AMT 1/43 Peterbilt 359 History.

[Pete68]

I thought I would do a review on the AMT 1/43 Peterbilt 359 kit and it’s history. This is probably my favorite out of the Model Truck Kits AMT offers. My first encounter with this truck was around 1977 when my Mom bought the Dannon Yogurt Truck & Trailer set for me. I was around 8 years old. Over the years I’ve collected all the TnT series and sold them then bought what I could back. If you get a chance look up the October 1973 issue of Overdrive Magazine Phil Jensen does a great article on this Model and Tips how to build it with its flaws. 
 

So let’s get into the history of the AMT 1/43 Peterbilt 359 T-700.
The model was first Announced in the 1973 AMT Catalog along with the Fruehauf Reefer, Fruehauf Exterior Post Van, and the Kenworth Cabover. 
 

Here’s a pic of a copy of the announcement my brother Bill made for me in 1988. 

 

This Copy was in the following year Announcing the release of the Peterbilt/Holmes Wrecker T-705  and now we have Box Art. 

Different Box Art. From its debut in 1973 these were the Box Art till 1976 when they dropped the sales of the single Box kits. 

 

After 1974 AMT starts adding French writing to the Box lids

The Glass:

For some odd reason and I can’t find any source of what years they did this or if it was a random thing but AMT add to some of the earlier 1/43 Peterbilt kits Tinted Class. I have a few but these are very rare 

 

In 1975 The Sears Wish Book offered the Peterbilt 359 with the Fruehauf Reefer Trailer as a exclusive only to the retailer. I’ve never seen what the box art looked like but on a guess I’m thinking it was a value pack with the Boxes below with the sticker on the boxes. 

 

In 1974  1/43 Peterbilt made the front cover of the AMT Model Catalog and sharing the spotlight with it’s Big Brother in 1975.  Pretty impressive I thought. 

 

In Mid year 1977 AMT announced the Truck & Trailer Combo Kits with the Peterbilt 359 and the Peterbilt 359 Holmes Wrecker T-785 to be the first in the series.  
 

Also they released a exclusive Truck &  Trailer set for K-Mart. 

1978 Matchbox/Lesney bought AMT and moved them to Baltimore MD. from Troy MI. and the TnT molds went also. They kept releasing the Peterbilt 359 as a Truck & Trailer Set and started re-selling again the single model kits until Ertl bought AMT  dropping the 1/43 Truck & Trailer sets only. 

Here’s some box art of those years from 1979-1983.  

 

This one is a very rare and hard to find 

Here’s some pics of the Ertl years. Sadly 1987 was the last year for the 1/43 Peterbilt 359. 

Heller releases the 1/43 Peterbilt 359 Truck & Trailer and The Peterbilt/Holmes Wrecker in 2007-2008 

This is the 2007 Box Art  notice it’s very different and “Peterbilt” is missed spelled.

I hope you enjoyed this  review of this little gem. I wish AMT would have kept going with this 1/43 line of trucks by adding a Cabover Peterbilt 352. I’ll be doing more reviews on AMT 1/43 TnT series in the near Future. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 16, 2024 by Pete68

[Blue Monday]

Great information. Please do other posts on other 1/43 truck kits!

BM.

Edited December 18, 2024 by Blue Monday

[Pete68]

8 minutes ago, Blue Monday said:

Great information. Please do other posts on other 1/42 truck kits!

BM.

Thanks I appreciate it. Ok I will very soon. 

[Edsel-Dan]

I had a  few of these kits.

I loved them. I have the Sears set, Yes, it was the 2 separate kits taped or wrapped together

with the Sears decals incuded.

Each kit had the decals, so you got 2  complete sheets.

I also have the K-Mart and Pepsi sets

I never got the Wrecker, but would still Love to find that one!!!!

[Pete68]

1 minute ago, Edsel-Dan said:

I have the Sears set,

That’s awesome I figured that is how it was. Did you open them? I would like to see how they did it if you want you too. You can post it here I don’t care. 

[Pete68]

23 hours ago, Edsel-Dan said:

so you got 2  complete sheets.

Yes you did. My brother had that one and I did at one time I kept the decals and sold the truck many years ago. 
 

The wrecker is a nice one. 

Edited December 19, 2024 by Pete68

[Edsel-Dan]

I built that Sears set WAY Back When!!

