AMT 1960 Chevy Nomad Wagon and 1965 Barracuda Craftsman Plus Kits Interesting Features.

[Ragtop Man]

Cool - the Formula "S" was a pretty decent little mover in the day, well recieved by the enthusiast press of the time. 

IIRC, Car Craft had one and hotted it up with the big cam, headers, and several other tricks that made it marginal for the street but showed the potential of the package. 

[Mr. Metallic]

17 hours ago, Edsel-Dan said:

I love those Blue-Streak tires. Are those an option in the kit? or Custom pieces?

Svens World of Wheels confirmed that those are in the kit.

Looking forward to pairing them with the blue streak slicks. There have been no matching fronts for those slicks yet.

[Chris V]

1 hour ago, Mr. Metallic said:

Svens World of Wheels confirmed that those are in the kit.

Looking forward to pairing them with the blue streak slicks. There have been no matching fronts for those slicks yet.

Oh I beg to differ... 😉 Seriously though: AMT's Piranha Spy Car has a beautiful set of 13" Blue Streak tires with Good Year lettering. 

[Mr. Metallic]

8 minutes ago, Chris V said:

Oh I beg to differ... 😉 Seriously though: AMT's Piranha Spy Car has a beautiful set of 13" Blue Streak tires with Good Year lettering. 

Thanks Chris. I did not know that (obviously) but my quota for Piranha kits in the stash is full with the previous issue. I'll be buying at least a couple of these Cudas so I'll get 3 sets of front tires out of them 😆

[Luc Janssens]

HPI guy is building the Barracuda, can't wait 'till he uploads the video.

[Daddyfink]

Just add Hemi Under Glass chassis, some Slixx decals, and voila! 

[Carmak]

Wow! 80's Monogram style suspension!

No axles thru the engine.

Exceed my expectations for a Craftsman kit!

[RancheroSteve]

3 hours ago, Daddyfink said:

Just add Hemi Under Glass chassis, some Slixx decals, and voila! 

I will be buying one with exactly that intention. I've already got the HUG kit and the decals. Don't hold your breath!

[mikos]

3 hours ago, Carmak said:

Wow! 80's Monogram style suspension!

No axles thru the engine.

Exceed my expectations for a Craftsman kit!

Ugh!  No thanks.  I’ll run an axle through them just like the old kits.  Peg leg, posi lock, or whatever you want to call them, never worked for me unless I wanted it to sit like the Family Truckster from the movie “Vacation”.  

Edited yesterday at 02:17 AM by mikos

[tim boyd]

1 hour ago, RancheroSteve said:

I will be buying one with exactly that intention. I've already got the HUG kit and the decals. Don't hold your breath!

Me too....although someone on the board here pointed out the real car, as finally run on the strip, had the different generation of Hemi engine from what is in the HUG kit.  But there was one suggestion that the kit engine was really the 2G but with the 1G distributor/magneto location, to therefore all that was needed was to relocate the distributor....don't quote me on this though as the memory on this is not entirely clear.  Need to recheck my references on that subject.

But other than that, the AMT "Hemi Under Glass" was actually 100% the 1/1 scale car instead....and thus is just waiting for the new Round 2 kit and the Slixx decals.....theoretically, at least.   But how many times do those 100% slam dunk kitbash conversions turn out to be a little more complicated?  Guess we will find out soon....TB 

[M W Elky]

As far as the 65 barracuda goes there are decals available for several different builds including the 

HEMI UNDER GLASS

RICHARD PETTY’S 43 Jr

BOB SULLIVAN’S PANDEMONIUM

THE TOM McEWEN REAR ENGINE CAR

THE BRAND X CAR

THE GOLDEN COMMANDOS GOLDFISH 

If I missed any let me know 

With that said I’ll be good for six kits even more if you figure in all the donor kits needed this should be a great sales year for round 2 

 

Edited yesterday at 01:16 PM by M W Elky
Spelling

[RancheroSteve]

4 hours ago, tim boyd said:

Me too....although someone on the board here pointed out the real car, as finally run on the strip, had the different generation of Hemi engine from what is in the HUG kit.  But there was one suggestion that the kit engine was really the 2G but with the 1G distributor/magneto location, to therefore all that was needed was to relocate the distributor....don't quote me on this though as the memory on this is not entirely clear.  Need to recheck my references on that subject.

But other than that, the AMT "Hemi Under Glass" was actually 100% the 1/1 scale car instead....and thus is just waiting for the new Round 2 kit and the Slixx decals.....theoretically, at least.   But how many times do those 100% slam dunk kitbash conversions turn out to be a little more complicated?  Guess we will find out soon....TB 

Not being that much of Hemi expert, I wasn't even aware of this 1G/2G thing, oh well. I suspect if & when I get to it I'll just try get the big, obvious stuff right and build a nice shelf model.

On that note, the December 1965 issue of Rod & Custom has several pages on the car, with lots of photos that should be useful for the serious builder.

