Bargain Book Collecting Muscle Car Model Kits

Author: Tim Boyd

Published by: Car Tech

ISBN: 978-1-61325-395-3

Price: RRP £25. New from Amazon £13.25

First published in 2018 and written by model car aficionado Tim Boyd, this excellent retrospective of plastic muscle car kits can now be found discounted by about £10, a good deal in anyone’s book. The fact that Boyd’s name will be familiar to both long-time readers of Street Rodder and Scale Auto Enthusiast, for which he wrote many regular articles, will be all the reassurance most of us need to know that this is a well-researched and well-written book. It concentrates on the collecting rather than the building side of the hobby, though Boyd is an accomplished modeller who has created many contest-winning models. Nevertheless, it’s a fact that the value of many model kits is in their originality, with as much emphasis, if not more, being on the box artwork as the contents. In other words, much of the value dissipates if the clear factory shrink wrap is breached. Daft? Only to non-collectors. The book provides a potted history of the development of the muscle car model kit, explaining how the hobby evolved and its cyclic nature. It shows a wide range of models from the late Fifties to date, demonstrating in the process how the box art of successive versions mirrored the artistic trends of the period. It’s not only an excellent read for car modellers, but also provides a useful reference for those who might be seeking particular incarnations of muscle car kits. Comprehensively illustrated, it’s a great book at a tempting price.