To me, 1965 is one of those years. A year when so much seemed new, seemed changed, and not just in the automotive world. At seven, I was in second grade at school. At Elwood, that put me in the last year before I went over the road to the Big School, so I was one of the Big Kids. A Big Frog in a Little Puddle, you might say.
I had an elderly teacher, whom we thought was 80; nowadays of course I realise she couldn’t have been, but she must have been in her last year before retirement (I am now older than she must have been). She had a 1920s approach to discipline –with me being a sensitive child, this rammed me right back into my shell, and undid the previous teacher’s good work. But I digress.
1965 seemed to be a year of change. Locally we had the larger, American-designed HD Holden replacing the much-loved and now iconic EH;
…the XP Falcon, which to my eyes looked much nicer than the preceding XM,
….and the AP6 Valiant with its fussy grille. No change in the family car, as Dad had replaced the Morris Oxford with a used Falcon in 1963, and it was still new to us.
And wonder of wonders, you could get little snap-together models of these in breakfast cereal – mine got lost long ago.
This was about the time I started to become aware of other countries, and how different some of them were. From children’s stories, I knew our weather was different elsewhere – you guys had this stuff called snow! – and our seasons were out of step. Since the War Australia had gotten a great influx of migrants. We had lots of migrant families in my area, most of them passing through to somewhere better. My best friend was Polish, I had other friends who were English, Irish, Hungarian, and Greek. My parents had German friends, and our downstairs neighbours were French. All I knew about America came from TV shows; it seemed like another universe. But what got me was the cars – to think Dad’s Falcon was a small car to them!
So let’s have a look at some American cars.
The standout is the Riviera. The ’65 is my favourite of the first generation as it cleaned up the lights front and rear, and the bodysides. Guess that’s why I’ve built so many of them! The AMT kit is an easy build and offers plenty of options, including several custom versions.
Another favourite is the big Pontiacs. I still find it amazing that a car so big can look so graceful:
AMT did the Bonneville as an annual kit for 1965, reissued it in the late eighties, then turned it into a faux 2+2 (only changed trim and badges, not the wheelbase or trunk length) in the nineties:
And they had this wonderful colour called Iris Mist:
Our Pontiacs came via Canada, so I guess they were Cheviacs or Pontrolets rather than the Real Thing. Moving on, here’s a smaller Pontiac. Also an AMT kit, it’s the GTO from 1965. Another one of those kits that have been around forever, this one has suffered terribly from being reworked into a Modified Stocker race car (a fate that befell many of their older kits), then returned to a street car in the eighties. Some of the eighties re-engraving was panned at the time, lights, wipers and badges being a bit rough. Still, it was a GTO:
Moving across to Chevrolet, we have the Revell Impala, a great kit from the nineties, when the American manufacturers realized that adults made up a fair slice of their customers, and started giving us more detailed kits:
I always loved the style of these, especially coming after the straight-lined ‘63s and ‘64s. Somehow the added curves seemed to give the length purpose; it wasn’t merely a car size XXXXL:
Even an Aussie kid had heard of the Corvette (above), and had a vague idea of its racing exploits, but only years later did I hear of the Chevelle. It would have been a good size for Australia:
And an American ute, who knew?
On to Ford. AMT has reissued their old 1965 Galaxie kit many times over the years. It has issues; the taillights stick out past the rear bumper, but I’ve built a few of them anyway:
And of course I’d heard of the Mustang. In fact the first kit I was given was one; it hasn’t survived. And I still haven’t built a replacement. But here are a couple of Shelbys, a street GT350, and a racing 350R:
We’ll have to end our visit to 1965 here. Unfortunately, I don’t have any other 1965 cars to show; no Mopars, AMCs or Studebakers – oh, hang on a moment….
As always Peter, your models are very well done.
In fact, you may have been successful in switching my Riviera alliance here as I’ve always been a Boat-tail man… (childhood impressions indeed). Between Aaron65 actually owning one (a ‘63) and these beautiful models (great color choices, BTW), and the rest of you Curbivores who prefer this generation, perhaps “Resistance is Futile” to drop the second Star Trek reference in as many days in my comments, but I digress.
Similarly, I’m warming more to the ‘65 Impala. As I’ve stated here before many times, my preference of this generation has always been the ‘68, and then the ‘66 first, as they were the family cars of my childhood (born in ‘60). But the ‘65 was such a departure from what came before it, I see what you mean here about the model year 1965.
