History of AMT & MPC's Action Line Pickup Kits

[Chuck Most]

On 1/25/2013 at 11:54 AM, Fabrux said:

Finally in 1982 the tooling was sold again, this time called Heavy Pedal. None of the Rolling Thunder extras made it to this release.

I just picked this one up yesterday, and I'd like to add a little to your statements on it. Not only does it omit the Rolling Thunder extras, but the custom grille, stock front bumper, and deep-dish six bolt wheels clearly shown on the box are also absent. Instead you get a stock-ish grille (I say stock-ish because it has a stock-style '72 insert but it is recessed back into the grille frame), a squared-off front bumper with fog light cutouts, and narrow five-bolt wheels. Is it too late to take action against MPC for misleading advertising? ? The stumpy rear fenders did make a comeback, I'll probably replace them with a set from the '72 GMC stepside kit. I have a set of those sitting around somewhere and I seem to remember they looked quite a bit better than the fenders in this kit. 

And look at those stripes and side pipes! It looks like it took a few years into the '80's for "The '70's" to finally come to an end. 

Edited December 7, 2019 by Chuck Most

[Can-Con]

34 minutes ago, Chuck Most said:

I just picked this one up yesterday, and I'd like to add a little to your statements on it. Not only does it omit the Rolling Thunder extras, but the custom grille, stock front bumper, and deep-dish six bolt wheels clearly shown on the box are also absent. Instead you get a stock-ish grille (I say stock-ish because it has a stock-style '72 insert but it is recessed back into the grille frame), a squared-off front bumper with fog light cutouts, and narrow five-bolt wheels. Is it too late to take action against MPC for misleading advertising? ? The stumpy rear fenders did make a comeback, I'll probably replace them with a set from the '72 GMC stepside kit. I have a set of those sitting around somewhere and I seem to remember they looked quite a bit better than the fenders in this kit. 

And look at those stripes and side pipes! It looks like it took a few years into the '80's for "The '70's" to finally come to an end. 

Chuck, could you post up a couple pics of those parts?

It would be interesting to see them, I never had that kit.

[Chuck Most]

2 hours ago, Can-Con said:

Chuck, could you post up a couple pics of those parts?

It would be interesting to see them, I never had that kit.

Ask and ye shall receive...

Here's the grille. I wouldn't even say it's bad, it's just that the insert seems to be recessed into the frame a bit. In it's favor it has better headlight detail (albeit engraved) than the '72 Cheyenne longbed I'm sure we're all familiar with. And it's clearly not the custom horizontal tube grille shown on the box. When I saw that the insert was recessed I thought it was because there was a separate overlay for that custom insert, but that isn't the case.

The front bumper- which is not shown or mentioned on the box.

The wheels on the box are a modular alloy type, but are deep dish, showing six lugs. The actual kit wheels are narrower, five-lug units, but also of modular design. 

And the oddly shaped rear fenders (below, in black) shown with the much better units from a '72 GMC (top, gray). 

 

Edited December 7, 2019 by Chuck Most

[Can-Con]

Thanks Chuck. 

I kinda like the look of the grille. Can't say the same fro the bumper though.

And, yea, I wonder why MPC did those fenders like that.

I has assumed it was to clear the sleeper unit on the RT truck but apparently it was like that before that truck was issued , so??

[Chuck Most]

24 minutes ago, Can-Con said:

Thanks Chuck. 

I kinda like the look of the grille. Can't say the same fro the bumper though.

And, yea, I wonder why MPC did those fenders like that.

I has assumed it was to clear the sleeper unit on the RT truck but apparently it was like that before that truck was issued , so??

Maybe the one with the sleeper was actually designed and planned first, but the regular kit ended up being released first. Stranger things have happened. I have no idea if I'm right or not but it sounds plausible enough to me.

[Casey]

Just noticed Harry Bradley created this "Rolling Thunder" sketch found in the MPC 1978 brochure:

 

It didn't quite end up looking like the sketch, but it was close:

 

Has the sleeper cab ever appeared again? 

Edited June 5, 2020 by Casey

[Fabrux]

Not that I've ever seen...!

[Casey]

On 5/31/2017 at 9:07 AM, Bob Ellis said:

I always thought their was an arrangement or mole moving designs from AMT to MPC. AMT/MPC same truck 1967-1968. In 1969 the AMT was new tool with a big block motor instead of 327 small block. plus the hoods don't fit too well swapped. In 1971 AMT flipped over to GMC. That Sierra Grande became shortbed stepside T409 after MPC did longbed stepside .

This whole situation still confuses me a bit. It's never been clear if there was co-designing happening at the time or more accurately the AMT right of first refusal for then-new MPC kit which led to semi-overlapping releases? Now, what remains seems to be a mish-mash of both AMT and MPC, which might've actually been the same all along. 

Here are pics I found online of the 1/25 MPC 1968 Fleetside Chevy Custom Pick-Up Sports Truck (a what!???):

[Casey]

1/25 MPC 1970 Chevy Pickup Truck:

[Casey]

1/25 MPC '72 Cheyenne Pick-Up Truck:

 

 

[Casey]

1/25 MPC '71 Chevrolet Racer's Wedge/Pick-Up:

[stavanzer]

Notice how the Chrome Trees get smaller & smaller? The '72 is about 1/3 the size of the '70. Notice too, how the MPC and AMT '70 chrome trees look completely alike on the right side of the tree where the 4 stock wheel covers are seen.

