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Another Hemi Car: Come On..REALLY?


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Why do the kit manufacturers seem determined to issue 426 Hemi`s in Mopar kits?

As I pause for thought and ponder the matter (beside the strip/drag cars) I only saw two 426 Hemi`s in any of the street driven/street raced cars growing up. The 318, 383 and 440 engines were the most prevalent mills one would see under the hoods of Mopar street cars back in the day. Truth of the matter is:

1 ) they were to expensive_the Hemi option cost almost as much as the car itself

2) they were a bear to keep tuned

3) a well tuned and correctly set up 440 mill could give most Hemi cars a seriously close run for their money if not beat them.

Why don`t model manufacturers kit the more popular Mopar blocks?

I`m just saying....any thoughts or insights on the topic are welcome.

Edited by 69NovaYenko
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Actually I thought the 440's were in plenty of recent kits, and really, can you see the difference between a B and an RB block in 1/25? I would think the guys wanting a 318 can build one up from the AMT Duster 340 without a lot of work. I'm 59 years old and lived through the tail end of the muscle car era and several of my friends had Hemi cars, they were out there.

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I've wondered about hat too. It seems to me that most model makers have the mind set that the builder wants to always build the 'top of the line' car. The biggest engine available,2 door hardtop,etc. Very few mid 60's Vettes came with fuel injection,but every kit does. I know there's a lot of guys-me included-who would love to have a station wagon kit with a 6 banger.

I guess they go with what will sell the most.

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Actually I thought the 440's were in plenty of recent kits, and really, can you see the difference between a B and an RB block in 1/25? I would think the guys wanting a 318 can build one up from the AMT Duster 340 without a lot of work. I'm 59 years old and lived through the tail end of the muscle car era and several of my friends had Hemi cars, they were out there.

True, seeing the difference between a B and an RB block in 1/25 is challenging. But as a point of order; this requires buying another kit to acquire the non-hemi mill. Hence, there`s going to be a whole lot of engine-less Duster kits out there if one desires to build a series of non-hemi Mopars cars. I can even go along with Pharoah suggestion and settle for a 6 banger. At least it would give modelers a second main-streamer build option...just saying.

I cannot recall a 440 being kitted in any of the new or newly re-issued kits...humm. But it wont be the first time I`ve been mistaken.

Edited by 69NovaYenko
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racing heritage maybe? whatever the reason is, it's the same reason you see Boss 429's, DOHC and SOHC Fords instead of 390's or 302's, you see 427 chevys instead of 350's and 327's. I guess the demand is there doe these motors. I myself am a big block guy and do not build many "common" motors but that is me. I enjoy building the aluminum 427 ZL/1 camaro instead of a 350. ultimate muscle, I guess, would be the goal. you have to wonder how the market would be if they did come out with say a 327 or 350 motored camaro with standard features like your dad would have bought. also, if you went to certain engines, you changed models.

without going into a lot of talk, basically the hemi (in 1969 at least) was in the neighborhood of an $800 option, so it was not as high as you think, and compared to the other high performance optioned motors, it was fairly inexpensive. and as 440's go, the hemi was offered in more Chrysler muscle cars than the 440.

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Because to a bulk of the model buying public, it doesn't matter. The niche group that wants to build a replica of a non-hemi car is so small compared to the overall market that kit makers (basically, Revell, in this instance) don't think it's necessary to make those additional pieces...

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99.999999% of model buyers want a HEMI (or don't care). "That thing got a 440?" wasn't used as the catchphrase for an ad campaign for a reason. Everybody knows about the HEMI. It's legendary, to even the general public.

I assume you're bringing it up because of the Revell Hemi 'cuda. It's obvious since Revell left off some Hemi 'cuda-specific details from the body shell that they'll issue a non-Hemi version someday down the road (AAR, perhaps?).

