Here’s what every little gearhead lusted after in 1962: the king of the hot rod model kits, the Monogram Big T. Join us for a closer look at the plastic marvel.
At nearly 17 inches long, the Monogram Big T model kit introduced youngsters of the early ’60s to plastic car modeling on a whole new scale. With greater realism, greater detail, and greater wow factor on the bedroom shelf, the kit was a major success in the hobby stores, generating scores of variations and imitators. Here’s a little backstory on the fantastic plastic kit.
At $10.98 (compared to around $1.50 for a standard-sized model) the Big T kit wasn’t cheap by 1962 kid standards, but it offered plenty of bang for the buck. There were 203 precision-molded parts in five colors, including 97 pieces in gleaming simulated chrome, with no painting required to build a respectable-looking shelf model.
A partially completed vintage Big T kit offered at the internet sales site Worthpoint.
The degree of realism and detail in the Big T was far above the conventional-sized kits of the time. Monogram called its new, large scale 1 1/2-inch (to the foot), or in other words, one-eighth life size. (Mongram’s standard 1/24 size is 1/2-inch to the foot.) Tires were soft synthetic rubber with molded whitewalls, and a 24-page instruction booklet guided the construction, which was often performed by father-son teams. Extra parts included in the kit allowed a degree of customizing, and for a time Monogram offered a $1.49 electric motor kit to create a powered model.
The Big T wasn’t based on an existing real-life hot rod. Rather, it was designed to represent a fairly typical T-bucket roadster of the period, with a small-block Chevy V8, classic Ford cross-spring suspension front and rear, steel wheels with baby moon hubcaps, and a ’24 Ford roadster body shell. Monogram commissioned well-known custom car builder Darryl Starbird of Witchita, Kansas to create the 1:1 prototype, which was displayed at rod and custom shows around the country as a promotional tool, then given away in a sweepstakes. Its whereabouts are unknown, but in recent years Starbird created a faithful replica.
The Big T was a smash hit for Monogram, inspiring a series of spinoff kits by the model company on the same basic tooling, including the Big Rod, Big Drag, Big Tub, and others. For builders who couldn’t afford the Big T, there was an essentially identical Little T kit in standard 1/24 size for $1.49 (above).
The company also soon launched a full line of large-format kits in the Big T’s 1/8 scale, featuring the Big Deuce ’32 Ford roadster, a Jaguar XKE coupe, the Corvette Stingray, a Firebird Trans-Am, and more. All these kits, including the original Big T, have been reissued multiple times and are still in high demand among model builders and collectors, commanding big bucks at eBay and elsewhere. Do you have a Big T kit tucked away in the attic or basement somewhere? If so, it might be time to bring it out and relive the fun.
The one I lusted after was the Big Deuce. One of my cousins and I pooled our respective
paper boy savings and paid the princely sum of eight dollars!! for the kit (This at a time when a 1/25 scale model cost $1.49 – 2.00). Not an investment our parents approved of, and they naturally were wiser than we, as we never finished the model…at least not as it was intended to be built.
As the late great Bob Hope so often said: “Thanks for the memories”!
I didn’t build the Big T, but I did build the Visible V8. I didn’t have enough paper boy money for both.
The “Big T” and the “Visible V-8″, boy, does that bring back memories.
Incidentally, in inflation adjusted dollars, $10.98 today would be $88.00 dollars.
I wanted a Big T but I had to settle for a Little T. When I was around 12, I got a 1/8 scale twin engined dragster which was brought out by Lindberg. From there on it was full-sized models, a habit which I’ve never managed to kick…
Very K?L kit I have it along with a few others.
Had both the Big T and the Big Drag back in “62” – I was 13. Recently bought a later version of the the Big T and just finished the build. This later kit did not have all the tools, trophy, tool box, description card with easel, and rope off stands the original had.