AMT 1972 Chevy Nova SS350

[Layla's Keeper]

Well, this is not a kit that'll get a good review from me. There's a metal axle going through the engine block, the front suspension is molded onto the chassis, and the front fenders are molded separate from the body just to give it that added degree of frustration. The interior is too shallow, with plenty of injector pin marks and upholstery that doesn't match up to the body year. Whoopie. It sucks.

However, by dropping in the engine from an AMT 1970 1/2 Camaro Z28 kit, splicing in the rear axle and front clip from a Revell 1969 Camaro, and adding flocking and Revell 1969 Camaro seats, like I've done here, you can have a decently detailed and much more accurate Nova replica. And, if you're just after building a pro street or drag race version of a Nova, you really don't care about all that.

Well, here it is. Finished in Testors True Blue Pearl, my 1972 Nova. Enjoy.




Here's the chassis. Notice the Revell Camaro front suspension and rear axle. It was actually grafting on the whole Revell front clip that was the easiest way to give this chassis any detail.

Yes, for all the work that went into the engine and the chassis, it seems odd that there's no wiring. But, you know what, I didn't want to wire it. This project was intended to be a box stock build-up, but with the accurate parts that should've been in the kit. Maybe I'll go back and wire it someday, but I like it this way.

So, what do you think?

[EMAXX]

Looks good. The Camaro stuff looks good on there, but what did you do with the Camaros?

[CamaroSSBoy346]

looks good except the front tires are a bit far back, and theirs no radiator hoses.

[dag65]

Nice salvage job on a marginal kit!!!!

[Layla's Keeper]

Well EMAXX, the Camaros ended up as slot car bodies in the off season, since I didn't want to wreck my Matador body in practice.

Yes, Matador. I sacrificed Camaros to protect a 1975 AMC Matador.

And it wasn't until too late that I realized the wheelbase came out funny. The problem was in the way the chassis mounted to the interior tub. When simply fitting the chassis to the body, it lined up perfectly, but once the interior was in there it moved everything back about 3/8 of an inch.

Like I said, lousy lousy kit.

[CamaroSSBoy346]

i started this kit. I think it was called the "Old Pro." I gave up on it after i only put the fenders on. lol

[EMAXX]

I'd rather use the Matador body and trash that and have the awesome Camaros. I'm guessin you like AMC or something like that?

[Sigmaman]

Nice build of a cruddy kit.

[Layla's Keeper]

Damn skippy I like AMC. The 1969 AMX is my all time favorite musclecar. Camaros are like assholes. Everyone has one, and most of them stink.

j/k

[CamaroSSBoy346]

pfft well.. you cant deny the fact that the camaro was the fastest car for its dollar. 13 second 1/4's for 20K?! (Yea, 20K, thats for a good cond. 02 Z28 or an SS even; theres no such thing as a new camaro!)

[ratdat]

Damn right..protect that Matador ! I am biased though as I have a 1969 Javelin 390 SST Yes, it's not all Datsuns and Nissans in my Garage

I have one of these Nova kits..you've given me hope as the only things I've seen written about it say it sucks. I only got it with the hope of scratch building it into an Olds Omega one day (I used to have a 1:1 Omega) ...not likely I'll ever get round to it though

You've done a nice job on this one though

[tonioseven]

Awesome save!!

[351Cougar]

Looks good. Did you notice that the chassis wasn't even wide enough for the body? Here is what I did with mine, I made custom subframes from the AMT wagonrod kit.

[Purpura Delujo]

Sweet! I pressured my friend into getting the original collectors edition of this kit and it had a good life but now it's in a box with most of the paint sanded off and no interior or engine. It is good that this kit comes with 2 seperate and complete engines though.

[slk320]

Nice job on that old kit!