Got it NEW at the  time through my OLD Sears Catalog desk storefront

here in Town.

Painted her in 7th grade shop class.

(Graduated high school 1979--you do the math)

Been a while, but have seen the second decal sheet as I was looking through those for something I needed

Likely been 15-20 years though

[Pete68]

2 hours ago, Edsel-Dan said:

Sears Catalog desk storefront

We had one of those in my home town   I live about 5 miles from town now I live in the country. The Sears small store was in between the IGA supermarket and the TG&Y department store. TG&Y is one of the stores my middle brother Bill bought all his models in the early 1970s.  My oldest Brother graduated in 1976 so kinda now got a idea of your age 😂. I’m not that for behind you. I appreciate your reply 

Edited December 18, 2024 by Pete68

[ZIL 111V]

Indeed, the 1/43 TnT series was introduced in the 1973 amt catalog, in seperate truck  & trailers boxes  (note the angle of the 1/43 359 box art is heavily inspired by the 1/25th 359 box art version), as mention combo sets came a bit later (mimicking the 1/25 BIG RIGS series), remember getting most of them in the late 70s as birthday or X-mas gifts, also remember that local K-marts got tons of them in their toy dept, no wonder the K-Mart set was available. FYI: French was for the Canadian market (Since English & French are both official languages in Canada). Last time I saw/bought these was in french Heller Boxing, back in 2009, but NO chrome parts??? & different decals. Round2 will probably get them back in Coke or Sprite liveries😉

[Jim B]

I never realized the Heller reissued these kits.  That's interesting.  Of course, that was almost 20 years ago.

[Pete68]

10 minutes ago, Jim B said:

I never realized the Heller reissued these kits.  That's interesting.  Of course, that was almost 20 years ago.

When they first appeared in 2007 I ordered all three hoping to buy several but when I opened them I was very disappointed because they had no chrome and the Cabover Kenworth was very misleading compared to the box art. So I never bothered buying the Heller ones again just bought the old AMT, Matchbox and Ertl ones. On the Peterbilt Heller added Stack mounts to the cab and it looked like they cleaned the molds up from when Ertl had them. I’ll do a Thread this weekend I hope on the Cabover Kenworth and it’s major changes when Matchbox released it in 1982. Thanks Jim for stopping by. 

[tim boyd]

Lee....thanks very much for the outstanding and comprehensive kit history on the AMT 1/43rd Peterbilts.  Like some of you, I was also unaware of the Heller reissues.  

For those who want even more on this series of kit, a few years ago I did a full-page article on the T-785 release in my "Classic Kits" column that appears on the back page of the general interest modeling magazine that sometimes includes model car/truck content in addition to military/planes/ships/sci-fi et al.  The column included the "inside info" on how AMT decided to do the 1/43rd kits, as well as the details of the Holmes Twin Boom Wrecker which was in part a response by AMT to the widespread disappointment over their earlier 1/25th scale Peterbilt with a much-simplified wrecker body. 

Let me know if any of you need the specific issue info and I'll look it up. 

Thanks again, Lee.   TIM   

[Pete68]

38 minutes ago, tim boyd said:

Lee....thanks very much for the outstanding and comprehensive kit history on the AMT 1/43rd Peterbilts.  Like some of you, I was also unaware of the Heller reissues.  

For those who want even more on this series of kit, a few years ago I did a full-page article on the T-785 release in my "Classic Kits" column that appears on the back page of the general interest modeling magazine that sometimes includes model car/truck content in addition to military/planes/ships/sci-fi et al.  The column included the "inside info" on how AMT decided to do the 1/43rd kits, as well as the details of the Holmes Twin Boom Wrecker which was in part a response by AMT to the widespread disappointment over their earlier 1/25th scale Peterbilt with a much-simplified wrecker body. 

Let me know if any of you need the specific issue info and I'll look it up. 

Thanks again, Lee.   TIM   

Tim thanks I appreciate your complement a lot and I never knew you did an write up on these little gems. I would definitely like to see the article or how to obtained a copy. I mentioned Phil Jensen doing a highlight in the October 1973 issue of Overdrive magazine. I didn’t feel comfortable posting it out of respect of the owner on the web it’s a great 3 page article. Phil Jensen was one of the greatest Truck Modelers in my book (Besides my brother Bill) of the late 1960s and 1970s. I’m planning on doing a thread on the Kenworth K-100 Cabover next and corrections to make it look a little better than AMT did and then both trailers after that.  Your more than welcome to add your information here if you like. Thanks for stopping by Tim much appreciated. 