And then of course there’s the Mustang……
Thanks Rick. Well, yes, the Boat-tail is very special. In fact I rather wonder whether the much-derided ’74 Matador coupe was in fact AMC’s belated answer to the swoopy boat-tail Riv rather than a classic personal luxury coupe. Maybe we’ve been misunderstanding it all these years? Rivieras seemed to get increasingly sporty-looking until they perhaps went too far with the boat-tail, then went too far back the other way, then kind of see-sawed into obscurity.
And with Impalas, the ’67-8 almost seems exaggerated; the ’65-6 is much more conservative, but has an understated appeal all its own.
We’ll see plenty of Mustangs when I do 1966…
Nice selection of cars, 1965 was a special year. / many great cars.
I have unbuilt kits of several of these sitting on my shelf. I specifically haven’t built the AMT 65 Riviera or GTO because I fear the kits are so crude it wouldn’t be worth the effort. What do you think, Peter, are they worth it?
I have built the 65 2+2 mainly because the 65 2+2 is one of my all time favorite cars. I had previously built the Bonneville in high school years. I didn’t realize until after I did the 2+2 that it was the wrong wheelbase. Now it bugs me, but it built into a decent looking car as long as you don’t look too closely at the interior, which is quite crude apart from the dash as is typical of kits of that era. I would LOVE to have a modern 65 Pontiac kit, like the 65 Impala, which is also sitting on my shelf awaiting building. It’s been waiting since the 90s, because my modeling time is sadly so limited.
Thanks for sharing these builds!
Jon, thank you.
The Riviera is most definitely worth it. I’ve only built the first reissue of the GTO, from the eighties. Once was enough. I’ve been told its been improved since then, but I have no direct experience with a newer release. It’s okay. If the Riv gets 8/10, I’d give the GTO a 5. The Monogram ’64 is miles better, if you don’t mind 1/24 scale.
Peter, as always, your models are sublime. The green 1965 Bonneville really captures my eye this morning. Fantastic!
Your 1965 was my 1968. There must be something about being 7 that makes it a particularly memorable year. Unlike your 2nd grade teacher experience, mine was the opposite yet equally memorable. My 2nd grade teacher was a freshly-minted teacher who was chock full of newfangled ideas on how to engage and motivate kids. That was great…but equally great was the fact that she was the spitting image of the actor Peggy Lipton (Mod Squad, etc…) and dressed similarly. That was quite something, even to a 2nd grader. Of course, she was about the age then of one of my kids now.
Beyond differences in teachers, there’s much similar. That was the year where I really started keeping strong memories of cars. I began to acquire real friends. I put together small plastic models from Post cereal boxes. I still have one of those (sans wheels and A-pillars, unfortunately).
Great post!
Jeff, it’s interesting that you also found being 7 a memorable year. Must be something of a milestone in human development, from a child’s perspective al least. My second-grade teacher looked more like Granny Clampett from the Beverley Hillbillies. She could seemingly answer any question a second-grader could ask, but watch out for that ruler!
Here’s another view of that Bonneville.
I think around 7 is when we start to form life lasting memories. Previous memories are more brief and sporadic, but at 7 they start to be retained. Also, significant emotional events often take place that begin form our values around family, loved ones, etc. A firm hand from Dad, long remembered later in life, special caring from Mom, certain medical events, TV shows, schools, teachers, etc., all have longer lasting impacts starting around 7.
Great work as always Peter!
Thanks, Lee.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record — I love these posts. Thank you, Mr. W!
At the risk of sounding like another one, thank you. Oldsmobiles coming up, I promise!
The 1965 model year was indeed quite special in the US; nearly all the large cars were redesigned with the exception of Lincoln and Imperial. The Rambler Classic and Ambassador received new sheet metal and greater length. The Chevy Corvair debuted with beautiful new styling for its second generation, and of course the Mustang was all new. I was 12 in the fall of 1964 and was blown away by the new curvaceous styling of the large GM cars, especially the Pontiacs.
Your models as usual are spectacular! I have that AMT kit of the 1965 Bonneville; I painted the exterior candy apple red over a silver base coat. If I remember correctly, it was the last model that I spray painted in the basement. Not a good idea without breathing protection!
I also have an MPC kit of a 1966 Bonneville which I painted silver with a clear coat and brush-painted the interior light blue. This is one of the few models where I attempted to add chrome trim, in this case pressing on aluminum foil on the rocker panel ribbing. I never felt confident to try to simulate chrome on the door handles and window trim for example, as you do so well.
Love that Iris Mist/Evening Orchid color, as shown on the Chevy Impala in this ad:
Thank you.
You make a great point. When I wrote this, I didn’t stop to think about how you guys had so many totally redesigned cars that year. It was a great year for cars in Australia; it must’ve been fantastic over there. Especially for a 12 year old.
