Model King '59 Imperial.

[Custom Hearse]

I bought this at my LHS last week. It's a 3-1 curbside kit(stock, custom and stock car racer), with a removable roof.

It comes with a nice set of decals, but the decals shown on the box don't match the ones shown in the instructions. They include a choice of red or yellow stripes that turn into dots, and they include the Imperial name within the stripes. You also get mustard yellow flames, which include the Imperial name within. License plates: You get 8 sets of plate to add to the car: one set of '59 South Carolina plates, '59 Alabama plates, one set of "personalized" Texas plates(did people personalize plates back then?), 4 "current California "personalized" plates, and one set of "imperial" black and yellow plates(they look like older Ca. plates, but without the date. You get two large, and two small pinstripe sets, Three bumper stickers, a state inspection sticker(too small for me to read what state.... I'm old)one tachometer decal, and one instrument panel decal, two roundels with black "59's", and your choice of red, or white lines for your tires.

The body is really nice! There are only six spots of flash on it(between the top front side trim, just behind the doors on the top, and just below the taillights), and no sinkholes to fill. The frame has all the details molded in, with no realistic detail for the front suspension, and use solid metal axles. Four screws are included to attach the chassis to the body promo style. The interior is three pieces stock(interior pan, dash, and steering column), and five pieces race, and custom(add a tach, and a floor shifter). The front and rear seats are molded into the interior bucket.

The custom parts are interesting, to say the least. You get quite a few choices of parts to adorn this kit with. Scoops, louvers, grills, exhausts, spare tire covers, taillights.... One thing of interest.... Do you like big fins? Well.... You can make these fins at least two scale feet taller, and add a custom tail fin to the center of the trunk! YIKES!!!!

The stock car racer is just the basic stock vehicle, leaving off the car, and according to the instruction sheet, using the masking tape decals on the decal sheet(none to be found).

There are 15 steps all told on the instruction sheet(The wheel assembly looks like it'll be the most work.... to insert the wheel into the tire, you need a wooden block, and a hammer.... watch them thumbs kids!!!!), and they include a section of tips for the stock car, and, customizing tips....

[gasman]

was the issue with the steering wheel corrected? where the spokes are oddly positioned

[Dave Van]

No tooling changes were made in this re-issue....just new box and decals....which are great! The instructions are a repro of the first issue of the kit...so thats why some decals may not match...but I like the repro instructions and the new decals are much better than the old. Good stuff!

[mr moto]

I'm glad it's been repopped. I bought one of the older issue intending to build it factory stock but as we speak it's been sliced every which way and covered in putty so I better buy another one if I'm gonna have that stocker!

[MrObsessive]

Yes! The box art for this car is MUCH nice than the previous one! Should be a good seller for that alone.

Ditto on the '57 Chrysler 300 for a donor chassis...............the engine though IIRC wouldn't be quite correct as Imperial didn't use the 392 Hemi for '59.

[Phil Patterson]

was the issue with the steering wheel corrected? where the spokes are oddly positioned

As stated by Chris V, no. But with some careful shaving and trimming, the appearance can be much improved. Do some image searches, I recommend the Online Imperial club for reference pics. Also, the 60 Imperial wheel is the same, and the one that came in my 60 Imperial kit was molded correctly, so maybe someone could resin cast one of those.

Steering wheel is pretty much the same through 63 so maybe a later kit can be used for a donor or hit the parts boxes..

[Zoom Zoom]

I'm in the "wish I had waited" camp with the Imperial; while it was nice to get the reissue before, I wish I'd waited and gotten the latest release instead, not only for the new boxart but also for the decals. Oh well, at least the Model King is getting it right the first time around with the newer stuff. I'm not compelled to buy more kits just for better decals and boxart.

Funny about the steering wheel issue; I have an original '60 and it's steering wheel is just as poorly centered as the reissue, but also found that it's not hard at all to fix w/a few minutes of careful X-acto and file work.

[mr moto]

Also, the 60 Imperial wheel is the same, and the one that came in my 60 Imperial kit was molded correctly, so maybe someone could resin cast one of those.

Modelhaus has the '59 Imp steering wheel with no centering problem.

[Phil Patterson]

Modelhaus has the '59 Imp steering wheel with no centering problem.

I should have known and good to hear! With Modelhaus that means no quality problems and quick service too! Yes, I like Modelhaus..

