Jump to content
Model Cars Magazine Forum

Recommended Posts

Posted

I'm working on their 1960 Impala kit and noticed something. After research, I think they did this on purpose just to mess with us.

On the bottom of the chassis it has a vertical mounted spare tire well on the right side of the car, with typical fuel tank location, yet all Chevrolet passenger cars had their spare tire in the trunk, mounted on top of the floor, as per the kit. Elcamino had their spare mounted behind the seat. All station wagons spare were carried under a trap door at the rear of the car, with a different shaped fuel tank. No third seat was offered in a Chevrolet wagon until 1961, with a vertical mounted spare on the right side of the car, and different fuel tank location. I could not find any model offered by Monogram of a 1961 Chevrolet wagon. 

BUT !!!

You can buy, brand new, a 1959-60 replacement sheet metal spare tire well...except it is for the LEFT side of the car. After looking at lots of pictures of Impala, Bel Air, and Biscayne trunks, none of them have a vertical mounted spare tire...on either side. 

Like I said, I think someone did this to mess with our heads. 😁 

20241228_165838.jpg

20241228_164315.jpg

Screenshot_20241228_163106_Chrome.jpg

20241228_161213.jpg

Screenshot_20241228_160620_Chrome.jpg

Posted (edited)
51 minutes ago, Sam I Am said:

No third seat was offered in a Chevrolet wagon until 1961

This statement isn't completely true. Chevrolet did have a 9 Passenger seat option for 59/60 But it's very rare to see one. It more than Likely was a special order edition. I know the '60 Chevrolet wagon My dad had and sold when I was nearly 6 years old had the third seat option..

chv59sw02.jpg

Edited by ranma
Posted

I would love to see a picture or article stating that. All the articles said it was never an option. Maybe GM shopped that out to another company for the conversion. It wouldn't be the first time that was done.

Posted

Thank you so much. I should have done another hour of searching before opening my mouth. Now I just need to know which side the spare tire was mounted, and why Monogram put that in their chassis plate. 😃 

Posted

More research.  By the looks of it, the spare was on the right side. You can see the holes where the panel clipped in place as well as the reinforcement that the hardware would fasten to. If you look really close on the left side, you can the canister for venting the fuel tank. 

 

So was Monogram going to add a station wagon to the lineup and never went through with it? Yet the fuel tank on the chassis plate would be wrong for any wagon.  All I know is that I won't lose any sleep over it. 😃 

Screenshot_20241228_180631_Facebook.jpg

Posted

On '59 Impala, spare tire was originally located at the spare tire well on right hand side of the trunk, so the chassis is correct for a '59. But in 1960, spare tire was just located in the trunk and there is no spare tire well on the trunk floor. I have a 1:1 scale '60 Impala in the garage, so I have reference material easily available.:P

My suspicion is that Monogram released the '59 first and then probably didn't do all of the necessary changes to the molds when they released the 1960. Another thing that's wrong on the '60 Impala kit, is the power steering pump. On '59, the pump is installed to the generator, but on a '60, the power steering pump is under the generator with own brackets holding it. But, both of the kits only have power steering pump like seen on a '59.

Posted (edited)

The Monogram '59 kit came out in 1996, the '60 in 1998.  It probably didn't make financial sense to retool completely, so some parts are shared. 

Edited by Rob Hall
Posted

Yep, that's pretty much what I thought. Luckily, it's not a big deal to modify if the builder wants to make the 1960 correct. B)

And after all, even if the builder didn't want to do those modifications, not many people are able to say at a model car show "That's incorrect!".:P

  • Like 1

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...