Aluminum Metal Toys

Aluminum Metal Toys, or AMT for short, is a Troy, Michigan-based company that manufactures various plastic models from the late 1950s to 2005, particularly American cars and trucks in 1/25 scale.

In 1981, AMT was purchased by Ertl & renamed AMT-Ertl. They still manufacture models under this name.

Cars

AMT (formerly SMP) began a successful career in the 1950s of molding model kits of cars and trucks. Parts were molded onto "trees" and could be easily separated and then assembled. Product lines of stock model cars were soon augmented with custom cars and hot rod alterations of normal production vehicles. A common theme was the "3 in 1" kit where the modeler could build a car in "stock", "custom", or "hot rod" form.

Models were exquisitely detailed, and the company also became known for its pre-assembled promotional models supplied to American car companies, particularly Ford Motor Company and General Motors Corporation. Often models were painted with actual company colors. Various types of plastics such as styrene and polystyrene were used and the early plastics were unfortunately subject to warping. A change was made around 1960 and models hereafter did not warp.

Big trucks

Sometime in the 1960s, AMT released the "Dirt Hauler" kit, which was merely a generic tractor-trailer with a dumping trailer. Then, in 1969, AMT released the "California Hauler 359" kit. This new kit was a revolution for model building, for it was a realistic-looking model of a Peterbilt 359 tractor-trailer truck, the design having been copied from the manufacturer's specifications. It also had a realistic 8V71 Detroit Diesel under the hood. However, the kit lacked a sleeper cab, but there was a coupon that could be sent in along with 10 cents to get it. The following year, a second version of this kit was issued that came with a sleeper cab.

Due to the success of the California Hauler 359; AMT proceeded to issue more truck kits in the early 1970s of such trucks as the Chevy Titan/GMC Astro, Peterbilt 352, Kenworth W925, Autocar A64B, White Road Boss, etc... They also released trailer kits to go along with these trucks; such as flatbed trailers, box trailers, refrigerated trailers, tanker trailers, etc... These kits tended to cost about $5. Then, when the TV series "Movin' On" debuted in 1974; AMT made new versions of many of their truck kits with new features such as CB radios, dragfoilers, and sometimes new components and engines. For example, the Peterbilt 359 kit was given a Cummins NTC-350 diesel engine, a larger-windowed 1100 series cab (as opposed to the smaller-windowed Unilite cab), and a larger bumper; in addition to the previously-mentioned CB radio and dragfoiler. When Ertl bought AMT in 1981 and formed AMT-Ertl, they reissued many of AMT's old truck kits but did not introduce any completely new ones, save for the Kenworth T600A. In addition, some of Ertl's plastic model truck kits are reissued under the AMT-Ertl brand. Many of the old AMT truck kits can be found on auction sites like eBay, though some of them command fairly high prices.

tar Trek, and other science fiction

In the 1960s, AMT obtained the plastic model rights to "Star Trek," and developed a model kit of the Starship Enterprise, beginning a long association between AMT and both science fiction and television. The original model of the Enterprise was equipped with battery-operated lights; even after the lights were deleted, a number of vestiges persisted in the model, including a removable "main deflector" assembly. By the 1980s, an ongoing series of revisions to the tooling to correct various inaccuracies and mechanical problems eventually included deletion of this feature.

By the 1970s, the Enterprise kit had been joined by a Klingon ship, and in an exchange of tooling with the British Aurora company, a small figure of Spock, defending himself against a 3-headed reptile on an alien landscape; by the late 1970s, it had also been joined by poorly-designedFact|date=October 2007, inaccurate models of a Romulan ship, a starfleet shuttlecraft, Deep Space Station K-7, and a 3-piece "exploaration set" (consisting of toylike, approximately 3/4 scale models of a phaser, a communicator, and a tricorder.

At some point during the 1960s or early 1970s, AMT also produced a kit, possibly lighted, of a science fiction spaceship of its own design, the "Leif Ericson." This tooling was reused in the late 1970s, in simplified form, to produce a glow-in-the-dark "UFO" kit.

AMT-Ertl has also reissued the former Model Products Corporation kits of various "Star Wars" spacecraft, and has added several new designs based on the prequel trilogy.

Fire engines

In the 1970s, AMT issued models of at least three different pieces of American LaFrance fire-fighting apparatus, including a pumper, a rear-mount aerial ladder truck, and a rear-mount articulating boom truck. The prototypes were selected to maximize the number of shared parts (e.g., almost all of the cab and diesel motor parts), apparently in order to minimize tooling costs. All 3 kits have been reissued by AMT-Ertl in recent years. Surprisingly, given the company's penchant for licensing various television series, they did not offer models of any of the vehicles (e.g., the Crown Firecoach that was the first Engine 51, the Ward LaFrance P80 Ambassador that was the second Engine 51, or the Dodge rescue squad) from the then-current "Emergency!" series; neither did the decals supplied with the American LaFrance kits include markings for the Los Angeles County Fire Department (featured in the series). In addition, they also released a Chevrolet fire chief's car and a Chevrolet rescue van, the latter of which could be built in 4 configurations: stock, custom, fire department, or police department.

External links

* [http://www.ertltoys.com/brand/amt/2007/index.shtml AMT website]
* [http://www.projectrho.com/SSC/model.html Leif Ericson plastic model]