your models? Is it because you don't like kit chrome? Because you like the look of Alclad better? Because Alclad is sort of like your signature thing? All of the above? I'm just wondering...

What a can of worms you've opened! Just like "muscle car," ask 10 different people to define "rat rod" and you'll get 10 different answers. I think the most widely accepted definition is a hot rod that is built on a bare-bones budget using junkyard parts, with no real attention being paid to "design" or aesthetics, and no real "plan" or design as to how it winds up looking in the end. At least that's how they started. Then people began building "rat rods" that looked that way on purpose. What they were actually building were rat rod facsimiles. Whether these are true "rat rods" or just copies of rat rods is open to debate.

...Tesla! The first time an electric car has been named Car of the Year.

Hmmm... the "new" Photobucket apparently isn't working all that well...

? I can see it. And I've gotten several correct answers already. Anyone else out there that can't see the photo?

Wow! You literally have models piled to the rafters! What you have there is a museum! Heck, you could charge admission to see all that stuff! Very cool.

Ok... points made. Thread closed.

PM sent.

Remember... do not post hints or answers here! PM me with year, make and model. The answer: 2010-12 Chevy Orlando

Are you using the advanced uploader? You have to have Flash 9 installed for it to work. Try the "basic uploader" and see if that works. And I don't think you can upload a text file. And full name in your signature line is the forum rule. I assume there's more to it than "Jim."

How did you do the steering wheel rim and rivets?

Model Ts were available in a lot of different colors in the beginning. But ol' Henry was always looking for ways to increase productivity, speed up the assembly line and keep costs low... in1914 he found that a certain black paint dried faster than other colors did, so he decided that from then on all Ts would be available in black only.

Everyone can upload photos. You can either attach photos to your posts directly from your computer or you can get a photo hosting site account (Photobucket os free), "park" your photos there and then post them here. If you are able to acces this site, as you obviously can, then you can upload photos.

I suggest you check your PM inbox.

Don't know if they're any better... but they're way more expensive! I'm stocking up on "old fashioned" bulbs while I can still get them.

Final vote: 44 REAL, 13 MODEL. You guys are right... it's REAL!

Yes, it all depends. Which one, what condition it's in, how rare it is. The values are all over the place. The best way to check values is to watch the prices on ebay... that will give you an idea. But it really depends on which particular one you're talking about.

Some of them are. Very good money. But you have to know which ones are the rare ones, they're not all worth the same.

Here's an example of a promo. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1963-Ford-Galaxie-Sunliner-Convertible-Dealer-Promo-Car-/121011517033?pt=Model_Kit_US&hash=item1c2cd93669

Promos were not kits. Car dealers used to give away scale models of their new 1:1 models as a promotion, or "promo." It was just a way for the car dealers to advertise their product. These were fully assembled models, but no opening hood, usually (but not always) no paint, just molded in colored plastic. Some manufacturers of these promos then also decided to create unbuilt kit versions of them to sell to hobbyists. Many of the early model kits evolved from promos. I think that the practice of car dealers giving out (or selling) promo models ended in the 70s or 80s? Today some of these old promos are quire rare and very collectible.

Manufacturer's access has nothing to do with designing injection mold tooling. A model car is made in a completely different way than a real car. Having access to the manufacturer's design info, drawings, specs, etc. might make it easier to create an authentic-looking replica as far as accuracy and such, but it would do nothing to help design tooling without big honkin' mold seam lines running all over the place. Back then I guess the guys who designed the tooling either were better at it than the guys today are, or they cared more and sweated the details, or both. There is no way anyone can rationalize giant mold seam lines running across a newly-tooled model kit when they had that exact problem solved years ago.

It's also not rocket science for the kit designer/manufacturer to get it right in the first place so that the buyer doesn't have to fix the manufacturer's mistakes. Just sayin'...

So they figured out how to do it right years ago. But not so much now?

Oh yeah? Well, I'll see your Manfred Mann and raise you an entire electric light orchestra!