Round2 at Akron NNL (2025)

[niteowl7710]

9 hours ago, OldNYJim said:

I wonder if there’s any difference between the Tiger Shark and the Python?

Love the HW box art!  I’m in for a Stogie or two too!

Hot Wheels changed the name and so they obliged.  No other changes were made to make it match the actual 1/64 (which has a blown engine through the hood - and you'll notice that's not on the box art).

[Ragtop Man]

22 hours ago, Mark said:

There were maybe a dozen or so of those 421 sedans, plus a couple of station wagons.  They retained the transaxle setup when originally built, though most were converted to a conventional transmission and rear axle later.

They had a special 4-speed semi automatic transaxle called "PowerShift" , one of the trickest bits of technology in the era. Basically, Pontiac ganged two standard Corvair/Tempest transaxle Powerglide planetary units around a single ring and pinion, capped with a conventional torque convertor. Power flowed through a hollow pinion (!) to the units creating a ratio spread similar to the Super T-10.  It engaged with a clutch to start, but then could be manually shifted without lifting. All was good until the advent of the 8" tire and steepening competition (deepest ratio was 3.90)  If you drill down in the story here... you get the whole thing. 

FWIW, if you wanted to make the convertible into a coupe, it would be very straightforward to stab the common roof on to the improved body. This would be all the incentive needed for R2 to release a coupe version! 

https://www.hotrod.com/news/mickey-thompson-the-pontiac-tempest

 

[Ragtop Man]

12 hours ago, Robberbaron said:

'63 Lemans came out of left field for me.  Never would have guessed that most of the original tooling survived.  Suspecting that a coupe version will be announced in the near future, a la the '64 Cutlass and '68 Coronet.

And I agree, the mind starts racing regarding other similar scenarios.  First thought that comes to my mind is the '65 Falcon.

Bingo. That would be a great choice. The kit had a lot of Monte Carlo Rally parts in it that were fairly accurate. 

[Luc Janssens]

13 hours ago, Robberbaron said:

The mind starts racing regarding other similar scenarios.  First thought that comes to my mind is the '65 Falcon.

Would like that.

[Can-Con]

4 hours ago, fairlane1320 said:

I was really excited to see this, then I realized it's the same old crappy 1/27 scale kit. 😣

The kit itself is NOT actually underscale, it's just too short. 

When I built my AMT '70 restoration last year I did comparisons with it, the MPC '69 shown and the Revell '69 and found they're all almost exactly the same width but the MPC was designed to use the chassis MPC had used for earlier Mustangs since their '66 so it was too short. 

I found that if I used another MPC body and made the right cuts through the doors and roof of both and grafted the longer halves back together I would have one very nice '69 Mustang body and one very funky short '69 Mustang body.😉

Edited Monday at 04:20 PM by Can-Con

[Edsel-Dan]

I love the Chevy Wagon, 65 Cuda and the 63 Tempest convertible!

I did not know that one was coming!

Did that kit have a Four or inline 6??

I had an original in my watch list on ebay, it showed what looked like a 6 cylinder engine not a four

[blizzy63]

The announcement at Akron NNL of a coming AMT '63 Pontiac Lemans convertible (AMT1416) brings me hope of a future '63 Tempest/Lemans hardtop (à la the AMT '64 Cutlass/442 and MPC '68 Coronet kits).

This would put on the horizon for me a future-build of a subject long haunting my mind...

(I've got a couple of '62 Pontiac Catalina donor kits on stand-by...) 🤞

Edited Monday at 06:12 PM by blizzy63

[Dave Darby]

22 hours ago, stavanzer said:

And here is the Original '27 T Touring.

Many of the custom parts on this kit were never seen again.

This might be where round2 started cloning parts from.

I am just guessing, here. I have no insider Info.

https://public.fotki.com/drasticplasticsmcc/mkiba-build-under-c/amt-instructions/show-rods/amt-xr-6-27-t--ford/

As Mark said, other than the Frontenac Engine parts, and the rear mag wheels, nothing else carried over. Most of what's in there is what's left of the 1967 issue (including dropped front axle and front mag wheels) and hopefully some of the parts that were specific to the 1967 issue they sourced the new box art from. 

