Box Art historians, what's going on here ?

[Greg Myers]

[Mike Kucaba]

In the parlance of the street, The handsome couple are "negotiating".

[Skydime]

WUT???? Yeah, this must have bit a little before my time or something.

[slusher]

The box art lookis like the old Commercials from that era....

[Ben]

Not sure but I bet her "boyfriend" drives one that is bright yellow with a zebra skin interior!

[Guest]

AMT and Revell collaborated on some kits in the early 60's. I am sure when Art Anderson sees this thread, he can shed far more light on it.

[Eshaver]

That is where Budd Anderson first started, uh at Revell. he was a product designer for them and yes, A M T and revel, then still Gowland and Gowland were in a loose partnership .

[PappyD340]

From what I see, I would say size does matter!!

[Draggon]

AMT= Advanced Male Testosterone

[Jairus]

If he were a Gentleman, he'd be opening the door for her.

[Harry P.]

If he were a Gentleman, he'd be opening the door for her.

They haven't agreed on a price yet...

[Jairus]

Price? Of what Harry?

[Art Anderson]

AMT and Revell collaborated on some kits in the early 60's. I am sure when Art Anderson sees this thread, he can shed far more light on it.

I've never gotten down to the bottom on this question definitively, but I believe that Revell either approached AMT Corporation (or was steered there by people within the auto industry) to provide the tooling mockups given that AMT was by then established as the principal promotional model car supplier to the auto companies.

Bear in mind, while by 1955 Revell had reached the level of being the largest producer of plastic model kits of all kinds in the US, having started making model kits 4 years earlier in 1951 with their then quite successful Gowland & Gowland Highway Pioneers kits (Gowland & Gowland were a pair of British brothers who upon getting their veteran's bonuses from the British government for service in WW-II (a program quite similar to this country's "GI Bill Of Rights") began creating the tooling for a line of 1/32 scale plastic model kits, which they leased first to Globe Models (founded by Irvin Athearn--who later became the largest producer of HO Scale model RR equipment), and ultimately Revell--then a company trying to decide whether they were a toy company, or a model company.

This seems to me to be the best scenario--Revell was located in Venice Beach, California 2000 expensive miles west of the Detroit area while AMT Corporation was right there--already having established some pretty strong relationships with the automakers, and having at least some access to the styling departments of the Big Three, and having pattern makers already well-versed in the in's and out's of creating tooling mockups for model cars with considerable accuracy. (Of course, Monogram Models was to bring out a pair of 1956 Cadillac Eldorado kits in 1/20 scale that were also quite well done, but being in Morton Grove IL, a fairly easy drive to Detroit, even easier by passenger train).

It also may have been that AMT, by reason of their relationship with the Detroit Big Three was also able to handle the licensing end of things, again by reason of their fairly close relationship with GM, Ford and Chrysler.

Another thing to keep in mind here, I think, is that in 1954-55 (when these kits were designed, and tooling mockups created) the plastic model industry (for that matter the entire hobby industry) was at about the stage of getting into "training pants" out of infancy. "Industrial" pattern makers were around, but most of them were skilled primarily in working with blueprints of items to be cast in metal (foundry patterns) metal stamping (automotive and consumer goods such as kitchen appliances) and most of them working in patterns for plastic molding were in either consumer goods or toys, again working off blueprints with toy makers not necessarily looking for exact scale realism. What surely was needed in the young plastic model industry were pattern-makers with real artistic abilities--to work not only with drawings, but also by referring to photographs of the real thing, perhaps even the real subjects themselves, bridging a "gap" between industrial work and artistry that may have rivaled the legendary painters and sculptors of statues and monuments. Certainly CAD/CAM was, if even dreamed of, would have been the stuff of science fiction in the mid-1950's.

Art

[Art Anderson]

AMT and Revell collaborated on some kits in the early 60's. I am sure when Art Anderson sees this thread, he can shed far more light on it.

The collaboration happened, such as it was, in 1954-55. By the 1960's, the two companies were competitors in the sense that AMT had become the King Kong of plastic model car kits, while Revell, then the driving force in plastic model kits of all manner of subjects, was developing their own line of model car kits, taking quite a different path than AMT was following.

Art

[Greg Myers]

and I believe Art has given us the answer I was looking for. Thank you Art. The rest of you, I don't know.

[ToyLvr]

In the parlance of the street, The handsome couple are "negotiating".

Gives a whole new meaning to "Accurately Scaled". ;-)

[High octane]

From what I have read in the past, all of Art Anderson's comments seem to fit right in there in the history of model car kits.

[my66s55]

If he were a Gentleman, he'd be opening the door for her.

It's his wife.

[Craig Irwin]

It's his wife.

No, he's smilling. I vote "negotiating".

[my66s55]

No, he's smilling. I vote "negotiating".

You, are a sick puppy. Obviously not a child of the 50's.

[Harry P.]

You, are a sick puppy. Obviously not a child of the 50's.

They didn't "negotiate" in the '50s?

[Guest]

You, are a sick puppy. Obviously not a child of the 50's.

i am sure it went on. It is the worlds oldest profession.

[Harry P.]

i am sure it went on. It is the worlds oldest profession.

You mean lawyer, right?

[my66s55]

Harry, you and Lee weren't even born when this model came out. The 50's were an age of innocence. Something that neither of you experienced. A picture such as this would never be interpreted as some on this thread have. I personally believe it was to express the elegance of the Cadillac. To perceive it as anything else, in my opinion, has only to exemplify the degradation of society in the years that followed. Your opinion makes you a member.

[lordairgtar]

Either that or a weird sense of humour, Doug.

Edited September 4, 2013 by lordairgtar