Art & Inspiration HOW MANY CAUGHT THE OLD CAR BUG FROM AMT?

Revell for me... They had crankshafts and lots of details But DAMN...that Orange Crate is PIA

 

AMT's 57 Ford Galaxy 500 was my first model car back in '62....followed by Monograms Black Widow...but Monograms Little T in '64 was the first build I can remember being proud of. I found a few original Little T glue bombs on EBay and recently put together a decent rendition.

 

You aint kiddin!...I have acquired a few original releases in various conditions....as well as the newer versions....have yet to summon the necessary patience and skill level to complete one.

 

My first real paycheck came from AMT when I was 15 in 1966. My best friends sister worked in the office and got 4 of us part time jobs sweeping floors on the weekends. I was in heaven there since I had got hooked on building model cars in the late 50's

"Hey did ya used to build model cars?.........The glue done got to ya!"

 

Yes

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I was addicted to 1 to 1 cars at a very early age, so my parents bought me a few models so I wouldn't keep bothering my dad to take me to the neighbors race car garage with him. I was probably building models by age 6 or 7. By the time I was 8-9, I was buying my own models, and also getting them at every birthday and Christmas gift.

When I was 12, I sold off all my model car collection to the neighbor kid because I got into building the 1/25 scale semis & big trucks, and they were expensive at the time. I was also building car models as well, but most were dirt track cars, or ones that could be converted to dirt track cars.

When I was 15, I sold off most of those too, the space I was allowed to keep my models in was pretty limited, and the trucks took up a lot of space.

The model car building slowed down a lot after I got my license and was working on the real thing. When I goty married at 19, I had a collection of about 20 cars & trucks. We put up some shelves in our dining room so I could display some of them.

After my 2 kids arrived, and a couple of moves, the models were put into boxes in the basement.

When my son was about 8, the Dukes of Hazard was popular, I didn't know my son found my model collection and was playing "Dukes of Hazard" with my models. A lot of them got broken.

About 10 years ago I was invited to a model car club sale, I didn't know such things existed. The 2nd time I wend, I took a bunch of my old broken models and sold a bunch of them.

Those club events sort of got me interested in models again, I've collected and built, or started to build a few plastic models since then, but the real cars take up too much of my time.

After all thee years of building real cars, and all the other abuse my hands have taken providing a living, my hands don't work as good as they used to. Building models is difficult and sometimes painful, the models just don't come out as good as they used to. Having no place to display them when finished has taken away a lot of the joy in building them as well. To make the effort to build them, then just put the finished produce back in a box in the basement just isn't much fun. Gene

 

I maybe went about it backwards; discovered Hot Rod magazine in '61, then found the AMT trophy series, built a bunch of deuces and '40s, and then got started with real cars and lost touch with models. My kid was nuts for models until he started making real hot rods too; but he was smart enough to keep his built models.

 

Oh Yeas this brings back good/bad memories. Loved to build them but like others have said building was ok until I got to the glass and decal applications and it seldom come out perfect.

My favorite was the LARGE scale T- Bucket don't remember the size but it was three times the size of the 1/25 ones.

And I also learned the lesson of having to work and save to get them.

 

"My favorite was the LARGE scale T- Bucket don't remember the size but it was three times the size of the 1/25 ones."
The Big T was 1/8 scale.

 

The "Red Baron"! It was a Monogram kit if I remember right. It was the first kit I ever built, at a little table on the front of my Dad's Texaco station!

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My first was a 1/25th 55 buick. Was already put together. Bought it at the local grocery store. I still have a N.I.B. 61 ranchero and 62 [3 in one!] 'vette. My 34 ford coupe is a "slammer" just to see what my coupe would look like with fenders.

 

I was born with the addiction; AMT fed it quite well. Been building since '67; it took a back seat during early-mid adulthood while messing with real cars, but now I'm back into it and so grateful my skills are improving while I'm still capable of doing small detail work.
A couple of my latest completed models: the '64 Cadillac from the chase scene in the movie Cooley High:


'58 Nomad wagon promo; I did a lot of little mods to minimize the effects of the warpage/shrinkage of the old acetate plastic, and added the chrome trim with Bare-Metal foil:




And a current project: '58 Fairlane 500 loosely inspired by this one:


(By the way, is the Sunday Models thread still active?)

 

Me Me Me...AMT's, Hot Rod mags, slot cars, wheelies on my 20" bike, a go-cart. Than things get fuzzy after that. If I could...I would go back and do it over again!!!

 

You can!!!.... Only now days, it's a little bit more expensive....

 

Yep !

