Vintage Monogram Model Kits

Even though we associate Monogram with plastic model kits of hot rods, battleships, and fighter jets, when the Chicago company was founded in 1945 by Jack Besser and Bob Reder, its principal products were made of balsa wood. These included the gas-powered Whirlwind airplane, the "Hotshot" Jet Racer car, and the USS Chicago, which saw action in World War II when it was hit by a torpedo during the Battle of Savo Island in 1942. In fact, wood would serve Monogram well even as it transitioned to the coming age of plastic. In 1949, Monogram introduced a line of aircraft branded as Speedee-Bilt. This meant that the Piper Cubs, Cessna Seaplanes, and B-24 bombers with the Speedee-Bilt label featured painted wooden parts, as well as plastic pieces that made the model easy to assemble and, in some cases, fly (flying models were powered by a rubber band). Monogram's Speedee-Bilt models remained on shelves until 1957, even though another Monogram wood-plastic-hybrid line, Four Star Superkits, was added in 1952, and an all-plastic line called Plastikits arrived in 1954. For this reason, vintage Speedee-Bilt models are highly sought by Monogram and model collectors, as is the futuristic Thunderbird called the Predicta (1964), and just about anything else made by Monogram before 1968, when Mattel purchased the company. One of the most important contributors to Monogram was hot-rod designer Tom Daniels, who got his start at the company before Mattel took over, although he produced another 80 or so designs thereafter. His Beer Wagon from 1967 paired a Mack Bulldog front end with a wagon in the back, filled with a couple of barrels of beer. The vehicle's shift knob was designed like a beer stein, the gas tanks were retrofitted chrome kegs, and the whole thing was painted the color of Pilsner yellow. In short, the Beer Wagon was the perfect life-aspiration model for adolescent boys. Many of Daniels' designs, the most famous of which was the Red Baron hot rod, would end up as Hot Wheels, another Mattel subsidiary, while his Monogram model for a Garbage Truck with surfboards attached to its sides is one of his most iconic kits.