Does the AMT 69 Charger Daytona contain the Charger 500 parts?

[LVZ2881]

I know the body has the rear window plug.

Just Donny remember about the grille.

[moparfarmer]

What I remember is yes, but I'am old and could have forgot..What I do know is the AMT 69 Dodge Daytona is a terrible kit..The Charger 500 is far better..The one I did years ago nothing fit and ended up in the recycle bin..Not a good kit..Needs lots of work to be a real looker..

[gtx6970]

Yes

[Mark]

Maybe the later issues had the grille, but the first one definitely did not.  Aren't the hoods different on those two as well?

[gtx6970]

Maybe the later issues had the grille, but the first one definitely did not.  Aren't the hoods different on those two as well?

I can only speak for these 2 as they are exactly what I have. And they have the exact same chrome tree in them .

As for the hood, no idea havent ckd

 

[gtx6970]

I did this one probably 20 years ago. At the time its all there was unless you wanted to drop serious coin on an original MPC NASCAR kit.

 

To this day I like the door scallops on this body compared to the revell version, I think they better represent the actual car.

 

[Snake45]

 

As for the hood, no idea havent ckd

 

 

I can tell you that the hood in the 500 is not the same as the hood on your green Daytona. Dunno if the "regular" hood is included in the Daytona kit or not (I have one but have never opened it).

I noticed this because I've been looking for a cheap 500 body and hood and have been shopping glue bomb DOH Chargers from a local vendor, who usually has at least one of them (cheap) in stock. Only one he had last month had a good body but an odd blue hood that I thought looked a little oddball. After seeing your pic, I realize that what I was looking at was a Daytona hood.

[Bill J]

The AMT 69 Daytona kit does not contain the Charger 500 parts. The main body is correct for a Charger 500 but the hood is a Daytona hood which is the same as a 70 Charger. The two scallops or indentations on a Daytona are wider than a standard 68-69 Charger. The Charger 500 should have a standard 69 hood with narrower indents.

The two AMT Daytona kits I have both have no front bumper/grille. One is the red car on the box version and the other is a Johnny Lighting version.

Basically, you have to source a standard 68-69 Charger hood and a Charger 500 bumper/grille. Modelhaus used to carry both but as we all know Modehaus is gone. Miss them!!

[gtx6970]

I just opened my factory sealed Daytona kit  ( box art shown above)  for the 1st time maybe a day or 2 ago.

As a member needed a 500 Grille and  it has the EXACT  same chrome tree in it that my 500 kit has ( again ,,,,box art shown above )  with the Charger 500 grill on it . As for whats in any other issues of the kits,,, I cant speak for . As I don't have any other issues on hand ( as I have several copies of the one above )

 

Like I said, the hood I haven't ck'd but My green Daytona was built using the kit with the red box art  I posted above.

 

EDIT, I just ckd  the hoods are in fact different between these 2 kits. I have 2 of the Daytona kits above, both identical contents,,,. both molded in white. My charger 500 is molded in yellow ( yuck )  I didn't go any further to see if any other kit differences .

I will be using one of the Daytona kits to build a 500, as I want to build it as a white exterior with red interior  car. 

Edited December 15, 2016 by gtx6970

[AC Norton]

I just opened my factory sealed Daytona kit  ( box art shown above)  for the 1st time maybe a day or 2 ago.

As a member needed a 500 Grille and  it has the EXACT  same chrome tree in it that my 500 kit has ( again ,,,,box art shown above )  with the Charger 500 grill on it . As for whats in any other issues of the kits,,, I cant speak for . As I don't have any other issues on hand ( as I have several copies of the one above )

 

Like I said, the hood I haven't ck'd but My green Daytona was built using the kit with the red box art  I posted above.

 

EDIT, I just ckd  the hoods are in fact different between these 2 kits. I have 2 of the Daytona kits above, both identical contents,,,. both molded in white. My charger 500 is molded in yellow ( yuck )  I didn't go any further to see if any other kit differences .

I will be using one of the Daytona kits to build a 500, as I want to build it as a white exterior with red interior  car. 

