Collecting Muscle Car Model Kits. Tim Boyd

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       A Brief History of Model Car Kitmaker Lineage

      Throughout this book you’ll find references to AMT, AMT-Ertl, Monogram, Revell, Revell-Monogram, and so forth. What’s up with all this?

      If you were a model car builder in the 1960s or 1970s, you probably remember the names AMT, Revell, Monogram, Aurora, and later on, MPC. You probably also heard of Lindberg, but quickly learned that many of its kits didn’t live up to your expectations. Today, one company, Round 2, owns the brand names AMT, MPC, and Lindberg. Hobbico owns the Revell and Monogram brand names; they are used interchangeably by a single organization producing kits under both names.

      So how did we get from there to here? What follows is a brief historical recap of each major model maker’s corporate evolution from the 1960s to today.

       AMT

      At one time the largest kitmaker in the world, AMT began as Aluminum Model Toys after World War II, soon shortening its name to AMT. A big break came in 1958, with its introduction of one-piece bodies formed of styrene and its merchandising of the resulting unassembled promotionals as 3-in-1 model car kits. AMT thrived into the mid-1960s, but as the decade progressed its focus on the model kit business was diffused by unsuccessful forays into the AMT Model Car Turnpike, Dynamic Slot Cars, and a spinoff Speed and Custom division based in Phoenix, Arizona, with the goal to develop and market accessories for real cars. AMT also developed a prototype of a Corvair-based real car called the Piranha; it was to be built of the same Cyclolac material used for AMT’s promotionals. (AMT even became a supplier to the automotive industry with several contracts to manufacture parts such as taillamp lenses and side reflector lamps.) Meanwhile, AMT’s core business of 1/25th-scale promotionals and model car kits started losing key promotional and kit contracts to now-competitor MPC.

      As a result, AMT faced some financial difficulties in the late 1960s, but recovered in the early 1970s, credited partly to a best-selling lineup of 1/25th-scale semi-truck kits and the business-focused recovery actions of a new company president, Tom Gannon. It again ran into trouble in the late 1970s, with unresolved issues with its unionized labor force and the truck kits having run their course of popularity. AMT eventually closed its Troy, Michigan, headquarters and factory; it consolidated at a second facility in Baltimore, Maryland. It was then acquired by the British toymaker Lesney, the famous maker of Matchbox toys. After further difficulties, the Ertl Company, a very successful maker of 1/16th-scale die-cast farm toys and replicas, purchased the entire AMT tool bank and brand assets. The company was renamed AMT-Ertl.

       Revell

      Also started in the 1940s, Revell was based in Venice, California. It produced a broad range of model kits of all types, with cars being a portion of, but not the primary source of, its sales volume. Revell is credited with producing the first accurate model car kits, including the Highway Pioneers series starting in 1951. Revell’s 1955 kit lineup introduced several 1/32nd-scale car assembly kits in boxes co-branded with AMT. Starting in 1957, it produced several 1/25th-scale car kits with multi-piece bodies. It became AMT’s main competitor in the 1/25th-scale car kit marketplace in the early 1960s, while continuing a broad range of other non-automotive kit topics including airplanes, boats, and spacecraft. Revell was acquired by a French kit company in the early 1980s, and then sold to Odyssey Partners in 1986 to be joined with the Monogram lineup.

       Monogram

      Yet another toy and kitmaker with origins in the post–World War II 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 СКАЧАТЬ