AMT Unreal Edsel

[GMP440]

Has anyone read anywhere about Round 2 announcing the release of the Un Real Edsel kit sometime in 2025?

[Mr mopar]

Nope ?

 

[Mark]

If it does appear, I'd expect it only after the F-85 roadster runs it's course, because both (and the altered wheelbase '65 Malibu) all use the same chassis.

[Ragtop Man]

Assuming R2 would have to retool the body....? 

Or does the tool live in a dusty crib somewhere? 

IIRC, AMT once consulted Dennis Doty on the possiblity of an Edsel re-release in the early '80s to commemorate the 25th anniversary - but don't think it went anywhere. 

Another boomer moment - thinking the 80's were only a few years ago. 

[John M.]

Not me. 

[slusher]

I think I read it somewhere and the other altered wheelbase Pontiac or Buick"…

[rattle can man]

there's one on that auction site for $548

[Dave Van]

Many of the needed parts are there........I bought the 'extra' parts in resin so I'd say yes! 

[Mark]

I would doubt that the original body still exists.  I've got a couple of the funny car bodies (including one unused one), they are pretty rough.  The tooling was used for promos, toy store frictions, and kits so it was probably worn out by the time they got to the funny car kit.  Had it existed in usable condition during the Ertl era, they probably would have cleaned it up and done a snap kit and/or retro promo with it.

[1972coronet]

4 hours ago, Ragtop Man said:

Another boomer moment - thinking the 80's were only a few years ago.

Gen-X here... I know exactly how you feel !

[Dave Darby]

Speaking with my source at Round 2, the 58 Edsel tool is long gone. I'd love to see them repop it, as the new tool kit has a lot of proportion issues, but I don't see that happening. 

.

[66c10]

That would be cool to see the super boss un Real Edsel funny car 

[bobss396]

I built one many years back..it had an outhouse door for the front bumper.

[Ragtop Man]

14 hours ago, Dave Darby said:

Speaking with my source at Round 2, the 58 Edsel tool is long gone. I'd love to see them repop it, as the new tool kit has a lot of proportion issues, but I don't see that happening. 

.

I doubt it, too, but we've been surprised before. Would be a layup for a resin caster, might be one out there already, but I'm a bit out of that swing lately. 

[Ragtop Man]

2 hours ago, bobss396 said:

I built one many years back..it had an outhouse door for the front bumper.

Never mind that I couldn't tell you where my keys are today without an AirTag - but - I recall picking up this kit box off the shelf at the little mom-n-pop hardware store a few blocks from our house in Dearborn in 1967. Showed it to my Dad (Ford engineer) who came as close as he ever did to rolling his eyes as he said 'nope'. 

[ChrisBcritter]

I thought just the body shell still existed? I'd buy a couple of them just to rebody my old '58 and fix the problems on my newer one

[tim boyd]

Seems to me like an unlikely candidate for a kit cloning.

But with Round 2 these days, "never say never" seems to be the operative word. 

So.....my view would be ...."hold that thought...".   As always, I guess, time will tell....TB 

[Carmak]

If someone wanted to replicate this kit it would not be terribly difficult. The original kit was the unaltered 58 Edsel annual body, the 65 Chevelle AWB chassis/engine/interior tub, cruiser skirts and an outhouse door.

Put a modern tooling 58 Edsel body on the cloned 65 Chevelle AWB chassis/engine/interior tub, find some parts box or E-bay cruiser skirts and make a real balsa wood outhouse door. TA DA - you have an Unreal Edsel!

Possibly Round2 could do what I describe above for us in a single kit and tool up some cruiser skirts and an outhouse door?

I personally would rather see Round2 invest in other kits that are not so easily replicated.

[niteowl7710]

5 hours ago, Carmak said:

If someone wanted to replicate this kit it would not be terribly difficult. The original kit was the unaltered 58 Edsel annual body, the 65 Chevelle AWB chassis/engine/interior tub, cruiser skirts and an outhouse door.

Put a modern tooling 58 Edsel body on the cloned 65 Chevelle AWB chassis/engine/interior tub, find some parts box or E-bay cruiser skirts and make a real balsa wood outhouse door. TA DA - you have an Unreal Edsel!

Possibly Round2 could do what I describe above for us in a single kit and tool up some cruiser skirts and an outhouse door?

I personally would rather see Round2 invest in other kits that are not so easily replicated.

