Collecting Muscle Car Model Kits. Tim Boyd
U.S. business environment, produced a wide range of hobby kits, and later expanded into the 1/24th- (not 1/25th) and 1/8th-scale car kit business in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Its late 1960s acquisition by Mattel resulted in a broad lineup of show-car kits, often developed in association with designer Tom Daniel. Following its successful recruitment of AMT’s then-president Tom Gannon, Monogram returned to a focus on realistic car replica assembly kits. Monogram was eventually joined with Revell in 1986 as part of the Odyssey Partners acquisition event.
JoHan
Some sources suggest that JoHan models was a side business owned by John Haenle, who reportedly ran a tool and die business aligned with the automotive manufacturing environment in Detroit. JoHan was primarily a producer of 1/25th-scale promotionals that expanded into the model kit business in 1959. JoHan’s models were renowned for crisp detail, superb body proportions, and overall accuracy. As the model kit business fundamentally changed in the early 1970s, JoHan’s new offerings were scaled back, with the last new kit being a promo-type 1979 Cadillac DeVille. Several others later attempted to revive the JoHan lineup but ultimately failed. It is presumed that most of its model tooling is permanently lost or scrapped.
IMC
Industro-Motive Corporation, or IMC, was an automotive supplier that expanded into the model kit business around 1964. It hired away AMT’s spokesperson and model car guru Budd “the Kat” Anderson, who proceeded to design a series of kits targeted at the advanced model car builder. Heavily weighted to Ford products, concepts, and race cars, these kits contained many operating features and advanced ideas, but also had a reputation for being difficult to assemble. The last new tooling from IMC was around 1970. Some of its kits were later reissued under the Testors and Union (Japanese) brands, and a few resurfaced in the 1990s under the Lindberg trade name.
Aurora
For much of the 1960s and early 1970s, Aurora was the largest kitmaker in the world. Its kits were focused primarily on subjects other than automotive. Aurora almost acquired AMT in the summer of 1964; the pending deal was reportedly squelched by the intervention of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Nabisco later acquired the company, but a period of mid-1970s difficulties resulted in Nabisco dissolving the company. Monogram acquired most of its automotive kit tools.
MPC
In 1963, George Toteff (the AMT vice president credited with creating the three-piece sliding mold technology that enabled one-piece model car bodies) departed that company along with one of his key lieutenants. They set up Model Products Corporation (later MPC) in Detroit’s northeast suburbs. By 1968, MPC had grabbed many of the most desirable promotional and kit topics, and many hobbyists considered it the hottest kitmaker. General Mills purchased MPC in 1971 and it remained a very competitive kit producer until eventually being sold to AMT-Ertl in 1986.
Lindberg
This northeastern U.S. kitmaker offered a wide range of toy kits, including some 1/25th- and 1/32nd-scale car assembly kits. Serious car modelers largely dismissed Lindberg because its kits were not at the level of the best domestic competition. The Lindberg name resurfaced in the early 1990s when MPC’s former president, George Toteff, led the development of a new series of 1/20th-, and then later, 1/25th-scale car kits. These newest kits were fully competitive with the best of the competition and earned new respect for the Lindberg brand. Round 2 recently acquired Lindberg.
Ertl
A well-known maker of die-cast farm toys and replicas, Ertl entered the hobby market in 1973 with a series of well-conceived 1/25th-scale semi-truck, farm tractor, and construction equipment kits that reflected a good deal of fresh thinking. It eventually produced more than 40 different kits before purchasing the assets of AMT from Lesney-Matchbox in 1982.
AMT-Ertl
Created when Ertl acquired the AMT lineup, AMT-Ertl became one of the top two car kitmakers in the late 1980s and continued in that role for at least the next decade. In 1998, Racing Champions, a highly successful producer of licensed die-cast racing replicas, purchased AMT-Ertl. In an ill-advised move, the new owner began dismissing the AMT-Ertl kit development staff, completing a layoff of all remaining staff in May 2000. In January 2007, then-owner RC2 announced plans to discontinue the entire AMT-Ertl kit lineup. Shortly thereafter, Round 2 acquired the rights to produce AMT-Ertl kits in 2008, and later completed a purchase of all AMT-Ertl brand and tool assets in December 2011.
Revell-Monogram
In 1986, Odyssey Partners acquired the Monogram and Revell product lines and brands. While production was consolidated at Monogram’s Morton Grove, Illinois, plant, product development and sales staffs remained separated at first. After a number of ownership changes, including a period of ownership by Binney & Smith, the maker of Crayola products, hobby conglomerate Hobbico purchased Revell-Monogram in 2007.
Galaxie Limited
Best known as the former editor and owner of Scale Auto Enthusiast magazine (and also a muscle car collector of note), Gary Schmidt formed the model car kit company Galaxie Limited. It has produced a limited portfolio of superb 1/25th-scale model cars and fifth-wheel/tow-behind trailer kits. Although none of these kits are muscle cars, there is the hope that its kit range might expand in that direction in the future.
Polar Lights
Starting in 1995, a new company headed by Tom Lowe produced a series of toy kits that largely replicated the Aurora kit range of the 1950s and 1960s. It then produced several all-new 1/25th-scale car kits. Racing Champions, and then Round 2 eventually acquired Polar Lights.
Round 2
Tom Lowe resurfaced as the owner of a new company, Round 2, which acquired the production rights, and soon thereafter the full ownership of all tooling for the AMT, AMT-Ertl, MPC, Lindberg, and Polar Lights product ranges. Round 2 has implemented an aggressive reissue program, including often-spectacular box art and the recreation of almost-original issue versions of numerous kit topics.
Moebius Models
Another new kitmaker has surfaced within the last decade; its product lineup includes new 1/25th-scale car kits of topics that have never been produced before in that scale. Owner Frank Winspur has directed a kit lineup including a series of 1950s Hudson Hornet kits that set numerous new standards for car kits.
Model King
This concern primarily markets limited-edition short production runs from tooling owned by other kitmakers. It has recently developed a close relationship with Moebius Models, introducing exclusive kit derivatives from its tooling that feature famous racing topics.
All the Others
Other companies producing 1/24th- and 1/25th-scale styrene model kits of this era include such makers as Hubley, ITC, Palmer/PSM, PMC, and Pyro. Generally, their products are either of marginal quality or they produced fine kits but only of a few specific subjects. Most collectors view these makers as footnotes rather than main participants in the model car kit business.
Round 2 currently owns and produces kits under the AMT, MPC, Lindberg, Ertl, and Polar Lights brands. Recently, Round 2 has reboxed a number of modern-era kits that were engineered by AMT-Ertl during the late 1980s to early 2000s, using newly created box art (shown here) that is reminiscent of AMT’s original 1960s to early 1970s annual kits.
CHAPTER
2
THE FOUR WAVES OF MODEL CAR KIT EVOLUTION AND THE ENVY FACTOR
You don’t have to be a kit expert to make sense of what is to come here, but it will definitely help if I at least define a few basics. There are a number of terms that have developed during the roughly six decades of the modern kit era that I’ll use throughout this