amt 1202 1/25 AMT 1963 Chevy II Nova Station Wagon - Craftsman Plus

[Classicgas]

2 hours ago, TransAmMike said:

Lee, I don't consider anything I read on this forum a waste of time. Since I discovered this forum it has become the most read media on the internet for me and my go too read for my first cup of coffee in the morning and several times during the day. I'm certainly not even close to the  model car builder a whole lot of the people on here are so who am I to criticize.  Again, I just think it was a simple question and It was not intended to criticize anyones choice of model kits.  It is an interesting model that can be done up in a lot of ways and I will look at everyone of them as I do most all posts. I love the great posts on here and I'm sure sorry that I seem to have struck a nerve with you. In fact, I will now apologize to have created a stir.  I hope this puts this issue to rest.

I apologize.  You didn't  do anything wrong.  I'm just on edge lately.  My brother had a stroke  and has lost his speech and abilities to swallow.  Guess I took my stress out on you.  Sorry. 

[TransAmMike]

 

1 hour ago, Classicgas said:

I apologize.  You didn't  do anything wrong.  I'm just on edge lately.  My brother had a stroke  and has lost his speech and abilities to swallow.  Guess I took my stress out on you.  Sorry. 

Apology not nesessary Lee but accepted.  Very sorry about your Brother. Sure hope he gets better soon.

[Rodent]

What this car means to me, by Rodent:

Friend's dad had one, badly faded and was probably Saddle Tan. First 3-on-the-tree that I can ever remember riding in, but the linkage was pretty worn out, and the 1-2 never seemed to be very smooth. Starting was intermittent at best. He was divorced, and was the custodial parent. The two younger kids (girls) were his, but my friend was adopted when the dad married my friend's mom. Crappy situation with the mom, for sure.

In late 1969, he bought a new Glacial Blue 4-door '70 Coronet with a white vinyl top and a blue interior. It was a V8, probably a 318, and it had ice cold AC. Shoulder harnesses! All of a sudden we didn't have to ride in the wagon anymore. Joy!! New MOPAR!!

I will get one of these Nova kits, but it won't be Saddle Tan.

[Bob Ellis]

I have read that some people bash the new issue of the Nova wagon. To me, it might be better. Consider that Round2 re-initiate clear red tail lights that AMT removed during the later Craftsman years. Plus, $27 is much better than $100 plus for an original questionable (tire burn and missing parts) kit

Edited January 17, 2021 by Bob Ellis
bad english

[Motor City]

I learned from this forum that AMT never made a '64 Chevy II or Nova (bucket seat model) in any form.  I found it odd that in '64 and '65, AMT made the 4-door wagon instead of the Nomad-like 300 2-door wagon or Malibu convertible.  Evidently Chevy thought more sales potential was with the hardtop and 4-door wagon, so those promos and kits were made.  It would have been interesting to hear the discussions in Chevy Marketing as to why the Nova and Chevelle models weren't made after '65 for several years.       

[Tom Geiger]

I think we all have stories.. back when I was 16, my friend Mark was 17, then the driving age in NJ.  He got a hand me down car from his sister, a 1962 Chevy II (note that they weren’t yet called Nova until 1963) 2 door sedan. 

This was 1975 and the car seemed ancient to us, even though it was only 13 years old. But it was beat! Floors rusted through, his sister had brush painted it white. The back seat bottom had been replaced due to a smoking fire, with one that didn’t fit and wasn’t attached to anything.

But we tore ass all over the place getting into trouble as young guys do. One time we got pulled over with beer in the car, and we pulled back the floor mat, and put the beer on the ground through the rust holes! 

Mark saved some money and bought a similarly beat up 66 Mustang coupe to replace it. Poor Chevy II went to the junk yard.

 

 

Edited January 18, 2021 by Tom Geiger

[tim boyd]

Guys...I gotta confess here that I did not even remotely anticipate the level of buyer interest in the Nova wagon when the idea was run by me a few years back. 

