Those that were only made once

[T-Ray]

I thought that it would be interesting to talk about the kits that were only ever made once/twice. I know that not everything can be a '57 Chevy or '69 Camaro but it feels weird to spend the money on the toolings and only ever use them once. To start off, I'd like to bring up Revell's '49 Mercury Woody and '50 Olds. 

[Fat Brian]

The 50 Olds has a second mild custom version. I'm sure we'll see one or the other again in 8 or 10 years.

[Mr. Metallic]

The 49 Woody is actually an offshoot of the Revell chopped 49 Merc tooling. So those kits you mentioned are both part of the "version-ing" practice that Revell (and Moebius) does now where any new tool is created there are at least 1 or more additional versions planned. See also the Revell 57 Ford (sedan and wagon), 71 Mustang (BBoss and mach 1)and several others. Some versions are more extensive than others (like the complete new body and interior tooling for the Merc woody) but at least 50% of the kit is reused when making the next version. 

The exception to this practice would be the all new tooling Foose kits (Caddy and F-100 pickup). Both of which are still in the catalog 6-7 years after introduction. They are getting their moneys worth out of that investment.

Edited October 25, 2023 by Mr. Metallic

[espo]

Like the '49 Merc woody and would buy some if rereleased and they wouldn't have to change a thing. As Mr. Metallic mentioned about changes to existing tooling and reissue with a different body. The '50 Olds would also be a perfect example of a kit that could be offered as either a two-door hardtop or even a woody. I think either or both would make viable business case for Revelle.  

[T-Ray]

1 hour ago, Mr. Metallic said:

The 49 Woody is actually an offshoot of the Revell chopped 49 Merc tooling. So those kits you mentioned are both part of the "version-ing" practice that Revell (and Moebius) does now where any new tool is created there are at least 1 or more additional versions planned. See also the Revell 57 Ford (sedan and wagon), 71 Mustang (BBoss and mach 1)and several others. Some versions are more extensive than others (like the complete new body and interior tooling for the Merc woody) but at least 50% of the kit is reused when making the next version. 

 

I did know about the Woody being closely related to the custom Mercury. Although that hasn't been since in over ten years as well. 

[StevenGuthmiller]

I guess I’m a little confused about we’re discussing here.

Both the Olds and Merc are pretty recent kits on the time scale, and will very likely be re-popped over an over again in the years to come.

Likewise, there is always the possibility of seeing other variations of both of these kits in the future.

When I saw the heading on this thread, my assumption was that it was about “true” once and over kits, of which there have been probably dozens, or possibly hundreds of examples over the years.

Annual kits that were produced one time in the same year as the 1:1 and then disappearing, possibly forever.

There are gobs of examples of these kinds of kits, so it’s difficult to decide where to begin

I suppose as good a place as any would be somewhere near the beginning of the annual model kit craze, which probably began in earnest around 1958.

For that reason, the AMT 1958 Ford Fairlane 500 would make a good example.

Produced in 1958, and 1958 only, it’s a true unicorn, and just the tip of the iceberg as far as “one time only” kits go.

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

Edited October 26, 2023 by StevenGuthmiller

[1972coronet]

52 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

[The] AMT 1958 Ford Fairlane 500 would make a good example [of a once-only release].

I've long loved the '58-'59 (and '60) Fords, and yours is a sparkling example !

I'd give me right eye tooth for a new '58-'59 Fairlane (and accompanying Ranchero).

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Here's my 'vote' for a once-and-done kit (technically) : MPC's 1978 C10 Step Side Pickup . Note that I mentioned C-10 , as it's the only 2WD iteration of the beloved Squarebody  from the entire MPC (et al.) annual series of 1978-c.1982.

[T-Ray]

1 hour ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

I guess I’m a little confused about we’re discussing here.

Both the Olds and Merc are pretty recent kits on the time scale, and will very likely be re-popped over an over again in the years to come.

Likewise, there is always the possibility of seeing other variations of both of these kits in the future.

When I saw the heading on this thread, my assumption was that it was about “true” once and over kits, of which there have been probably dozens, or possibly hundreds of examples over the years.

It doesn't really matter. Those two just stuck out to me but anything really goes.

[Bucky]

Hard to pin down "One and Done", as it didn't look good for many years that we would see the '71 Dodge Demon again, but it looks as though it is on its way.

[Rodent]

15 minutes ago, Bucky said:

Hard to pin down "One and Done", as it didn't look good for many years that we would see the '71 Dodge Demon again, but it looks as though it is on its way.

I don't like Plum Crazy so much anymore, but I am going to have to build one of these in that color. Dad was used car shopping in 1973 and my barely teenage brain wanted him to buy the one we found at the Pontiac dealership.

