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Kess Models
Just back from a few days' holiday and saw John Kuliak's post (#24135) about new Kess models reported to be on sale in Europe now.
I must say I find the Kess situation very confusing. When I looked at the official Kess wholesale site not so long ago it was only showing the Mercury wagon and Pontiac ambulance as "future offerings" with photos of the real vehicles, not finished or even prototype models, and the Chevy Biscayne wasn't even mentioned.
I just took another look now and the site is a mess. They list the '57 Mercury wagon but the accompanying photo is the '78 sedan!
photo no longer available
The illustration for the "Pontiac ambulance" is actually a Tempest, in a bizarre non-standard colour scheme
photo no longer available
and another wholesaler is announcing a Mercury wagon with a photo which appears to be an Autobianchi Abarth hatchback!
But then I found the "Modelcarswholesale.com" site
which does indeed show the '57 Mercury and the Bonneville Superior ambulance (plus the seriously defective Chevy Biscayne) as "Available". So somehow these tentative future proposals have suddely leapfrogged out of nowhere and hit the market ahead of other items promised earlier - but the "www.kessmodel.it" site still doesn't show the Merc wagons, Superior ambulances or Chevy Biscayne as "New Releases" or "Coming Soon". If you search by car brand, "Mercury" only shows the '78 sedan and the Colony Park wagon. "Pontiac" shows nothing at all. Website updating may not be their strong point.
Needless to say, one of the items that has been leapfrogged is the long-awaited 1960 De Doto, which until yesterday was still showing on a couple of pre-order sites as being available from 15 May but by this morning it had shifted to 31 July. Oh dear. Why that one has slipped so badly on the Chinese factory's schedule, I can't imagine.
Or maybe the container ship sank. Can they be planning to raise it from the floor of the South China Sea and dry out the De Sotos in time for an end-July release? Fingers crossed. (At least resin doesn't rust in seawater. But the P/E trim might).
Graeme.M. Ogg
London U.K.
Thanks for the link. That Merc looks great in either color. I was so hoping for the DeSoto.
I certainly hope they do not do the Tempest in that non stock 2 tone
John F. Quilter
Eugene, Oregon USA
+1 Yuk.