CUSTOM CHEVY VAN
1977, AMT CORPORATION
Resembling the Scooby-Doo gang’s ‘Mystery Machine’, this 1/24 scale Custom Chevy van was sold mainly in hobby stores and was a paintable white model kit. It came with eight 4 x 6-inch transfers of the Destroyer and Love Gun art plus band signatures to adhere to the body.
The KISS van, whilst looking fantastic on the box cover, was obviously tricky to assemble and paint and most ‘assembled’ versions rarely looked like the picture on the box. An auspicious start for one of KISS’s earliest mass-marketed collectibles.
The band’s personas were obviously still forming as the box art mentioned ‘Lovable’ Paul Stanley instead of the now famous ‘Starchild’ moniker. Retailing between $3-5, an interesting note comes from Aucoin/Boutwell internal documents dated November 1977. AMT was apparently working on a ‘life-size KISS van’! Unfortunately, this was not to come to fruition. The box art utilised the same photo from the cover of ALIVE! tourbook by Chip Rock, shot December 31, 1975, at the Nassau Coliseum in New York.
Thanks to 'Knights In Satan's Service' and John 5 and www.kisspriceguide.com for the extra info and photos.