Compared to earlier annuals, which were largely recycled promos with customizing parts and engines, the Chevy and Ford were at a new level of detail.

It helped that both were new-from-the-ground-up cars, and there was a lot of 'buzz' in Detroit about both, so it made sense for AMT to swing for the fence; their legacies were predicted to live longer than a year, making them evergreen subjects for the catalog.

That said, both kits were half-again more fiddly (the Galaxie, in particular) and took a lot more work for an average builder to build clean. The fit of the Chevy frame to the interior and underbody was dodgy on its best day and takes a great deal of fitting to get it sitting square.

AMT took a step back in '66 for the Galaxie - about as close to an MPC kit as they ever released in terms of detail-to-difficulty, it is still one of my favorites and now that I am officially retired, there are a few on the shelf taunting me for restoration and enhancement. The '66 Impala was the same playbook as the '65, differing only in the year to year details.

But here's where it gets good: The AMT '67 Impalas (HT/Cvt.) split the goalposts in the chassis and interior department almost perfectly, with nicely detailed front and rear suspensions, and highly accurate BBCs; the design would carry forward all the way to '70 - the "Heavy Chevy" of a dozen or so re-release programs.

For a builder with a '65-6 Impala and a glopped up chassis, you can toss the original, knock the floor out of the interior shell, and assemble 'the AMT Chevy that should have been" - have two heading that way now.