"Squad Rod" '79 Nova

[Can-Con]

I haven't seen anyone mention it yet but I noticed in a couple pics ftom NNL East that Round2 had a display with the Squad Rod kit being announced as being rereleased .

I already have a couple '79 Novas but one is a glue bomb and the other, although unbuilt, is missing the chrome tree. The E-bay seller didn't mention that fact in the auction and there was a couple peices of chrome scrap in the box making it look like the chrome was in there.

 

Anyway, I expect it will be a strait reissue of the police car kit with a radar unit and arsenal of firearms included. IIRC, exact same police parts as included in the "Joker Goon Car" and other variations of the Monaco kit.

The body is a hatchback coupe and a lot more accurate than the AMT kits and looks excellent when finished. I owned a 1/1 '79 Nova coupe for many years and can say the body is spot-on. The front and rear bumper, grille/headlight unit and tailights are all on the chrome tree. Also included is a custom front air dam and rear spoiler.

The rest of the kit, on the other hand isn't quite as correct as it could be. Most of the parts are hold overs from the '75/'76/'77 Pontiac Venture Sprint kit so the engine dosen't look much like a small block Chevy. The interior isn't much better. The dash and upholstry pattern was never updated from the first version of the Ventura. Close but not 100% for a '79 Nova. Chassis is a plate with seprate rearend/ehaust system peice, seprate front lower A-arms and uprights with metal axel on rear and plastic pins in front . Almost exactly the same setup as the '79 TransAm kit. Stock 6 slot rallye wheels and 5 slot mags similar to the Dodge LRE pickup wheels are included.

 

There are some street machine parts included. The engine, although more Pontiac than Chevy has the stock 4bbl setup with stock air cleaner or duel 4bbl setup, and stock Chevy exhaust manifolds or headers. The basic engine looks more like the parts in the recently reissued '79 Pontiac TransAm though.  

 

Edited April 18, 2016 by Can-Con

[Snake45]

Thanks for the heads-up and rundown. I've always like these cars (drove a '77 Olds Omega for several years, loved it!) but have always managed to miss the kits when they were available. I'll keep my eyes open for it this time around.

[louie]

Yeah, Thank you for sharing this one. Hopefully we will see this kit. Again, Thank you.     Jeff 

[horsepower]

That's good, all I want is the body and bumpers (or mid seventies Camaro bumpers) for a late model sportsman oval track racer.

Edited April 18, 2016 by horsepower

[stavanzer]

Squad Rod & Fuzz Duster. What a pair from days gone by. I had both and really enjoyed the Squad Rod. Put out Smokey the Convoy Chaser, and the set is complete. Of course, I'll need that '80 Volare RR to complete the Collection. Maybe I can do something Cop themed with the Volare too.

[Nova-ss]

That is great news.I owned a 79 chev nova concours..drove it every where.yep the engine is some combo of a what looks like a Pontiac 400.interior and chassis plate could be better.looking for the mags as well.I also had besides my beloved 74 ss nova...named "Stef" a 75 cpupe and a 76 hatch..named "Ol Yeller"..fun cars..loved em.will be replacing engine and trans and putting a putting a 12 bolt rearend under it.Thanks for the info Steve.....Chris 

[unclescott58]

So am I understanding this correctly. This kit can be built as "stock" '79 Nova? I mean as stock as one can get with a Pontiac motor and interior?

[Can-Con]

So am I understanding this correctly. This kit can be built as "stock" '79 Nova? I mean as stock as one can get with a Pontiac motor and interior?

yes

[gasman]

Good too see this one getting reissued, the proportions are much better then the AMT one last reissued about 10 years ago

[stavanzer]

Thanks for the Pic, Casey.

Got any more?

[afx]

I had no idea what kit you guys were talking about, and I suspect a few others didn't either.  Googled "mod squad model kit" and bang a picture magically appears, copy & past and now we all know.

 

[Daddyfink]

I had no idea what kit you guys were talking about, and I suspect a few others didn't either.  Googled "mod squad model kit" and bang a picture magically appears, copy & past and now we all know.

 

Surprised you didn't get this

[afx]

Surprised you didn't get this

Typo on my part Jesse I did type in "Squad Rod"  My point is take a few seconds and post a picture.

[Daddyfink]

Typo on my part Jesse I did type in "Squad Rod"  My point is take a few seconds and post a picture.

Oh, absolutely! Pics help out quite a bit in a conversation on these boards. But for some reason, the OP didn't do it. 

 

[Can-Con]

I see people starting threads in this section all the time without pics ,, IF ,, I had of been asked I would have posted one. Sorry guys, I flunked mindreading 101.  I humbly apologise and promise not to start any more threads in this section. 

 

Anyway, here's a pic of the '79 Nova kit I have. Not the Squad Rod but the "Breakout" version which was issued between the annual and the Squad. Same kit without the police stuff added from the Monaco police cars.

[louie]

Can - Con I can only speak for myself and not a big deal about picture posting. I appreciate you starting this post and informing us about this kit. I can't wait for this one and the Fuzz Duster so please keep sharing any and all info on them.    Thank you.    Jeff 

[Can-Con]

Can - Con I can only speak for myself and not a big deal about picture posting. I appreciate you starting this post and informing us about this kit. I can't wait for this one and the Fuzz Duster so please keep sharing any and all info on them.    Thank you.    Jeff 

No worries Jeff, I'm just joking about the situation, if I was mad I wouldn't have posted the last pic  

[stavanzer]

Are the Fuzz Duster and Smokey the Convoy Chaser based off the same kit? I think so, but I don't know for sure.

[Can-Con]

Are the Fuzz Duster and Smokey the Convoy Chaser based off the same kit? I think so, but I don't know for sure.

No. The fuzz duster is a Volare and the convoy chased is a Dart. The kits don't share anything. 

[stavanzer]

Thanks, for clearing that up. Sadly that means I'll have to buy both.

[Robberbaron]

Real glad to see the Squad Rod returning, just a few months ago we had a thread discussing this possibility.  I suppose the Pontiac engine is no big deal to me, no shortage of SBCs in my parts box that I can throw in there.

Of course I don't plan to use the police parts, but it's always nice to have them for the parts box, especially the 1/25th scale arsenal that's included on that parts tree.

All these smog era reissues are getting my hopes up that we might see the Chevette reissued, and maybe a Monza 2+2.  I've got an old Pro Street Rick Dobbertin J2000 chassis that I've been wanting to slip under a small body, preferably a Chevette.

Edited April 30, 2016 by Robberbaron

[oldcarfan]

I really would love to see the rest of the malaise era MPC kits re-released, I am a big fan of their old kits, warts and all. It would be nice to see the stock reissue of the Datsun pickup as well as the monster truck. I understand the Pinto wagon is also coming out. I'll have to have a few of those. I could really use some Volares, Chevettes and Monzas to go with the stock Mustang IIs, and the last reissue of the Caprice in storage already. Now if I could only convince them to start back-dating them every little while. Start with a release of the most recent version, say1979, then a while later redo it into the 1976 and then the 1973 or whatever.

[Bob Ellis]

This was derived from the 1975-76 pontiac Ventura kit?

[stavanzer]

Bob, from looking at old instruction sheets over at the Drastic Plastic webpage, I'll say that the Squad Rod and the Ventura share some parts. Not sure how related they really are. It is worth going over there and looking for yourself.

[Daddyfink]

Maybe because I was a kid when these came out, but, I have a soft spot for them and I would love to see them all come back. Errors and all! 

Some of these have come back, but not all