1/25 Revell SnapTite Taxi/Fire Chief Chevy Caprice

[Casey]

Hard to believe the 1/25 Revell SnapTite Taxi/Fire Chief Chevy Caprice kit is almost thirty year old now, but it still holds up rather well, despite a few simplifications and being saddled with molded-in, Monogram style underhood details. Have a look at the contents here: https://modelkitreviews.proboards.com/thread/1586/revell-snaptite-chief-chevy-caprice

Edited March 5, 2021 by Casey

[1972coronet]

I've got one of those in the stash . It's a great kit , in spite of --as you've stated-- some of its necessary compromises ( spotlight improperly-placed , for an instance ) . Eventually , mine's going to be built as a retired police car ; LASO in particular .  

Was this --or its 9C1 iteration-- ever reissued ? IIRC , it was last seen 'new' in c.1994 .

[martinfan5]

27 minutes ago, 1972coronet said:

 

Was this --or its 9C1 iteration-- ever reissued ? IIRC , it was last seen 'new' in c.1994 .

After the Taxi in '93, came the Impala SS version in '96 for the '94 MY, and that is the only one that has been reissued.

[kelson]

Wasn't there also a version,where you pressed down on the lightbar and the siren would sound?

[Casey]

35 minutes ago, kelson said:

Wasn't there also a version,where you pressed down on the lightbar and the siren would sound?

Yes, the original release police car from 1992:

[SSNJim]

Thankfully, they included a more accurate non-operating light bar in the kit, too.

[Captain Spaulding]

Just built one of these a few months ago into a RCMP police cruiser, was surprised the amount of detail it had for a snap kit.

[Luc Janssens]

A pity is that when R-M redesigned for the Impala SS, they didn't keep the Caprice option albeit updated to '94 or later specs.

Tooling up the trunk lid as a separate part would facilitate the use of the same body for both.

Input welcome....

 

[Hondamatic]

I was curious if the mold is forever modified into the impala or could the old caprice kit ever come back?

[Misha]

Here is my example built thirty years ago based on Cab #25 “TwoBits” at Capital Cabs in Regina, Saskatchewan. Always found this generation of Caprice to be attractive and at its introduction to   have bold styling. The various reissues illustrate the various commercial and service roles it has served. The early version was modified into the later one with enlarged rear wheel housings.

The kit itself was an easy build in its basic form which benefited from detail painting especially under the hood and chassis. A number of scratch built details added to the typical hack version such as the meter, Tim Horton’s coffee mug, map on the armrest and the all important radar detector on the dash! On the outside the top sign was vacuformed, a propane  conversion is evident by the refill flap on the passeger rear quarter, a popular fleet conversion at the time, recent body repair with the primer on the front fender and finishing it off with homemade decals based on a matchbook logo and featuring the Canadian Football Classic the Grey Cup game being hosted in 1995.

 

 

I also have the later Impala version with plans of hot rodding it, lowered stance upgraded motivation. Another companion vehicle is the Ultra  Nomad for which I plan to convert to a hearse. Overall a pleasing series of kits that build up easily. 
Cheers Misha

[stavanzer]

Neat!

My Next door neighbor has a 1/1 Impala for sale right now. Quite the impressive car.

[Hondamatic]

9 hours ago, stavanzer said:

Neat!

My Next door neighbor has a 1/1 Impala for sale right now. Quite the impressive car.

Prices on clean examples have been skyrocketing lately 

[stavanzer]

He wants 18K for his.

[Don Sikora II]

3 hours ago, Hondamatic said:

Prices on clean examples have been skyrocketing lately 

What's skyrocketing? I still have the black '96 SS I bought in the summer of 1998.

[niteowl7710]

On 6/6/2022 at 10:11 PM, Hondamatic said:

I was curious if the mold is forever modified into the impala or could the old caprice kit ever come back?

It's permanently modified into the Impala SS, the Caprice is no more.

[wrenchr]

Have one in the stash. Maybe 2. Might check that out.  

