Need Help "ID"ing Kit Monogram 50s Hotrod

[Platerpants]

My grandpa has 1 just like this in his basement missing only the steering wheel and only the drive is assemble this is the only picture i can find of the kit on the internet The website called it P2 “The Hot Rod”. What happened to the mold and how many re releases did it see? Me and my grandpa are interested in finding out has had it since he was an orphan never put it together. Its molded in blue. Not a drop of paint on the kit.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Man, that's a cool one. I'm about 99.5% sure you have the very first 1954 issue of this one, re-released multiple times. Monogram P1 was the somewhat overscale 1/24 Midget kit. Later Hot Rod box-art is pictured just below. The later releases I have

are molded in dark maroon styrene, with black tires.

Though the re-release says it's a '32, it's not at all accurate, and the body shell is closer to a '30, but it's a cool old kit anyway. Just to be sure, is yours 1/24 roughly, with a 2-piece body split down the middle ?

Here's a link to an article on early Monogram history...

http://www.oldmodelkits.com/blog/plastic-model-kit-history/a-brief-history-of-monogram-plastic-model-kits/

Edited March 31, 2013 by Ace-Garageguy

[Platerpants]

yes it is a 2 piece split down the middle

[Ace-Garageguy]

yes it is a 2 piece split down the middle

That's it then, 100% certain. Really a cool find !!

[Platerpants]

i had a picture on my old phone of the kit but that phone died

[Erik Smith]

The original was acetate - is it warped?

That is cool. I love the good feel graphics -everybody is so happy!

[Platerpants]

The original was acetate - is it warped?

That is cool. I love the good feel graphics -everybody is so happy!

its been a while since i looked at it probably 4 months ago it mighta been slightly warped.

[Don Sikora II]

The original was acetate - is it warped?

That is cool. I love the good feel graphics -everybody is so happy!

Early P2 Hot Rod kits were acetate, but it was later molded in styrene. It did form the basis for the PC-55 Dragstrip Hot Rod that was issued around 1959. That kit was reissued in an original-style box in the SSP program probably close to 20 years ago.

This is a built P2 Hot Rod from my collection. It's styrene and all molded in blue plastic. I've seen others that have some parts molded in dark blue and other parts in off white.

This is the Dragstrip Hot Rod that I built from the SSP kit when it came out.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Early P2 Hot Rod kits were acetate, but it was later molded in styrene.....

Fascinating. When was the first-tool P2 styrene version put out?

[Don Sikora II]

I would guess 1956. That's the copyright date on the second version box (the one shown above with the red hot rod and the house in the background) and the few unbuilt/started kits I've seen in that box have been styrene. I'm pretty sure the kit was first released in 1954, and the couple of those that I've seen in the smaller/simpler box were molded in acetate.

[JasonC]

I got the one that the OP posted in the first post. I'll get pictures of it tomorrow. I think the kit is all there but missing only a few parts.

[JasonC]

Here's the one i got for 50 cents at a yard sale in the mid 80's, Like i said, it is missing a few things. and someone tried to glue some of it.

[ChrisR]

Here is my P2 in cream and blue (copyright 1956)

and my Drag Strip Hot Rod