Collecting Muscle Car Model Kits. Tim Boyd

on some of the AMT boxes.

       Until AMT began producing model kits using its multi-piece sliding tool molds, most model kits were made up of separately molded front, rear, top, and side pieces that retained easily visible seams even if assembled with exceptional care. Here a Revell multi-piece Corvette body is compared to the AMT one-piece Corvette body. While far more expensive to engineer, these new kits with one-piece bodies fueled the exploding popularity of model car kits starting in the late 1950s.

       The 3-in-1 Customizing Kit

      Beyond the pure appeal of being able to build a very accurate replica of your favorite showroom spectacular, AMT’s new 1958 model kits included another feature that would become tremendously important to the growth of the model car kit hobby. Each kit offered three different ways to be built by the hobbyist. In addition to the showroom stock version, parts were included for a mild custom and a race car version. (Note: SMP actually pioneered the 3-in-1 idea one year earlier in 1957, with kits of the current year Chevy Bel Air and Pontiac Star Chief, but these were packaged as bagged kits and sold in much smaller quantities than the AMT 1958 kits.)

      At first, these additional 3-in-1 parts were very generic and limited in scope. But by the mid-1960s, each model 3-in-1 model car kit now included highly developed and application-specific custom and race versions, often replicas of the latest brand name parts from the rapidly developing hot rod, custom, and racing parts business. AMT’s 3-in-1 versions were frequently credited to the leading builders of the custom car movement, including George Barris, Bill Cushenberry, the Alexander Brothers, Gene Winfield, and Dean Jeffries.

      This 3-in-1 feature engaged the model-building public, allowing each hobbyist to become his or her own “car designer.” Model car kit coverage became very prominent in national magazines including Rod and Custom and Car Craft, and soon several magazines dedicated solely to the model car hobby debuted. Contests recognizing the builders who crafted miniature masterpieces from these 3-in-1 kits became commonplace, eventually reaching a series of national competitions that at their height awarded real cars to the national champions!

       Opening Hoods with Engines

      Starting in 1957, Revell’s very limited series of 1/25th-scale kits with multi-piece bodies had also included opening hoods with rudimentary representations of engines.

      For its 1960 lineup of annual kits, AMT revisited the idea by adding opening hoods combined with its one-piece bodies, placing replica engines underneath. First announced in three kits (the Buick Invicta, Thunderbird, and Corvette convertibles), by 1961 engines and opening hoods were added to a number of its annual kits, including all nine of AMT’s convertible kits, and its Chevy and Ford pickup kits.

      For 1962, every single AMT annual kit except for one (the Valiant) included parts for engines. (It should be noted that in some cases, primarily the slower selling compact car kits, the engines were to be displayed separately alongside the model, rather than under the hood as with most kits.) Engines quickly became the base expectation for purchasers of 1/25th-scale kits from that point forward.

       This AMT sell sheet from 1962 was targeted at hobby shop owners and model kit distributors, and explains the consumer appeal of the 3-in-1 format of its 1962 annual kits’ lineup. Typical 3-in-1 kits featured parts to build models in showroom stock, competition, and custom versions. Note the paragraph at the lower right, which reads “All builders of AMT 3-in-1 customizing kits are assured the latest ideas and innovations in the field of customizing by Car Craft magazine and George Barris (King of the Kustomizers), Consultants to AMT.”

       These AMT 1960 and 1961 convertible annual kit sell-sheets convey the added appeal of scale engines. The 1960 catalog (left) calls out its three “1960 Special Edition convertibles … with engine and operating hood.” The 1961 catalog (right) states, “Now – Each [convertible] kit contains a completely authentic and detailed engine just waiting to be customized to fit the car the way you want to build it.”

       AMT’s Trophy Series and Revell’s Speed and Show Kits

      In late 1959, AMT took an additional step with a new 1/25th-scale model kit lineup that proved the appeal of model car kits stretched well beyond Detroit’s current model year lineup. AMT’s 1932 Ford Roadster 3-in-1 Trophy Series kit became a monstrous hit. AMT is reported to have sold 5 million copies of this kit in just its first five years on the market. Starting the following year in 1960, AMT rapidly expanded its Trophy Series kit lineup through the next eight years. Beyond the appeal of the varied kit subjects, these kits featured a greater level of detail throughout than the annual kits, typically including detailed chassis with separately molded suspensions, expanded engine compartment detail, and multi-piece interior assemblies.

      Following AMT’s lead, Revell debuted its Speed and Show kits starting in late 1962, expanding the level of detail even further to include operating doors and trunks and complex chassis/suspension designs. Revell also quickly grew its kit lineup, with models of Tri-Five Chevys and Ed Roth’s latest creations being among its best sellers. With its more popular kit topics and much greater detail, Revell’s Speed and Show kits enjoyed far better success than its ill-fated 1962 annual kit lineup. Monogram’s newest car kits were also full-featured in the same manner as those of AMT and Revell.

       AMT’s new Trophy Series kits were more detailed than its typical annual kits. Shown are three of its most successful early Trophy Series offerings: a 1932 Ford Roadster, a 1940 Ford coupe, and a double kit of a 1929 Model A Roadster and the famous Barris Ala-Kart. Revell’s speed and show kits were also very popular; pictured here are its 1956 Ford Pickup, Mickey Thompson’s Challenger 1, and Ed Roth’s Tweedy Pie. The overwhelming success of these kits prompted a higher level of detail to be added into the annual kit lineups from America’s kitmakers.

      Given the marketplace response to these new AMT and Revell kit categories, their greater level of detail and complexity soon migrated to the yearly kits replicating Detroit’s latest showroom offerings. The result? By the mid-1960s, certain annual kits like AMT’s 1965 Ford Galaxie 500 XL and 1967–1968 Mustang GT included intricate detailing that matched the best of AMT’s Trophy Series lineup.

       Box Art That Emphasized Fun and Provoked the Imagination

      At first, AMT and JoHan’s 1/25th-scale kits were merchandized in generic boxes with no more personalization than the subject of the kit contents ink-stamped in a small white rectangle at the lower end of the end panels. However, with the growth of the hobby kit business and the competition created by multiple kitmakers, box art soon grew more specific to each kit’s contents. By the mid-1960s, the annual kit lineups from AMT and MPC were sold in boxes that featured the very best in contemporary commercial art.

       Drag racing a C2 Stingray, or being the first to own a miniature of the all-new 1968 Corvette; towing your A/FX-style 1965 Fairlane match racer to the strip or admiring your just-completed SOHC 427 Mustang racer. What hobby shop customer wouldn’t be enticed by the high-quality commercial art seen on these mid- to late 1960s annual kit boxes?

      Not only were these illustrations finely rendered commercial art in the best tradition of the full-sized carmakers’ advertising agencies, these illustrations spoke clearly to the target audience. The illustrations sparked the imagination of modelers and were key to the continued success and growth of the model car hobby kit industry. (This is in part why I will place such an emphasis on showing these box tops throughout this book.)

       Why Should Muscle Car Owners, Collectors, and Fans Care about Model Car Kits?

      Great