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I picked this up on eBay; a 1958 Thunderbird convertible in 1/25 scale! The listing described it as mildly customized, and offered it "buy it now" for $99. I immediately jumped on it. When it arrived it was even better than expected, well built, spray painted in a beautiful dark turquoise with white interior. The only customization was the removal of hood and trunk emblems and side trim. I asked the seller about the model, but he said that it had originally belonged to his father and had spent a number of years packed away in a box (promo style which he shipped it to me in). He had no further information about it. |
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 But it also posed a bit of a mystery. In 1958, AMT only produced the Thunderbird as a hardtop and only in promo/friction form, which were subject to typical warping. This one had none of those issues. |
 In the early to mid-90s, Wheat's Nostalgia produced a resin '58 Thunderbird convertible in their limited edition Memory Lane series, but they were very expensive. I couldn't imagine anyone removing the trim pieces on such a valuable collectible. |
 Once I got my hands on it and started looking closely at it, I discovered a number of clues. The front and rear grille and bumper assemblies are both obviously resin reproductions, very similar to items I already had from Modelhaus, although they do have a minor goldish cast to them. |
 The wide whitewalls are somewhat wider and better detailed than what came on the original AMT models. I feel pretty sure that the stock outer wheels are also reproductions. |
 On the flip side, the inner wheels appear to be resin reproductions, and I feel pretty sure that the stock outer wheels are also reproductions. The chassis is detailed rather than the friction motor metal style. There are screw holes front and rear, similar to the AMT kits of the '59 and '60 T-Bird 3-in-1 kits, which were produced in non-warping styrene. |
 I posted all of this information on my Facebook model car groups, and there was a lot of discussion. General consensus was that it was most likely a modified kit version of the '59 Thunderbird with the addition of Modelhaus '58 parts. I scraped away a small spot on the inside of the body and was able to confirm that it was styrene rather than resin. |
 So, having determined that it is probably not a particularly rare and valuable item, I may add a bit of detailing. But for the most part I plan to honor the original builder by adding it to my collection pretty much as-is. |
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