I have been looking a little further in to the Barnabas Vampire Van kit, following an old post on the Dark Shadows Hearse.
The Scalemates site has the instructions for the MPC kit that you can download and enjoy - just remember to also save them on to your computer, or they disappear went you turn it off.
It seems from the instructions the kit can only be built as a customised Show Car, but the model photo you published looks a lot more stock, so it may have been a kit-bash, using parts from another kit.
The different versions of the kit, as listed on Scalemates.
Parts laid out.
Photos of the assembled kit.
Dark Shadows was an American daytime soap opera that began in 1966, and ran until 1971. Screening daily in the late afternoon, it clocked up 1225 episodes, plus two feature films. Early episodes were in black and white (1966-67), and then colour (1967-71).
Facing cancellation in 1967 unless ratings improved, a new character was introduced. Barnabas Collins is a 200 year old Vampire, who returns to his old home in the town of Collinsport.
To cash in on the success of the show, the US company MPC released three kits. Two large scale figures, Barnabas; and a Werewolf; and the Barnabas Vampire Van. This was a Hot Rod based on a 1930s light van done up like a hearse, although the bodywork (no pun intended) is very short.
Instead, it had a small, two-wheeled trailer consisting of a lined casket, containing a figure of Barnabas himself in repose. The model was 1/25th scale (as are most American car kits).
Different versions of the kit were moulded in either black or white plastic, along with clear and chromed plastic parts, and soft plastic tyres. The box invited you to 'build this sadistic soap-opera sports car'.
MPC stood for Model Products Corporation, of Mount Clemens, Michigan, 48043. They were best known for their car kits, including a number of film and TV tie-in models.
The Barnabas Vampire Van was released in 1969 as model 626-225, but at some point it seems to have been re-numbered 1-0626. The box top stating 'From the hit TV show Dark Shadows - ABC'. The box art shows the van, a creepy mansion, and Barnabas himself in one corner.
One side of the box also has '© 1969 Dan Curtis Productions Inc.', the company that made the show.
This box shows the 1-0626 number.
In 1974 the kit was re-issued simply as the Vampire Van, but still using the kit number 1-0626. The box now showed a photo of the assembled model, and its coffin trailer, but there was no longer any reference to Dark Shadows, the show being off the air by then.
In 2002 the kit again appeared as the Vampire Van, but now under the AMT/Ertl Street Customs label, as 31772. A different photo box top was used.
In 2011 it again appeared as an MPC kit, number MPC763. The original box art and name were used, and Dark Shadows was again mentioned. The copyright notice on the side now says '© Dan Curtis Productions Inc', but there is no longer any mention of a date. By this time MPC was owned by Round 2, and the bottom of the box now showed the contents of the kit, which was moulded in white plastic.
All photographs from Worthpoint, in two batches.
Paul Adams from New Zealand
Another glorious TV Hot Rod Tie-In! Another cool one from MPC, which I had, was the Taxi from the CBS sitcom The Good Guys. Man did I have trouble painting that beast the correct yellow! SFZ
ReplyDeleteThe Good Guys was a TV show that did not make it to New Zealand, so I do not know a lot about it. Just that it starred Bob Denver, from Gilligan's Island. There was also My Mother the Car, one of the best comedy shows ever made, and a kit made by AMT.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy these model reviews, Paul. More so because I'm unfamiliar with a lot of them. Keep 'em comin'!
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