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History of Monogram's Squarebody GM Pickups


Fabrux

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30 minutes ago, Mike C. said:

So who owns the Blazer tooling? And why don't they reissue it based on the popularity of the squarebody Blazer now? I would certainly buy 1or 2 more.

Revell/Blitz still owns the tooling. The last time it was run was in the early 2000s as the Mad Mudder. There's some speculation as to whether they still have the stock top since they haven't run a stock Blazer since the Mad Mudder conversion in the 80s.

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10 hours ago, Russell C said:

See the attached thread for more on the Monogram history -- not mentioned within it, though, is the other mystery as to why Monogram depicted the duel batteries in the Blazer and GMC Jimmy. 

At least it does have batteries. The Monogram '78 Camaro Z/28 has dual washer bottles of all things! I'm pretty sure that the '76 Chevy pickup also has dual batteries. 

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2 hours ago, Mike C. said:

So the mad mudder is all we're left with? Seems strange that they would completely scrap the original Blazer. 

No one is sure, they didn't permanently alter other trucks when the redid them. But of all of them the Blazer is the only one to never be later reissued in its stock form.

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3 hours ago, Mike C. said:

So the mad mudder is all we're left with? Seems strange that they would completely scrap the original Blazer. 

As mentioned/referenced earlier in this topic, the original Blazer mold suffered some damage early on and was repaired, but the door handles are now severely undersized. The undersized handles are still present on the Pulldozer and Mad Mudder kits, which leads me to believe Monogram decided to salvage what they could, and extensively rework the kit to get something useable out of it.

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Here's a shot with the shadow of the driver's door drip rail clearly visible, and what appears to be a slight step between the door and quarter panel, just below the terminal end of the drip rail, as well as the undersized door handle:

MonoBlazer1.jpg.66d33c44b4592a3e938388890076f619.jpg

 

Maybe it was always this way, maybe not. I have yet to find/see this body with normal sized door handle, other than the catalog built-up model images. Maybe it never made it to production before being damaged and repaired?

Good image of the parts layout, especially the removable roof section:

MonoBlazer2.jpg.b3ffb0edd952e75ee30ccf8f7a8eb673.jpg

 

I think these roof sections were all separated/cut from their runner before packaging, but not 100% sure on that. There a gate remnant on the back edge of the removable roof section, however:

MonoBlazer3.jpg.0cabd56d0e5b37aba546de0af74efb13.jpg

 

There's that tire insert again, too: 

MonoBlazerTiresInsert.jpg.2d8e22111339a4df2084a2ffad2f4b44.jpg

Edited by Casey
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The way I'm looking at it is there are so many of the earlier Broncos being reissued you would think the blazer would not be far behind given how popular the 1:1s have gotten these days. I do remember some talk about how undersized those door handles were. I see that now. Still excited to build this one. Be better if I could build more variations without going broke.

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41 minutes ago, Can-Con said:

Forget the Blazer , where the GMC Jimmy?

Monogram Model Kits

I bet a few builders would like to get a set of those fender flares and a Hickey hood.

That's nice. I never knew that one even existed.  If that's the concave hood that was made of fiberglass (I think) than I remember that one. Most definitely would get 2 of those if they ever reissued it but I'm not holding my breath.

 

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3 hours ago, Mike C. said:

... If that's the concave hood that was made of fiberglass ....

It is, see the last page of this old 36 page Hickey catalog (click on the thumbnails there to enlarge each page). I scored a never built Monogram Jimmy years back fairly cheap off eBay, it takes patience to spot inexpensive ones that are mislabeled by non car-guy estate salers. Less than $20 if I remember right, it's sorta fun to bookmark auctions these days to see how far the bids go ....

1034785179_MonogramHickeyhood.jpg.fa7491d44b32acff46dbd8134ceb6415.jpg

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Wow! That catalog alone is quite a score. Brings back memories of the early days of off roading. I do remember that fiberglass hood from way back then. I noticed that they included that Hickey roof rack in my kit as well. I can also remember the Hickey sidewinder winch add they used to run in the publications of the time where they pulled that 1st gen. Blazer into a huge tree. Everybody was running KC daylighters with that yellow happyface. Different time back then. Thanks for posting. 

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19 hours ago, Russell C said:

It is, see the last page of this old 36 page Hickey catalog (click on the thumbnails there to enlarge each page). I scored a never built Monogram Jimmy years back fairly cheap off eBay, it takes patience to spot inexpensive ones that are mislabeled by non car-guy estate salers. Less than $20 if I remember right, it's sorta fun to bookmark auctions these days to see how far the bids go ....

1034785179_MonogramHickeyhood.jpg.fa7491d44b32acff46dbd8134ceb6415.jpg

IIRC, that Jimmy kit had a lot of the stuff shown in this ad.

NOH BAR PLATS, ANO BRUSH OOFLECTORS ANO SAFETY CATCH stamcess sre. summons MEAWY-OUTY WHEELS SEE YOUR AUTHORIZED HICKEY DEALER FOR THE COMPLETE CHEVY TRUCK ACCESSORY LINE

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