I made a little talk last evening to the CTC (Carolina Toy Collectors) about the old Revell Highway Pioneers, and very few had real knowledge of them. I discovered them just about the time Woolworth's 5 & 10 started carrying them (at the high price of 59 cents if I remember correctly) in the early 1950s. And when I bumped into a new-in-the-box Duryea that I had never seen before, I jumped on it! And that was only a couple of years ago. Do you remember these 1/32 kits?
Long before me, I don't remember them but know of them; they all look pretty cool. How many different "Highway Pioneers" historic vehicles did Revell produce?
@chris Chris, while there were four series of five cars each (that's 20), Revell during production substituted at least two of these with different models for unknown reasons (that makes 22). But at times Revell produced different numbers of boxed sets in varying mixtures, so there seems to be confusion. The figures of the first set were designed by Gowland for the jumping effect and were slightly larger than 1/32 and rather comic in styling. The steering wheels had two little knobs and the driver's hands were loose on the knobs to provide action when the car was jumped. As the "jumping" was dropped and assembly was primary, the figures were reduced in size and made more realistic.
Never got in to them. the early to mid '50's I was into the plastic ships & planes of WWII and Korean Police Action vintage and Revell made quit a few of them. I got into cars in the late '50's and early '60's exclusively JoHan or AMT 3 in 1 kits 1/25 scale I believe, American cars of the day. I went into the Army and don't remember what happened to any of them by the time I got out????.
@chris Chris, while there were four series of five cars each (that's 20), Revell during production substituted at least two of these with different models for unknown reasons (that makes 22). But at times Revell produced different numbers of boxed sets in varying mixtures, so there seems to be confusion. The figures of the first set were designed by Gowland for the jumping effect and were slightly larger than 1/32 and rather comic in styling. The steering wheels had two little knobs and the driver's hands were loose on the knobs to provide action when the car was jumped. As the "jumping" was dropped and assembly was primary, the figures were reduced in size and made more realistic.
Thank you David for that comprehensive "Revell recap." I now know about these little models. 😀