Thank goodness the Round 2 guys stuck to their guns and didn't listen to me!   Of course, the all-new tooling, and the derivative kits yet to come, were not a part of the discussion back then (as least as I recall it).   But even with those enhancements, I was not tuned in to the kit buying preference of you guys at all when it comes to this subject. 

Really interesting to read the reasons for your positive reactions and interests, and once again, proof that none of us (or at the least, not me) have a sterling record when it comes to picking possible new kit topics.   TIM  

[tim boyd]

16 hours ago, Motor City said:

I learned from this forum that AMT never made a '64 Chevy II or Nova (bucket seat model) in any form.  I found it odd that in '64 and '65, AMT made the 4-door wagon instead of the Nomad-like 300 2-door wagon or Malibu convertible.  Evidently Chevy thought more sales potential was with the hardtop and 4-door wagon, so those promos and kits were made.  It would have been interesting to hear the discussions in Chevy Marketing as to why the Nova and Chevelle models weren't made after '65 for several years.       

The '64 El Camino was also part of the kit and promo tooling decision.... 

Still, the 2 door Nomad wagon kit/promo would have shared the same amount of AMT tooling as the 4-door wagon with the El Camino kit/promo.  I presume the choice was, as you suggest, Chevrolet's to make.  And even back then, 4 door wagons were way outselling 2 door wagon versions of the same topic, so for Chevrolet - looking for the widest possible 1/1 sales benefit from the promos - the choice of the 4 door Chevelle wagon over the 2 door wagon would have seemed the logical one from their point of view....TIM 

[espo]

Hearing all of the personal stories here about this model bringing back so any memories of this model of car it doesn't really surprise me the interest shown in it. This is a model of what we used to call a "Bread and butter" car. Rather than the flashy Hardtops of the day most of us can relate to this very basic family transportation. 

[Danno]

Interesting discussion; especially Tim's commentary about the early go/no-go discussions at Round2.

I think - and it's just my thought process - a big part of the attraction to the so-called 'run-of-the-mill,' grocery-getter, plain-jane, mainstream, ordinary, 'bread-and-butter' cars is that the model kit industry has been so focused on muscle cars, 2-doors, sports cars, street machines and has thusly glutted the catalogs of available kits with mostly (are nearly all) the same bling-wheeled 2doors.  The ROTM, GG, PJ, MS, O, B&B cars offer huge variety and a universe of uncommon build-from-the-box options.

Variety is the spice of life. 

One only has to look as far as the "surprising" popularity of the 1968 Plymouth Police Patrol, 1992 Caprice, 1992 Crown Victoria, Force440/Roscoe/TJHooker/Gotham/Goon 1978 Monaco, and 1970 Ford Interceptor to see some of the roots of the burgeoning interest in the new 1962 Chevy II station wagon kit.

Sometimes the road less traveled is the better route choice at the moment.

I know I have nearly 2,000 unbuilt kits and the vast majority of them are the 'popular' mainstream selections, and I have little interest in buying more. In fact, completing builds at a pace of 2-3 a year, I may have more than I'll need.  But there's ALWAYS a place for new 4-door, station wagon, panel truck, service truck, ambulance, and fire apparatus kits! 

Just me sayin.'

??    

[Danno]

27 minutes ago, espo said:

Hearing all of the personal stories here about this model bringing back so any memories of this model of car it doesn't really surprise me the interest shown in it. This is a model of what we used to call a "Bread and butter" car. Rather than the flashy Hardtops of the day most of us can relate to this very basic family transportation. 

Amen.

??

[Motor City]

6 hours ago, tim boyd said:

The '64 El Camino was also part of the kit and promo tooling decision.... 

