Collecting Muscle Car Model Kits - Tim Boyd

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       DEDICATION

      This book is dedicated to two people: the late Roger Harney and author/historian Pat Ganahl.

      Roger Harney joined Monogram Models soon after high school graduation in 1957 as an entry-level junior draftsman. By the early 1960s, Roger had progressed to become a kit designer and engineer (he took the lead in developing the Big T kit that became a Monogram best seller that inspired a full-sized copy). His responsibilities continued to increase and he became model shop manager in the 1970s, and then a member of Monogram’s senior management team later that decade. Roger eventually became a vice president, as Monogram later merged with Revell and went through seven more changes of ownership. As you might imagine, Roger was also the consummate car enthusiast, from his high school 1950 Olds 88 coupe, to his cherished 1963 Corvette roadster in recent years. Roger had planned to retire from Revell in 2014 after an incredible 57-year career in service of model car builders and kit collectors, but he passed away unexpectedly in January of that year. If you have ever purchased a Monogram kit (or a Revell kit introduced after 1986), chances are that Roger had a hand in its creation. There are a number of influential executives and leaders who have made great contributions to the model car hobby, but no one can match the dedication or longevity of Roger Harney. Godspeed, Roger.

      Pat Ganahl is well known to anyone who has followed the hot rod and custom car hobby since the mid-1970s, through a career as editor at various times of Street Rodder, Hot Rod, Rod and Custom, and Rodder’s Journal magazines, and through his many best-selling automotive book titles. Today, “too tall” Ganahl is acknowledged as the hobby’s premier historian. However, his role here is a little more personal. When he was editor of Street Rodder magazine in 1977, Pat agreed to a proposal from a college student in Michigan who wanted to author a monthly column in his magazine on the topic of hot rod and custom model cars and kits. Pat helped the aspiring writer to develop the proposal and his writing style. He even taught the writer how to photograph the model cars that were to be featured in the column! The “Modeler’s Corner” feature was an immediate success and eventually became one of the most popular recurring features of the magazine. As you may have guessed by now, I was that college student and aspiring car writer. I have now written and published 500+ articles and features in more than 30 magazines worldwide, including slightly more than 200 “Modeler’s Corner” columns for Street Rodder during the last 40 years. None of this would have happened without Pat’s acceptance, counsel, and encouragement. Thanks, Pat!

      —Tim Boyd, September 2017

       ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      At the top of my list of acknowledgments is Mark Budniewski, who is in my judgment the hobby’s single most knowledgeable kit authority these days. Mark agreed to my request to review the text for possible errors and omissions, and on very tight turnaround timing, too. Thanks to Dennis Doty, Chuck Helppie, and Tom Woodruff, who each stoked my interest in model car kit history and collecting back in my college days. The information in this book would be far less precise if not for the efforts of Bob Shelton and Bill Coulter, who collectively researched, compiled, and published the hobby’s definitive guide of model car kit offerings and their values. Now in its seventh revision, their guide is an indispensable reference for anyone considering the purchase of old, out of production model car kits.

      I wanted to include a Scale Showroom section in several chapters of this book, to show readers who are not familiar with the hobby, or built their last kit back in the heyday of model kit building in the mid-1960s, just what is possible when the kits in this book are constructed by adults with care and precision. At the top of this list are Mike Hanson, a full-sized car restorer and contract model car constructor based in Arizona, and Dean Milano, a model car journalist and historian who opened a model car kit museum in the suburbs of Chicago in the early 2000s. Mike photographed many of his model cars and commissions for your viewing enjoyment here. Dean agreed to my request to visit with him and spend a day photographing his many built kit examples. Several fellow model car builders and journalists also contributed their works, including Bill Coulter and Bob Downie. Equal thanks to those who exhibited their built models at major model car events during the last 25 years, as I went through my photo archives and chose some of the best cars they built and I had photographed to show you here.

      On the publication side, a big thanks to the team at CarTech Books, especially my editor Bob Wilson who first approached me with the idea for the book and then served as an endless cheerleader and confidante as the project developed. I also want to thank all the magazine editors I have worked with through the years, and especially so four longtime former magazine editors, who each worked with me for many years: Geoff Carter and Tom Vogele of Street Rodder magazine, Gary Schmidt of Scale Auto Enthusiast magazine, and Jim Haught of Scale Auto magazine.

       RESOURCES

       Books

      Coulter, Bill, and Bob Sheldon. The Directory of Model Car Kits 1/24-1/25 Scale, Seventh Edition. For purchase information, contact Bob Sheldon via email at: [email protected] or via mail at 3116 W. Montgomery Road #C, Maineville, Ohio, USA, 45039.

       Forums

      Spotlight Hobbies at board2.spotlighthobbies.com

      Model Cars at modelcarsmag.com/forums/

       Vintage Kit Specialists

      Spotlight Hobbies at spotlighthobbies.com

      Model Roundup at modelroundup.com

      Model Empire, Inc. at modelempireusa.com

       Collectible Toy Shows

      Old Toyland Shows at oldtoylandshows.com

       Model Car Events

      Scale Auto at scaleautomag.com

      Model Cars at modelcarsmag.com/forums/calendar/

       INTRODUCTION

      Combine fads, toys, and the 1960s and several things immediately come to mind. Frisbees. “Sting Ray” Schwinn bicycles. Hula-hoops. Batman. Silly monsters. Silly Putty. Secret agents and spies. Slinkys. And model car kits.

      If you were a boy or a young man (or perhaps a young woman) in the 1960s, chances are that you bought and built model car kits. You loved trips to your local five-and-dime store. You studied myriad kit boxes to decide which kit deserved your allowance or hard-earned odd-job money. You rushed home, broke the seal, opened the box, and then explored the instruction sheet and parts. You had to decide which of the three kit versions to build before piecing the model together; then, with or without paint? You admired the finished result and maybe even entered it in the local hobby store’s model car contest. Or, maybe you blew it up in the backyard with your favorite form of fireworks.

      Several societal and manufacturing developments coincided to make this happen. First, by the 1960s, the children of the post–World War II baby boom had grown old enough to have hobbies. Second, the United States was in the midst of an automotive craziness that (sadly) has not been repeated. Finally, improved toy production techniques, specifically moldable styrene plastic and three-piece sliding molds, made one-piece model car kit bodies possible (and affordable). All of these together made model car building one of the most popular fads

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