[Nxr]

Okay i never even knew this kit existed until today, while browsing ebay i thought what the heck and typed imperial and saw this as the first result, it was the only one on the website and i could barely find any info on this one, it was about 44$ so i bought it right away, its not here yet but will post pictures of whats inside once it gets here, has anyone ever built this kit? When i google model king i can never find anything about them online whatsoever, wish more kits of this type would exist because Imperials are just so cool, only one i ever saw in real life was as a child in Finland.

[Blown03SVT]

nice score!

[Eshaver]

Now if they could add a 60 Lincoln , a 59 Mercury, a 59 Pontiac , 58 Ford ..................

[Edsel-Dan]

I have that one too. I do Like them OLDIES!!!!!

And yes, Please Find some of the other Original 59's and 58's to re-issue!!!!

Maybe the 2 Odd 60 Chevy's Nomad wagon & El Camino!!!!

Drop the Fort Knox price off those originals!!

[Nxr]

i really really want the 1969-1973 imperial model, i find that car to be the most amazing designed luxury car ever.

[Edsel-Dan]

But, I think the 61 is the last Imperial AMT/SMP offered!

Not sure we will get an All new tooling of one any time soon

CAN Hope, but......................................

[Nxr]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-AMT-1966-Chrysler-Imperial-Kit-6816-Box-Started-/181136808780?pt=Model_Kit_US&hash=item2a2c985b4c

would love this too but price is too high!

[High octane]

I'm in the "wish I had waited" camp with the Imperial; while it was nice to get the reissue before, I wish I'd waited and gotten the latest release instead, not only for the new boxart but also for the decals. Oh well, at least the Model King is getting it right the first time around with the newer stuff. I'm not compelled to buy more kits just for better decals and boxart.

Funny about the steering wheel issue; I have an original '60 and it's steering wheel is just as poorly centered as the reissue, but also found that it's not hard at all to fix w/a few minutes of careful X-acto and file work.

I was lucky enough to get both re-issues and the one I opened had the original decal sheet in it. Hopefully I'll build this soon.

[Rob Hall]

But, I think the 61 is the last Imperial AMT/SMP offered!

Not sure we will get an All new tooling of one any time soon

CAN Hope, but......................................

AMT made Imperials through '66. But the '66s got butchered into a version from a short-lived TV series ('Hero') and a pickup version. The '60-63 are the ones I'm lacking in my collection.

[gtx6970]

Johan or AMT or maybe MPC made them up till approx 1968 as a promo, ( not to terriblly hard to find either ) and not sure of any other years or if there was a kit avail

EDIT,

just ck'd - there were 1966 1967 and 1968 , but all were promos based .

I can't find any evidence there was a 1969 or later

Edited May 10, 2013 by gtx6970

[Rob Hall]

Johan or AMT or maybe MPC made them utp till approx 1968 as a promo, ( not to terriblly hard to find either ) and not sure of any other years or if there was a kit avail

EDIT,

just ck'd - someone did a 1966 1967 and 1968 , but all were promos based .

Johan did '67-68 promos; AMT did kits and promos through '66. IIRC, AMT's '66 kit was available as a stock convertible only before it was butchered. But previous years ('60-65) AMT did ht and conv kits.

Edited May 10, 2013 by Rob Hall

[gtx6970]

Thanks , I wasn't sure if there were any kits avail after 1965-66 or not . But I knew of the later promos .

I have a builtup original issue 1958 Imperial convertible kit and have been thnking about picking up a 1959 kit just for giggles.

So now I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't have clicked on this thread

[Rob Hall]

Thanks , I wasn't sure if there were any kits avail after 1965-66 or not . But I knew of the later promos .

I have a builtup original issue 1958 Imperial convertible kit and have been thnking about picking up a 1959 kit just for giggles.

So now I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't have clicked on this thread

I've thought about backdating one of my '59s to a '58 w/ a Modelhaus bumper/grille....won't be 100% a '58 (other trim differences)...

[CEKPETHO BCE]

It sure would be nice if this model came out again.

[High octane]

It sure would be nice if this model came out again.

It's been issued twice by Model King, so I don't think that you'll be seeing it on the shelves for awhile.

[Edsel-Dan]

I forgot about AMT's 64, 65, & 66's,

(And, I Have a 66 built as the Custom Pickup.)

Sadly, custom bumpers, grill, etc,

And almost got a friend to buy an Unbuilt 64 convertible!!

Not sure Why AMT has only re-issued One kit (69 GTO 'Judge' Funny car)

Model King first got re-issued, but, hopefully they will start re-issuing them

again soon.

Always wanted the X-El re-issue 68.