[Oldcarfan27]

On 6/7/2022 at 8:22 PM, niteowl7710 said:

It's permanently modified into the Impala SS, the Caprice is no more.

Why do they do that?

I remember it took for-ev-er to get a model company to tool up an up to date police car (up to then there was only the Johan and the MPC Monaco) and then less than 2 years to permanently change it to the SS!

DGMW, SS is good, but the police and taxi cab versions were cool too!

Luckily I bought quite a few when they were still available. 

Edited June 9, 2022 by Oldcarfan27

[1972coronet]

Would be nice if Revell were to update their 1991-1994 B-body to a true 9C1 & 9C3 of 1993-1994 / 1995-1996 vintage.

[Hondamatic]

1 hour ago, 1972coronet said:

Would be nice if Revell were to update their 1991-1994 B-body to a true 9C1 & 9C3 of 1993-1994 / 1995-1996 vintage.

I'll take a case of wagons too

[niteowl7710]

19 hours ago, Oldcarfan27 said:

Why do they do that?

I remember it took for-ev-er to get a model company to tool up an up to date police car (up to then there was only the Johan) and then less than 2 years to permanently change it to the SS!

DGMW, SS is good, but the police and taxi cab versions were cool too!

Luckily I bought quite a few when they were still available. 

I wish they had modified it in such a way that it would have been either a 9C1 LT1 Caprice OR an Impala SS which would have taken an additional set of seats and not permanently changing the body to accept the rear spoiler, but alas they did not.

As to being up to date...it was a 1991 Caprice released in late 1992 when the 1993 (with opened rear wheel wells) was already in production. So much like the Lindberg '96 Vic that was released just as the entirely new 1998 was rolling out the factory doors, the Caprice was modern, but it wasn't current. 

[Oldcarfan27]

4 minutes ago, niteowl7710 said:

the Caprice was modern, but it wasn't current. 

But it WAS currently in use. Before the Caprice kit came out, the newest police cruiser we had was the Dodge Monaco and the real ones had been retired 10 years before. 

I remember the debates back then on whether the Caprice should be the jellybean body or the box body, which was being phased out by 92. It was a highly anticipated kit at the time, that's why it surprises me that Revell modified it so soon after it came out! (2 years)

I still think the SS body would make an ideal reissue as the police and taxi cab versions, if the stock parts are still available and the SS can be modified to be both versions. 

It would make an awesome 3n1 kit!

[niteowl7710]

7 hours ago, Oldcarfan27 said:

But it WAS currently in use. Before the Caprice kit came out, the newest police cruiser we had was the Dodge Monaco and the real ones had been retired 10 years before. 

I remember the debates back then on whether the Caprice should be the jellybean body or the box body, which was being phased out by 92. It was a highly anticipated kit at the time, that's why it surprises me that Revell modified it so soon after it came out! (2 years)

I still think the SS body would make an ideal reissue as the police and taxi cab versions, if the stock parts are still available and the SS can be modified to be both versions. 

It would make an awesome 3n1 kit!

The stock 1991 parts wouldn't be correct for the 1994 model year that the Impala SS represents. It wouldn't make any sort of fiscal sense to go back and try to modify it now since the Caprice is older (30 yrs) than the Monaco was (15 yrs) at the time the Caprice was released. 

[stavanzer]

On 6/9/2022 at 5:16 PM, niteowl7710 said:

The stock 1991 parts wouldn't be correct for the 1994 model year that the Impala SS represents. It wouldn't make any sort of fiscal sense to go back and try to modify it now since the Caprice is older (30 yrs) than the Monaco was (15 yrs) at the time the Caprice was released. 

Wow! Hard to believe that much time has passed.

[gray07]

ive always liked the chopped off rear fenderwells, couldnt u put the ss frame and interier in this to make a fancy stock chevy

[niteowl7710]

12 hours ago, gray07 said:

ive always liked the chopped off rear fenderwells, couldnt u put the ss frame and interier in this to make a fancy stock chevy

I don't see why it wouldn't fit.