Carmak

The 71/72 Road Runner and 71/72 Charger share the same body structure and have the same wheelbase of 115". Combining new 71/72 Road Runner body, bumpers, interior sides, and seats with the existing 71 Charger tooling would result in a nice modern kit for a relatively low lift tooling wise. As others have mentioned I would also be in favor of a 73/74 Charger that could leverage the 71 Charger tooling. Carmak

All of us had hair, lots of hair

Generally speaking highly desirable/valuable 1:1 cars are not as valuable as models wile somewhat obscure/less valuable 1:1 cars are more valuable as models. This is logical as desirable/valuable 1:1 cars are kitted more often than obscure/less valuable 1:1 cars. Last year I got a nice MPC 66 Bonniville and my 1:1 car friends didn't get my excitement about finding it. All 68-70 Coronet convertibles are fairly valuable as the total convertible production was less than 2k per year. They are much less common than the 68-70 Plymouth B-body convertibles. This is mostly because from 68-70 Dodge B-body convertibles were only available as the top trim level models (Coronet 500 & R/T) while the Plymouth B-body convertibles were available on top trim level models (Sport Satellite & GTX) as well as mid trim level (Satellite & 69-70Road Runner). Below are pictures of my 68 Coronet convertible (taking it to prom in the mid 80's and today mid restoration).

I really look forward to your progress! In the 90's I used to have multiple 65, 66 & 67 full size Pontiacs. The blue 65 2+2 was a 421 tri-power 3spd manual (on the floor with no console) with 8 lugs. The gold 66 and 67 were both Catalinas. About 15 years ago I bought a rough 65 Star Chief 4dr as a daily, it was used in a low budget movie. Fun times. Carmak

If you can get the fairly common AMT 65 Bonneville / GP / 2+2 dash it is fairly close to the 66. The most significant difference is the change from round bezels to square bezels for the three center bezels you are working on. Also, It's not very clear in your picture but the three center bezels and angled slightly towards the driver. The automatic console in the AMT 65 Bonneville / GP / 2+2 is exactly the same as 66. If you are doing a 4spd. console it is actually completely different from the front of the seats forward.

How did you do the side molding (bright trim with the black in the center)? This really takes your build to the next level!

My go-to would be the AMT/MPC 69 442.

This is what the pipes look like in the original issue. One pipe is off the runner and the other is still attached. The front part of the pipe is still on the runner on the fer-left side of the picture. They really do not look like the 1:1 or the box art.

There is an old joke: Do you know who the highest paid person at Palmer is? The guy that does the box art. The point is that the box art was better than the kit in the box. Often Palmer kits are caricatures that are of no particular scale and can be hard to recognize. The "PSM" kits are actually fair kits. I think they started in 1970 and many of the tools from that era were still around a few years ago and sold as Lindberg kits.

I win

Anybody else notice the red and clear lenses for police lights? Those were part of the 68 Hard Top kit. Hmmmmmmm

My spin on Cab Driver's method. I put the models in a Ziplock and hold the bag upside down over a small pot of boiling water with an oven mitt (BE CAREFUL). I let the bag fill with the hot water vapor. Seal the bag and into the deep freeze for a week. The water vapor gets into the small cracks between parts and freezes. A little thermal shock helps also. Sometimes it takes a few cycles. I have done this for 40+ years and it doesn't always work but sometimes it really surprises me.

It is my understanding that Salvinos JR has Nascar versions of both the Daytona and the Superbird in process. Might be worth the wait.

All Pontiac 326/389/400/421/455 intakes are the same size. There was a slight change from 59-64 to 65-78 where the bolts and ports changed enough that they do not interchange in the 1:1 world, but that is a non-issue in 1/25 scale. The 68 Firebird intake is designed for a spread-bore carburetor (the primary ports are smaller than the secondary ports) and your image shows this. All 64 Pontiac 4bl intakes were square bore (all port the same size). Once again, I am not sure this could be seen in 1/25 scale. I assume you are thinking about using the intake from the Revell 68 Firebird. I think it would be a good choice. As for a carburetor any Carter AFB would work. They were commonly used on mid to late 60's Mopars. Craig

Sonny and Cher

The Jeep

Found another little batch of cool survivors/rebuilders locally last week. Some funky stuff I don't typically run into. The goldish 32 Ford in the Monogram "Son of Ford" kit. The gold Mustang in an AMT Sonny and Cher kit. I think the Jeep is the MPC "Bottoms Up" kit The Phone Booth is the MPC original issue mid 60's Stroker McGurk kit. The black panel is the mid 60's MPC 33 Chevy panel kit. This is a rebuilder I have been looking for. Carmak Iowa

Loved my old 67 Catalina. Wish I had a better pic.

Just got this guy a couple weeks ago. I assume it's the Bottoms Up kit because of the cab and decals. Did any other issue have the cab?

I have a connection to the 1:1 muscle car world and the hot Super Bees are 69 and 70. The 68's just don't get that much love. I have even seen a trend of people putting 69 grilles/front clips on 68's. In the model car world, we have had 69, 70 and 71 Super Bees available for years so we have a demand for the 68 that is not necessarily reflected in the 1:1 world. I say all of this as the longtime owner of a 68 Coronet. Carmak.

I recently picked up this group of eight survivors. Seven are basically stock and one has had a major mod. Carmak

The cost to do a correct 68 Super Bee really depends how the tooling was designed. The tail light areas are different between R/T and Super Bee. If the tooling is designed in a way that allows this slide to be easily changed it makes the change easier. All 68 Super Bees are pillared two door sedans not hard tops. This could be handled by glue in pieces, so the body does not need to be changed. The grille might need to be different because of the R/T emblem and Super Bee emblem are different. Not 100% on this but 68 Super Bees might have been bench seat only and they had a quite different upholstery. Carmak

The story I have heard repeated many times on this forum and other places is that at some point JoHan or Seville had not paid their workers, so the workers stole much of the tooling and sold it for scrap.

My 68 is currently in the shop getting fresh paint. I have a few original 68 R/T builders and nice built kits but I will be all over the new 68 R/T kit in all forms!

I am aligned with Daddy Fink and Snake about curbside / Craftsman kits being a good direction for clones. The curbsides have a low part count and therefore lower engineering cost, tooling cost and plastic cost. Great bang for the buck. The new Charger R/T kit probably has triple the engineering cost and double the tooling cost of a curbside clone kit. Carmak