Just a few AMT kits coming this year !!

[Rob Hall]

13 minutes ago, PintoKING said:

Yea, I saw that too, but it is actually a 1971. Sure hope it will include the stock interior for a factory-stock version.

Would be nice, but I assume the tooling was long modified for race only versions..has been reissued twice in this century--  20 years ago IIRC in the box art below, and more recently in the Allison livery (in the last 10 years?) 

Edited Sunday at 02:45 PM by Rob Hall

[Mark]

2 hours ago, Luc Janssens said:

Oops yes, the '69.  But they all come with these turbine wheels?

The annual had AMT's pretty decent Keystone mags, all reissues (Countdown series was the first) have the American Racing Vector wheels.  

[slusher]

56 minutes ago, Rob Hall said:

Would be nice, but I assume the tooling was long modified for race only versions..has been reissued twice in this century--  20 years ago IIRC in the box art below, and more recently in the Allison livery (in the last 10 years?) 

I like this race version, I will take what comes out..

[Mark C.]

20 hours ago, Perspect Scale Modelworks said:

That sounds more like it and proves my point that they're not interested in marketing scale kits to "kids". What a shame.

IMHO, Round 2 isn’t aiming at the “kids” market segment with their reissues, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t do it, if there are modellers out there willing to buy them (which is their business call).

Fear not, though, as our friend Justin points out, there are many other companies out there who are providing model kits for that market segment.   There’s something for everybody.  👍🏻

[Mark C.]

On 7/19/2025 at 12:14 PM, Rob Hall said:

Looking forward to the '60 Impala wagon, '65 Barracuda, '72 Duster and others.

Me too!!

[Mark C.]

26 minutes ago, slusher said:

I like this race version, I will take what comes out..

Ditto.

[Can-Con]

The '69 Riviera annual definitely did have a vinyl roof.

Here's a couple pics from a current auction.

[ss2000]

3 hours ago, Can-Con said:

The '69 Riviera annual definitely did have a vinyl roof.

Here's a couple pics from a current auction.

It was removed for the  countdown issue. Seems odd that they would have spent money on that in the mid 70’s. I have an original in the stash.

[Rob Hall]

23 minutes ago, ss2000 said:

It was removed for the  countdown issue. Seems odd that they would have spent money on that in the mid 70’s. I have an original in the stash.

That is curious they did the vinyl top for 1 year only.  I checked my ‘66, ‘67 and ‘68 Riviera annuals and they are all smooth.  The only ‘69 kits I’ve had are the Countdown Series  

 

 

 

 

[tim boyd]

5 hours ago, ss2000 said:

It was removed for the  countdown issue. Seems odd that they would have spent money on that in the mid 70’s. I have an original in the stash.

OK. So now you guys have me really going. 

I went back and found my original issue AMT 1966 and 1967 Riviera annual kits and verified, no viny roofs.  I posted above the Rob/Tim Boyd build of the 1968 annual kit, no vinyl roof.  I checked my Countdown (1977), 1995ish and 2005 ish reissues and no vinyl roofs.  So, what does that leave?  The 1969 annual kit as the only possible one with the engraved vinyl roof.  I do not have that one in my stash, but I do have the box art.  Dug it out and voila - both box art illustrations show a vinyl roof.  That's also essentially the same box art as shown in the first/initial post in this thread.  

Still, that does not make much sense. 

The reissues are clearly vinyl roof omitted, and AMT in both 1969 and 1977 was struggling financially.  I can see them engraving the existing tool for the vinyl roof for the 1969 annual kit run, though I question why they would have gone to that trouble for just one more year of tooling use.  Plus, my understanding of tooling back then is that once the viny roof engraving was added, it is impossible to delete it later without great expense. 

I suppose it is possible they tooled an entirely new top piece (the body was comprised of three different pieces of tooling that come together to form the one-piece body) with the vinyl engraving, then returned to the 1966-68 no-vinyl piece for the reissues, though again that does not seem to make a great deal of sense from my marketing/business POV.   Almost all of the AMT personnel that would know the true story are sadly no longer with us. 

Anyone else have any ideas, and does anyone have a confirmed and pristine AMT-molded 1969 annual kit body with the vinyl roof engraving?   TB 

    

Edited yesterday at 01:27 AM by tim boyd

[CapSat 6]

If you Google “1969 Buick Riviera Promo”, the image searches show promos with painted vinyl tops (mostly silver with a black top). By 1969, many American cars came with vinyl tops, as they were inexpensive for the manufacturers, they cut down on costs as far as painting and finishing car roofs, they “spiffed up” the stock a bit, and put some more money in the manufacturers’ and dealers’ pockets. 

AMT might have added that engraving to the ‘69 to juice the promo a bit, and then decided by the Countdown days that the engraved vinyl roof was either outdated by then-current standards, or perhaps it limited building options. It doesn’t make sense that these efforts were made, but the efforts seem to have been made. I only ever had the Buyer’s Choice Countdown repop, molded in gray, which did not have a vinyl top. 