.....hold, on there, Babaluey......I'm a bit confused in all this ' Charger excitement'... I seem to have lost my way a bit. and Bill, with your collection of Mopar kit's and knowledge on all mentioned, I ask......I have a mib  yellow 69 Charger 500 that I'm unsure of exactly how I would build, but do I need to seek out yet a different hood , or anything else when I deicide to.........also, I seem to recall yet another issue of this kit with a photo box with a red car and dog dish caps....jump in anytime....regards, the Ace....

[satterwhite78]

If you are interested in building a Charger 500 that is more detailed, use the AMT Charger 500 body,front 500 grille from a AMT Charger 500 and rear bumper...everything else trash. Then get a Revell Daytona Charger and use the interior, engine bay fenders and chassis for the donor underpinning.  The reason why the Daytona is b/c of the interior plate which rest on the chassis has a longer rear seat shelf that fits the rear window bay of the AMT Charger. Minimum mods to fit the chassis to the AMT body.

The AMT Charger 500 kit suffers from a generic lack of suspension detail, a interior detail which is more dismal , a Hemi and an engine bay worthy of Russian Roulette with a fully loaded chamber.  Of all the AMT 69 Chargers (DoH)  I've had built were Nascar Charger 500 oriented using only the body and trashing the rest.

I just posted my build "1969 Charger 500". I plan on building another in the future.

Edited December 17, 2016 by satterwhite78

[gtx6970]

.....hold, on there, Babaluey......I'm a bit confused in all this ' Charger excitement'... I seem to have lost my way a bit. and Bill, with your collection of Mopar kit's and knowledge on all mentioned, I ask......I have a mib  yellow 69 Charger 500 that I'm unsure of exactly how I would build, but do I need to seek out yet a different hood , or anything else when I deicide to.........also, I seem to recall yet another issue of this kit with a photo box with a red car and dog dish caps....jump in anytime....regards, the Ace....

IMO, The hood in the yellow bodied charger 500 kit . Needs a little work  to soften the edges in the depressions just a touch. But other wise its right for a typical 69 Charger

 

As to the contents to any other issues of either kit. I have no idea . I have several of each the above and never bought any subsequent versions.

Edited December 17, 2016 by gtx6970

[Casey]

AMT 1:25 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona (USPS Stamp Series Collector Tin)

[CapSat 6]

The only issue of the 500 that came with the right hood was the first one from about 1986-ish. That had the ‘68-‘69 style hood. 
 

All issues after that (500 or Dukes) came with the Daytona hood (which had the same wider hood vents as a ‘70 hood). 
 

I wish Round 2 would find the right hood for this kit, and while they were at it, fix the rear valence, and when using the tunnel back body, do new grille inserts (they have been using ‘72 style grille inserts ever since the original Dukes of Hazzard issue in 1979). 

Edited November 29, 2020 by CapSat 6

[GMP440]

The early 90's version of the AMT 69 Dodge Daytona kit came with all the parts to do a 69 Charger 500.  I bought 2 kits at the time and built both versions.  I do not know if the later versions of the 69 Daytona came with the Charger 500 parts.  If you can find an early 90's issue of the Daytona kit that will have everything you need to do a Charger 500.

[Bills72sj]

Since we have some Charger kit experts tuning in, which of these kits are good, bad or ugly? Opinions welcome. Of my two builts (from long long ago) notice the location of hood pins and/or turn indicators. After opening some of the AMT and MPC unsealed kits, I now see the difference in the spacing of the recesses.

[wrenchr]

I picked up the MPC Charger 500 molded in yellow last week for $10.00 also the 69 Daytona for $10.00. local flea-market grab. 

[GMP440]

From my opinion the Revell 68 and 69 Chargers are great kits.  The chassis is very good on those as well as the other parts.  The Panther Pink  Revell 70 Charger R/T in is a good kit but has a lousy chassis.  The way the wheels go on, the the front suspension parts are no that good.  The way to approach the 70 kit chassis is to utilze the chassis from thr 68 or 69 and use the 70 Charger front end suspension parts.

