As a child, I spent many afternoons helping my father put together scale models of classic sports, muscle and racing cars in his workshop. Like the glue we used to glue many tiny plastic pieces together, we bonded with the hobby he had growing up – and passed on to me. While I no longer spend time assembling model cars like I used to, I still like to revisit those days by browsing our old designs and browsing vintage kits on Ebay.
My dad and I recently revisited our old hobby while reading Tim Boyd’s new book, Collection of muscle car model kits. Published by CarTech Books, this publication chronicles the greatest decades of model production.
Collection of muscle car model kits:
A showcase of America’s most popular model kits
by Tim Boyd
Product Details: Softcover, 176 pages, 8.5 ″ × 11 ″
Price: $ 29.95
Publication date: july 2018
ISBN: 9781613253953
Editor: CarTech Inc.
Website: www.cartechbooks.com
Road trips to the United States for classic cars: Great places across the country to pick up your vintage vehicle
Collection of muscle car model kits summary
If by any chance you pick up this book and don’t have enough understanding to understand or appreciate what to expect, Boyd begins. Collection of muscle car model kits with a helpful introduction. It describes the basics needed, including model car kit fashion, what a muscle car technically is, and how to read the book itself. The first chapter delves into the hobby, discussing the types of kits, major manufacturing companies, and the development of production. The second chapter continues with definitions of miniature car kit terminology and development / re-release trends.
From there, the reader has a good grasp of the hobby to tackle the rest of the book, which is curated by automakers – Ford, Pontiac, Chevy, etc. Collection of muscle car model kits ends with a spotlight on the efforts of current enthusiasts to collect and preserve the original kits.
Report: Recent vintage car auctions show popularity of vintage vehicles higher than ever
Collection of muscle car model kits review
The pages are filled with color images of the kit boxes in pristine condition. Ready-made and finished model car photos are relegated to the “Scale Showroom†sections at the end of each chapter. It would have been nice to have more photos showing the ‘guts’ of the models and the contents of the boxes, but since the book focuses on the collection rather than the assembly, the current photos are sufficient.
What the photos may lack in detail and originality, Boyd makes up for in the text with his colorful writing style and extensive industry knowledge – both of the scale models and the original full-size vehicles that inspired them. . In particular, his insight into how designers adapted large-scale cars into plastic models – and the obstacles they encountered – was intriguing.
As the title suggests, Collect muscle car kits It’s more about researching, understanding, and preserving specific kits than honoring the art, inner workings, and customization of miniature car kits. Some readers may find the lack of images of the kits themselves disappointing, but Boyd covers a lot of production history and development / release information in 176 pages. So his book is a great addition to the library for current kit collectors and those looking to revisit an old childhood hobby.
Boyd’s extensive research and his own fondness for the page-saturating muscle car model kits make Collect muscle car kits a nostalgic reading.
Collection of muscle car model kits is available via the publisher’s website, Amazon and other retailers.
Product provided for review by publisher.
Aaron is not ashamed to be a Clevelander native and the proud driver of a Hyundai Veloster Turbo (which recently replaced its 1995 Saturn SC-2). He happily uses his experience in theater, literature and communication to dramatically recite his own articles to local youth. Mr. Widmar happily resides in Dayton, Ohio with his beautiful wife, Vicki, but is often on the road with her exploring new destinations. Aaron has high aspirations for his writing career, but is often distracted by the deep nature of the human condition and forgets what he was writing… See more of Aaron’s articles.