"Dad, it's just a 340, it must get better fuel economy than Mom's car (64 Galaxie 390), and manuals get better fuel economy than automatics."

Didn't work. He would have been sleeping in the garage if he brought home a purple car. Brown 351W 2 door 70 Galaxie wound up being the choice.

[StevenGuthmiller]

3 hours ago, Rodent said:

I don't like Plum Crazy so much anymore, but I am going to have to build one of these in that color. Dad was used car shopping in 1973 and my barely teenage brain wanted him to buy the one we found at the Pontiac dealership.

"Dad, it's just a 340, it must get better fuel economy than Mom's car (64 Galaxie 390), and manuals get better fuel economy than automatics."

Didn't work. He would have been sleeping in the garage if he brought home a purple car. Brown 351W 2 door 70 Galaxie wound up being the choice.

I had a similar experience with a ‘71 Demon when I was about 16 years old.

 

We had a “second” car that was designated to be driven by whatever kid reached the driving age at the time.

My brother and sister had several “interesting” cars before I reached driving age, including a 64 or ‘65 Olds Vista Cruiser station wagon, and a ‘61 Plymouth Savoy sedan.

By the time I turned 16, it was a ‘68 Buick Skylark 4 door sedan, but shortly thereafter, the Buick was due to be replaced.

One Saturday, my dad took me to a Mopar dealership in a neighboring town to scope out the used cars.

As we strolled around the lot, a “Panther Pink” 1971 Dodge Demon caught both of our eyes.

It only had a 318, but it had white stripes, a white bucket seat interior with an automatic on the floor, rally wheels, and white letter tires.

A 16 year old’s dream!!

My father found a dealer who brought the keys so that we could check it out and fire it up.

I was very excited as it was beginning to look like a done deal......until my dad started the engine, and instantly detected a lifter tick.

That was the end of that! 😞

The booby prize wound up being a putrid green 1972 Plymouth Fury 4 door sedan with a green interior, green vinyl top, and a completely gutless, boat anchor of a 360.

I hated that car more than anything!!

I began wishing that I had the rusty, tan ‘68 Buick back!! 😑

 

 

Steve

[Daddyfink]

Pretty much the entire Boyd's line from Testors

Edited October 26, 2023 by Daddyfink

[iamsuperdan]

Tamiya Ford Sierra XR4i - 1985 seems to be the only release.

 

The Tamiya Volvo 850s. 1995 is the only release for these beauties.

850 Turbo Estate

850 BTCC Estate

850 BTCC Sedan

 

 

AMT 1966 Mercury Comet Cyclone - I believe this was only done once, then irreversibly modified into other kits.

[TarheelRick]

As mentioned earlier the AMT/SMP annuals were quite often one and done, an example of one I would love to see repopped is the 1963 Pontiac Catalina/Bonneville/Grand Prix hardtop (whichever version it was) or the 1962 Ford Galaxie hardtop.

[Mark]

The '62 Galaxie hardtop was reissued once, minus most customizing parts, in 1969. 

I have heard that the AMT and SMP 1958 kits were still available through 1959, as most of the 1:1 cars were completely different for '59 leaving the tooling for the '58 versions unaltered.  Supposedly the boxes for the "reissued" '58 kits have different stamping on the end panels, but with any unbuilt '58 kits being few and far between now that would be impossible to verify.

[StevenGuthmiller]

2 hours ago, TarheelRick said:

As mentioned earlier the AMT/SMP annuals were quite often one and done, an example of one I would love to see repopped is the 1963 Pontiac Catalina/Bonneville/Grand Prix hardtop (whichever version it was) or the 1962 Ford Galaxie hardtop.

The AMT '63 Pontiac was a Bonneville, available in 2 door hardtop, or convertible.

And yes, it is a great example for this subject.

 

 

The Pontiac Tempest was also available in '63,  in either hardtop or convertible configurations, and I believe that the only re-release was the altered wheel base funny car version.

 

Sometimes I think that we forget how prolific some of the model companies were with their offerings back in these early days.

As an example, 1964 was a banner year for Pontiac at AMT.

Hardtop and convertible versions of the Bonneville, the Grand Prix, the Lemans convertible, and the GTO hard top were all offered in that single year!!

As far as I know, none of them have been re-released to date.

 

I'm slowly working on that collection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, Mark said:

The '62 Galaxie hardtop was reissued once, minus most customizing parts, in 1969. 

That would have been the "Turista Turismo" version.

Having it been re-released in the late 60s leads me to believe that the tooling may still exist for this car.

Given Round-2's recent reputation for resurrecting these old kits, it wouldn't surprise me much to see the '62 Ford again. 

