New Round2 / AMT 1970 Buick Wildcat Hardtop. Craftsman Plus KIt

[stavanzer]

Just starting a thread to talk about this kit.

I had never seen or heard about it, until the announcement earlier this month.

I will assume that this is old AMT Tooling, cleaned up and re-issued for the first time in 40 some years, but I don't know if that is true.

Does anybody know any details about the kits origins, and history?

Any details about what might be in it now? I'll guess that we'll get the usual Updated Decal Sheet, and pad printed tires, but will there be an optional set of Wheels? Any other small goodies to punch up the value a bit, for a kit that will probably retail at close to 40.00. An opening hood?

I can see one built a an unmarked Police car, but I am not sure what else the kit might be built into. I'm not put off by the Craftsman style tooling. In fact that makes it a bit easier to finish, which is always good.

I have lots of questions, but not many answers.

Thanks for all the help.

[niteowl7710]

If I recall correctly the back of the box shows it having a parts count under 40, so I suspect you're getting it as the Craftsman "unassembled promo" type kit it's always been with nothing additional other than some new decals.

[Mark]

Model King commissioned a reissue of this kit during the time they were having kits manufactured by RC2 (prior to 2008).  So this isn't the first time since 1970 that this kit has been available.

The 1969 Wildcat annual kit did have an engine and separate hood (and optional parts), but the 1970 was never available that way.

['70 Grande]

Thanks for the input, Mark.  It leads me to the following questions; would the '69 Wildcat kit's engine and chassis parts be appropriate and drop-fit into the '70 body?

Edited April 26, 2023 by '70 Grande

[Mark]

Chassis are the same; in fact, the '69 and '70 kits use the chassis from the '66 Wildcat kit. The engine from the '69 would of course fit a '70, but try finding one.  

The 1970 restyle was a pretty extensive one.  I'd bet that the '69 kit didn't set the world on fire sales-wise, so the 1970 promo update was done with no consideration given to doing a (then) $2 kit with engine detail.  

One may have been on the initial listing of AMT 1970 kits, though.  I don't have that list in front of me, but it did include several items that never appeared.

 

[lizardlust]

I do know that this particular tool was at one point part of amt's Motor City unassembled curbside kit series.

[Motor City]

The '69 Wildcat had a 430 engine and the '70 had a 455.  I drove a '68 Wildcat in high school and college.  The engines are of the same family, though I'm not sure of any differences regarding pulleys and belts, ac compressor location, etc.   I would use the engine out of the '69 Riviera kit.  After '66, Wildcat bucket seats were only available in black (unless possibly a special order was available for a color change, but I've never seen one).  

[SteveG]

The '70 Buick Wildcat was first issued as part of the Motor City Stocker Series. There was also a '70 Chevelle, '70 Monte Carlo, '70 Torino Cobra, '70 T-Bird and the '70 Ford LTD.  All were basically un-assembled promo kits.  I believe the T-bird was updated to the '71 and the LTD became the '70 Galaxie Police Car.  The '70 Buick was the only one to survive unchanged, re-issued in '07 in the Model King packaging.  The others just disappeared.  If you're a diehard Buick fan make sure you grab the Model King issue if you can find one, the Sean Svendsen designed decal sheet is beautiful with all sorts of extra Buick related goodies. 

The upcoming kit is AMT1379 and will be in the Craftsman Plus packaging with a nice new decal sheet and a unique set of double line whitewall tires not currently available in any other kit. 

-Steve

[ncbuckeye67]

If the molding quality on this one is even close to the Nova wagon, I'm definitely getting one! Growing up, I saw many of these roaming the streets of my hometown.

[stavanzer]

Thanks, Steve. That has answered my questions.

New Decals, and New Tires.

I may need one.

Any way you could get the Luggage from the recent Galaxie Taxi thrown in? Or the Bike from the Lowrider Buick kit?

[SteveG]

58 minutes ago, stavanzer said:

Thanks, Steve. That has answered my questions.

New Decals, and New Tires.

I may need one.

Any way you could get the Luggage from the recent Galaxie Taxi thrown in? Or the Bike from the Lowrider Buick kit?

Both good ideas but the kit is already in production, in fact I think they may have shipped already. 

-Steve

[stavanzer]

11 minutes ago, SteveG said:

Both good ideas but the kit is already in production, in fact I think they may have shipped already. 

-Steve

Okay, Thanks, Steve.

Maybe next time!

[stavanzer]

Speaking of the Sven Svenson decals, does any body have a pic of that decal sheet for the Model King Issue of this Buick?

[Lunajammer]

5 hours ago, stavanzer said:

Speaking of the Sven Svenson decals, does any body have a pic of that decal sheet for the Model King Issue of this Buick?

Edited April 26, 2023 by Lunajammer

[64Comet404]

11 hours ago, Motor City said:

The '69 Wildcat had a 430 engine and the '70 had a 455.  I drove a '68 Wildcat in high school and college.  The engines are of the same family, though I'm not sure of any differences regarding pulleys and belts, ac compressor location, etc.   I would use the engine out of the '69 Riviera kit.  After '66, Wildcat bucket seats were only available in black (unless possibly a special order was available for a color change, but I've never seen one).  

My family had a '70 Wildcat between 1970-74, red with a black vinyl roof and white interior. There's a good chance that the car was built here in Canada, so that may account for the difference in interiors. Don't have the pics scanned on my computer right now, but including a pic of the built model.

[Can-Con]

12 minutes ago, 64Comet404 said:

My family had a '70 Wildcat between 1970-74, red with a black vinyl roof and white interior. There's a good chance that the car was built here in Canada, so that may account for the difference in interiors. Don't have the pics scanned on my computer right now, but including a pic of the built model.

You shure that car didn't have the bench seat, not buckets, Ken? They were available in pearl white vinyl.

Also, no Wildcats were ever built in Canada, all in the U.S.

[stavanzer]

6 hours ago, Lunajammer said:

Thanks, very much, MIke!

[Casey]

[charlie8575]

I built my Model King one sort of promo-style. For whatever reason, I wasn't feeling up to the foiling, etc. I think I was having trouble with that sheet I had, and didn't want to deal with it.

I'll get another one.

For interest...the sport coupe came with buckets in black. The convertible could be black or white...and a white bench could be ordered. It would therefore have been, at least in theory, be possible to order a white interior by special order using the convertible front seats, and the door/quarter panels and rear seat from a bench-seat sport coupe.

I think I might do the turquoise this time, with a white interior.

Charlie Larkin

[Sledsel]

Looking forward to this release! 

[Sledsel]

On another note, there are some awesome things on the horizon. 

[Motor City]

7 hours ago, charlie8575 said:

For interest...the sport coupe came with buckets in black. The convertible could be black or white...and a white bench could be ordered. It would therefore have been, at least in theory, be possible to order a white interior by special order using the convertible front seats, and the door/quarter panels and rear seat from a bench-seat sport coupe.

I stand by what I said earlier.  According to the '70 brochure:

"Black all-vinyl bucket seats are available at no extra cost on the Wildcat Custom Sport Coupe" and "All-vinyl notch-back seats ... standard on the Wildcat Custom Convertible in Pearl White or Black"

[64Comet404]

On 4/26/2023 at 7:48 PM, Can-Con said:

You shure that car didn't have the bench seat, not buckets, Ken? They were available in pearl white vinyl.

Also, no Wildcats were ever built in Canada, all in the U.S.

I had an opportunity to ask my Dad about the car, and it was a bench-seat car. In my defence, I was a toddler when the car was traded in, so missing a few small details is probably natural.  ?

[stavanzer]