Remember the B movie "Used Cars"?

[MAGNUM4342]

I ran into this ebay ad today and couldn't believe my eyes. What do you think guys...is it hokum?

[Tom Geiger]

That is actually a promotional piece for the movie. The kit inside is just a Camaro or something. I love that movie!

Edited February 28, 2013 by Tom Geiger

[MAGNUM4342]

So there really was a kit? I mean the guy showed pics of a bagged model but I kinda thought this was one of those homemade boxes made as a gimmick or something. Well i'll be a monkey's uncle!

[Von Don Koolkat]

Back when it was a current kit, my sealed one had a funny car kit in it when I opened it. I was highly perturbed, to say the least. The 'point' was you don't know what you are getting when you purchase a 'used car', and you may get ripped off. Someanager's idea of a practical joke, I'm sure? It is a rare kit - it's reputation got around.

Edited February 28, 2013 by Von Don Koolkat

[johnbuzzed]

I ran into this ebay ad today and couldn't believe my eyes. What do you think guys...is it hokum?

I couldn't see the picture that you posted, but I wonder if it is the same picture that was printed in one of SAE's April issues...

[disabled modeler]

Yep its a real kit only thing is it had a mid to early 70s Camaro kit inside it....had one as a kid wish I still had at least the box.

[von Zipper]

That kit is real-and so is the price.

Great movie, I saw it at the drive in when it first came out-and just bought a CD copy from Barnes and Noble ($8.50) since you started this post.

Funny Stuff !

[DirtModeler]

Love that movie.

The part where they are fishing for guys from the other car lot and smack that guy in the face with the $5 bill tied to a fishing line made me soda coming out of the nose lose it with laughter.

[mnwildpunk]

Funny I haven't seen or hear this movie in 20+ years about two weeks ago I put it on my netflix and since doing so It has popped up 2-3 times in conversations and such

[Tom Geiger]

Guaranteed used cars! We guarantee they're used and we guarantee they're cars!

[MAGNUM4342]

So two guys got Camaro's and another got a Funny car. I wonder how many different kits were used for this? (yes "used" was a pun ) Anyone get anything different?

[Austin T]

I love Toby

Edited March 1, 2013 by Austin T

[2000-cvpi]

I was thinking that the kit was more in the area of a hundred bucks, not five hundred. I don't care how rare they are, that's insane level prices. I would rather spend fifty dollars making up the box art, that's all that is really worth the money.

And Used Cars was not a B movie, its a great movie that is almost a classic. Any movie with an Edsel, Pinto and a 57 Chevy is a great movie.

[MAGNUM4342]

And Used Cars was not a B movie, its a great movie that is almost a classic. Any movie with an Edsel, Pinto and a 57 Chevy is a great movie.

You are entitled to your opinion. As far as i'm concerned yes, it was a B movie.

[Deano]

That 'kit' has been on my grail list for years and at that price will remain so. No way I'd pay that even if I could!

[Joe Handley]

So two guys got Camaro's and another got a Funny car. I wonder how many different kits were used for this? (yes "used" was a pun ) Anyone get anything different?

I thought I read some years back in SAE.....before they became "that other forum" that these were promotional items sent out to reviewers, theaters, and such to push the movie. About the only thing the kits had in common was the lid, instructions, and that there was a car in the box.

[charlie8575]

It's out on video?

I'll have to get that. I remember when CBS ran it when I was about ten or so. I thought it was one of the funniest movies I ever saw.

Now that I'm an adult, I'm sure it'll be even more funny and I'll get the jokes Dad didn't want to explain to me.

Charlie Larkin

[Tony T]

Fun movie!

[my80malibu]

That Movie was filmed just west of downtown Mesa Arizona. The carlot across the street was Darner Chrysler, Plymouth, and Dodge. An Icon in mesa for probably better than fifty years. The dealership was taken away from the Darner family in about 2008 when Chrysler did the reorganiztion thing. The building has some old classic Chrysler cars in it but remains unused. The Wigwam trailer park, and the old carlot. used for the film were both torn down shortly after the movie was filmed. The trailer park, used to sit about 5 miles to the west of Mesa in nearby Tempe Arizona, close to the ASU campus.

[MAGNUM4342]

That Movie was filmed just west of downtown Mesa Arizona. The carlot across the street was Darner Chrysler, Plymouth, and Dodge. An Icon in mesa for probably better than fifty years. The dealership was taken away from the Darner family in about 2008 when Chrysler did the reorganiztion thing. The building has some old classic Chrysler cars in it but remains unused. The Wigwam trailer park, and the old carlot. used for the film were both torn down shortly after the movie was filmed. The trailer park, used to sit about 5 miles to the west of Mesa in nearby Tempe Arizona, close to the ASU campus.

Cool! Thanks for that bit of history Gabriel.

[Maindrian Pace]

I live less than four miles from the Main street lots where it was filmed, that area is almost totally unrecognizable from the late '70s.

-MJS

[Scale-Master]

"B" movie? Nah, that's classic stuff!

Notice on the box top it says :

"Impossible to Assemble"

Promo gag that garnered a cult following.

[Casey]

The car pictured on the box is a '67 Galaxie, but that's not what is inside the box. The USED CARS kit was a giveaway item made to promote the movie. Inside the box was a bag of plastic parts from a late-Seventies MPC kit. Some of these contained Dodge pickup kit parts, most contained a Camaro kit. One I saw had the bag of parts from the Camaro but the plated tree from the Dodge pickup. The instruction sheet was a joke item with "tips" on prepping a used car. The kit wasn't meant to be assembled, and probably couldn't be assembled with what was in the box. I don't think all of these kits had plated trees, clear parts, or tires.

As an aside, in the mid-Eighties a pilot episode was filmed for a potential USED CARS series. Nobody picked it up, and I'm not sure it aired on network TV. The pilot is available if you know where to look for it (I've seen it; it's not worth bothering with). At the time, I had heard that if the series had aired, AMT had (or was going to get) licensing to produce a series of three or four USED CARS kits. Supposedly, one would have been the '66 Buick Wildcat (this was before that kit appeared in the AMT/Ertl Customizing series). No idea if any of this is true, but the series was never picked up anyway...

[MAGNUM4342]

Either the original this post is about didn't sell or there's another on up on the bay right now.

[Austin T]

Before this thread I had just seen bits and pieces, since then I have seen the entire movie. Does anyone know if they make a 1977 Mercedes like the one that they blew up in the movie? I would love to make a diorama of that commercial.