 

Edited yesterday at 06:53 AM by RancheroSteve

[Trainwreck]

These two have a lot more potential than I thought they would.

Edited yesterday at 01:58 PM by Trainwreck

[Chris V]

9 hours ago, tim boyd said:

But other than that, the AMT "Hemi Under Glass" was actually 100% the 1/1 scale car instead...

Are you sure about that, Tim?

As far as I've heard, the AMT '66 Hemi Under Glass was technically much closer to the Tom McEwen "Rear Engine Cuda" Funnycar

[Daddyfink]

2 hours ago, Chris V said:

Are you sure about that, Tim?

As far as I've heard, the AMT '66 Hemi Under Glass was technically much closer to the Tom McEwen "Rear Engine Cuda" Funnycar

The McEwen Cuda was the Plymouth Dealers car, and then he wrecked it and Fred Goeske took over on the second car. AMT was kitting a version of this car until the Hemi Under Glass became a sensation and the PD car went away. Thus the HUG kit is actually the correct chassis for the PD car, and not for the HUG. 

Edited yesterday at 01:46 PM by Daddyfink

[1972coronet]

The engine in the original Hemi Under Glass is quite likely a 354 or 392 engine (rear distributor engine) .

The 426 was a new engine back in '64 ,  '65 , and thusly unproven in drag racing ; most racers stuck to the prior generations engines (plus, they were less expensive, readily available, and race proven).  

[gtx6970]

11 hours ago, M W Elky said:

As far as the 65 barracuda goes there are decals available for several different builds including the 

HEMI UNDER GLASS

RICHARD PETTY’S 43 Jr

BOB SULLIVAN’S PANDEMONIUM

THE TOM McEWEN REAR ENGINE CAR

THE BRAND X CAR

THE GOLDEN COMMANDOS GOLDFISH 

If I missed any let me know 

With that said I’ll be good for six kits even more if you figure in all the donor kits needed this should be a great sales year for round 2 

 

I will get one of these kits for sure . And will be just fine for me to leave it a curbside kit

 

Who is doing decals for the Goldfish car ?

 

Edited yesterday at 02:17 PM by gtx6970

[Mark]

41 minutes ago, Daddyfink said:

The McEwen Cuda was the Plymouth Dealers car, and then he wrecked it and Fred Goeske took over on the second car. AMT was kitting a version of this car until the Hemi Under Glass became a sensation and the PD car went away. Thus the HUG kit is actually the correct chassis for the PD car, and not for the HUG. 

The AMT mid-engine 'Cuda didn't come out until '67.  It was issued first as the fictional funny car as the body had been converted to '66 spec for the promo and annual kit, and the Plymouth Dealers car was never updated to '66 trim (though it ran into early '67).  The Hemi Under Glass packaging came later, it was merely AMT being opportunistic at the time.

[M W Elky]

1 hour ago, gtx6970 said:

I will get one of these kits for sure . And will be just fine for me to leave it a curbside kit

 

Who is doing decals for the Goldfish car ?

 

Polecat decals 

[M W Elky]

1 hour ago, gtx6970 said:

I will get one of these kits for sure . And will be just fine for me to leave it a curbside kit

 

Who is doing decals for the Goldfish car ?

 

Also the stock engine in the lindburg mavrick wheel stander would make a good donor as most of us drag car builders have a few of them in the parts box

[Daddyfink]

4 hours ago, Mark said:

The AMT mid-engine 'Cuda didn't come out until '67.  It was issued first as the fictional funny car as the body had been converted to '66 spec for the promo and annual kit, and the Plymouth Dealers car was never updated to '66 trim (though it ran into early '67).  The Hemi Under Glass packaging came later, it was merely AMT being opportunistic at the time.

Yes, the recent re-issue Hemi Hustler. I was told that the PD car was the original intent until it wasn't. The HUG is a more complex beast than the PD car, with the kit chassis matching the PD. So, was the story told to me way off? I don't know, I was just born when the kit came out! LOL! 

[tim boyd]

11 hours ago, Chris V said:

Are you sure about that, Tim?

As far as I've heard, the AMT '66 Hemi Under Glass was technically much closer to the Tom McEwen "Rear Engine Cuda" Funnycar

Yes, I was saying that the AMT kit actually duplicated the McEwen car, not the Hemi Under Glass.  Looking at the R&C issue referenced above, it is abundantly clear this is the case.  Sorry if my wording wasn't that clear....TB  

[tim boyd]

9 hours ago, Daddyfink said:

The McEwen Cuda was the Plymouth Dealers car, and then he wrecked it and Fred Goeske took over on the second car. AMT was kitting a version of this car until the Hemi Under Glass became a sensation and the PD car went away. Thus the HUG kit is actually the correct chassis for the PD car, and not for the HUG. 

Correct as noted in my earlier reply....TB  

[Daddyfink]