AMT 1966 Buick Wildcat

[Joe Handley]

Just picked up the AMT 1966 Buick Wildcat (#38457) and saw that it was one of the old kustomizing kits with the kustom goodies still in the box. Anybody ever play with this one?

[george 53]

Joe, that kit is exactly like it was issued back in 66! no changes at all. I had it new then, an I got 2 or 3 downstairs right now! It is a nice kit, reminicent of when they ran BIG engines in BIG cars! Do your best on it, it deserves it!

[Joe Handley]

I bothced the last one I tried and sold it for cheap in may, but need to keep quiet when not working now that Mom is home from the hospital after knee surgery

[Jello]

I just got that kit myself last month sealed from a Hobby Town store for 12 bucks and very impressed with the kustom goodies! I had got it for parts like many kits I buy but I will build a kustom car out of it cause it seems like such a cool kit and we don't see many of them either whether its the real one or model kit. Have fun!

~ Jeff

[62SS]

Its a pretty nice kit for its age. Builds up real nice.

Heres mine.

Ed

[OSLRod]

Mine's been under construction for over a year, it's covered in flat white until i lay a wild pink tutone down & it's being built lowrider style!

[OSLRod]

Mine's an early-90s Buyers' Choice, & i've tangled with it a little bit more since i saw a white ragtop '66 @ the dreamcruise; the engine's is pink, i sharpie-colored the valve covers so far & i plan to doctor up the distributor cap w/ spark plug wires as well as finish tutoning the interior, & do you know that this chassis is the '70 Wildcat's chassis?

[Joe Handley]

This one will be getting sledded!

[george 53]

WoW steve, ya larn sumpin new everday! Didn't know it was a 65 dash!Well it's gonna hafta do, cause I wouldn't even know where to find the right dash!

[John Goschke]

Only problem with it is AMT didn't see fit to tool up a '66 dash for it ,, they carried over the '65 which is completely different.

I thought the whole interior, not just the dash, was from the '65 Wildcat. The optional bucket seat interior for the 1/1 '66 W'cat has inserts that are like a fine (1") horizontal tuck and roll pattern. I don't remember what was in the '65.

[torinobradley]

Modelhaus has the 66 Wildcat dash for 3.00.

[george 53]

Welp, I guess we found it! Thanks Torino!

[Ron Hamilton]

Modelhaus has the 66 Wildcat dash for 3.00.

I believe it's a '65 unless they tooled up a '66 dash independently. There were other inaccuracies in that kit, such as the rear fender script emblem, and the entire interior.

[Eshaver]

Hu Huh Huh Huh , ya all hush, its gotta Bruck motor in it ! Ed shaver

[Uncle Mike]

I did the "customizing kit" a few years ago. It was alright. I did it stock. I got rid of the front axle and filled in the engine block. It was pretty much out of the box except for a few detail techniques. I did my first fabric interior roof liner which came out nice.

Anybody know if they kept the 'bicycle-wheel monitor' in this kit? (it was a 'Road-and-Track' inspired device, a 'unicycle' trailer with some gauges to monitor road speed, acceleration distance, and braking distance. I remember it on the box art and in an earlier release. Looking for one of those!)

[Harold]

What they said- its a great kit (and the tooling isn't junked out) with the caveat being the incorrect interior. So for mine, the story goes like this- it was a '65 that needed a front clip, rear bumper and tailights and the donor car was a '66. BTW, the road test equipment is in the '65 GP kit.

[Lagib]

As I've only had the "Buyer's Choice" reissue of the 66 Wildcat, & it didn't have it I can't say for sure on other reissues. However I always thought that those parts were in the AMT 65 Grand Prix. Every review I've read of the reissues, ("Prestige" series in the late 80's/early 90's & "Buyer's Choice" a few years ago), mentioned them included in the Grand Prix, & they were in my "Buyer's Choice" reissue. Perhaps you have the kits mixed up? If not, I can say they are in the last two reissue of the Grand Prix.

Mark is correct. I have at least one copy of every release of the 66 Buick Wildcat, including the original, and none of them have the road test parts. The original 65 GP had them, but I don't know if any subsequent releases did. However, the Wildcat is missing 2 parts from the original release. It had seperate side windows that you could use if you wanted to. They're mentioned on the plan for the Customizing series issue, but they weren't in the kit. I can only assume the mold containing them is lost.

[Joe Handley]

Just got to start on it yesterday...and was hung over this morning from it

[Uncle Mike]

Mark is correct. I have at least one copy of every release of the 66 Buick Wildcat, including the original, and none of them have the road test parts. The original 65 GP had them, but I don't know if any subsequent releases did. However, the Wildcat is missing 2 parts from the original release. It had seperate side windows that you could use if you wanted to. They're mentioned on the plan for the Customizing series issue, but they weren't in the kit. I can only assume the mold containing them is lost.

Thanks, guys. Reason for the question (on 'Road Test' parts) in Buick kit was the kit my son had, with that road test wheel pictured on the box! I am sure of the Buick ancestry, as he sent me the Buick Nail-type engine for my model of the Ivo 'T' I was doing at the time.

But if it was indeed in the Pontiac kit, I will continue my pursuit. Again, THANKS!

[fseva]

Here are two more kits I'd like to have a history on - I would like to determine if their tooling is old-school ('60s) or modern tech ('80s & up), so that I can start looking for them on ebay...

Edited June 7, 2015 by fseva

[Rob Hall]

Both are simple '60s era tools with one piece chassis (molded in suspension and exhaust detail) and wire axles. They build up well and can turn out quite nice w/ some detail painting.

['70 Grande]

'66 Wildcat= old, mid/late-1960-s era tooling. Still can be built into a nice-looking model with alittle care and effort. Body is very well-done; interior and engine not bad. Chassis is one-piece using steel axles, (front one goes thru the engine block, I think).

'69 Riviera= newer, late-1990's/early-2000's tooling. This is an excellent kit with a great-looking and well-detailed engine, chassis and interior. The body is also excellent. This kit came about when AMT/Ertl was at its high-water mark for kit execution. I seem to remember that this kit nearly won the "Kit of the Year" competition put on my a particular model car publication back then.

[Rob Hall]

'69 Riviera= newer, late-1990's/early-2000's tooling. This is an excellent kit with a great-looking and well-detailed engine, chassis and interior. The body is also excellent. This kit came about when AMT/Ertl was at its high-water mark for kit execution. I seem to remember that this kit nearly won the "Kit of the Year" competition put on my a particular model car publication back then.

You are thinking of the '66 Riv modern tool. He asked about the '69, which is an original '60s annual that's been reissued a few times..

Edited June 8, 2015 by Rob Hall

[mike 51]

yep, Rob is right..very simple to build re-issues of 60's AMT kits. Perfect for beginners...or veteran builders.

['70 Grande]

My mistake; I was describing the AMT/Ertl 1966 Riviera kit above!