The 65 is probably tooled in a way the suspension/drivetrain can be run separately because it goes under all of the other AWB subjects. The question is whether the 90s Edsel body & Chrome can run without the rest of the tooling. It probably isn't economical to have to scrap 90% of the Edsel kit just to pack the body into something else, let alone tool new parts to boot.

Edited December 31, 2024 by niteowl7710

[Mark]

The original Edsel body wasn't completely unchanged.  The chassis and interior mounting posts were eliminated, the hood ornament hole was filled, and the recessed areas for the taillight lenses were filled in.  Only the body and skirts from the annual kit were included in the funny car kit.  No glass, no chrome.

Newly tooled parts included the outhouse door front spoiler, a pair of Fifties style mud flaps, two pieces to raise the interior bucket from the chassis, and a "broken" ladder for "driver entry".

[Carmak]

5 hours ago, niteowl7710 said:

The 65 is probably tooled in a way the suspension/drivetrain can be run separately because it goes under all of the other AWB subjects. The question is whether the 90s Edsel body & Chrome can run without the rest of the tooling. It probably isn't economical to have to scrap 90% of the Edsel kit just to pack the body into something else, let alone tool new parts to boot.

A common practice in injection molding is to install runner blocks or runner switch to allow part of a mold to be shut off. If Round2 were to look into this option, they could use or add runner blocks or switches so that only the body and hood are molded and there would be no waste. There would be elevated cost involved in running the fairly large Edsel mold only to produce a body and hood as a mold of this size requires a large molding press. The Unreal Edsel did not have any Edsel chrome or glass.

[Motor City]

11 hours ago, Carmak said:

I personally would rather see Round2 invest in other kits that are not so easily replicated.

Yes, there are plenty of old kits and promos with more sales potential.  It wouldn't be too difficult to buy the newer Edsel kit and do your own customization. 

[Carmak]

1 hour ago, Mark said:

The original Edsel body wasn't completely unchanged.  The chassis and interior mounting posts were eliminated, the hood ornament hole was filled, and the recessed areas for the taillight lenses were filled in.  Only the body and skirts from the annual kit were included in the funny car kit.  No glass, no chrome.

Newly tooled parts included the outhouse door front spoiler, a pair of Fifties style mud flaps, two pieces to raise the interior bucket from the chassis, and a "broken" ladder for "driver entry".

Unlike the other annual bodies used for the AWB kits the Edsel wheel openings were not changed. I forgot about the taillights and hood ornament hole being filled but those types of modifications are very subtle.

I feel my point that the modern Edsel body/hood could be used to make a fairly close replica of the Unreal Edsel is still valid.

[niteowl7710]

1 hour ago, Carmak said:

A common practice in injection molding is to install runner blocks or runner switch to allow part of a mold to be shut off. If Round2 were to look into this option, they could use or add runner blocks or switches so that only the body and hood are molded and there would be no waste. There would be elevated cost involved in running the fairly large Edsel mold only to produce a body and hood as a mold of this size requires a large molding press. The Unreal Edsel did not have any Edsel chrome or glass.

However in modern kit injection molding gates are no longer used. The tool runs with all of the parts, and you're suggesting gating out (if you don't want windows or chrome) 98% of a single piece tool to pop a body and hood for a kinda sorta the thing (previous messages about tooling changes to the original taken into consideration) you want. 

Ya know I guess if it were some sort of "One Run of Fun" release and you were personally going to be responsible for all the slings and arrows Round2 would take for releasing a "close enough" version of the kit. But I doubt Round2 is going to risk damaging their tool by welding gates into it and trying to figure out the flow rates on injecting a fraction of the tool on something that could never be reissued again. The UnReal Edsel is rapidly closing in on being 60 years old and the vast majority of it's customer base is closing in on (or past) 70. They aren't going to need another one when they're 80+ yrs old.

[Robberbaron]

In the past, someone on this board claimed that they had it on good authority (from someone with insider knowledge) that the original annual 1958 Edsel tool DID still exist, although it was only the body (no chrome/glass/chassis).  If the Unreal Edsel never included those parts, it makes sense that they would no longer survive, even if the body did.

This is definitely a "someone told someone who told someone something" situation, so take it with a spoon of salt.  My fuzzy memory says the source might have been someone back in the Ertl days, so there have also been 20-25 years and several ownership changes where tooling could have gone missing and/or been left behind.

We know some stuff that was run in the eighties and nineties isn't around anymore, for whatever reason.