Whoa time warp 1970s.

[James Maynard]

Does anybody remember these kits being this cheap? Why can't they be like this again?

[MeatMan]

Yes I do! I remember them cheaper than that. My brother and I used to buy one each with our allowance, and I never got $13 allowance. 😅

[magicmustang]

You should have been around in the early '60s. My allowance then was $.50 a week. Pic of my Dodge Hemi Charger from 1965 in my stash. MSRP was $1.50.

Edited September 29 by magicmustang

[James Maynard]

1 hour ago, magicmustang said:

You should have been around in the early '60s. My allowance then was $.50 a week. Pic of my Dodge Hemi Charger from 1965 in my stash. MSRP was $1.50.

Never saw them this cheap. But there used to be a mom and pop shop in my town that sold kits for $5. They had some good kits like the Ertl International Transtar 2B. This was the early 1980s.

[James Maynard]

1 hour ago, MeatMan said:

Yes I do! I remember them cheaper than that. My brother and I used to buy one each with our allowance, and I never got $13 allowance. 😅

There used to be a mom and pop shop in my town that sold kits for $5 ah the early 1980s how I miss them.

[Mothersworry]

Yup, I remember when model kits cost a bit less...original issue of the Monogram Beer Wagon circa 1967...still sealed from Kresges. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Pepperidge Farm remembers

[Mark]

For many years, K-Mart sold AMT, MPC, Revell, and Monogram $2.00 retail price kits for $1.44.  Every day.  When retail inched up to $2.25 in the early Seventies, their price went to $1.64 or $1.66 (can't remember which).  Woolworth's and a couple of regional store chains in the Northeast (Two Guys, and Twin Fair) used to blow out "last year's" annual kits for 99 cents after the new ones were out.  On top of that, one local junk store located in a small theater used to have couple of years' old kits (returns bought from a wholesale buyer) for as little as half a buck.  That ended in the early Seventies when that place caught fire.  But the wholesaler had weekend sales between Thanksgiving and Christmas into the mid-Eighties where they sold return kits as well as overstock items.  With those discount places and last years' annual kits, you didn't see the really popular stuff but there were still good items to be had.

[Shark]

I remember them in the $2 plus range. Used to mow yards for $4 or $5 and go buy a model car and some paint.

[Mark]

Too, the area wholesaler (they supplied toy departments in several area stores, but NOT K-Mart) operated a surplus store in the Sixties.  I remember my big brother taking me there in 1966 (I was six, his turn to watch me).  They had piles of AMT 1962 Styline Comet and Falcon kits, the ones with the cellophane window boxes.  I got a Falcon that day, don't remember what it cost as I didn't pay for it!  

I do remember my brother telling me he pretty regularly bought the $1.49 AMT Trophy Series kits at a local toy store for about 90 cents apiece.  That would have been in the 1960-66 time frame.  

[peteski]

5 hours ago, James Maynard said:

Does anybody remember these kits being this cheap? Why can't they be like this again?

Oh yeah, the good old days . . .

Why? Because the minimum wage in the '70s was less than $2/hr, and a loaf of bread cost 25-30 cents.  It is called inflation, and while if someone is old enough to remember, those are pleasant memories, that is never to return.

[carrucha]

I remember buying model kits at Kay-Bee when I was a kid.  Good times!

[DJMar]

I was in college in the mid 80s. I don't remember exactly what kit prices were, but i do remember buying two kits and two Testors spraybombs, and walking out of the LHS with change from my $10 bill.

My part time job paid $4/hr, which was above minimum at that time, so I was living large.

[THarrison351]

I started buying in the early seventies. The military BX had a few and were a bit cheaper than the stores. Grocery stores, and Kmart were my go to otherwise when we lived in Vegas. When we moved to Virginia there was the Mall and Kay Bee toys, or Roses, JCPenney, Sears, Gibsons, Korvette, Murphy's Mart, and I'm sure others I can't remember. I know for the most part, they usually were less than five dollars.

[1972coronet]

I remember gasping at the $3.25 price tag on the MPC Datsun Pickup annual (1977) that was in the toy section of the local Alpha Beta (supermarket) .

Sears had that same kit for +/- $2.65 . Eighty cents was a big difference some 50 years ago .

WoolCo in La Mirada was the cheapest - their selection was priced around $2.00 - $2.25 for new releases (or, more likely, within a year-of-release ; last year's annuals, as someone earlier pointed out).

My folks also frequented Gemco and Fedco. Excellent selection in those stores. 

[37 caddy]

I remember back in 1973-74 the local IH farm and truck dealer used to sell the Ertl kits,the semi truck kits were 3.75 each.The best place then to get models was at the Kmart,they had the best selection.At that time they didnt carry the Ertl kits.

[OneTrickPony]

I bought quite a few die cast 1/18 cars from Kay-Bee. Most were under $15. And I have a few kits in my stash that I grabbed when Big Lots really sold close-out items. $3 to $5 on those in the 90s.

[tim boyd]

Regular AMT, MPC, and Revell kits K-Marts in Michigan were always $1.44 in mid to late 1960s.  $1.44 in 1968 is equivalent to $13.34 in 2025 due to inflation. 

Having said that, the model kit business is much different today than in 1968....back then average kit production runs were often 200,000 units a year; some of the most successful kits sold over a million units (and a few, well over a million) in their total initial production runs (which continued over several years).     

Today's kit production runs are often 5,000 units....which obviously drives much different economics.  New tooled kits are also far more complex and detailed than average kits back then, making tooling costs a much bigger factor (percentage wise) in kit pricing.     

Which kinda means comparing prices then and now, even after adjusting for inflations, is pretty much apples and oranges...though undoubtedly still a topic that always drives conversation and observations....TB 

[sidcharles]

Fleming's 5 cents to $1.00 Store, Main Street USA = AMT annuals were $1.19. Trophy Kits were in the $1.50 range (double dragster/ model T)

Revell Parts 49 cents bare/ 69 cents chrome.

it was the Pactra 69 cent spray paint that broke a kid's budget.

circa 1963-ish.

[magicmustang]

2 hours ago, sidcharles said:

Fleming's 5 cents to $1.00 Store, Main Street USA = AMT annuals were $1.19. Trophy Kits were in the $1.50 range (double dragster/ model T)

Revell Parts 49 cents bare/ 69 cents chrome.

it was the Pactra 69 cent spray paint that broke a kid's budget.

circa 1963-ish.

When I paid $9.49 this week for that same 3 oz. can of spray paint, I told the cashier at Hobby Town that I remember paying $.69 for them! 

[The Junkman]

2 hours ago, magicmustang said:

When I paid $9.49 this week for that same 3 oz. can of spray paint, I told the cashier at Hobby Town that I remember paying $.69 for them! 

Clerk: "OK, Boomer"

[catpack68]

Here’s a sealed Monogram Tom Daniels California Street Vette from my stash with a $1.00 Kmart price tag on it.I remember kits in the seventies with those clearance/sale prices on them back then when I was kid.

Edited October 4 by catpack68

[Leica007]

I remember the AMT kits when the 1.29 price was printed on the box end, sometimes it looked like a continuation of the item number (check out your old boxes), and I to remember the .69 spray cans. That was in the early 60s. Course bread was .19 and gas was .25/gal.