The Revell kit of the “Orange Crate” first appeared on hobby shop shelves in 1963.
The Crate was included in the same Revell series that featured the SWC Willys, Mickey Thompson’s Challenger, Tommy Ivo’s 4-engine dragster, and some of the early Ed Roth customs.
The kit was and is a very faithful 1/25th scale replica of the full-size car and, for most young modelers, that made it a very difficult build and the biggest challenge in assembly was all the chrome!
Styrene cements would not hold the chrome and very few of us knew enough to scrape it at the glue joints.
The original kit issue was molded in a dark orange that most builders would typically just leave unpainted.
Decals were very simple and included the graphics for the radiator shell, rear valance, and the A/A class marking.
The B&W art for the instruction sheet was by none other than Dave Deal of Revell "Deal's Wheels" fame, the inimitable Deal art style included speed lines streaking away from all the Crate's shiny parts.
Deal's rendering of the Orange Crate at speed would mesmerize many a young would be drag racer!
Deal's depiction of the Crate also would have made for an extremely cool box top but Revell went instead with the image of the actual Deuce posed with its Oakland trophy.
Revell re-released the Crate in the early 1970's with different box art depicting an actual assembled model; truth-in-advertising had officially hit the hobby shops!
The 1970's issue was also molded in a lighter orange body color but was otherwise the same as the '63 original.
The car was released generically in the late 1980's - molded in bright yellow and including the Potvin blower - for Revell's 'Street Demons" series.
The Crate hood mold was subsequently modified for a generic Deuce custom issue in the 1990’s, the dreaded mold mod!
Revell would later re-issue the “Orange Crate” in the 2000’s as a nostalgia piece with the original box art, they, unfortunately, had to use a resin casting from the Czech Republic for the hood due to the previously modified mold.
Sadly, the orange plastic of the 1960’s was also long gone and replaced with the industry standard white...
You've done a great job, looks awesome!
