AMT '58 Plymouth Belvedere CHRISTINE kit

[azers]

Ok, so what kit do you have to rob to get the induction set up. Intake, carbs, and aircleaners.

[JamesW]

Not sure of the kit they're available in, but someone on here was casting them in resin, can't remember who though. I bought a couple sets off him a while back, nice pieces.

[Funkster]

As far as the door locks on a 1957 - 1960 Plymouth's. There were no door lock nobs on the top of the door, as in all Mopars at the time. You locked the door by pushing the inside door handle forward to lock the door, pulled it back to open the door. I grew up with these cars as a child. Parents had 1956, 1958, 1959 and a 1960 Plymouths. On the Plymouth site Plymouth Run, it states that there was 23 Plymouths bought at the cost $500000.00 and turned them into 58 Furys. Theres a lot of info on these cars at the web site.

[azers]

I seem to remember a amt kit that had dual carbs and aircleaners, was it the chrysler 300. If you look at christine while shes on the assembly line she has different aircleaner assemblies than later in the movie when they are chrome. Also the belvedere scripts was supposed to be removed and either fury or belevedere was supposed to be on the decal sheet. So either model could be built. Is that true. I thought i read that from the show reports.

Edited January 30, 2013 by azers

[Drake69]

So would I (apparently I don't have all the pieces of the dual carb Carter setup like I thought, looks like I only have about half of it...). I also need to know what specific color red that people are using for their Christines. The actual color of the car used in the movie was "blood red", but so far every spraypaint I've looked at is either too light, too dark, or completely the wrong shade.

[azers]

If you watch the the outakes the detective calls it autumn red.

[Ron Hamilton]

The JoHan '63 Chrysler 300 kit has that 2-4Barrell Setup.

[Drake69]

If you watch the the outakes the detective calls it autumn red.

Yup, but the director John Carpenter used the color "Blood Red" on all the cars used in the movie.

[azers]

Oh yes i forgot, thanks.

[cooltoys1]

If your using automotive paints, the correct color is PPG WA7211 It seems alot of people are using 83 corvette Spectra red, which is what they painted the cars in the movie.

[MAGNUM4342]

The JoHan '63 Chrysler 300 kit has that 2-4Barrell Setup.

Yes it does but it's still incorrect for Christine. The 300 has snorkel style air cleaners which are incorrect for Christine. Since Jacen left all his molds here I have the correct air cleaners in resin.

[mangodart]

As most of you, I'm a 58 Plymouth fan 'till I first saw the movie back in the day. It became my favorite US car, and I learn a lot about it as in this period, you only saw 57 Chevy and 59 Cadillac on car mag. I finally could buy a resin copy of it from Modelhaus years ago which I built as a Christine copy, even find a real one ( a wagon ) here in France which quite unusual in my country. And I was a very happy guy when I learned that AMT made a kit out of this car. WHen first receive, I didn't notice the wrong body proportion, just the curious side molding movement. Anyway I was so happy that a manufacturer decide to do it that I bought a lot and built different version.

So what to say about the new box ?? Well I'll bought one for my collection, and I'm happy of it because the "older" Belvedere kit starts to cost a bit of money on Ebay. I think I could live with the body issue.

Another mistake nobody talks about here is the wrong engine combination : AMT molded a big block engine ( let's say a 350 for 58 ) with a small block Polyhead intake manifold and single carb. Check out the water pump molding and you'll recognize the unique "round" design of the BB Mopar part.

Now if somebody could mold a Polyhead V8 in resin, I would buy a lot as it was installed in lot's of Mopar.

They also forget to mold the "Plymouth" letters on the rear trunk.....ANd the interior combination isn't really a Belvedere design, not even a Fury design, well, I didn't know were they find their 1/1 references.

Anyway, even with all these mistakes, I still like the kit , I must be some kind of crazy, or a 50ies Mopar addicted

Here is a Savoy version I built years ago with a Flathead six and auto trans :

Far from perfect but I still like it anyway.....

Edited February 4, 2013 by mangodart

[azers]

Nice car. Like the color.

[Blown03SVT]

Just watched the movie on AMC.... From certain angles the trim looks just as hokey on the rral car in the movie as it does on the model. I am beginning to beleive there is a slight curvature to the trim but it it exaggerated by shrinking down the size to 1/25th scale. the belt line and roof are still a little hokey as mentioned. Not trying to fuel the fire and beat a dead horse, just an observation. FWIW

I have one of these in my stash because there is a Larry Watson custom I want to replicate.

[Drake69]

Just watched the movie on AMC.... From certain angles the trim looks just as hokey on the rral car in the movie as it does on the model. I am beginning to beleive there is a slight curvature to the trim but it it exaggerated by shrinking down the size to 1/25th scale. the belt line and roof are still a little hokey as mentioned. Not trying to fuel the fire and beat a dead horse, just an observation. FWIW

I have one of these in my stash because there is a Larry Watson custom I want to replicate.

