"Best" 1/25 Pontiac GTO (64 or 65 or 66) kit

[Bill Anderson]

Well, I want  a GTO kit to add to my roster and am looking for the most detailed 64 or 65 or 66 kit out there.  Revell seems to be a good choice, but which one???

Thank you all!

Bill Anderson

[Bill Anderson]

37 minutes ago, Bill Anderson said:

Well, I want  a GTO kit to add to my roster and am looking for the most detailed 64 or 65 or 66 kit out there.  Revell seems to be a good choice, but which one???

Thank you all!

Bill Anderson

The one I'm looking at is a '66 Revell "Muscle" series, and its a grey car on box top.  Sorry, I can't get the model number.

[Exotics_Builder]

Revell/Monogram 64 is not bad, but is 1/24.  Polar Lights does a 64 that is simple but has more detail than their 65.  The AMT 65 is an old kit repopped several times and chassis is way old school.  If choosing one, I'f first opt for the 66 by Revell.

Here's the one I did, with some upgrades.  The Hurst wheels are from the Royal 66 kit variation.

Edited October 11 by Exotics_Builder

[Mark]

Revell '66 is a good one.  Their '64 is pretty good too, 1/24 scale if that factors into things. 

They don't make a '65.  AMT makes two, both with molded-in exhaust detail and promo based design.  The newer Craftsman '65 hardtop is way better than the older convertible kit with separate hardtop.  The engine from the latter drops into the former.

[gtx6970]

Following 

 

Any issues with the Polar Lights 64 

 

[Misha]

A few years ago I built the Monogram 64 GTO in 1/24 in a factory stock version and found it to be an excellent kit. 
 

The overall fit was good and offered plenty of opportunities for further detail to enhance the model. 
 

 

The engine compartment was very complete with a power steering pump included. The engine was completely wired and plumbed. 
 

The chassis detail matched the engine with crisp parts moulding that was easily enhanced with paint and mild weathering.
 

The entire build was free of problems and upon completion produced an excellent replica of a Goat fresh off the showroom floor. If one were to look for any drawbacks to the kit the lack of any additional parts to allow another version is lacking and the typical Monogram 1/24 scale of the day doesn’t square up with other GTOs that are 1:25. These are very minor points that are far outweighed by the positives of good fit, detail, and accuracy. 
 

Cheers Misha

[Bainford]

On 10/12/2025 at 4:51 PM, gtx6970 said:

Following 

 

Any issues with the Polar Lights 64 

 

I built the PL '64 convertible a bunch of years ago. A simple straightforward kit that goes together well, if I recall. Overall proportions look very good. Headlights and tail lights are chrome. I think a small correction to lower the ride height was required. curious thing about the PL GTO is the tri-power only has two air cleaners included in the kit. I used some Revell GTO air cleaners sourced from a generous forum member.

Edited Tuesday at 03:35 PM by Bainford

[gtx6970]

1 hour ago, Bainford said:

I built the PL '64 convertible a bunch of years ago. A simple straightforward kit that goes together well, if I recall. Overall proportions look very good. Headlights and tail lights are chrome. I think a small correction to lower the ride height was required. curious thing about the PL GTO is the tri-power only has two air cleaners included in the kit. I used some Revell GTO air cleaners sourced from a generous forum member.

Thanks,

My only real concern is body shape and true to 1.25th scale

 

It will NOT be built stock anyway

[WillyBilly]

MPC/AMT kits seem to always offer more options, but sacrifice quality, and ease of build. Monogram/Revell usually go together best, while offering very few, or no options. 

[Chris V]

2 hours ago, WillyBilly said:

MPC/AMT kits seem to always offer more options, but sacrifice quality, and ease of build. Monogram/Revell usually go together best, while offering very few, or no options. 

Considering that the tooling banks of each of the four original companies spans an existence of more than than sixty years, there's not much point in comparing kits at "brand-level" - especially considering the numerous ownership/management changes of the brands and tooling.

Some molds are old, some are new. Some molds are worn, some are not. All reflect the consumer demand in the time they were designed. 

In this case the overall best of the bunch is Revell's 1:25 '66 GTO designed in the late nineties, followed by Monogram's 1:24 '64 GTO designed in the mid-eighties, Polar Lights' (Now Round2/AMT) advanced snap-kit 1:25 '64 GTO designed around the millennium and finally AMT's '65 GTO designed in the mid-sixties, which suffers severely from having been altered back and forth over the years. 

Additionally, AMT had a 1964 GTO Hardtop and Convertible "Annual kit", which were typical of their time in terms of design and detail, but very well proportioned and good looking models. Furthermore MPC had a '66 GTO "Annual" kit (also issued under the Airfix brand in Europe), which was updated into a '67 model. It was recently reissued by Round2, but frankly the tooling is so worn out by now, that it ought to be retired.