[Chris V]

9 hours ago, Edsel-Dan said:

I love the Chevy Wagon, 65 Cuda and the 63 Tempest convertible!

I did not know that one was coming!

Did that kit have a Four or inline 6??

I had an original in my watch list on ebay, it showed what looked like a 6 cylinder engine not a four

The Tempest kits orignally had a V8 with some particularly nice custom valve covers. 
 

For those wishing to build a 4-cylinder version, Revell’s Mickey Thompson “Attempt I” streamliner includes two complete supercharged Pontiac fours…

[blizzy63]

On 10/12/2025 at 7:57 AM, ChrisBcritter said:

Uh oh. Hope Round2 can fix the wheel covers before production:

The rest looks good, and the grille is a big improvement over the original.

The '32 Tudor has a much better windshield frame than the old sedan/Victoria/5-window did - thumbs up on that one.

Love seeing the '63 Tempest return - hopefully we'll get a coupe next? The vent windows still aren't quite right but it's not a big problem to fix.

Once apon a time, Modelhaus supplied reproductions of '59-60 Chev dogdish hubcaps on wheel outers, chromed (shown here painted up for a restoration project).

Edited 16 hours ago by blizzy63

[66c10]

When is the 65 Dodge coronet hardtop 500 Hemi coming out this year or next year 

[Can-Con]

16 hours ago, Dave Darby said:

As Mark said, other than the Frontenac Engine parts, and the rear mag wheels, nothing else carried over. Most of what's in there is what's left of the 1967 issue (including dropped front axle and front mag wheels) and hopefully some of the parts that were specific to the 1967 issue they sourced the new box art from. 

Those would be all the same hotrod parts as in this kit, right Dave?

[Dave Darby]

28 minutes ago, Can-Con said:

Those would be all the same hotrod parts as in this kit, right Dave?

Yes. That's correct. There was a reissue of that fire truck in the 1970s as well. It'd be neat to see it come back. The more recent AMT/Ertl kit from the mid 80s also has most of those parts (wheels, Frontenac engine parts and dropped axle). 

[Ragtop Man]

On 10/13/2025 at 1:47 PM, blizzy63 said:

The announcement at Akron NNL of a coming AMT '63 Pontiac Lemans convertible (AMT1416) brings me hope of a future '63 Tempest/Lemans hardtop (à la the AMT '64 Cutlass/442 and MPC '68 Coronet kits).

This would put on the horizon for me a future-build of a subject long haunting my mind...

(I've got a couple of '62 Pontiac Catalina donor kits on stand-by...) 🤞

Ralph Moody is claimed to have said after inspecting #50 ..."The most serious-ass race car I've ever seen." 

[iwantmodels]

A Pontiac LeMans???!!! Yes!!! Loving it.  Now if we could just get that 63 Comet I was asking about.  Thank you Round 2 and Mr. Goldman.  

[Mark]

22 hours ago, Dave Darby said:

As Mark said, other than the Frontenac Engine parts, and the rear mag wheels, nothing else carried over. Most of what's in there is what's left of the 1967 issue (including dropped front axle and front mag wheels) and hopefully some of the parts that were specific to the 1967 issue they sourced the new box art from. 

The rear section of the raised top was mentioned as being newly retooled.  If it's the one with three window openings, that's probably the lone piece carried over from the My Mother the Car issue.  The stock top had only a small rectangular rear window, which never actually had a clear glass until the mid-Seventies Laurel & Hardy issue.  L&H never used a touring that new (or a '25 roadster either) but someone at AMT had good taste in early film comedy.

All of those retooled parts would seem to bolster the notion that the fire truck version might eventually resurface.

[Straightliner59]

I guess I'll need one of the BRE Datsun pickups. I've been wanting the pickup, and the BRE livery will go along with my 240Z and 510 kits.