I noticed that too... not sure if it's just from the camera angles chosen when they filmed it or the customization they did to the Belvederes/Savoys they used in the movie. Maybe if we can track down one of the engineers that built the various Christines for the movie they might shed some light on the whole thing. Probably easier said than done though.

[MAGNUM4342]

I noticed that too... not sure if it's just from the camera angles chosen when they filmed it or the customization they did to the Belvederes/Savoys they used in the movie. Maybe if we can track down one of the engineers that built the various Christines for the movie they might shed some light on the whole thing. Probably easier said than done though.

Also keep in mind this movie was originally released in 1983, and thus has not yet been digitally restored or enhanced so there's a certain wear factor to the film. You'll notice that the truncated version AMC shows, has some daylight scenes taking on a slight sepia tone due to aging.

[Drake69]

Also keep in mind this movie was originally released in 1983, and thus has not yet been digitally restored or enhanced so there's a certain wear factor to the film. You'll notice that the truncated version AMC shows, has some daylight scenes taking on a slight sepia tone due to aging.

I also have the DVD... gotta watch it again to see if they used a clean print of the movie or restored it.

[57peppershaker]

The bodyshop that worked on my 57 Chevy, had a 58 Plymouth in for a MAJOR resto. It was 1 of the original cars used in the movie. Some of the side trim was self adhesive chrome strips as used on mobile homes !

The car looked ok on outside when it first arrived, but when they tore it down, looked worse than the 1 sat on Lebays front yard !!

[MAGNUM4342]

I also have the DVD... gotta watch it again to see if they used a clean print of the movie or restored it.

[Ron Hamilton]

The JoHan '63 Chrysler 300 kit has that 2-4Barrell Setup.

Thanks to Alan Manley's photo, I can show what is in the Johan '63 Chrysler 300. This is the 2-4 Barrell manifold, carbs and air cleaners in the original JoHan 1963 Chrysler 300 kits, which I have built a couple of. The Johan parts are not chromed, but they are there, and can be adapted to the AMT engine. Now if they could just straighten out the body.

Edited March 9, 2013 by Ron Hamilton

[azers]

Now for pictures of christines engine are there any good ones and where would one find detailed pictures of the carbration systems on her?

[MAGNUM4342]

Therin lies the rub Joe. There is so much debate on so many boards over the color, induction style, even the suspension has been almost as suspect as the actual color of the car. I have decided for myself that it's a fantasy non-production car from a fantasy movie and i'm just going to get right the things most agreed upon and hang the rest. I'll choose a color that looks best to me and build the engine as close as possible. I think the engine pic shown earlier is as close as we're going to get. Maybe if we're lucky we can find out what brand of carb they were using back then at Plymouth and surmise from there.

[MrObsessive]

Just watched the movie on AMC.... From certain angles the trim looks just as hokey on the rral car in the movie as it does on the model. I am beginning to beleive there is a slight curvature to the trim but it it exaggerated by shrinking down the size to 1/25th scale. the belt line and roof are still a little hokey as mentioned. Not trying to fuel the fire and beat a dead horse, just an observation. FWIW

I have one of these in my stash because there is a Larry Watson custom I want to replicate.

As they came out of the factory in '57-'58, there may have been a misalignment or two of the trim, not a "curve" as what's seen on the RC2 body. I was at our local Chrysler's at Carlisle show years ago, and I spoke at length to a fellow right at the side of his pristine '58 Belvedere with the "sport trim". He commented to me that he bought the kit because there was finally a detailed model of his car that he could build (he had the kit with him), but was very turned off by the "curved trim".

Now I saw in 3D, and as he pointed out--------the trim (top part) should be straight from nose to tail, with the bottom part angling up to meet the front fender. The tailfins start just behind the door at a very slight angle upward, and then bump up further towards the rear. RC2 missed this detail by a long shot choosing to keep the beltline straight (almost), and then bump the fin upwards. This gives the body that "bent banana" look that's been talked about.............

Hmmm..............I just MIGHT do a rather lengthy tutorial on how to fix this body once and for all, and without a lot of expense of buying a Johan (nee X-EL) '59 Dodge or Plymouth to fix that roof. Of course I want to finish that '59 Chevy first, and then I have to think about the '58 Plymouth. It's just that for many years now, that kit has bugged me, and IMO it will never be fixed correctly by Round 2.

[Luc Janssens]

The kit was loosely based on a 1/18 scale diecast, which suffers from the same discrepancies.

IIRC it was tooled when they kicked all the talent out of the model kit r&d department.

[MrObsessive]

The kit was loosely based on a 1/18 scale diecast, which suffers from the same discrepancies.

IIRC it was tooled when they kicked all the talent out of the model kit r&d department.

Yeah, I had heard that from someone..............

It's too bad-----what could have been a knockout/accurate kit, turned into nothing more than a mediocre one.