AMT PRESTIGE SERIES

[fseva]

I know it's pretty old, but I was just curious to hear if the Prestige series was any better than a normally boxed AMT kits? (other than including a free pen stand)

[mike 51]

No.

[Crazy Ed]

       The text on the side Panel of the Box has the following "Prestige means "held in high regard by others". AMT model kits have earned this esteem by offering the finest models available. In the Presitge series we offer a group of exceptional models with added value including white sidewall tires, metal chroming foil, trophies and display accessories, and reference material to complete a truly significant product".

       Here's what the Trophy & Display Chrome Tree includes'

   Otherwise they were standard kits of simular kits.

   

Edited July 30, 2015 by Crazy Ed

[Mark]

Besides the display base (which was the one from the MPC 1/20 scale Indy Turbine car kit), the Prestige kits included printed whitewall tires.  AMT hadn't included them since the mid-Seventies, and nobody else was doing them at that time.  The thing was, they hadn't found the tooling for the Firestone Supreme tires so they were printing the whitewalls on Firestone Deluxe Champion tires which had raised lettering on one side.  Nobody was making sure the non-lettered side got fed into the machine for printing, so only about half the tires were any good.

[Tom Geiger]

Same kits  but in larger, hard to store boxes!

[Don Sikora II]

I remember being mighty excited about buying the Prestige Series 63 1/2 Ford Galaxie hardtop though.  Sure it's been run a bunch of times since, but that first reissue was a pretty big deal at the time.

[Mike Kucaba]

I thought(read?) that the Corvette had something unique> Hardtop?or script?

[MrObsessive]

I thought(read?) that the Corvette had something unique> Hardtop?or script?

Mike the '63 Corvette in the Prestige series gives you the hardtop, and the standard '63 'Vette hubcaps as opposed to the aluminum finned wheels found in the other "regular" kits. I have this kit but it's packed away-------I thought it gives you the uptop too, but I can't remember.

[62rebel]

yep; AMT took advantage of not having released many of the kits in that series in a long time and I have to admit I bought several, ESPECIALLY that '63 1/2 Galaxie, as I wanted to duplicate the 1:1 I had in the driveway at the time... I even still have a couple of those stands. Traded away a bunch of the car show stuff a couple of years back.

[Snake45]

I thought(read?) that the Corvette had something unique> Hardtop?or script?

Mike the '63 Corvette in the Prestige series gives you the hardtop, and the standard '63 'Vette hubcaps as opposed to the aluminum finned wheels found in the other "regular" kits. I have this kit but it's packed away-------I thought it gives you the uptop too, but I can't remember.

It also had the "hard" top, the fuel injection unit, and FI scripts on the front fenders, none of which were in the regular boxings of the '63 Vette roadster of the time. Dunno what they've stuffed in those boxes since then.

[Longbox55]

The regular issue had the fuel injection unit, I have both kits, the scripts, hardtop, and hubcaps are the main differences. I believe the Prestige version also has a more accurate air filter housing for the carbureted version that the regular issue kit.

[Mark]

The '63 Galaxie was the big news in that series; it hadn't been out since '63 (the original annual kit) and was thought to have been long lost.  The following year, the '63 Impala was a big deal.  I remember talking to the AMT guy (John O'Neill) at the MCCA convention in Dayton.  They had a display there, and were showing off the whitewall tires.  The story he told was that they found the equipment AMT used to stamp the tires, but had to science it out because nobody was there from when it was last used.  The stamping on the lettered side of the tire was something they couldn't prevent.  At the time, the Firestone Supreme tire tooling hadn't turned up, and he (O'Neill) opined that it was lost, so they were using the tires they had.