Edited December 20, 2024 by Pete68

[Rockford]

What a comprehensive review! Your affinity with this kit shines through in your text. It is a fabulous kit for its age and size. It was this kit that gave me the AMT truck virus. It was mid to late 70s when I got it. I didn't have a clue what the thing was, I just knew it looked absolutely fantastic with the stripe job and the chrome. I didn't know what a conventional was, a luberfiner, or a supercharger; and the box art mentioned something called a "reefer" - what on earth was a reefer!? I had to develop a whole new vocabulary. Our trucks were dismal by comparison. I got it together somehow, painted as per the box art and had for years, but I was smitten with American trucks and it was overshadowed by its bigger brothers. 

Interesting to see that AMT state it's a downsized version of the California Hauler because they do indeed share a certain amount of box art. I recall seeing the Heller versions in model shops when they were current but never connected them with that original little Peterbilt. Didn't Heller buy Airfix and all their moulds, and Airfix were bought back to GB by Hornby but they only managed to get a percentage of the moulds back off Heller so the 1/43 must have gone astray, such a shame. I recently obtained the K-Mart rig from ebay for a sensible price because the box was dust. That's as far as it's going for me, I'm in enough trouble from 1/32 addiction! Would love to see more on the history of these great little kits. Well done and thanks Lee.   

Edited December 20, 2024 by Rockford
Spilling corricted

[Pete68]

1 hour ago, Rockford said:

 

What a comprehensive review!

 

Steve what a great comment I really appreciate it. Yes my passion for this kit goes back to around 1975 when I got that Dannon set. Also my very first encounter is when my brother Bill built the Reefer trailer around 1973 when they first came out he used sniff proof glue (non toxic) to build it smelled like Oranges he opened the back doors And said “Smell” it smelled just like Oranges was just hauled in it 😂. Box Art does sell and theses kits had some good ones and later as I will show some bad ones. Thanks for sharing your story I appreciate it glad to always here someone’s story on a kit I like. 
 

Yes I think your right about the Heller deal. I kinda doubt if these will see light again. It really disappoints me Heller manipulated this kit by adding cab mounts and no chrome at least they could have chromed was needed to be and the Boxes were horrible after a few years the glue failed and the box comes apart if you had opened it but that’s just me. We now have IXO Diecast Truck models cranking out 1/43 trucks like Hot Cakes. Maybe AMT will see this opportunity to get these molds back or what ever the deal was and get the trailers kits back out on the market for all these IXO Trucks. I would like to see them do the 1/25 scale Flatbed, Tanker, and Cattle trailers in 1/43 scale at least. I’ll be post the Kenworth K-100 this weekend so be looking for it and the 1/43 Trailers after the Holidays if not sooner. Thanks again for stopping by. 

[glue fumes]

love to see these reissued, built several back when they came out. 

[Pete68]

57 minutes ago, glue fumes said:

love to see these reissued, built several back when they came out. 

It would be nice to see them appear again. Who knows AMT has done some wonderful things for the Model Community over the past years making kits we only imagine. It’s a good time to be a model builder. 

[Brian Austin]

It's a pity AMT didn't do a car carrier trailer as part of the series, to haul their 1:43 cars.  🙂

[Pete68]

22 hours ago, Brian Austin said:

It's a pity AMT didn't do a car carrier trailer as part of the series, to haul their 1:43 cars.  🙂

Yes that’s a good idea. I never built the cars I’ve often thought about buying a couple. 

[Biggu]

Great thread. And all the guys commenting makes this a very interesting read. I always liked and wanted the wrecker, although that was never to happen …. I look forward to more of your reviews and the guys commenting. Lots of good useful information and interesting.  Thanks for starting this one pal

[Pete68]

1 hour ago, Biggu said:

look forward to more of your reviews

Thanks Jeff for the nice comment. Yes I’ll be doing more in the near future probably after the holidays are over. I enjoy all you guys positive comments and I hope some of my reviews help.