AMT TV Special - 1960 Ford Falcon & Leva Car Double Kit

[Casey]

Was this AMT "TV Special" 1960 Ford Falcon and Ford Leva Car double kit ever released? 

[afx]

Very interesting.  I've never seen this 2-fer kit however.

[RancheroSteve]

No idea, but bring it back!

[ChrisBcritter]

Note the fine print: the Falcon's a promo. Looks like both boxes could have been shrink-wrapped or taped together to make a two-fer.

[Casey]

3 hours ago, ChrisBcritter said:

Note the fine print: the Falcon's a promo. Looks like both boxes could have been shrink-wrapped or taped together to make a two-fer.

Was AMT shrink wrapping kits in 1960? I *think* I can see a shadow under the Leva Car's short side not present under the Falcon's box, which would lend credence to your theory.  The Leva Car box was small and narrow, too, IIRC.

[Mike999]

And that other fine print says: "Beautiful twin multicolored packaging assures sales on contact."  The shadow looks like maybe the "twin packaging" was a clear plastic bag or something similar.  Just guessing, I've never seen that offer before either.  Nice find.

[rickcaps55]

18 hours ago, Casey said:

Was AMT shrink wrapping kits in 1960? I *think* I can see a shadow under the Leva Car's short side not present under the Falcon's box, which would lend credence to your theory.  The Leva Car box was small and narrow, too, IIRC.

I'm 66 and can tell you for sure NO ! AMT did not shrink wrap any kits in the 60's I live in Chicago I got and built my first model in 62 it was the AMT 62 Fairlane  I got it at the corner drug store for $98c they always had the kits a lower price at the 5 and 10 it was $1.49 anyway the boxes were the old heavy style thin and had two small pieces of tape on each side of witch most were cut do to kids like me that had to look inside that's what lead up to shrink wrapping but not till the late 70's in most places.

[1930fordpickup]

The Leva Car box is very small compared to the normal old AMT kit. 

[High octane]

On 6/28/2018 at 12:55 PM, Casey said:

Was AMT shrink wrapping kits in 1960? I *think* I can see a shadow under the Leva Car's short side not present under the Falcon's box, which would lend credence to your theory.  The Leva Car box was small and narrow, too, IIRC.

AMT was NOT shrink wrapping in 1960 but taping the box ends on the bottom and the tape also indicated what was in the generic box.

[Casey]

13 hours ago, 1930fordpickup said:

The Leva Car box is very small compared to the normal old AMT kit. 

Yes, it was, and it makes sense, as the kit parts themselves don't take up a lot of room.

How, if such a double kit existed, would they have been joined or bound together in 1960?

[SfanGoch]

Packing tape.

[Casey]

37 minutes ago, SfanGoch said:

Packing tape.

It was a serious question.  Maybe one of those giant sunburst shaped stickers at each end?

[RancheroSteve]

The AMT kit boxes were pretty small in 1960 - would the Falcon promo box be even smaller than the normal kit box? Maybe the same size as the Levacar box?

[mod3l Lover]

   And that ad is from a hobby shop only catalog. They would mail you

the new pages to add to your own 3 ring binder.

   The carton size makes one think that the case of kits is just 12 of

the one kit, or the other!  So 2 cases to make up a special order!?!

 

         David S.

[SfanGoch]

33 minutes ago, Casey said:

It was a serious question.  Maybe one of those giant sunburst shaped stickers at each end?

That was a serious answer. Four pieces of packing tape, two on the ends and two on the sides of the joined boxes. I remember my older brother bringing home promos from two dealerships in the neighborhood, Spielman Chevrolet and Mutual Motor Sales (Pontiac), and double boxes were attached this way. I would just shred them open.  

[Motor City]

I don't own an original 1967 AMT kit, but the AMT 1968 Riviera was shrink wrapped from the factory.  I have 1967 models from Jo-Han and MPC that are shrink wrapped.

I went to a lecture a number of years ago and the guy who designed the Leva car talked about it and showed a model of it plus some literature. 

[Phirewriter]

I'm sure the tooling for the Leva Car is long gone, but I'd be all over that if it was reissued. I always liked the Jetsons style dream cars of the late 50's/early 60's. 

[Snake45]

9 hours ago, Motor City said:

I don't own an original 1967 AMT kit, but the AMT 1968 Riviera was shrink wrapped from the factory.  I have 1967 models from Jo-Han and MPC that are shrink wrapped.

 

I own several original '67 Corvette boxes and they were all still taped. You could be right about AMT starting shrink-wrapping in '68, I don't remember. I do believe that MPCs and JoHans were shrink-wrapped before that.  

[Mark]

My '67 Sting Ray (coupe) annual box shows no signs of tape marks, nor do a couple other '67 kits I checked.  I bought two '67 Mustang annual kits in the Eighties that were both shrinkwrapped, one remains that way to this day.  I have a sealed '67 Barracuda kit that I got in the early/mid Seventies, and I know where it was prior to my getting it.  The '66 AMT annual kits were definitely taped. 

I'd put the beginning of AMT shrinkwrapping kits in mid-late '66, with the '67 annuals.  Maybe the first one or two releases were taped, but the vast majority were wrapped.  The Trophy Series kits were probably phased in as they were re-boxed in the '66-'67 period, when many went from their first-issue boxes to the "portrait" boxes with wording only on the ends and side panels.   

[unclescott58]

On 6/27/2018 at 1:09 PM, Casey said:

Was this AMT "TV Special" 1960 Ford Falcon and Ford Leva Car double kit ever released? 

Was this a proposed product? Or did it actually hit the shelves? I know both models appeared separately. Both the Falcon promos and kits in a different box from that shown. 

The talk about how small the Levacar model is. The "real" full-size Levacar was small. It was designed to seat one person. 

I too don't exactly when AMT switched to shrink wrapping their model kits on a regular basis. But, just because they didn't do it on every kit, doesn't mean they could not have done it on a special release like the above. At the same time I don't know, as noted, if the set actually made it the stores. And if did. Whether it was shrink wrapped or not. 

[Casey]

16 minutes ago, unclescott58 said:

Was this a proposed product? Or did it actually hit the shelves? I know both models appeared separately. Both the Falcon promos and kits in a different box from that shown.

On 6/27/2018 at 1:09 PM, Casey said:

Was this AMT "TV Special" 1960 Ford Falcon and Ford Leva Car double kit ever released? 

 

Well, I, uh...

My guess is they were never released together as a true double kit, sold as one item. The sell sheet is just vague enough to not provide any clear, definitive information on that front:

"Beautiful twin multicolored packaging assures sales on contact" 

[SfanGoch]

Looks like a retailer sell sheet, not for direct sale to the general public.

Edited July 5, 2018 by SfanGoch

[unclescott58]

6 minutes ago, Casey said:

Well, I, uh...

My guess is they were never released together as a true double kit, sold as one item. The sell sheet is just vague enough to not provide any clear, definitive information on that front:

"Beautiful twin multicolored packaging assures sales on contact" 

It says "2 New 1960 Models in One Pack!" That doesn't sound too vague to me. 

[1930fordpickup]

http://www.carstyling.ru/en/car/1959_ford_levacar_mach_i/en/car/1959_ford_levacar_mach_i/

[1930fordpickup]

I finally got around to getting these two side by side for a reference as two the two boxes. If the Falcon was a promo as it did say pre assembled model  in the flyer.