AMT 1965 GTO

[Snake45]

Will be interesting to see if they've done any more corrections to the body. I just got an original which has the good headlights and taillights, but its body is a little messed up and will require a lot of careful work to fix. Would be nice if the new-issue body is acceptable. 

[Dave Darby]

22 hours ago, Snake45 said:

Will be interesting to see if they've done any more corrections to the body. I just got an original which has the good headlights and taillights, but its body is a little messed up and will require a lot of careful work to fix. Would be nice if the new-issue body is acceptable. 

Even just fixing the headlights would be a big (and I would think not all that expensive) improvement. 

[Motor City]

The taillights should be ribbed like the panel between them and this detail has never been correct.

[Casey]

So, new Hurst mag wheels, which, not technically referred to as Hurst wheels, but appear to be just that:

Edited June 5, 2020 by Casey

[Robberbaron]

Just noticed that convertible up top.  Have any of the post-80s releases included that?

I have the late 80s/early 90s release (molded in turd brown), but I don't remember that being included.  Then again, I haven't looked at it in at least 10 years.  Just wondering if that's from a newly opened runner in the tooling, or if it was also in the RC2 releases?

[Bucky]

I believe that is the hardtop option part. In the old kit I have, there is a custom hardtop, the convertible boot cover, and the part that is supposed to represent a 2dr. hardtop version.

[Robberbaron]

14 minutes ago, Bucky said:

I believe that is the hardtop option part. In the old kit I have, there is a custom hardtop, the convertible boot cover, and the part that is supposed to represent a 2dr. hardtop version.

Ok, I saw the second roof and assumed it must be a convertible up top.  Didn't think of the possibility that it could be a custom part.

[Dave Darby]

2 hours ago, Casey said:

So, new Hurst mag wheels, which, not technically referred to as Hurst wheels, but appear to be just that:

Never mind the wheels. Fix those bug eyed headlights. 

[1972coronet]

The horrid '65 GTO , the '67 GTO , and  '72 GTO tooling need to be demolished by a drone-strike . Same goes for the '69 Camaro --- both iterations .  

[Justin Porter]

8 hours ago, 1972coronet said:

The horrid '65 GTO , the '67 GTO , and  '72 GTO tooling need to be demolished by a drone-strike . Same goes for the '69 Camaro --- both iterations .  

In a kind and just world, there would be modern tooling of any if not all of those three. How warped is it that the closest to a modern GTO Judge kit there is comes in the form of 1/24th scale Monogram tooling?

[Rob Hall]

4 minutes ago, Justin Porter said:

In a kind and just world, there would be modern tooling of any if not all of those three. How warped is it that the closest to a modern GTO Judge kit there is comes in the form of 1/24th scale Monogram tooling?

And that tooling is almost 40 years old.   I'd assume the older AMT and MPC kits sell well enough each time that they are reissued that the potential ROI for new tooling just isn't there...

Edited June 5, 2020 by Rob Hall

[Justin Porter]

Just now, Rob Hall said:

And that tooling is almost 40 years old.   I'd assume the older AMT and MPC kits sell well enough each time that they are reissued that the potential ROI for new tooling just isn't there...

It must be something on ROI that's not adding up because I did just a little brief check-up on Scalemates. The newest GTO kit tooling is Polar Lights' pair of full detail snappers from 2005 (1964 and 2004). Then you have Revell's lovely '66 kit which bowed in 1998. The Monogram 1/24th scale '69 goes all the way back to 1982 and the Monogram '64 arrived in 1985. 

For such a popular and genre critical subject among domestic car builders, the Pontiac GTO has been utterly shafted when it comes to tooling. 

[Snake45]

16 minutes ago, Justin Porter said:

It must be something on ROI that's not adding up because I did just a little brief check-up on Scalemates. The newest GTO kit tooling is Polar Lights' pair of full detail snappers from 2005 (1964 and 2004). Then you have Revell's lovely '66 kit which bowed in 1998. The Monogram 1/24th scale '69 goes all the way back to 1982 and the Monogram '64 arrived in 1985. 

For such a popular and genre critical subject among domestic car builders, the Pontiac GTO has been utterly shafted when it comes to tooling. 

The PL '64 has some shape problems, some of which can be corrected fairly easily. Best '64 GTO is still the original (now rare) AMT. 

The Revell '66 is a pretty nice kit, but in some ways the original MPC (which has now degenerated into the hacked-up MPC/AMT '67) was better in shape. 

You can kind of piece a nice '69 together starting with the promo body in the reissued Judge funny car. 

For a nice '65 and '69, check out the inexpensive Welly diecasts. Not perfect, and a tiny bit undersized, but can look great on your shelf with a little work (and not much money at all). 

[Luc Janssens]

11 hours ago, 1972coronet said:

The horrid '65 GTO , the '67 GTO , and  '72 GTO tooling need to be demolished by a drone-strike . Same goes for the '69 Camaro --- both iterations .  