[1972coronet]

Potentially silly perspective here , @tim boyd, et alia :

Is it possible that the roof insert for the '69 was damaged by the time of its c.1977 reissue ? Perhaps the earlier roof tooling insert was employed from 1976 , ad sequitur , due to its being damaged ?

[Can-Con]

14 hours ago, tim boyd said:

OK. So now you guys have me really going. 

I went back and found my original issue AMT 1966 and 1967 Riviera annual kits and verified, no viny roofs.  I posted above the Rob/Tim Boyd build of the 1968 annual kit, no vinyl roof.  I checked my Countdown (1977), 1995ish and 2005 ish reissues and no vinyl roofs.  So, what does that leave?  The 1969 annual kit as the only possible one with the engraved vinyl roof.  I do not have that one in my stash, but I do have the box art.  Dug it out and voila - both box art illustrations show a vinyl roof.  That's also essentially the same box art as shown in the first/initial post in this thread.  

Still, that does not make much sense. 

The reissues are clearly vinyl roof omitted, and AMT in both 1969 and 1977 was struggling financially.  I can see them engraving the existing tool for the vinyl roof for the 1969 annual kit run, though I question why they would have gone to that trouble for just one more year of tooling use.  Plus, my understanding of tooling back then is that once the viny roof engraving was added, it is impossible to delete it later without great expense. 

I suppose it is possible they tooled an entirely new top piece (the body was comprised of three different pieces of tooling that come together to form the one-piece body) with the vinyl engraving, then returned to the 1966-68 no-vinyl piece for the reissues, though again that does not seem to make a great deal of sense from my marketing/business POV.   Almost all of the AMT personnel that would know the true story are sadly no longer with us. 

Anyone else have any ideas, and does anyone have a confirmed and pristine AMT-molded 1969 annual kit body with the vinyl roof engraving?   TB 

    

Tim, the pics in my post above are of an unpainted, unmodified but built '69 annual on E-bay right now. you can even see the mold lines are still on it. 

Every '69 annual and promo I've ever seen has the vinyl roof.

I guess it's similar to the '68 having separate park light lenses in the bumper but the '69 has them molded in. [neither are correct to the real lenses though] Why would they go to the trouble when they only needed to change the grille to be correct for the '69, not anything else on the bumper?

[Jack L]

35 minutes ago, Can-Con said:

Tim, the pics in my post above are of an unpainted, unmodified but built '69 annual on E-bay right now. you can even see the mold lines are still on it. 

Every '69 annual and promo I've ever seen has the vinyl roof.

I guess it's similar to the '68 having separate park light lenses in the bumper but the '69 has them molded in. [neither are correct to the real lenses though] Why would they go to the trouble when they only needed to change the grille to be correct for the '69, not anything else on the bumper?

Steve is right my 69 Riviera annual has a vinyl roof my 68 does not .

[Mark C.]

Is it possible that there were different moulds running in parallel for the same kit?

The reason I am thinking this way comes from a conversation about GTO bodies where the ’70 GTO in the Super Stocker series came from a promo tool, and then there was the ‘72, from the annual tool, that had previously been changed to the NASCAR version and back (discernible due to the polished inner surface for the clear body), and then, IIRC, there was another tool used as well (maybe the street version of the’70?) …the details escape me.

It got me wondering, given the conflicting reports of some Rivs with vinyl and some without, if there could have been two versions of the tooling being used, with and without vinyl top detail.

I have no knowledge or factual information, just blind speculation based upon nothing…

[Motor City]

I have the original '69 promo in a pinkish color with a darker painted and textured vinyl roof.  Maybe Buick wanted the promo made with a vinyl top since it started to become a very popular option in the 1966 model year for many cars.   

[tim boyd]

18 hours ago, Can-Con said:

Tim, the pics in my post above are of an unpainted, unmodified but built '69 annual on E-bay right now. you can even see the mold lines are still on it. 

Every '69 annual and promo I've ever seen has the vinyl roof.

I guess it's similar to the '68 having separate park light lenses in the bumper but the '69 has them molded in. [neither are correct to the real lenses though] Why would they go to the trouble when they only needed to change the grille to be correct for the '69, not anything else on the bumper?

Thanks Steve....TB

[tim boyd]

9 hours ago, Motor City said:

 Maybe Buick wanted the promo made with a vinyl top since it started to become a very popular option in the 1966 model year for many cars.   

Good point Jim. 

Too easy for us to forget that the annual kits were an offshoot (that is, made possible on lesser selling topics like a Riviera) by the 1/1 scale automakers' orders for dealer promotionals, and the automakers were in the driver's seat regarding the choice and content of promotionals in that era...TB 

PS - which still leaves us with the question of why the kit reissues were non-vinyl top.  

Actually, I need to go check and see if the custom version options in the reissues match the 1968 or 1969 content and design...will try do that later today unless someone here beats me to it (and yes, that is a challenge )