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Curious

 
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sentsat71



Joined: 03 Feb 2018
Posts: 1237
Location: Fenton, IA

PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 6:52 am    Post subject: Curious Reply with quote

Have always wondered why the Willys' kits were never offered as a 3n1 or even 2n1 kits instead of just the drag versions....?
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OldTrucker



Joined: 28 Jan 2018
Posts: 132

PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 10:01 am    Post subject: Re: Curious Reply with quote

sentsat71 wrote:
Have always wondered why the Willys' kits were never offered as a 3n1 or even 2n1 kits instead of just the drag versions....?


While there has been "street machines" versions I don't believe that there has ever been a "stock" version produced.
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Bluesman Mark



Joined: 01 Mar 2018
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 16, 2018 1:46 pm    Post subject: Re: Curious Reply with quote

sentsat71 wrote:
Have always wondered why the Willys' kits were never offered as a 3n1 or even 2n1 kits instead of just the drag versions....?


Which one, the original Revell Stone, Woods, Cook Willys 41 Willys Gasser kit from 1963, the generic AMT "1940", (technically a 1941 also, as the grille is a 41 grille, not a 40) circa 1965, the AMT Ohio George 33 Willys Gasser from 66/67, (& the subsequent 33 WIllys panel truck version sharing much of the same tooling), or the Revell new tool 41 Willys from 2001?

The answers are myriad, but all boil down to ROI, (return on investment).

Ass all of these kits were designed & tooled up to be as authentic a drag car as possible, making them a 2/1 or 3/1 kit like the old annuals would have required too much compromise for any version to be remotely accurate, (& yes, I know Revell has made a street machine variant of their 2001 tooling, I'll get to that). With the annual kits of new cars, they could fudge some of the details to make a kit that could build a decent stock version, while providing a "good enough" race car or custom. There's so much difference between a stock Willys & the gasser version that you're looking at two almost completely different kits. Larry Davis' great book "Gasser Wars: Drag Racing's Street Classes, 1955-1968" has a whole part of a chapter about one drag racer that acquired a 37 Willy coupe, (same as the 40/41, other than a few minor styling differences), & the amount of work & changes that had to be made to turn it into a successful Gasser, with pictures.

Granted AMT & Revell offered two car kits, (in fact the original issue AMT "1940" Willys was part of a two car kit, with a custom rod version of a 32 Ford sedan in the same box), but, either it was usually a more iconic/famous stock version, such as AMT 1925 Model T & the Ala-Kart/1929 Model A roadster, or the reboxing of some of Revell's Parts Packs into two car drag racing kits. The later was as much to use up thetooling from the rapidly fading parts packs to spread out the costs & perhaps see a profit.

Those Willys gained 99.9% of their cachet from the Gasser versions, as until the drag racers discovered their light weight, they had no following. Because of that, & the era they were tooled up in, neither Revell nor AMT saw enough financial incentive to invest in the amount of extra tooling that would be needed.

The Ohio George 33 Willys was an even less likely candidate for multiple versions, due to AMT choosing to do the version after he chopped the top on it. In the case of it, it was more logical for AMT to tool up a panel truck body & parts & make a generic Gasser that way, as some did run the 33 Willys panel truck in the gasser classes.

The only kit that I can recall from that era with multiple building versions that included a decent Gasser option was the AMT 37 Chevy coupe, (& a later cabriolet version), that they released in 1968. What compromises it had were minor & couldn't easily be seen. However, a certain amount of modification of the kit is required to build the Gasser version. It's well laid out in the instructions, & while it's not that hard to do, it is also easy to screw up. Some other AMT Trophy kits did offer some generic parts for a Gasser version, but not enough to keep the
Dasser versions from being very compromised.

The 2001 Revell new tool 41 Willys kits do have some compromises in tooling for the street machine version, such as an exhaust layout that you'd likely never see on a 1/1 street machine, & a nicely engraved front end that sadly, (along with the tire combo), fails to get the front end down like it needs to be. Even those kits are more accurate in their Gasser versions, (other than the fact that Revell included the same 1st Gen Hemi in all of them, & the K&S car ran a big block Chevy engine!). Now, Revell could put all those parts in the same box, but they've gotten infamous for releasing kits lacking certain desired parts, (the missing uptop in the 72 Hurst Olds convertible), only to release a variant later on including that part, (their 72 442 convertible having said uptop). They do this to sell more kits.

In today's shrunken market, no kit manufacturer is going to risk the investment for a stock version of any of those Willys. There's not a chance of selling enough to pay for the tooling.
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sentsat71



Joined: 03 Feb 2018
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Location: Fenton, IA

PostPosted: Sat Mar 17, 2018 9:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the info, Bluesman Mark....

Wasn't so much looking at today's model kit "climate" as more back in the 1960' - 1970's when the AMT(?) '33(?) Willys was issued.
In way I was too used to the AMT 3n1 kits mostly from the 1960's and to a point the early 1970's...
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Henryjint



Joined: 28 Jan 2018
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Location: NY State's Hudson Valley

PostPosted: Sat Mar 17, 2018 2:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The only 1:1 stock Willys (other than trucks) I've seen was my elderly neighbor's sedan. Looked line a 1937 from what I remember.
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BVAUGHN



Joined: 29 Jan 2018
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 19, 2018 11:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had the AMT kit with the Willys & 32 Ford. One of my favorite model kit I built back in the day
Bill
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sentsat71



Joined: 03 Feb 2018
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Location: Fenton, IA

PostPosted: Tue Mar 20, 2018 7:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Something else came to mind....
How did we know that the AMT '32 Ford coupes had sectioned bodies back in the 1960's when they first came out and later reissued in the latter half of the '60's? There was nothing to compare those kits with.....

You know what, I still don't care that those AMT '32 Ford coupes have "sectioned" bodies!
I just like that every now and then, they get reissued.....and it's about time they get reissued again....The last re-issue was through DTR (Dirt Track Racing) some with box art with racing decals, called 4in1, but to build the car similar to the box art requires some scratch building, and IIRC those instructions were included, IIRC DTR had the kit issued with near the original box art (the custom hood & cycle fenders not shown, but the kits are the same AMT kits from the last reissue thru AMT/ERTL(?) Just wish they could reissue them with the missing parts from the 1st two releases in the '60's, the custom hood and the cycle fenders....

While the Revell kits of the '32 Fords, these cannot be built stock. Too bad they couldn't reissue a true stock build of these to go along with the custom versions...
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