Yeah, but guess the bank still owns the tooling, so they have to sell mediocre product too just to pay off the loan, besides there's a sucker born every minute, hopefully for them these weekend builders aren't connected to the www.

 

Think the most if not all of the investment (percentage wise) in new product goes to designing new packaging and decals.

Anyway it is what it is...and maybe a good thing too, cuz they're saving me money, I otherwise would spend on yet again a new model kit, like I don't have enough of these already, Ha!

 

Edited June 5, 2020 by Luc Janssens

[Exotics_Builder]

2 hours ago, Snake45 said:

The PL '64 has some shape problems, some of which can be corrected fairly easily. Best '64 GTO is still the original (now rare) AMT. 

 

This one?

 

 

[Snake45]

2 minutes ago, Exotics_Builder said:

This one?

 

 

No, the midyear modification of that one--the '64 GTO hardtop. (Which was sadly modified into the '65 that's still with us today.) 

[Luc Janssens]

2 hours ago, Snake45 said:

The PL '64 has some shape problems.

Yeah, too me it looks like a banana, but Art Anderson always said it was accurate

 

[Mark]

Sometimes a banana is just a banana, but that Polar Lights GTO body does look off to me.  I've thought about grafting the front and rear ends to an AMT '65, but do have an original '64 and even a spare '64 Lemans convertible and extra GTO parts.

The PL Coronet is off too...I took extreme measures to get that one straightened out, should post some pictures of it to show what I did.

[Casey]

This topic is still in need of someone with an original AMT '64 Pontiac Tempest GTO to take and share some images of the body, preferably side-by-side with the Polar Lights '64:

 

[CapSat 6]

I'm following this, because I recently got on a GTO kick and acquired a few of these kits.

3 hours ago, Justin Porter said:

For such a popular and genre critical subject among domestic car builders, the Pontiac GTO has been utterly shafted when it comes to tooling. 

 It's true because while tools exist for most GTO's, most of the tools really are substandard. The '66 is the only really good one at this point. These seem popular enough to keep the old, substandard tools in production, but not popular enough to do new tools (unlike the '57 Chevy and '69 Camaro, for instance).

Our only hope may be that Revell steps up with a new tool '70 in 1/25, then at least we could rob that one of it's guts to enhance the many '72's and '69's still out there. They could at least offer convertibles, Judges, Royal Bobcats and drag cars, which could justify the investment. If the chassis, wheels and engines were done really well, then they'd probably sell a lot of them just for parts. I have a few AMT '69 Oldsmobiles I was going to use for chassis, but engines remain problematic.

I want to buy a '65. I recently came into a nice '64 Lemans promo, so this might go well with it. The box art looks killer. Redlines, white plastic and Hurst Mags sweeten the deal for me. I'm a little horrified by what I'm hearing about the bumpers, but I work with somebody who owned a '65 GTO new, and he knows I'm a car guy, so the car comes up in conversation probably once every two weeks (I don't mind that a bit!). It might be a kick to build it for him.    

So- does anybody know- could I reasonably use the transmission from the AMT '69 Hurst Olds for '69-'72 GTO's? I have no idea, I usually do Mopars. The MPC engine is not so bad, but the transmission looks horrendous...

 

[Rbray47]

I build a lot of kits because my wife likes the 1:1. Once she figures out there's a 65 GTO coming out, I'll have to build it. But since it's going to have a nice set of Hurst mags for my projects, I dont mind this time. 

[Luc Janssens]

1 hour ago, Mark said:

The PL Coronet is off too...I took extreme measures to get that one straightened out, should post some pictures of it to show what I did.

Also one on Art's watch

 

[Snake45]

1 hour ago, Luc Janssens said:

Yeah, too me it looks like a banana, but Art Anderson always said it was accurate

I took a HARD look at it a couple years ago. IIRC, it's a "little bit bent" but some of it is an optical illusion caused by the incorrect roof C-pillars. 

1 hour ago, Casey said:

This topic is still in need of someone with an original AMT '64 Pontiac Tempest GTO to take and share some images of the body, preferably side-by-side with the Polar Lights '64:

 

I could swear I did that at some point. I have a recollection of taking masking tape templates off either the '65 GTO or '64 Cutlass roof (or maybe it was the AMT '64 GTO) and sticking them on the PL C-pillars to show what the problem was, and where. Heck, that masking tape might still BE on my PL GTO body, as I never went any further with it. 

HA! Found it! 

 

Edited June 5, 2020 by Snake45

[Casey]

It looks like there was set of Hurst wheels included in the first/early issues of the AMT '65 Pontiac Tempest GTO kit? Hard to tell via the instruction sheet illustration, but I think I see the Hurst "H" on the centercap:

 

Also, pour one put for the long lost cross-ram style Weber manifold and carbs. 

 

[DonW]

My first BMW 2002 had two twin-choke 45mm Webers. If you like operatic engines, bolt some Webers on!

It's a shame you can't get kits like this at the local model shop any more.