Prices of original kits commonly drop from 25 to 50 percent overnight when a re-issue is released, branding reproductions as both blessing and curse, depending on which you own at the moment.
It obviously pays to know your kits and the market. And the education is a lot of fun!
From Drafting Table to Mom’s Kitchen Table
The following is a chronological listing of the most sought-after show rod kits, then and now. Despite a valiant effort to achieve accuracy, some details remain elusive, lost to time. With that caveat, let us proceed.
Revell # H-1213:129, 1956, 1/24 scale, Designed by Harley Earl/Paul Gillian, Re-issued 1995
General Motors awarded Revell the model kit contract and they delivered handily. This is an accurate 1/24-scale reproduction, with bonus features including the “Dick and Jane” figures smiling their way across the box lid through “clear plastic windscreens” as they admire the detailed dashboard. Note the Authentic Kit signage on this 1995 re-issue. Budd Anderson only worked on this one kit (as pattern maker), during his brief stint at Revell. He went on to become the face of modeling as “The Kat from AMT.” (Photo Courtesy Dave Shuten)
Zowie! Pontiac’s Styling Studio delivered a severe case of future shock with this aluminum-wrapped surprise package of forward thinking. But how can a corporate styling exercise qualify for show rod status? Just consider the influence Pontiac’s futuristic one-off had on aspiring designers such as Starbird, Barris, and Jeffries, to name only a few. Paul Gillian (working directly for GM design head Harley Earl himself) scrambled sports car, aircraft, and land speed racing inspiration into this nicely balanced result. The Club de Mer prototype (running Pontiac’s standard 1955 287-inch V-8, connected to a transaxle) was revealed at Miami in 1956, alongside a 1/4-scale display model. GM destroyed the prototype in 1958, but Joseph Bortz of Highland Park, Illinois, nabbed the model. It ultimately sold to car collector Ron Pratt at a 2007 Barrett Jackson auction for $75,000. A rare moment of acknowledgment for an unsung hero.
Revell # H-1210:129, 1956, 1/24 scale, Designed by Bill Schmidt/John Ferzely, Re-issued 1997
Another OEM concept car that did pretty well. Hobbyists who risked a buck on a Futura kit in 1956 were generously rewarded a decade later, when Barris’ Batmobile remodel sold through the roof for Aurora, deeming Revell’s Futura an instant collector’s item. Who’da thunk it? Mom and Dad told us these models would never amount to anything. Surviving Futuras are considered to be molded from unobtainium today. (Photo Courtesy Dave Shuten)
Ford Motor Company encouraged Lincoln’s design team to run wild, then sent Bill Schmidt and John Ferzely’s sketches to Turin, Italy, where the Ghia workshop handcrafted Futura for $250,000 in 1955 dollars. Revell was still savoring its love affair with Detroit brass and snagged another juicy contract to scale down Futura. Unveiled to raves at Chicago’s Congress Plaza Hotel, Futura hit the show circuit, appeared in a movie (It Started with a Kiss), and was promptly sold to George Barris for the sum of one dollar. It sank into the ground beside Barris’ shop for 10 years before he remodeled it as Batmobile in 1966. Aurora got the Batmobile contract and outsold Revell’s Futura kit by a bunch. Regardless, Futura is still considered a grandfather figure in show rodding, while the resultant Batmobile is seen as more of a novel symbol of the breed. Public perception often clashes with niche culture values.
Futura’s debut at the 1955 Chicago Auto Show was a sensation akin to an alien invasion, but wrapped in U.S. steel. Lincoln Styling Department manager Bill Schmidt must have been beside himself with glee. Schmidt shared this glorious moment with Futura design and engineering team members John Najjar, Martin Regitko, Roy Brown, Ken Spencer, Stan Thorwaldsen, and Ron Perry. (Photo Courtesy Scotty Gosson Collection)
AMT # 160, 1961, 1/20 scale, Designed by George Walker
AMT inked a rare 1/20-scale model kit deal while the Leva Car was still spinning around Ford’s mini-track, and the resulting mayhem matched that of the Rotunda presentation, albeit on a smaller scale. Ed Roth’s Rotar levitator and George Barris’ XPAC 400 hovercraft were not coincidental. But who inspired whom here? Apparently everyone inspired one another simultaneously, and the shockwaves are still reverberating. (Photo Courtesy Dave’s Show Rod Rally)
Professional football player George Walker designed Ford’s post–war era (1949) passenger cars and the first-gen (1955–1957) Thunderbirds, among others. His name went global with a series of wild concepts that led to Leva Car Mach I, sprung on the world in 1959 at the Ford Rotunda. The active display featured the futuristic pod spinning around a circular “test track” while tethered to a centrally located pole, at claimed speeds of “200 to 500 mph” as stunned crowds stood slack jawed at trackside. Ford’s insurance guidelines must have been a bit more casual back then. A “Turbojet” engine purportedly blew compressed air through the ventilated flooring to permit levitation. AMT’s kit included a mouthpiece and a straw, so scale builders could recreate the magic of levitation at home.
The actual Leva Car, on display at the Ford Motor Company campus in Dearborn, Michigan. How many aspiring designers do you suppose were inspired by the amazing concept pickup in the background? (Photo Courtesy Allen B. Ury)
Revell # H-1282:198, 1962, 1/25 scale, Designed by Ed Roth/Jim Keeler, Re-issued 1973 as Canned Heat
The first show rod model? Maybe. Revell’s first Roth-car gamble paid off handsomely. Released as a 3-in-1 kit, it shared box space with a 1956 F-100 and Mickey Thompson’s Challenger 1 (which required double the normal tooling costs).
Purportedly built with a one-year deadline and a budget of $800, Ed Roth’s Outlaw broke new ground in styling and materials (What the heck is fiberglass?). Eye-popping T-shirt advertisements and feature stories in Car Craft and Rod & Custom magazines primed the pump nicely for Outlaw’s success on the show circuit. Royel Glaser (wife and business partner of Revell founder Lew) took notice and immediately scheduled a meeting with Roth. Roth’s iconic nickname was born when Revell PR man Henry Blankfort insisted on adding “Big Daddy.” Sixteen-year-old Revell Research and Design guru Jim Keeler worked closely with Roth on this and later model scaling. The “A jewel show car” text on the box art (likely by Jack Lynwood or John Steele) proved to be prophetic when Revell re-issued