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Can anyone tell me if the Revell Dart and Charger models that have both 440s and hemis offer two complete engines? Do each engine have a transmission, or do they share one? And are they standard or automatic transmissions?

The Charger shares a transmission between the two (manual), but the engines are complete and there is a stand included so you can display the engine you don't install in the car.

The Dart has the transmissions molded on the blocks, the Hemi has a manual and the 440 has an automatic.

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Can anyone tell me if the Revell Dart and Charger models that have both 440s and hemis offer two complete engines? Do each engine have a transmission, or do they share one? And are they standard or automatic transmissions?

The Revell '68 & '69 Charger kits have separate transmissions for both the 440 and 426 Hemi. The '68 Dart's 383 has the trans molded in halves with the engine block, while the Hemi has a separate A-833 4-speed trans. There should be pics and more info for each kit in the Model Cars: Ket Reviews section.

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And because people like to daydream about having it all, whether it's a perfect woman

And for every girl you think is drop dead perfect, there's a guy who has just about had enough of her stuff! :rolleyes:

Engine / transmission choices in kits do drive me nuts. As others have said I'm more a six cylinder, or small block kinda guy. When I go to replicate, say my own old 1:1 1973 Barracuda, my car had a 318/auto not the biggest baddest engine with a 4 speed. I recently have been looking at building / restoring my series of full size Chevys... most of those in real life came with 6s, 283s and maybe 350s, mostly automatics! What's in the kits... all of them? Big block with a 4 speed... and an automatic interior!

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If you watch any of the muscle car auctions on TV, pretty much all you see are optioned-out big block cars. Even cars that started out with small block V8s or even sixes are being "restored" as big-block "tribute" cars. So the model companies see what sells in the big car world and that's what they make to sell to folks like us. It's a kind of revisionist history at the very least. If I didn't know better I would think that everything made between 1964 and 1973 had big-inch motors after watching these auctions and seeing what the model companies sell today.

I remember when I was living in Tucson, Arizona in 1974. The oil embargo that started the year before caused many people to unload their gas guzzlers for smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. I saw MANY muscle cars on used car lots for stupid cheap money. At the time I didn't have two nickels to rub together! Now they are selling for big coin.

I have owned one car that could be considered muscular- a 1970 AMC Javelin SST. It did not have a 390- it was a 360/auto car. I bought it with my bonus money I received after joining the Army in 1974. The price? $1200.

On the subject of Lindberg- yeah, a lot of their old stuff was pretty toylike. But most of the kits they did in the 90s and early 2000s were pretty decent, overall.

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I remember when I was living in Tucson, Arizona in 1974. The oil embargo that started the year before caused many people to unload their gas guzzlers for smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. I saw MANY muscle cars on used car lots for stupid cheap money. At the time I didn't have two nickels to rub together! Now they are selling for big coin.

Yep, Gas went up to over a dollar a gallon!!! :blink:

It sounds funny now,but I was only making a little under $2.00 an hour.

I had a 68 Firebird,and sold it and bought a VW beetle. The weird thing is,I never really regretted it.

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Yep, Gas went up to over a dollar a gallon!!! :blink:

It sounds funny now,but I was only making a little under $2.00 an hour.

I had a 68 Firebird,and sold it and bought a VW beetle. The weird thing is,I never really regretted it.

I remember when Sunoco 260 (Real high-test) hit 1.00 a gallon. I traded my `68 383 4 spd. Fastback Barracuda (I still cry myself to sleep about losing THAT one….) for a `70 Caddy Sedan Deville. My gas mileage shot up from 6 to 11! Then I too sold my Caddy and bought a `71 Super Beetle. While not my first VW, I did run them exclusively for the next 15 yrs.

<sigh…> I couldn't sell that factory big-block A body for $1,200 in `79. Today the exhaust manifolds and K frame are worth that.

Back on-topic: I know why there's so many Hemi kits. It's to make up for almost every street rod out there having a small block Chevy. :P

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