The trick with foil is threefold: good quality foil, lots of practice, and… waiting till you’re in the right frame of mind. I might have a painted body sitting around for a month before I’m ready to tackle it. I don’t decide I’m going to do it today, it’s more like I feel ready to do this today.
When Testors came out with the Evening Orchid paint, I knew I had to do an Iris Mist Pontiac, even if I’d built several already. A beautiful colour, on one of GM’s best shapes.
Nice selection, Peter. Interesting that your examples of three Australian cars are all 4-doors yet none of the US models are (well, apart from the Chevelle station wagon). Partly that reflects the choice of the kit manufacturers, of course, but large 2-door cars were much more common in the US than elsewhere.
Thanks Bernard.
Yes, American management types got our local Big Three into producing two-doors, only to discover that we weren’t like Americans; we weren’t predisposed to buy a less practical body style even in this size. As far as Joe Average was concerned, two-doors meant either small car or sports car. A two-door big family car just did not compute.
Ford did do a hardtop in that model Falcon using imported parts, but they were never common.
Peter, you have made a clear and convincing case for 1965 as having a bumper crop of excellent designs as a standout year. They’re all beautiful models, but the surprise to me is the looks of the Bonneville. Viewed from the angles from which you photographed your two models, it shows off just how graceful (your word; I agree) its big-car styling was.
As a kid, I would have been all for getting the cereal with a snap-together model car in it! Enjoyable piece as always.
Thanks. And as 210delray said above, there were other exceptional designs too, some of which we’ll see in the years to come. I’m not going to go sequentially through the years, have to keep an element of surprise, but there’ll be more lovely designs to come. And some less so.
I think the big Pontiacs are my favourite for the year, possibly even more so than the Riviera – which, though lovely for somebody else’s car, isn’t really ‘me’.
The cereal cars were a bit smaller than Matchbox size, with no interior IIRC, but they were quite well done. Probably also fed my love of building models!
Those were probably the Rosehain & Lipmann models. Some of them were available over here in the UK, though not always in cereal packets; the vintage car series were giveaways with ‘Jet’ petrol. Very neat little models.
Thanks Bernard. As a kid, I never thought to ask questions like that! I have trouble enough remembering what cereal they came in. As the only child my age in the wider family, I had uncles and aunts (who bought different brands) saving their cereal giveaways for me too. Nice to hear you got the vintage ones up there; I’d totally forgotten about those. My favourite was the blue Falcon sedan, almost the same shade as Dad’s ’62.
From ’65 I’ve got the Riviera, the GTO & the Lincoln convertible and this project. A rather rough Johan Chrysler.
The goal is to paint it to match my real one.
Very Nice. I saw a 65 Chrysler wagon parked outside the local doctors’ surgery a few years back – never seen it since.
Some really sweet cars for what I agree was a banner year, styling wise. Lots of European and Japanese contenders if you were to add to the list, e.g. Mercedes W108/109, BMW 2000CS, Glas V8, Panhard 24 BT, R-R Silver Shadow, Hino Contessa 1300, Mazda Familia coupé, Nissan Silvia, Lancia Fulvia coupé, Lamborghini 350GT…
Without question, one of the best vintages of the postwar era. Buick Riviera for me, if you please.
Merci,Tatra.
I would have to agree there were a lot of lovely cars debuting this year. The sixties as a whole seems like a peak decade for design, to my mind at least. I hadn’t stopped to think what year the ones you mention first appeared. It’s easy with American cars having a distinct model year; not so easy with other countries’ product. Not for me, anyway – what year did X debut? I know vaguely when (early/mid/late sixties) but not the actual year. Anyway, I tend to mentally divide my models between American, Japanese, and European, and decided to keep this post purely American out of deference to the majority of readers here. American cars seem to attract more comment. And I understand that,
Stunning to think what a short life the Panhard had. And the Glas. Not that I ever saw either, but still…. sad.
Anyway, we can have our dose of Japanese next week (hint, hint!). I’d show you my Silvia now, since you mention it, but my drive with all my photos is acting up. Another time, then.
My favorite model year! I’ll take the Riviera, but I built a Mayfair Maize 2+2 years ago that came out nicely, and I wouldn’t mind a full-sized version of that car.
There’s hardly anything from 1965, however, that I wouldn’t gladly take for a week-long test drive.
I really seemed to hit a nerve with this 1965 feature! I hadn’t realized how widespread the 1965-love would be, not the other memories it might trigger.
The Riviera just has a wonderful balance to it, between sporty and formal, without going to either extreme. It looked quite distinct from any other American car; not in a weird way, but an attractive, elegant way. For me, that made it an obvious choice for that lede photo.
A Mayfair Maize 2+2? Hmm…..