AMT 1964 Olds 442 Hardtop: First detailed look inside the box....

[tim boyd]

1 hour ago, bbowser said:

The AMT '66 Olds has both front and rear sway bars, I have one on the bench right now.

Thanks Bruce for providing us with a definitive answer!  TIM 

[Snake45]

There was a feature article on a clean, very nice, slightly restomodded '64 Cutlass HT in the August issue of Hot Rod. (I only just got it--my subscription issue was never delivered, the Aug issue never showed up at Walmart, and I had to call them for a replacement after the Sept issue arrived.)

[stavanzer]

Guys, I was too terse in my Comment Re; the manual Trans block.

What I meant was that now that I had seen that was the Manual Trans was available, I needed to get one.

But, I have changed my mind. 

[Motor City]

On 8/16/2021 at 7:51 PM, pack rat said:

I used a piece of insulated wire....easy unless you want to go nuts with mounting hardware etc.

thanks for the great suggestion, Mike!

[Motor City]

On 8/16/2021 at 8:17 PM, bbowser said:

The AMT '66 Olds has both front and rear sway bars, I have one on the bench right now.

thanks, Bruce!

[Motor City]

On 8/16/2021 at 8:22 PM, Rodent said:

Don't forget to box the lower control arms.

 

thanks, Steve; I never thought of that!

for those who want to know, the April '64 Motor Trend has a 442 test drive and also a mini GTO brochure

[gui_tarzan]

They fixed the C-pillar! The one on the Chevelle Z-16 kit (they have the same roof) is wrong. Now I don't have to correct that one for my Skylark.

Ugh, the vent window doesn't angle back like that. Well, it's a better starting point. 

 

Edited August 18, 2021 by gui_tarzan

[Snake45]

6 minutes ago, gui_tarzan said:

They fixed the C-pillar! The one on the Chevelle Z-16 kit (they have the same roof) is wrong. Now I don't have to correct that one for my Skylark.

The C-pillar was right on the original AMT '64 Cutlass HT (and on the '64 GTO, '65 GTO, and '65 Chevelle). It's a bit off on the Revell Z16 Chevelle, and even more off on the Polar Lights '64 GTO. The PL GTO should be fixable. Not sure about the Revell Z16. The error is subtle but would take a lot of work to correct. Its biggest problem is that the top of the window line is perfectly straight with no subtle curve in it. 

[gui_tarzan]

I have a '64 Skylark that I'm restoring and have had several of them over the years so that stood out to me immediately. I have not, however, had the AMT kits, just the Revell Z-16 kit to compare and the Z-16 roof has a lot of issues. What's funny is they got the vent window right. 

 

[Bob Ellis]

3 hours ago, gui_tarzan said:

I have a '64 Skylark that I'm restoring and have had several of them over the years so that stood out to me immediately. I have not, however, had the AMT kits, just the Revell Z-16 kit to compare and the Z-16 roof has a lot of issues. What's funny is they got the vent window right. 

 

Where did you get a 1964 Skylark? Unless you created one?

[GMP440]

1 hour ago, Bob Ellis said:

Where did you get a 1964 Skylark? Unless you created one?

He probably found them at model kit swap meets.

 

[Rodent]

I was thinking that Jim was referring to a 1:1 Skylark.

[drodg]

Great write up Tim.  Looking forward to this one.

[gui_tarzan]

Sorry guys, I own a real '64 Skylark. I should have made that clear. My original '64 (my first car) in primer and my current car in the garage. 

 

 

Edited August 20, 2021 by gui_tarzan

[unclescott58]

I liked the convertible. It looks like I’ll be like the hardtop too. Thanks Tim.

[GMP440]

Anyone know the release date on the 64 Olds hardtop kit?

[Snake45]

On 8/18/2021 at 8:58 PM, gui_tarzan said:

Sorry guys, I own a real '64 Skylark. I should have made that clear. My original '64 (my first car) in primer and my current car in the garage. 

 

 

I feel ya my friend. I drove a '65 Special 2DS in high school and my first two years of college and would love to find another one. I've been looking for any '64 or '65 HT or 2DS with no luck. IMHO the Buicks were by far the best looking of all the GM '64-'65 A-bodies. (The '65 Chevelle and '65 GTO tie for second place.) 

[tim boyd]

On 8/24/2021 at 9:44 AM, GMP440 said:

Anyone know the release date on the 64 Olds hardtop kit?

Don't know for sure....best guess might be 4-6 weeks from now....the samples they sent out  were actual production kits...so what remains is the usual shipping and distribution channel timing...TIM 

[Rob Hall]

On 8/24/2021 at 10:48 AM, Snake45 said:

I feel ya my friend. I drove a '65 Special 2DS in high school and my first two years of college and would love to find another one. I've been looking for any '64 or '65 HT or 2DS with no luck. IMHO the Buicks were by far the best looking of all the GM '64-'65 A-bodies. (The '65 Chevelle and '65 GTO tie for second place.) 

It's too bad the '64-65 Buick midsize was never kitted.  There was a very clean yellow '65 Skylark 2dr ht I used to see daily in my commute in Phoenix.. good looking car. 

Edited August 25, 2021 by Rob Hall

[ChrisBcritter]

On 8/24/2021 at 7:48 AM, Snake45 said:

I drove a '65 Special 2DS in high school and my first two years of college and would love to find another one.

I had this Skylark from '83 to '86:

Saw another one so I grabbed a two-shot:

Power steering and windows, but manual brakes. Had a weird glitch - if I stepped hard on it from a stop, the column shift would drop into low without me even touching it!

[Rodent]

31 minutes ago, ChrisBcritter said:

Had a weird glitch - if I stepped hard on it from a stop, the column shift would drop into low without me even touching it!

Sounds like a broken engine/trans mount may have let the engine rotate enough to move the linkage at the trans.

[ChrisBcritter]

 Ooeee. Lucky I'm still here to tell about it.

[niteowl7710]

This has been added to the distribution list for October.

[crowe-t]

On 8/13/2021 at 3:57 PM, tim boyd said:

Click on this link to see 22 images and captions detailing Round 2's new 1964 Olds 442 Hardtop kit.  Please make sure to read the captions accompanying each picture, as there are some surprises in this kit that not only features an all-new Hardtop body, grille and tailamp inserts, but also the product-correct changes to transform the remainder of the tooling from the original AMT 1964 Olds Cutlass hardtop kit into a first-ever product-correct 1964 442 scale replica. 

Thanks for your interest....TIM 

 

Do you have a close up picture of the dash board decal? 

[keyser]

47 minutes ago, crowe-t said:

Do you have a close up picture of the dash board decal? 

It’s in the link at top of post you quoted. 
“This link” “

Click on this link to see 22 images and captions detailing Round 2's new 1964 Olds 442 Hardtop kit.”

https://public.fotki.com/funman1712/first-look-at-all-n/first-look-amt-roun-3/first-look-amt-roun/dsc-0577.html

Lower right and zoom

Edited October 26, 2021 by keyser
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