Jo-Han 1960 Plymouth Station Wagon- Review

Why bring out an all new kit, when you can blow the dust off some existing tooling and rework it slightly? Almost every model kit manufacturer has pulled out the old "new bread from old flour" technique. Sometimes, an old promo would be modified to create a full detail kit, or an existing kit would be reworked to provide an alternate building option. This Mopar wagon is an example of the latter.

Originally done as a "curbside" promo with no engine, coaster chassis, and a sealed hood, Jo-Han modified it for it's '70's "USA Oldies" re-release. The hood was made separate from the body, the chassis was reworked to accept an engine, and engine parts were added to the sprues wherever there was room.

What's here is typical early '60's Jo-Han- a very shallow interior tub with the seats molded in place, heavy handed chassis detail, and a big, fat clearance notch for the front axle cutting into the engine block. But, also typical for '60's Jo-Han, the body has the right look, and engraved detail is pretty good.

The chrome parts are nicely detailed, though the plating is a bit splotchy from age. In some cases, that can be fixed with a light coat or two of Pledge/Future floor finish.

The clear parts do their job, but aren't anything to write home about. The glass unit is thick, but the side and rear windows are "open"

Jo-Han supplies four of their traditional, solid vinyl no-name tires, with printed narrow whitewall bands.

Of course, there's an instruction sheet, but no decal sheet. That's not really a big deal, as there was something else this kit does not have...

... inner front feders.

Yep... when Jo-Han converted this from promo to kit, they went through the trouble of tooling up an engine and a few underhood details, including a firewall. But they neglected to add any inner fenders, so when you lift the hood, you see nothing but engine and tires! Quite an oversight.

On the one I built, I used inner fenders cut from a junk AMT '57 Chrysler body. No, they probably aren't correct for this car, but it looks better than no inner fenders at all.

Mine isn't box stock- I went with some wide whitewalls, fluted MOON wheel discs, and side-dump exhaust. The finish is black primer with red accents. Most of the trim is Bare Metal Foil, but it's Testors Chrome Silver on the scripts and emblems. Note the small gap along the top of the windshield- parts fit on these old kits isn't as tight as on later kits, though you might be able to tweak things for a better fit.

I also lowered the car a bit, which is easily done on these old "coaster" chassis kits by drilling new holes for the axles, just above the existing ones. I also used a '60 Michigan plate.

I replaced the kit engine with a 413 Chrysler- this is the optional engine in AMT's '49 Mercury. Here you can see the Chrysler inner fenders I used to close off the engine bay. I really should have blacked out the radiator area, and added a battery, but still, the cobbled '57 inner fenders look better than nothing at all. Adding some hood latch and core support detail wouldn't hurt either.