Collecting Muscle Car Model Kits. Tim Boyd

the wide range of scale replicas of influential post–World War II performance-themed cars that helped set the stage for the muscle car era that began in earnest with the 1964 model year.

       Oldsmobile 88

      Starting with the 1949–1950 Oldsmobile 88, there were at least two, and perhaps three, attempts to bring a model of this car to market before the final product appeared in 2013. In the mid-1960s, Revell had started development of a 1949–1950 Olds kit, but then heard that Monogram had a kit of the exact same car underway, so Revell killed that project. (Little evidence has subsequently surfaced that Monogram actually had such a kit under development).

      More than three decades later, the AMT-Ertl brand, then under the ownership of Racing Champions (a pre-assembled die-cast replica maker) announced to the hobby trade its plans for 1950 Olds 88 and 1949 Studebaker kits. Later, it was discovered that these were nothing more than trial balloons. With kit topics being dictated by the buyers of the large discount chains and big-box stores back then (instead of the core model car hobbyist), both ideas flopped, and the kits never appeared.

      Meanwhile, throughout the first decade of the 21st century, a 1950 Olds was on Revell’s list of potential kit topics, and it finally made its way to the top in time for a 2013 introduction of a superb 1/25th-scale kit. Revell pulled out all the stops to accurately replicate the intricate body shape of this car, including some very expensive die work to achieve the correct underbody roll of the rear fenders. A second Olds custom kit added typical period upgrades including a J2-style tri-power V-8 with headers and dual exhaust, and modestly lowered front and rear suspension. Revell’s late VP of Engineering, a 57-year employee of the company, owned a 1950 Olds 88 coupe as a young adult. Maybe that is one reason why the kit came out so well.

       It’s taken nearly 50 years, and the possible involvement of up to four different kitmakers (counting Revell under two different ownerships), but now an absolutely first-class kit series of the 1950 Oldsmobile 88 (Wave 4/*) is available. The Olds Custom kit is really outfitted like an early to mid-1950s mild street coupe and is typical of what performance enthusiasts might have driven back then.

       Hudson Hornet

      The Olds 88 was a very successful product in the early NASCAR years. However, the Hudson Hornet soon replaced its position at the front of the oval racetracks. It seems strange to think of a six-cylinder–powered car as being a performance leader in the early 1950s, but that’s what happened.

      That leads me to the topic of a Hudson Hornet model kit. It was a topic frequently seen in model car magazine reader polls of new kit ideas, but I never, ever dreamed such a kit would materialize. Eventually it was produced as a kit, but it took a new model car company to get it done (with perhaps a touch of help from the Cars movie franchise). In 2011, Frank Winspur’s Moebius Models introduced the 1953 Hudson Hornet as its first model car kit (its first 1/25th-scale automotive kit of any kind was the International Lonestar Class 8 Truck, which preceded the Hudson by a year or two).

       Just when longtime modelers thought they’d seen everything in 1/25th-scale kits, Moebius Models completely redefined what constitutes top-end model car offerings. Starting in 2011, it has produced a whole series of early to mid-1950s Hudsons, all with the famous Twin H Power engine. More derivatives of this kit (not shown here) include Tim Flock and Marshal Teague race cars, along with Matty Winspur’s Stock class drag racer (all: Wave 4/*).

      This was a kit unlike any other 1/25th-scale kit to date. The instruction/assembly manual was a sight in and of itself: printed in full color, with photos of assembled sub-components and multiple views of the completed car, along with instructional callouts, and highly detailed painting information. The kit tool was designed for additional derivatives, which have included 1952 convertible and 1954 coupe and sedan kits.

       1953 Studebaker

      The 1953 Studebaker Starliner hardtop is a highly regarded early 1950s automotive design, but it is seldom cited as a precursor to the muscle car movement. Nevertheless, despite the modest output of its OHV V-8, the Starliner was revolutionary in that it telegraphed the potential market appeal of a car designed for optimum proportions and visual impact, rather than practical considerations like interior space. In this way, it was a predecessor to the stylish, smaller-sized 1960s intermediates that anchored the supercar movement, as well as the entire pony car segment. For that reason, I’m including it here, even though it admittedly lies on the fringes of our subject topic.

      This car was only 10 years old when it first appeared on lists of future Trophy Series kit topics at AMT. The final execution included not only a finely detailed showroom stock replica, but also a very tasteful custom version, and a wild Bonneville racer with a dual-blower 392 Hemi and components to help the builder modify the body with a chopped top.

       One would be hard pressed to find a more appealing set of box art than the one that AMT debuted in 1965 for its 1953 Studebaker Starliner 3-in-1 Trophy Series kit (Wave 1/*). After at least 10 reissues, Round 2 returned to the original box art theme for this 2014 release. Note the larger box, brighter colors, and other slight tweaks of the new box art on the right.

       Revell also had a showroom stock 1953 Studebaker kit under development, only to cancel the project when AMT announced its 1953 Studebaker Starliner kit. Here is Revell’s actual 1/10th-scale wood master. It was to be a two-door Starlight coupe; you can clearly see the coupe’s B-pillar here. AMT’s kit was the Starliner hardtop. This artifact can be seen at the International Model Car Builder’s Museum (themodelcarmuseum.org) located near Salt Lake City, Utah.

       1955–1957 Chevrolet

      AMT was first out of the gate with a full detail kit of a 1/25th-scale Tri-Five Chevy. It chose a 1957 Bel Air as the subject; this was its first Trophy Series kit of a Chevy product. Revell followed a year later with its own 1957 Bel Air kit, upping the game with the addition of working doors and trunk. All these years later, the AMT Trophy Series kit is still considered to be tied with one other kit as the best overall proportioned 1957 Chevy hardtop ever produced as a kit. Both these AMT and Revell kits have been reissued numerous times.

      Both the Revell and (especially) the AMT Bel Air kits were top sellers from the word go, so more Tri-Five Chevy kits were inevitable. The next two came from Revell in 1964: a drag-themed 1955 Bel Air two-door hardtop and a custom car show–flavored 1956 two-door sedan. Per the contemporary Revell “design brief” of the day, both kits featured opening doors and trunks as well as fully detailed engine compartments and chassis assemblies. Of note, the 1956 kit featured a two-door sedan (today, called a two-door post) body style instead of the expected two-door hardtop. Both of these kits saw frequent reissues through the end of the last century.

      Monogram also entered the Tri-Five kit fray in 1964 with what was, at the time, one of its finest kits ever. The 1/24th-scale 1955 Chevy Bel Air could be built in showroom stock form as a hardtop or convertible or in one of several custom versions credited to Monogram consultant Darryl Starbird. The stock and custom versions of this kit were irretrievably lost when Monogram retooled the kit into the Bad-Man “wild, wheelin’ drag machine.”

       These two were the first of seemingly countless 1/25th-scale 1957 Chevy Bel Air kits to come in future years. Tom Daniel is the artist credited with the box top image on Revell’s kit. Note the detailed parts callout lists on the lower side panels of both the AMT and Revell kits (both: Wave 1/**).