2010: A Year of Pontiac for C.A.R.S. in Miniature |
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Topics: C.A.R.S. in Miniature
Opinions expressed by Bill Crittenden are not official policies or positions of The Crittenden Automotive Library. You can read more about the Library's goals, mission, policies, and operations on the About Us page.
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Bill Crittenden
January 26, 2010
For C.A.R.S. in Miniature members, Pontiac will be an important part of 2010. Pontiac is in the automotive news as the brand winds down to its demise and prepares to join Oldsmobile in history. Steve Lohr's pair of '66 GeeTO Tiger GTOs just won the T-Shirt Contest and will be featured in the 2010 C.A.R.S. in Miniature logo and shirts (as well as this month's Parts Tree). At the end of July, C.A.R.S. will set up a model car show in conjunction with Indian Uprising, which is one of the world's biggest all-Pontiac car shows, so the brand will feature prominently in the show and the club's work will be seen by a huge gathering of Pontiac aficionados.
What great timing it is to go to Indian Uprising with GTOs on our backs! Thanks to Steve Lohr and all those that voted for his cars! Hopefully we can get as many members in new shirts as possible there that weekend.
As far as the show goes, while the details are not final, a few are fairly well settled and I wanted to write about something important now while there is still plenty of time to do something about it.
The car show is all-Pontiac, but the model show will be open to any make. There just isn't enough variety in Pontiac model kits to pull off a successful all-Pontiac model show. However, we are doing a model show at one of the biggest gatherings of die-hard Pontiac enthusiasts imaginable. Quite simply, it would be a little embarrassing to show off to that crowd tables full of Fords, Mopars, and Euro imports surrounding a few lonely Pontiacs. Since we aren't going to exclude any models, I'd like to ask the club instead to consider our "target audience" and voluntarily increase the number of Pontiacs on the tables.
If you have any Pontiac models that haven't seen the light of day lately, this would be a good time to bring them back out. Not only will the average show-goer appreciate them, but many of the Indian Uprising spectators may never have even been to a model car show before. What's old stuff to you and your buddies in the hobby will be all-new to a lot of people at this show.
I know folks already have prior commitments to family or to other car shows that weekend. Please, if you have some Pontiac models you've built and you can't make it to our show, find someone else in the club who is going to the show (and someone you trust with your models) and send your cars!
For those who don't have old Pontiacs in their collection, I'd like to suggest (and this is why I'm writing so far in advance) building one. Or three. While there isn't a huge selection of Pontiacs available to build, I did put together a list of some of the ones I've seen that will hopefully give you a few ideas:
Concept
Banshee (Revell)
Street
Bonneville: 1960 convertible (Trumpeter), 1965 convertible (AMT Presige), 1970 convertible with boat/trailer combo (AMT/Model King)
Catalina: 1962 421SD (AMT)
Fiero: 1985 (MPC)
Firebird: 1968 400 (Revell), 1978 (3 in 1 by Revell), 1997-1998
Grand Prix: 1990 (Revell), 1990 SE (Revell), 1991 (Revell)
GTO: 1964 (Johnny Lightning AMT or a 2 in 1 kit by Revell), 1966 Royal Pontiac ("GeeTO Tiger," this year's T-Shirt Contest winner by Revell or the new Revell Muscle kit), 1969 Judge (Monogram), 1972 (AMT), 2004 (Johnny Lightning AMT or Polar Lights prepainted)
Trans Am: 1977 "Smokey & The Bandit" (AMT), 1997 (AMT SnapFast)
Racing
NASCAR: Michael Waltrip's Pennzoil #30 (Monogram), Kyle Petty's Peak Antifreeze #42, Neil Bonnett's Valvoline #75, and of course various years of The King Richard Petty's STP #43
Drag Racing: 1970's Grand Prix funny car (resin body by Mike's Scale Speed Shop), 1998 Firebird Prostock "Match Racer" (Revell/Model King), 2000's Grand Am funny car (resin body by Mike's Scale Speed Shop)
Also, Mike's Scale Speed Shop has decals for Arnie Beswick's Judge, Super Judge, and Mystery Tornado.
I will have at least two contributions, a 1990 Grand Prix and a 1991 Grand Prix. If I have time and I can find the parts, I have an idea for a GTO I'd like to put together.