Still, the 2 door Nomad wagon kit/promo would have shared the same amount of AMT tooling as the 4-door wagon with the El Camino kit/promo.  I presume the choice was, as you suggest, Chevrolet's to make.  And even back then, 4 door wagons were way outselling 2 door wagon versions of the same topic, so for Chevrolet - looking for the widest possible 1/1 sales benefit from the promos - the choice of the 4 door Chevelle wagon over the 2 door wagon would have seemed the logical one from their point of view....TIM 

I agree that the new midsize El Camino made more sense as a promo and kit than the 300 2-door wagon, and sales of the 1:1 El Camino vs. 2-door wagon bear that out.  The El Camino also took some sales away from the smaller Falcon-based Ranchero.  So from our perspective it was a great decision by Chevy to make promos (and eventually kits) of the '64 hardtop, 4-door wagon and El Camino.  I think the various GM divisions determined that advertising was a better use of their marketing dollars than model cars over the next few years:

'64 Chevelle SS ht., 4-door wagon, El Camino; LeMans hardtop, convertible, GTO hardtop; Cutlass hardtop, convertible (8)

'65 Chevelle SS ht., 4-door wagon, El Camino; GTO hardtop, convertible (5)

'66 GTO hardtop, convertible; Skylark GS hardtop (3)

 '67 GTO hardtop, convertible (2)    

Looking back, most of us as kids wanted the cool cars such as hardtops and convertibles.  The early promos up through the mid-fifties were dominated by four-door sedans and a few wagons.  Chevy went all out from '49-'54 with the best selection of body styles - never seen before or since then - with at least several models in the different series per year: 2-door coupe, 2-door sedan, 2-door fastback, 2-door hardtop (starting with the '50 Bel Air), convertible, 4-door sedan, 4-door fastback.  

[Snake45]

2 hours ago, Motor City said:

'65 Chevelle SS ht., 4-door wagon, El Camino; GTO hardtop, convertible (5)

The hardtop and convertible were both in one kit, so that's actually only 4 kits. 

I ordered a couple of Nova wagons from Modelroundup today. They expect them in anytime between now and the end of the month. 

[Justin Porter]

Sold the last two out of my shop yesterday and now sitting and waiting for the next batch to hit distributors. This is the fastest a case of any kit has sold over my counter and I was pleasantly surprised. As expected, it was principally guys from the slot car dragstrip up the road buying them. Customers were happy with the kit. I'm happy with its effect on my till. Looking forward to being able to restock and hoping it doesn't take as long as it took to restock the Grumpy's Vegas. 

[Motor City]

15 hours ago, Snake45 said:

The hardtop and convertible were both in one kit, so that's actually only 4 kits. 

 

That's correct regarding the kits, but I was also including the promos.  

[Classicgas]

Guess those worrying that it wouldn't be a good selling kit were wrong. 

[charlie8575]

Grabbed mine Monday. Very nicely-moulded and some of the best tires I've ever seen. They absolutely scream "Goodyear" without saying Goodyear because royalties. Still very nice.

I may use this as a second 24-hour kit. It's perfect for it. Thinking Cordovan Brown or Monaco Blue, or a couple of other colors I have in the stock I can use.

Charlie Larkin

[ChrisBcritter]

Still not there yet at HobbyTown or Des Plaines Hobbies - the latter now says first week of February. That's fine - no rush, and I'd like to give a little business to a brick-and-mortar. Too bad Klipper's in Glenview is long gone - would have been cool to get it where I got my first one in 1965.

[Straightliner59]

I ordered one, this morning. I have the tracking info, so, that's a good sign.

[Erik Smith]

On 1/19/2021 at 2:24 PM, Classicgas said:

Guess those worrying that it wouldn't be a good selling kit were wrong. 

I think you’re correct Lee. Had a few “watched” on eBay and seems they sell out in a day - Ballzanos had them in stock today listed at “more than 12” and they’re all gone. 
I think I’ll wait for the full detail version, maybe not. 

Edited January 20, 2021 by Erik Smith

[wrenchr]

Mikes Decals has them in stock right now.  

[Straightliner59]

6 hours ago, Erik Smith said:

Ballzanos had them in stock today listed at “more than 12” and they’re all gone. 
I think I’ll wait for the full detail version, maybe not. 

That's where I got mine, at about 2:30, this morning, while I was waiting at a stop for work.

[Joe Thomas]

Here's a kit bashing idea for this kit.

 

[Classicgas]

Nothing official,  but Speedway Decals may do that very car.

[Rob Hall]

Got mine today, haven't had a chance to open them yet...neat little boxes.