Collecting Muscle Car Model Kits. Tim Boyd

wishes with a nicely executed kit of a factory-stock 1962 Bel Air Bubbletop 409. (For more on this kit’s development, see the AMT-Ertl 1966 Nova SS kit sidebar in Chapter 10). Between this kit and the Super Stock spinoffs that followed, builders could construct a highly detailed factory stock dual-quad 409, a Z-11 version with its unique intake setup and tubular exhaust headers, and a period street machine type engine with a Mickey Thompson Power Ram intake manifold and Offenhauser ribbed valve covers. An Impala SS convertible based on this same kit tooling followed four years later.

      Lest anyone think that the original 409 Chevy, the one installed in the 1961½ Impala SS, has been left off the list of newly developed model kits, Lindberg introduced a full detail 1961 Impala SS409 hardtop in 1997. An inaccurate windshield sweep/cowl assembly was quickly corrected. A Super Stock version followed a year later, and then a convertible version debuted in 1999. The Super Stock version substituted a cowl-induction air cleaner, tubular headers with exhaust dumps, open rims, and period Don Nicholson livery.

      Revell eventually joined the early 1960s Impala kit fray with a 2000 introduction of a 1964 Impala and a 2003 introduction of a 1963 Impala SS, both offering factory stock versions along with lowrider versions. Unlike AMT’s original 1963 annual kit’s 409 engine, this kit featured a 327 4-barrel V-8 (for those that were yet to be born back then, the 327 was a high-winding mill that racked up many street victories of its own in the early 1960s). Revell developed all-new tooling for a 1962 Impala (not SS) hardtop that debuted in 2010, with an Impala SS derivative following in 2011.

       The year 1993 brought the debut of a much-wanted 1962 Chevy Bel Air 409 “Bubbletop” kit from AMT-Ertl. A series of licensed drag racing properties quickly followed, all adding the late 1962 to early 1963 Z-11 engine parts. In 1997 and again in 2000, AMT-Ertl produced another spinoff of this tooling, this time a 1962 Impala SS convertible. The “Don Nicholson” Super Stock and the convertible kits are preferred for their redone, more accurate egg crate–style front grille texture engraving (all: Wave 3/*).

       Lindberg’s series of 1961 Impala SS409 kits were a much-welcomed development in the hobby, as the rejuvenated Lindberg brand under the auspices of George Toteff and Craft House Corporation was turning out some of best 1/25th-scale model kits back in the 1990s. Round 2, who now owns the Lindberg tooling, developed fresh box art and a set of optional American five-spoke mags for an AMT-branded hardtop that debuted in 2016 (all: Wave 3/*).

       Revell’s 1963 and 1964 Impala SS kits are full-detail models with slightly simplified assembly processes. Revell’s 1962 Impala hardtop and Impala SS kits are highly detailed models with dual-quad 409 engines; they’re slightly compromised by overly rigid wheelwell openings that don’t fully capture the subtle nuances of the original car’s design (all: Wave 4/*).

       Pontiac Catalina and Ventura

      From 1958 onward, Pontiac’s top range Bonneville series typically offered the make’s highest performance engine options available on order. Given the added length and weight of the Bonneville versus the shorter wheelbase Catalina and Ventura, not many of these luxury liners were ordered with street performance as the primary purchase criteria. Nevertheless, AMT produced annual kit replicas of the Bonneville from 1958 through 1964 (I cover the 1965 and later full-sized Pontiacs in Chapter 11).

       Counterclockwise from the upper left, annual kits of the Pontiac Bonneville from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1964 are shown. As engines were added to the annual kits in the early 1960s, they typically replicated the top-line 421 in 4-barrel, tri-power, or dual-quad form (all: Wave 1/**).

      During the last decade and a half, a new round of early 1960s big Pontiac kits have been introduced. Several of these replicate the shorter wheelbase Catalina and Ventura bodies, which, when equipped with the performance versions of the 389 or 421 engines, fall well within our pre–muscle car era operating definition.

      Taking these new kits in model year order, first is the Trumpeter 1/25th-scale 1960 Pontiac, first introduced to the hobby trade in 2003. This one sticks with the longer wheelbase Bonneville configuration, and it was produced in hardtop and convertible versions. This kit has Asian kit development origins, and it builds somewhat differently as a result. The engine accuracy is very compromised, but the rest of the kit is fully presentable. Early production runs of the hardtop kit included incorrect, dull plating of the chrome tree parts. Trumpeter and its New Jersey–based importer Stevens International supplied properly plated replacements upon request, so check to see that your kit purchase has the correct parts.

      In 2016, Moebius Models introduced a 1961 Pontiac Ventura hardtop kit, which is to be followed with a 1961 Catalina kit. Both these kits have excellent engines, chassis, interiors, and body castings, and Moebius’s full-color assembly manuals are the best in the business. Test fitting of the windshield to the body (prior to painting and assembly operations) is recommended.

       The modern kit era has brought us several all-new kits of early 1960s performance Pontiacs. Trumpeter’s 1960 Pontiac Bonneville is light on engine accuracy but otherwise a relatively serviceable kit (Wave 4/*). The Moebius 1961 Ventura (Wave 4/*) and AMT-Ertl 1962 Catalina 421 SD (Wave 3/*) kits are highly detailed, and both sit firmly atop any ranking of 1960s big Pontiac kit accuracy.

      In 1998, AMT-Ertl introduced an all-new tool of the 1962 Pontiac Catalina with a SuperDuty 421 engine under the hood. Round 2 reintroduced the kit in 2009 with fresh box art and a decal sheet featuring the Arnie Beswick Super Stock drag entry.

       Epilogue

      Virtually all of these family sedans with performance engines continued into the mid-1960s, with a few lasting all the way through the remaining decade. Clearly, the attention of muscle car buyers was quickly migrating to the intermediate-based supercars as typified by the GTO. Large muscle car volumes dropped abruptly after 1965, even as the manufacturers tried new, more focused large performance cars including the Catalina 2+2, Ford Seven Litre and GT, and so forth. This is a story unto itself, and thus, coverage of kits of large cars with muscle car engines continues in Chapter 11.

       Missing in Action

       Pre–supercar era cars yet to appear in a 1/24th-1/25th–scale kit

      • 1956–1958 Plymouth Fury

      • 1957–1958 Dodge Coronet Two-Door Sedan with D-500/Super D-500 Engines

      • 1958 Mercury Two-Door Sedan with 400-hp MEL Marauder V-8

      • 1959–1961 Chrysler 300 E, F, and G

      • 1963 Pontiac Catalina with 421 Super Duty Engine

       Pre–supercar era cars that need a new or modern kit offering

      • 1962 Dodge Dart and Plymouth Fury with Max Wedge V-8

      • 1962–1964 Chrysler 300 H, J, and K

      • 1962 Ford Galaxie 500 XL with 406 FE V-8

      • 1963 Dodge 330/440/Polara and Plymouth Fury/Sport Fury with 426 Max Wedge V-8

       Muscle Car Model Kits Scale Showroom

      The following models show how several of the kits mentioned earlier in this chapter look when assembled by experienced adult model car builders. (Photography and