1/25 AMT 1966 Mercury Hardtop

[Robberbaron]

13 hours ago, Rob Hall said:

The 'Countdown Series' Merc was one of the first kits I built as a kid, IIRC it had some wire spoke wheels as the custom option.  

 

9 hours ago, Casey said:

Kelsey-Hayes "Stripper" wheels, also found in the semi-recent reissue of the AMT '53 Corvette

 

 

1 hour ago, Ron Hamilton said:

That version had the K-H "Stripper" mag wheels in it. That is the one I used when I did my S55 Convertible . Pretty nice kit.  I still have a Countdown Series kit, but I like the look of that custom merc on the box top of the latest kit.

Thank you for the corrections, everyone.  Must have been crossing up the Merc with a different kit reissued around that time.

[Rob Hall]

IIRC, the Countdown Series '69 Riviera had some turbine style wheels at the optional mags.  Built that one back then also. 

[fomocomav]

4 hours ago, alexis said:

Casey, you don't have the instructions for that 'Countdown Series" Merc do you?

I've never seen that version of the kit. Only one I have seen is the 2004-ish boxing.

Look on eBay's completed listings for "amt (1966,66) mercury" to see some open kits.  I haven't seen any instruction sheets that were readable, but some of them have some good pictures of parts.

 

[Casey]

https://modelkitreviews.proboards.com/thread/1680/1966-mercury-park-lane-hardtop

Edited March 20, 2022 by Casey

[Snake45]

1 hour ago, Rob Hall said:

IIRC, the Countdown Series '69 Riviera had some turbine style wheels at the optional mags.  Built that one back then also. 

Yup, and they made me cry. The original annual kit had the most beautiful set of Keystones you've ever seen. 

[Mercuryman54]

Here are a few pics of the Countdown series of the 1966 Mercury instruction sheet.

Dennis

[Snake45]

18 minutes ago, Casey said:

Two versions are up on the Drastic Plastic Instruction Sheets pages, but they both look the same: http://public.fotki.com/drasticplasticsmcc/mkiba-build-under-c/amt-instructions/automotive-cars--pi/mercury/

Well, I have the stupid kit, but just since I need to look at it, of course I can't FIND the evil thing. Sigh. 

[Mercuryman54]

1 minute ago, Snake45 said:

Well, I have the stupid kit, but just since I need to look at it, of course I can't FIND the evil thing. Sigh. 

Snake, I just had to go upstairs and dig mine out to snap a few pics. I've had it since it was new!! 

Dennis

[Casey]

Were the Wrist-Twist steering wheel pieces back in the 2004 RC2 reissue? Other than those parts, a custom headrest, a pair of slicks and the different wheels, all the different issues are very similar.

What the story was with the "Super Street Rod"(!!) sub-theme(?) AMT used on this release of the '66 Mercury?:

[Robberbaron]

Alright, you guys made me unearth my partially built 1969 reissue from my stash.  Here are some pics of the Hurst wheels that I'm HOPING get recreated in this new upcoming reissue:

Normally I'd take the tires off all of these and store them separately, but two of them have the tires on there so tight that I can't pry them off without fear of busting the rims themselves (wheel backs are pretty well welded on)

The way I figure it, if tire melt hasn't started after 49 years, its probably not gonna happen.

Will we actually get a new version of these?  I sure hope so, but my gut tells me it's more likely that they'll just include some of their newly tooled American-type mags they've been putting in some of their releases the last couple years.  The Hurst wheels are pretty prominent on the box art, though...

Edited February 28, 2018 by Robberbaron

[Robberbaron]

Since I had her out, here are a couple more pics.

Slicks were the standard solid Goodyear bluestreaks that AMT used forever.  Safe bet that the new reissue will have some version of Round2's new tampo-printed slicks.

 

Partially built engine, showing those Mercury valve covers.:

Generic decal sheet, with Chevy and Mopar decals in addition to Ford:

 

I'd take some pics of one of the RC2 reissues that I have, but can't find the box that they're in right now... 

 

Edited February 28, 2018 by Robberbaron

[Casey]

Looks like the Hurst wheels just might be included...:

I'm sure there will be a Collector Model blog post to spell out all the details.

['70 Grande]

Does anyone know what the release-date is for this reissue?

[Rob Hall]

Late April is what I've seen from a couple vendors. 

[Casey]

Edited March 30, 2018 by Casey

[regular guy]

Two interesting points about this kit.

One. It has a notchback roof as Mercury called it.