 

 

Steve

[StevenGuthmiller]

2 hours ago, Mark said:

I have heard that the AMT and SMP 1958 kits were still available through 1959, as most of the 1:1 cars were completely different for '59 leaving the tooling for the '58 versions unaltered.  Supposedly the boxes for the "reissued" '58 kits have different stamping on the end panels, but with any unbuilt '58 kits being few and far between now that would be impossible to verify.

I suppose that's a possibility as I'm sure that AMT/SMP would have wanted to squeeze every nickel out of those toolings as possible, but I wouldn't categorize that as a re-issue.

More of a continuance into the following year.

 

That said, if true, I don't conceive that it would have done them a lot of good to continue for another year.

As you stated, the rarity of some of the '58s leads me to believe that they either didn't sell a ton of them, or more likely, the little monsters crashed and burned most of them. 

 

 

 

Steve

Edited October 26, 2023 by StevenGuthmiller

[Mark]

Certain kits are just plain hard to find in unbuilt form.  I've been hanging around toy shows since the early Seventies.  Honestly, I can say that I have never seen very many unbuilt AMT/SMP 1958 or 1959 kits over the years, same goes for Jo-Han 1959-61.  The occasional built ones still turn up from time to time, but few appear without some sort of personalization as was encouraged in the instructions.  Trim removed, turned into stock car racers, and so on. 

[drodg]

11 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

I had a similar experience with a ‘71 Demon when I was about 16 years old.

 

We had a “second” car that was designated to be driven by whatever kid reached the driving age at the time.

My brother and sister had several “interesting” cars before I reached driving age, including a 64 or ‘65 Olds Vista Cruiser station wagon, and a ‘61 Plymouth Savoy sedan.

By the time I turned 16, it was a ‘68 Buick Skylark 4 door sedan, but shortly thereafter, the Buick was due to be replaced.

One Saturday, my dad took me to a Mopar dealership in a neighboring town to scope out the used cars.

As we strolled around the lot, a “Panther Pink” 1971 Dodge Demon caught both of our eyes.

It only had a 318, but it had white stripes, a white bucket seat interior with an automatic on the floor, rally wheels, and white letter tires.

A 16 year old’s dream!!

My father found a dealer who brought the keys so that we could check it out and fire it up.

I was very excited as it was beginning to look like a done deal......until my dad started the engine, and instantly detected a lifter tick.

That was the end of that! 😞

The booby prize wound up being a putrid green 1972 Plymouth Fury 4 door sedan with a green interior, green vinyl top, and a completely gutless, boat anchor of a 360.

I hated that car more than anything!!

I began wishing that I had the rusty, tan ‘68 Buick back!! 😑

 

 

Steve

You know the sad thing about the Chrysler small block is they all did that and a little STP took care of it.  At least until your next oil change.   When I say all there were probably a lot that didn't but it was pretty common and after the engine warmed up the lifter click went away.  I don't think the 340's did it but quite a few 318's did.   Anyhow a little worthless knowledge many years later.  

[StevenGuthmiller]

27 minutes ago, drodg said:

You know the sad thing about the Chrysler small block is they all did that and a little STP took care of it.  At least until your next oil change.   When I say all there were probably a lot that didn't but it was pretty common and after the engine warmed up the lifter click went away.  I don't think the 340's did it but quite a few 318's did.   Anyhow a little worthless knowledge many years later.  

Oh, I was more than willing to take a chance on the Demon, but I wasn't paying for it.

My dad was a Chevy guy, so I suppose what you describe wasn't on his radar.

To him, a lifter ticking meant trouble down the road.

 

But I got back at him.

Sometime later, a bunch of friends and I jumped in to the Plymouth one afternoon, and from the back seat I hear, "Rev it up and drop it in low!"

Not wanting to disappoint, I promptly followed the instructions and blew the front drive shaft yolk into little pieces! 

Pops wasn't happy at all.

 

 

 

Steve

Edited October 26, 2023 by StevenGuthmiller

[drodg]

11 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Oh, I was more than willing to take a chance on the Demon, but I wasn't paying for it.

My dad was a Chevy guy, so I suppose what you describe wasn't on his radar.

To him, a lifter ticking meant trouble down the road.

 

But I got back at him.

Sometime later, a bunch of friends and I jumped in to the Plymouth one afternoon, and from the back seat I hear, "Rev it up and drop it in low!"

Not wanting to disappoint, I promptly followed the instructions and blew the front drive shaft yolk into little pieces! 

Pops wasn't happy at all.

 

 

 

Steve

Great story.  My dad was looking in 1972 at a used 1970 Fury III.  For about the same money they had a Sublime 70 Superbird on the same lot.  I told my dad btw you should by that Superbird instead of the Fury as it will probably be worth a lot of money some day.  Of course he bought the Fury.   

[tbill]

Wasn’t the mpc 71 chevelle a one and done?

[Keef]

[catpack68]

These two Tamiya kits