AMT 1965 Buick Wildcat Annual

[RDean58]

Somewhat of a grail for me, just got it in the mail today!

More pictures of the box, box contents, and instructions below

[unclescott58]

Buick is my favorite brand of automobiles, after Cord. And Wildcat, followed by Riviera, has always been my favorite Buicks. One of my dream cars is to own a 1967 Wildcat convertible. Which has nothing to with your model here. Though the '65 Wildcat is my favorite Wildcat after '67. I searched in vain, for many years for an AMT '65 Wildcat kit I could afford. With no luck. I finally broke down and bought a beautiful resin of a '65 hardtop. I think from Missing Link. Using AMT's more common, many times reproduced '66, for everything else I need to complete the resin kit. That was how I was able to get my much desired '65. 

Now what to about the '67? Sad to say, AMT did not offer a Wildcat model kits for 1967, or '68. They did again in '69 and '70. The other two years of Wildcat they did not offer in model kit form was '62 and '63. Those two years AMT made kits of the Electra 225s. I assume that is because Buick themselves probably requested Electra promos from AMT those two years. Which was a lot of what determined what was made a kit or not back then. 

[Motor City]

My grandfather bought a new '63 Wildcat 4-door hardtop that was on the showroom floor, and Dad ordered a LeSabre 2-door hardtop.  I drove the LeSabre in high school.  Both Buicks had huge, deep trunks.  Grandpa traded in the Wildcat in '68 for a new Wildcat 2-door hardtop, which Dad bought from him in '71.  That '68 would squeal the tires with little effort.  None of these cars handled well like today's cars, but they sure rode nice.  I'd like a '65 or '66 Wildcat hardtop or a '63 LeSabre or Wildcat hardtop. 

It's too bad the Wildcat series wasn't made into models all years from '62-'70, but I do like the '63 Electra.

Scott,

Brooklin offers a '67 Wildcat diecast in 1/43 scale.  It isn't cheap.  A 4-door hardtop version is also available.

  

 

 

[unclescott58]

3 hours ago, Motor City said:

My grandfather bought a new '63 Wildcat 4-door hardtop that was on the showroom floor, and Dad ordered a LeSabre 2-door hardtop.  I drove the LeSabre in high school.  Both Buicks had huge, deep trunks.  Grandpa traded in the Wildcat in '68 for a new Wildcat 2-door hardtop, which Dad bought from him in '71.  That '68 would squeal the tires with little effort.  None of these cars handled well like today's cars, but they sure rode nice.  I'd like a '65 or '66 Wildcat hardtop or a '63 LeSabre or Wildcat hardtop. 

It's too bad the Wildcat series wasn't made into models all years from '62-'70, but I do like the '63 Electra.

Scott,

Brooklin offers a '67 Wildcat diecast in 1/43 scale.  It isn't cheap.  A 4-door hardtop version is also available.

  

 

 

Wow! That nice. The color is right too. After the two-door convertible, my next favorite body style is the four-door hardtop. I'm going to have to looking for than. But, that color, could swing me into buying the two-door. Thank for letting me know about that. 

[unclescott58]

Okay thanks Jim. You just got me to spend a little over $150 on 1/43 scale diecast. Searching on line, three versions came up being available. The blue two-door you show above. A four-door in purple/mauve (?) color with a black vinyl roof. And a Champagne Gold four-door with no vinyl roof. Even though I love anything blue. I saw the two-door came with a brown/tan interior which I'm to keen in combination with the blue. So the gold four-door with a gold/tan interior won out.

Now, the only thing I'm worried about is how well those bumpers fit. In the pictures I could see of the gold cars, the bumper fit does not look good. But, on the other two it looks okay. So, I'm hoping the picture the vendors are using are of the same car. And only that one has the bumper problems. And that the ones they sell are better. Or easily fixed. 

Edited April 8, 2020 by unclescott58

[Motor City]

Scott,

Let us know how it turns out.  That is a terrible bumper fit.  I bought a Brooklin '37 Century coupe for my Dad several years.  It was very well done for diecast.  I wouldn't mind a Burnished Saddle (copper) '68 Wildcat sport coupe! 

[Mike 1017]

 If it is not perfect when you get it Call them up and complain for $150.00 it should be perfect. A $4.00 Hot Wheels should be perfect.

Good luck

Mike

Edited April 8, 2020 by Mike 1017
wrong word

[unclescott58]

I got my Brooklin's '67 Wildcat today. It looks great. As you can see in the photos. 

 

[Motor City]

nice!

[unclescott58]

By the way, like a real Buick, this Brooklin's model above weighs a ton. Okay, I know in reality a real '67 Buick Wildcat is closer to two tons. And the model does really weight anywhere close to a ton. But, for a 1/43 scale model it's remarkably heavy. It weights a lot! Sorry to say, I don't have a scale to weight it. I'm very curious to find out what it does weight, if anybody can tell me.