[leafsprings]

The box art  clearly shows hubcaps, not the full wheelcovers  we got in the kit.

[maxwell48098]

Keep in mind that those Chevy kits have the hub cap and wheel outer half as one piece so you have to paint the wheel portion in body color, or any color of your choice to be totally accurate.  Some of the AMT '61 to '63 Ford F100 pickups had the small hub caps molded and chromed to the outer wheel half as well.  The Ford wheels were always white, unless specila ordered in another paint color of 1:1 Ford pickups.

 

A.J.

[Casey]

On 1/17/2021 at 3:49 PM, leafsprings said:

The box art  clearly shows hubcaps, not the full wheelcovers  we got in the kit.

 

Which would be these Custom hubcaps?:

 

14 hours ago, maxwell48098 said:

Keep in mind that those Chevy kits have the hub cap and wheel outer half as one piece so you have to paint the wheel portion in body color

The AMT or MPC kit's wheel cover doesn't have the concentric ring detail as on the real wheel covers and they seem a bit shallow, but otherwise they appear to be fairly accurate to the real part:

Edited January 21, 2021 by Casey

[Fabrux]

Those centre caps are in the AMT van kits.

The early pickup kits also had a different wheel cover:

 

Edited January 21, 2021 by Fabrux

[Casey]

52 minutes ago, Fabrux said:

Those centre caps are in the AMT van kits.

Are those the same? I don't think they are, as those in the AMT Chevy van kits are more like the '60-62 Chevy pickup hubcaps.

This might be a better image:

 

52 minutes ago, Fabrux said:

The early pickup kits also had a different wheel cover

Right after I posted I dug through my wheel stash and found three or four variations on this same wheel cover:

• Top row is from the AMT(?) '72 Chevy pickup, presumably the most recent reissue, but not 100% sure on that.
• Row two, very similar, but lacking the Chevy bowtie logo in the center
• Row three, the concentric rings appear, but now the center cap is very short
• Row three-and-a-half, with protruding (assuming here) 4WD hub
• Row four, smoother center are, similar to your pic, Chris, but not quite accurate in all the details...maybe from a promo?

Edited January 21, 2021 by Casey

[Jack L]

1 hour ago, Casey said:

Are those the same? I don't think they are, as those in the AMT Chevy van kits are more like the '60-62 Chevy pickup hubcaps.

This might be a better image:

 

Right after I posted I dug through my wheel stash and found three or four variations on this same wheel cover:

• Top row is from the AMT(?) '72 Chevy pickup, presumably the most recent reissue, but not 100% sure on that.
• Row two, very similar, but lacking the Chevy bowtie logo in the center
• Row three, the concentric rings appear, but now the center cap is very short
• Row three-and-a-half, with protruding (assuming here) 4WD hub
• Row four, smoother center are, similar to your pic, Chris, but not quite accurate in all the details...maybe from a promo?

row 4 are from 67 68 kits they are a cross between full wheel covers and the base hub cap

[Casey]

47 minutes ago, Jack L said:

row 4 are from 67 68 kits they are a cross between full wheel covers and the base hub cap

AMT or MPC kits...or are they one in the same? Just wondering if there were multiple different wheel covers from both, which might explain some variances...or add more confusion.

[Jack L]

1 hour ago, Casey said:

AMT or MPC kits...or are they one in the same? Just wondering if there were multiple different wheel covers from both, which might explain some variances...or add more confusion.

both had the same parts 

[leafsprings]

Rookie Resin covered the correct 1/2 ton hubcaps that are shown on the '70 box art. It only took 50 years for the help to arrive. Thanks again to Bill for doing these ignored pieces. The hubcaps in the AMT Chevy van are out of proportion for both a 1/2 ton or 1 ton.  Photo  of gold Chevy is a 1/2 ton pickup or van, photo of blue Chevy is 3/4 and 1 ton pickup or 1 ton van. Hopefully when Bill starts up again, he can cover a Chevy  3/4 or 1 ton hubcap for us.  '67 and '68,  the bowtie was painted red,  '69 thru '72 ,  the bowtie was painted blue,   '73 and up, bowtie was gold.

Edited January 23, 2021 by leafsprings

[Fabrux]

I'm not sure which ones came in which kits as I've acquired them over the years as loose parts. 

I used the van caps on a '69 Blazer, didn't look too bad. ??

[leafsprings]

Correct base model hubcap for '67 and '68. Same hubcap, just different paint color applications. (  '67 white with red trim ) ( '68 silver with black and red trim ). Never covered  by big plastic. Another  future to do item  for Rookie Resins.

[Casey]

Is the Chevy bowtie recessed on those Bill? Those wouldn't be too hard to get close with a raised Chevy bowtie, as the hubcap shape itself isn't too complicated.

[leafsprings]

Went thru this thread and couldn't find any info on the interior tubs. There were 3 interior door panel designs, 67-68, 69-71 and 72. What interior door panel design did the GMC pickups come with?