Unswitchable” Pontiac GTO, Roger Lindamood’s “Color Me Gone” Dodge Charger, and Ed Schartman’s Cougar. The first three included Dick Jesse’s “Mr. Though AMT had the Ford promotional model contract, an MPC 1966 Mustang fastback kit appeared nevertheless, including a custom version by Budd Anderson.ġ967 was a busy year for the company as they got in on the drag racing kit action, introducing 1/25 scale funny car kits. It could be built as a ’56 or a ’57, in no fewer than seven different versions. Also in ’66, MPC offered the first all-new non-current Corvette kit. Collectors now lament some of the changes because they tended to be irreversible. Each model was changed in one way or another, as MPC wasn’t about to issue the exact same products as AMT had sold. Having severed the AMT connection around this time, MPC reissued some of its initial kit offerings under its own banner. MPC grew quickly and during 1966, took the contract for producing Pontiac promo models from AMT. They had several excellent offerings, but were no more successful than the rest and would soon give up on the category. Like most other model manufacturers, MPC too took a stab at the slot car business. MPC would become particularly aggressive in securing promotional model business in the following years, whittling away at AMT’s leadership in this area. The latter sported Jeffries-designed custom versions. AMT offered the Coronet hardtop in kit form, while MPC kept the two big Dodges for itself. The Coronet hardtop and convertible, Custom 880 convertible, and Monaco hardtop were produced for Dodge dealers. It was with Dodge, breaking a several-year connection with a competitor, Jo-Han. The 1965 model year also brought MPC’s first foray into the promotional model business. Customizer Dean Jeffries and the former “Kat from AMT”, Howard “Budd” Anderson, signed on as consultants. Other manufacturers were producing classic car kits, but the Gangbusters series added something new and original: windows and radiators with “bullet-holes,” liquor bottles and cases, safes, armed gangster and police figures, and even a vintage motorcycle. The series included a 1932 Chevrolet, the first widely available prewar Chevrolet model kit in 1/25 scale. These prohibition-era cars came with a twist, that being optional police and bootlegger accessories. Other early kits included the MPC Gangbusters series, introduced in 1965. MPC also tried figure kits right off the top: HOT ROD magazine’s Stroker McGurk cartoon character and the infamous Hot Curl, a long-haired, pot-bellied surfer caricature were both rendered in styrene. It proved to be a worthy choice with which to establish the new company in its own right. But MPC felt the ‘Vette was so popular that another kit in the marketplace wouldn’t hurt. AMT, having a lock on the Chevrolet promotional model business at the time, already had Corvette kits. MPC’s first kit was a 1/25 scale 1964 Chevy Corvette coupe. Several of the first MPC kits were actually sold in AMT packaging, taking advantage of access to AMT’s superior distribution network and established brand name. Despite the mass exodus of talent from AMT, the two companies remained on friendly terms initially. Toteff leads the enterprise, with Sheldon as Chief Engineer, Dietz as New Product Engineer, and Simon as the Shop Manager. Their intention: to form Model Products Corporation or MPC. In the midst of the plastic model kit boom, several prominent AMT employees, including George Toteff, Phil Sheldon, Ed Dietz, and Paul Simon, departed AMT.
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