[CapSat 6]

Good: generally, any of the Revell kits. The body shapes are right, the details are fabulous, and they build well (although I have not tried a '70 yet, George P's remarks about the chassis should be considered). The only (very, very small) drawbacks I note with the Revell kits: 1) I like the MPC grilles and front bumpers just a little more. That still would not stop me from building any of the Revell kits. 2) the '68 and '69 share a body necessarily, so the side marker signals are the '69 style in all versions. These have to be filled in and decals used in order to build a '68. That's a very minor knock IMHO, because I remember the days when the only options to build a '68 were either a pricy original MPC annual, converting a Dukes kit (which was a HUGE PAIN), or resin. All things considered, the Revell kits are very, very good.     

Good: MPC annuals. The bodies and interiors were nearly perfect with these. The body, grille & bumper shapes were nearly perfect, but the grille inserts lacked a little bit of detail. The multiple building options were boss, too. They were state-of-the-art 1968 (then again, so are all of the AMT and MPC kits), so they won't compete with the Revell kits in the engine/interior/chassis departments. Shaggier builts could benefit from a chassis upgrade, either from one of the Revell kits, or from the AMT '68-'69 Plymouth or '70 Dodge Super Bee B Bodies.    

Good-to-bad: MPC Charger 500 (first release). The same stuff from the annuals would mostly apply to the 500 kit, although by 1986, the body had been modified and unmodified a few times, the engraved emblems, wheel lip mouldings, rear valence and the door scoop details weren't quite the same again. It was still a valiant effort by AMT/MPC ERTL to bring us a replica stock version of a model we never had before then. The '86 release (yellow plastic, orange build on the box) gets a notch higher, as it is the only one I have ever seen that came with a correct '68-'69-500 hood.

Bad: MPC/AMT Daytona, AMT/MPC Charger 500's. This tool has been through the mill. Like I said, AMT/MPC Ertl should be commended for trying to make this one nice again with stock building options for the Charger 500 and Daytona. When the Daytona was released (around 1988?) I believe that was the first factory stock model available of the Charger Daytona model. The same comments about the body for the Charger 500 above apply to all of these as well: very, very accurate body shape, with so-so repair work to the scripts, mouldings, and door scoops. Any of these Daytonas suffer from the way the nose mounts to the body. The stock '69 body is used, but you get filler pieces for the lower fender sides. It's not very accurate, and a terrible pain to attach and blend. The end result still doesn't look very good. The Daytona in all boxings gets the right hood for a Daytona, but then again, all of the subsequent kits (500, Dukes, etc) also get that hood. The later 500's (any boxed after '86) go here, as they all got the Daytona hood.         

Ugly: Dukes of Hazzard General Lees, Fast and Furious Toretto's Charger. Oh boy. Where do I start? 1) any of the Dukes kits up to around 2003 (the Toretto Revision, see below) have the 500/ Daytona rear window. 2) the grille inserts used for any of these kits that use the stock '69 grille and bumper are from the old MPC '72 Charger annual, so they are completely incorrect. 3) they all got Daytona hoods as far as I know. 4) even the "Dukes" parts (the bumper bar, roll cage and wheels) are not really right. They all date to the 1979 issue of that kit, and are not generally regarded as correct. 5) Toretto's Charger was a hot mess- to be avoided unless you want a good parts kit. It came with cut and uncut hoods, "stock" '69 (eh) and '70 (completely useless and horrendous) front bumpers, and some other old NASCAR parts that were included when they opened all of the gates to the tool.

They did fix the rear window in the Toretto car, but it doesn't look nearly as right as the old Annuals did. Later Dukes cars (21st century) had the tunnelback body, too, so at least they were more accurate in that regard. They have released the Daytona with the Daytona / 500 rear window after this, so they must have spun off another body tool.  

BONUS: Toretto face off! Revell diecast kit vs. newer Revell plastic kit. To me, the diecast kit wins. The diecast kit came with more accurate grille and interior pieces. At least, they were more accurate to the car in the first movie. The plastic kit might win out for some builders as it has a little more detail all around, it's easier to find, and also, the car itself changed from movie to movie, so I would rate both Revell Furious Toretto kits as "Good".    