 

Same experiences here with the usual suspects - AMT, MPC, Johan, Revell, etc. Got me into the full size enthusiasm as well. This was a favorite kit that I bought more than once. It also sparked my life-long curiosity about the Latham axial flow supercharger.



Many years down the road, I've acquired a real Latham to adapt to a Buick 322 nailhead as the next engine for my '37 Chevy pick-em-up.

 

I always thought Revell/Monogram were the better kits. With that being said my model car collection rivaled Jay Leno's car collection, and it wasn't always about making it look like the box pic; a lot of it was using all the extra parts and pieces to build something kind of crazy.

 

Was that the place around 14 Mile and Stephenson? If so, it was on the property that was once the farm that my grandfather grew up on. I went on a school field trip there in 1969.

 

I'm 61, born in 57, so I missed out on the original AMT 58 kits. But got into it pretty heavily just a few years later. I drifted away in my later teens, then came back in my late-20's. I was fortunate to get to know Larry Alexander. The A Brothers designed a lot of the custom parts for AMT. What an honor to know someone that heavily influenced me!

 

WARNING slightly OT !
I was down at the Hot Rod reunion at FAMOSO a couple of years back, I was privileged to attend the " piss up " over at Squeek Bells compound in Bakersfield. There was the sound of something uncorked coming down the alley, and the source of that wonderful sound was the real Orange Crate that just rolled up ! I built that model as a kid, true PIA, but I had never seen the car in person till that evening, what an incredible surprise!

 

Yup! Just like other friends here on HAMB, started my hobby and still have several that I built as a kid. I had collected nearly 200 kits as a adult thinking that when I retire..... now that I'm in that age bracket, I realize I can't see well enough. I've sold about 100 of the kits I had and kept the other half thinking maybe just maybe some day... sorry no pics.

 

I started with Monograms kits when I was around 6, did some Pyro 1/32 scale cars too, of course those terrible ones the drug stores sold.. Palmers! Local hobby store had hundreds of "old" AMT kits for 99¢ and I bought many of them. Mow a couple of lawns, get a couple of kits. I'm still building, mostly contest level cars.

 

I didn't catch it from AMT or Revell but they both helped scratch the itch when I was a kid. HRP

BTW, this is my bi line ~ Growing up in the rural south I was drawn to HOT ROD's at a young age,like a moth to a flame,first with the printed word and plastic models,then later the real things.
I eat,sleep and dream about ol' cars,,,and spend way too much time here!

 

Thanx! That's the one I couldn't remember. I had their Ford GT, Mustang II, Cougar II and '48 Ford Convertible kits. I was overwhelmed by the detail in those kits.

 

I too was there, it was freakin bitchin!

 

When I was a kid Downtown Long Branch NJ was the place
to be on a Friday night for the movies and
shopping with a variety of stores,
people and traffic congested streets.
So I think it was in 1959 I had just picked up a copy
of Car Craft magazine that had a full page AMT ad on the back
cover if I remember correctly.....easy build, skirts,spotlights,lakes
pipes,continental kit lowering blocks....build it the way you like it and boy did
I love customs.
Typical Friday night after seeing some friends and
browsing through a few stores I took a stroll through the Woolworth
5 and 10 and then the JJ Newberrys (building is still there but now
a Family Dollar store) and then I saw them.....AMT models.....in my
city just like on the back of Car Craft magazine.
As usual I did not bring a lot of money with me so I ran
back home to get enough change to make up the difference and
by the time I ran back downtown the store had closed!
First thing Saturday morning I was there when the store
opened and bought and built the '59 Ford kit with my younger
brother Mike.....the first of how many kits I could not tell you.
Candy Apple rattle can spray paint,primer spray paint,the unforgettable smell of the glue....my brother getting a headache
staying up late on a school night trying to put together a
gold T like the one shown by LAROKE....the baby blue 32 coupe,
my brother Georges candy purple '59 T-Bird,the black prime '49 Ford coupe,so many kits,so many memories

I guess like a lot of you we went through model cars,
Lionel trains,boats,airplanes,go karts and mini bikes and am
lucky enough to be in my 70's and still involved in the sport
with many of my long time friends and my nephew Benito.
Lee

 

Those look great!
I never had the patience to build nice models as a kid.
Now I don't have the eyesight.

 

I, as I am sure the rest of us would enjoy seeing your collection wether built or not

 

YES! AMT was my favorite brand, still have most of my finished and still in the box models. I'll be back with some photos. Bob

 

Got back into model building last year after building a few 1:1 hot rods. A great winter hobby. AMT is my favorite also. All those shown are recent builds except for the twin engine Corvette and the T Bucket on the bottom are 60's builds. The lakester is scratch built from wood and my spare parts bin.