Lindberg '34 Ford 'Custom' Pickup

[Chuck Most]

Does anybody have any pics of this kit built up? I'm curious to see how it looks.

Sort of????

This is one I kitbashed with a Revell Deuce Tudor (and a few other kits)

This is one done as a barn-find early rod

One I kitbashed with the Phantom Vicky kit

And this one with a Jimmy Flintstone extended cab (and the fender unit and frame extended to match)

And yeah... quite a few of these will be bought simply as 'Coke Collectibles'. Ed Hulings, owner of Hulings Hobby house (where I bought this kit) ordered four of them in, and the first two went to a Coke collector!

[Greg Pugh]

That makes a neat lookin' little truck.

[Art Anderson]

It's not that the "big" model companies can't do tire names; it's that the tire companies want to charge them to much to use their names, and the licensing fee to use "Goodyear" or "Firestone" cuts too deeply into the model companies' profit margins, which are pretty thin to begin with.

The "Coke" kits, on the other hand, are intended for a very specific niche market ... people who collect items with the "Coca-Cola" logo on them. Trust me, too, there are LOTS of those folks out there. If you don't believe me, check out the number of licensed Coca-Cola items in the gift shop the next time you visit a Cracker Barrel. Therefore, a company like Lindberg (and AMT a few years back) is going to be more amenable to paying a licensing fee for the Coke logo because of the additional sales it will generate.

BTW, Lindberg's Coke series of kits also includes the Dodge A-100 pickup and Dodge cabover. While Lindberg might sell a few of those kits to builders, my guess is the vast majority of them will never have their shrink wrap removed.

Absolutely correct, Ken.

When it comes to licensed product, Coca Cola is just about the biggest one there is out there. In 2003-2004, I was responsible for all the Coca Cola licensed Johnny Lightning diecasts--and it was actually a fun enterprise! For starters, while Coca Cola, as a licensor is extremely demanding (or at least they were back then), they were also the most helpful of any with whom I was called upon to work, bar none. Need logo artwork? No matter the era, they had it available. Need to know the correct shades of yellow, red or green (yeah, Coca Cola bottlers' delivery vehicles up through the late 20's were yellow and dark green, with red lettering and accents), I was able to get that within a half hour of an email (most such licensors took their own sweet time with stuff like that). I developed a grand total of 42 different Coca Cola projects in 1/64 scale, along with 6 1/24 scale miniatures, and two 1/18th scale pieces as well in about 15 months. And, the sales rates on all of them were off the charts compared to our other lines and programs.

On the other hand, we continued to be able to use Firestone and Goodyear tampo-printing on our tires well past the larger model companies dropping theirs, due to our having licenses with a much longer duration. But in any event, licensing doesn't cover just the vehicles and any decorations on them, but also aftermarket stuff that may appear on the models themselves. Companies such as CRAGAR, Edelbrock and Halibrand all require at minimum, the right of approval for the use of their designs in miniatures or model car kits. Perhaps the most interesting license we had at Johnny Lightning back in those days was a 100% exclusive license for the use of Halibrand and CRAGAR wheel designs in 1/64 scale. And with both of those companies, the license wasn't terribly expensive, and approvals of a new wheel tool? Sent them pics of the proposed wheel mockup, approvals back within mere minutes!

But, regardless of how any modeler feels about it, licensing and royalties have been a part of the model car game for decades, and they aren't going to go away, so it's really not something worth getting all exercised about.

Art

[RickRollerLT1]

Can you use parts and/or some elements from say... the AMT '33 Ford coupe kit that was reissued not too long ago? (the one in the '90s style box art crica 2006)

[Chuck Most]

Can you use parts and/or some elements from say... the AMT '33 Ford coupe kit that was reissued not too long ago? (the one in the '90s style box art crica 2006)

Some of the parts from that kit (three window and Tudor) almost drop right in, while other stuff (like the independent front and rear suspensions) take a little more work.

I did bash this kit and one of those to make a replica of what a '34 Ford would have looked like if they'd adopted the passenger car styling on the trucks a few years back-

[samdiego]

The chromed 427 may seem out of place in a Coca Cola truck but when the kit was new it made it a "show quality" rod engine. This is how I did the bed and wrecker boom.

Edited February 24, 2011 by samdiego

[Art Anderson]

Chrome plated engine block/trans?

I know Coke makes a big profit, but even they wouldn't do that!

The 390 6bbl engine in that kit has been plated every run since the original issue kit in early 1963.

Art

[SteveG]

The 390 6bbl engine in that kit has been plated every run since the original issue kit in early 1963.

Art

It's also in Lindberg's recent reissue of the 1:27th? Tall-T with the other parts on that tree as shown in Chuck's photo below.

-Steve

[Jon Cole]

Does anybody have any pics of this kit built up? I'm curious to see how it looks.

Here is my version:

[torinobradley]

It's not a built-up (yet) but this is where mine is going:

It's been cut a few ways from sunday but most of the kit is still there...

[ryanm]

any info on this kit mainly the cab and how similar is this cab as compared to the 31 ford cab. looking to build bill kenz odd rod

so do you think this cab would work .

thanks ryan

[Ace-Garageguy]

The '34 Ford pickup cab is VERY similar to the '32 Ford pickup cab, but the '31 is a Model 'A' and as such is considerably different in width, cowl design, hinge location and number, and depth of the rear cab panel. The '28-'29 Ford pickup closed-cabs are available from Revell, but no plastic '30-31 cabs are out there (if I remember correctly).

If you already have a '34 kit, what you CAN do is to use the '31 Revell 1/25 woody cowl section (as the kits are usually cheap) and narrow the '34 cab to fit it, as the Lindberg '34 has about the right curvature line across the back, but there are other differences to take into account, like the thicknesses of the door pillars and the shape of the stamped feature lines. If accuracy is important, a better starting point for a good '31 cab would be to cut down a Revell '31 Sedan Delivery, as that would give you the right doors, hinges, cowl, window shapes, etc.

1931:

1934:

Edited January 12, 2013 by Ace-Garageguy

[ryanm]

ive got the 31 sedan which gave me the original idea. thanks for the input i needed it.