I still hold a good deal of affection for the old MPC kit. I grew up with them. I would like to see Round 2 cut the rear valence away from the body and tooled a new separate piece (rather than have that split monstrosity that crudely joins with a license plate, no doubt engineered in '79 for the Dukes kit to enable easier bumper mounting or body de-moulding), include the right hood for the 500/ any future "stock 1969 variants", and tool up some correct 1969 grille inserts.

   

[Bills72sj]

Thank you Bill. I printed off you notes to add to my Charger builds when they come up in the queue.

[CapSat 6]

7 hours ago, Bills72sj said:

Thank you Bill. I printed off you notes to add to my Charger builds when they come up in the queue.

You are quite welcome, Bill! I hope at least somebody can benefit from all of the time I have wasted on these kits!!!

[the other Mike S.]

Don't forget the new tool '69 Charger snap kit from Round 2.  This was first issued as a DoH snap kit molded in orange.  It's much better than the old MPC kit IMO.  Also, I like the fact it's a snap kit which is like a promo.  It gives me the opportunity to have a promo style Charger in my collection without having to sell a kidney for an original promo or unbuilt annual kit.  Unlike the MPC, it looks great when assembled and has a lot of shelf appeal when displayed.

The "City Slicker" is the latest version and it's molded in blue.  I haven't bought one yet so I don't know if the plastic can be polished to a high shine.  Regardless, it's another great addition to the line.  If you can find some stock wheels/tires and polish up the plastic, it would make a great psuedo promo.

Edited December 5, 2020 by the other Mike S.

[Casey]

On 11/30/2020 at 11:07 AM, CapSat 6 said:

 Ugly: MPC Dukes of Hazzard General Lees, any of the Dukes kits up to around 2003

The same ol' General Lee kit was reissued in 2017 as the "Country Charger", sans any of the exact GL markings. Chris/hpiguy posted a good video review of the kit here:

 

29 minutes ago, the other Mike S. said:

Don't forget the new tool '69 Charger snap kit from Round 2.  This was first issued as a DoH snap kit molded in orange.  It's much better than the old MPC kit IMO.  Also, I like the fact it's a snap kit which is like a promo.  It gives me the opportunity to have a promo style Charger in my collection without having to sell a kidney for an original promo or unbuilt annual kit.  Unlike the MPC, it looks great when assembled and has a lot of shelf appeal when displayed.

The "City Slicker" is the latest version and it's molded in blue.  I haven't bought one yet so I don't know if the plastic can be polished to a high shine.  Regardless, it's another great addition to the line.  If you can find some stock wheels/tires and polish up the plastic, it would make a great psuedo promo.

 

 

Original release of the snap-together 1/25 MPC Dukes of Hazzard General Lee '69 Dodge Charger, MPC 817:

 

Second issue, MPC 879, City Slicker 1969 Dodge Charger:

 

Review topic here:

 

Most recent issue, MPC 919:

 

 

 

[the other Mike S.]

The Coca Cola version is molded in red.  Awesome!  I thought they may have tampo printed the Coca Cola graphics onto the body for that version.  I'm glad that's not the case.

I know some might argue about the front windshield profile being a little too flat and the tunnel back rear window being a little small like the old glue MPC kit, but I still like it better.  Just for the fact it's a lot easier to build to make it look right.  Of course, we have the excellent Revell '68-'69 Charger which is a great kit with full detail.  However, I think the rear window shape is not 100% accurate on that one either.  I think the only way to get an accurate rear window is spending the big bucks for an original promo/annual.

Still, you can have a whole fleet of '69 Charger snap kits painted in all different colors for the price it would cost you for one single '69 Charger promo or annual kit.  That's not a bad option in my book!

Edited December 5, 2020 by the other Mike S.

[Bills72sj]

2 hours ago, the other Mike S. said:

Still, you can have a whole fleet of '69 Charger snap kits painted in all different colors for the price it would cost you for one single '69 Charger promo or annual kit.  That's not a bad option in my book!

A whole fleet....Hmmm......