AMT 1966 Olds 442?!

[Rick R]

Re: The 4-4-2

Depending on the person filling out the order forms at the dealer, 2-tones were still popular into thee mid-60s. In '72 I bought a beautiful '66 4-4-2 post coupe in Fort Walton Beach Florida where I was stationed in the Air Force, and oddly enough it was silver blue with a white painted roof just like the new box-art car. The 'vert kit is a blast, best -up top ever- it's an A/C equipped 4-barrel car and of course the parts from the Hardtop are interchangable. Love the wire wheel covers in that kit!

The kit replicates a pretty fast car, with the W-30 and a 4-speed. I wasn't so lucky, mine was an Automatic 4-barrel, still a stout car for all of $850, ($250 down and $53 a month/18 months) I put 23k miles on it in a year, had a blast, pretty much ruined it but I shoulda kept it. I'm why they're rare!

re: the Z-16

Since this was a really high buck package for the Chevelle lots of dealers ordered the cars (only 201 were made) 'loaded' to the gills with options, including vinyl roofs. The Exact Detail line of 18th scale die casts offered the Z-16 in every color scheme available, red, yellow, and black, each color with and without a vinyl roof. Great models though the Revell kit is more accurate.

[Billy Kingsley]

It's funny...I started building in 1999, and I added (and built) one of the hardtops very early on- by mid 2000. But I to this day have never seen one of the convertible kits for sale, in person.

I recall in building the kit that I had some issues getting the engine/hood to work right- but keep in mind I was still new to the hobby back then.

Unfortunatly for me I dropped one of the wheel assemblies down behind my bookcase. Since the bookcase probably weighs as much as a real Oldsmobile, I would say it's gone for good!

This isn't the greatest picture, either. I uploaded it to Fotki in summer of 2006 so I was really still learning with that aspect, too...The build predates my use of BMF. Believe it or not, it is brush painted!

Does anyone know if that notch in the grill is accurate? I'm not very familiar with the real cars, I guessed it was for the hood release latch, but I really have no clue for sure.

[66 olznut]

That is for the hood latch and actually, there was 2 or 3 different grill changes for the '66 442. I have 3 of these cars. This version is what my first car looked like when new This version is when I got it in 1988 for the hefty sum of $650. This version is what I want my current '66 to look like which is based on a F-85 with the 442 option. Lemme throw in a little something I'm tinkering with now to prove my Olds loyalty

[george 53]

Ed, if your up for it, R&R has both the 64 and 65 442 available. I used the 65 GTO for parts cars, and they do build up nicely. (With a bit of work, that is.)

[george 53]

I just remembered, I got my 64 from Porkies resins, who gave his mold to Bandit resins! Kenny ALSO has the 64 now and it's LIGHTYEARS past R&R's stuff. It's as close as you'll get to an original AMT 64 442 and it's only around 40 bucks! Try findin a plastic one for that price!!!

[66 olznut]

I sure hope so. The R&R '65 was a pain to make work and being my first ever resin kit kinda left a bad taste in my mouth for resins. It ain't perfect but it's nice, I used a '66 442 conv kit. Saying that, with the '65 almost done, it completes my 1964-1972 442/Cutlass collection. I got lucky and found a built '64 on ebay, got it for a song, took it apart and re-did it, turned out nice!

Edited July 19, 2011 by 66 olznut

[Chuck Most]

I'd love to see somebody do a four-door sedan body for this kit, so I could model my old '66.

Oh, Ed... most resin is way, way, WAY better than R&R!

[66 olznut]

That's sad as I've seen in a catalog alot of Olds stuff from R&R. Who else has Olds stuff? I also need a few things from the '66 442 conv kit for the '64, I'm thinking about adapting the '66 chassis to the '64 to update it.

Edited July 19, 2011 by 66 olznut

[Chuck Most]

MCW does a few Olds kits, but they are all mid to late '50's. Modelhaus sells quite a few too, rangin in years from '57 to '62. Promolite 2000 did a '59 two-door post a few years back, but I believe that particular one is no longer available.

[Ron Hamilton]

I did this one when the convertible kit first came out.

[Swifster]

The two-tone paint job pretty much went away by 1966 at GM, due mostly to body styling thatno longer offered a logical dividing line or point for color separation, which would have meant either an awkward-looking paint scheme, or serious delays in the paint & trim department of any GM Assembly Division plant, due to the necessity of being very precise in masking for the second color.

Even the vinyl tops of the era made for some interesting work for sure, particularly with Chevelle/Tempest/Cutlass/Skylark bodies having adopted the "flying buttress" roof design with the back window tunneled in as it was. As such though, vinyl tops tended to be either black, or white (at least those were the most common colors), with both colors being available with nearly every body color, I believe.

Art

GM was still offering tu-tone paint in '67. This was a car I looked at a couple years ago. I thought the owner pulled the top and painted a rusty roof to match his stripes. Not the case. First, the car is a V8 F-85, not a Cutlass, regardless of what you see on the fenders. Second, the stripes were something I believe the owner added. I don't know enough on the cowl tags to know if the lower codes are stripes or not. But the body code is for a V8 F-85 with Ocean Mist paint (K) on the lower section and Provincial White © on the top. The 936-A trim code is for the turquoise standard trim vinyl interior. No side mouldings, but this isn't a Cutlass and it doesn't have the 4-4-2 package (still an option and could be had on this body style). It's also a '67 vs. a '66. But the paint codes don't lie...and the roof is white.

[W-409]

That Hardtop version is a great kit! Built it many years back, and turned out OK. Parts fit nicely together. Only thing, the alternator doesn't fit under the hood, so the hood isn't perfectly closed, there's a gap. That was only problem, I found from the kit.

[Swifster]

OK, so I bought the hardtop yesterday and may pick up another. The question I have for those who have built both body styles...Did AMT change the dash to reflect the A/C system or are both dashes the same? I know this is nit picking, but I may try to find the drop top for the 4bbl engine and A/C system.

[crazyjim]

I recently built the hardtop kit, Joe and enjoyed the build. Very little flash and the parts fit well.

[Chuck Most]

Looking good Jim!

Where'd you get that particular kit?

[crazyjim]

You must be losing it, Chuck. I got it from you in a trade for the '50 Nash.

[Chuck Most]

Thought so!

Now I just need to finish that thing.

[crazyjim]

Well let's get going, Chuck. I'd like to see it with some huge tires tucked under it.

[Chuck Most]

A little history here: When AMT/Ertl first issued the '66 4-4-2 in the late '90s, the first batch of kits came with the non-W30 front bumper. This was quickly corrected.

Just wondering... does the Convertible kit have the non-W30 front bumper? I'm looking for a standard Cutlass bumper for an upcoming project.

[Edsel-Dan]

Yes, I believe the convertible had the standard bumper. I believe the only

difference is the position/location of the parking lights.

in the outer corners of the slots in the bumper standard. Moved in-ward

to allow for the ram-air Scoops on the W-30 version.

All I did was cut them out & remount them o9n my hardtop.

I had several matched pairs of these kits for trade a few years ago.

Wish I still had a few now!