' In sharp contrast to the distinctive reverse-slant "Breezeway" roofline option, the Marauder was styled with a sloping notchback rear roofline; an early version of a fastback sedan, along with its Ford Galaxie 500/XL counterpart, the roofline of the Marauder was optimized to make the large sedan more competitive for stock car racing. Along with the "sportier" roofline, the Marauder trim package included bucket seats and central console, similar to its Ford counterpart.'-Wikipedia,Mercury Marauder.

Two.It's a full size sports high performance model.Those models only existed from the late 50's to the mid-60's.

' For the 1966 model year, as Mercury shifted away from full-size performance vehicles, the Marauder was replaced by a repackaged S-55; the move also consolidated the options of three model lines into a distinct nameplate.'-Wikipedia

Note the S-55.THAT's an interesting car!

 

 

Edited April 20, 2018 by regular guy

[my66s55]

42 minutes ago, regular guy said:

Two interesting points about this kit.

One. It has a notchback roof as Mercury called it.

' In sharp contrast to the distinctive reverse-slant "Breezeway" roofline option, the Marauder was styled with a sloping notchback rear roofline; an early version of a fastback sedan, along with its Ford Galaxie 500/XL counterpart, the roofline of the Marauder was optimized to make the large sedan more competitive for stock car racing. Along with the "sportier" roofline, the Marauder trim package included bucket seats and central console, similar to its Ford counterpart.'-Wikipedia,Mercury Marauder.

Two.It's a full size sports high performance model.Those models only existed from the late 50's to the mid-60's.

' For the 1966 model year, as Mercury shifted away from full-size performance vehicles, the Marauder was replaced by a repackaged S-55; the move also consolidated the options of three model lines into a distinct nameplate.'-Wikipedia

Note the S-55.THAT's an interesting car!

 

 

I know. I own a convertible version. The kit is a joke.

 

[regular guy]

' The kit is a joke.'

Why?

AMT is putting out some nice kits lately.

Is this kit different in some way?

I will go ahead and get one.

Full sized high performance models didn't get made for very long.

It could be ordered with a 427.That's rare too.Lot of those cars had the engine puled and were junked

The notchback roof works for me too.GM had a different name for it and a couple models had it.

['70 Grande]

Has anyone got one of these new reissues yet?  I've got a couple of quick questions if you have this recently reissued kit.

Edited May 28, 2018 by '70 Grande

[fomocomav]

And I would like to see the decal sheet, please!

[restoman]

My LHS tells me they've not been released yet...

[Mark]

They're out; I got one locally Saturday morning.  The Hurst mags aren't back in, but the recently tooled Torque Thrust wheels are included as an extra.  The Kelsey-Hayes custom wheels are still in the kit too.  Tires include four Firestone Supremes with printed white stripes, two of the smaller Polyglas GT tires, and two Blue Streak slicks.  The wrist-twist steering parts are included (the wrist loops have a lot of flash on them, not outrageous as they were blocked off in the tool for a long time) but everything else looks good. 

[Snake45]

2 hours ago, Mark said:

They're out; I got one locally Saturday morning.  The Hurst mags aren't back in, but the recently tooled Torque Thrust wheels are included as an extra.  The Kelsey-Hayes custom wheels are still in the kit too.  Tires include four Firestone Supremes with printed white stripes, two of the smaller Polyglas GT tires, and two Blue Streak slicks.  The wrist-twist steering parts are included (the wrist loops have a lot of flash on them, not outrageous as they were blocked off in the tool for a long time) but everything else looks good. 

Well now I have to have (another) one!

[Robberbaron]

11 hours ago, Mark said:

The Hurst mags aren't back in, but the recently tooled Torque Thrust wheels are included as an extra.

Too bad, but I'm not surprised.  I would have ponied up if it had a clean set of Hurst mags in it, but I've got umpteen sets of Torque Thrusts already.

[fomocomav]

On 5/29/2018 at 7:30 AM, Mark said:

They're out; I got one locally Saturday morning.  The Hurst mags aren't back in, but the recently tooled Torque Thrust wheels are included as an extra.  The Kelsey-Hayes custom wheels are still in the kit too.  Tires include four Firestone Supremes with printed white stripes, two of the smaller Polyglas GT tires, and two Blue Streak slicks.  The wrist-twist steering parts are included (the wrist loops have a lot of flash on them, not outrageous as they were blocked off in the tool for a long time) but everything else looks good. 

Do you have a scan/picture of the new decal sheet?