Thanks Mick, that's very kind of you. In any case, this has rather piqued my curiosity, so I opened up a few boxes and did a quick document search, and what I found is actually a pivotal point in slot racing! The Blue Monster came out at virtually the same time as two other K&B cars, and fell right in the middle: it was an attempt to come up with a modern, state-of-the-art (and Made in USA) slo car, but by the time it was ready to be released, K&B probably realized that it was out of date, so they released a more conventional Chaparral 2D with the much faster and cheaper 26D from Mabuchi. And at about the same time, they came up with the unique McLaren CanAm car using their old and totally obsolete Super-Challenger motor - getting rid of old inventory like a lot of the manufacturers at the time.
And the Blue Monster made it on two covers, in color!
Anyway, here's how it developed in the period magazines, starting with a couple very optimistic teaser campaigns in Car Model and Model Car Science, the two largest circulation slot/model magazines of the time:
As you can see the BM was launched with a lot of razz-ma-tazz - but the curious thing is that the contest seems to have quietly disappeared, and K&B never actually ran an ad for the finished Blue Monster (if anybody has any contrary info, please share). And I just noticed that the contest expires August 15, 1966 - in a September magazine! Even if mags at the time came out very early, that was still cutting it tight... So we don't know when the BM actually came out, but there may have been some delays, since the first review wasn't until February 1967.
In the meantime, K&B was hedging their bets - and getting rid of old stock - with the McLaren Mark 2 CanAm car driven by Charlie Hayes and sponsored by Nickey Chevrolet, a huge Chevvy dealer in Chicago (where I grew up, and still can't get the jingle out of my head - "Nickey, Nickey, Nickey Chevrolet, Nickey with the backward K" - check out the decal). Note the price of $6.95, much lower than most cars available at the time. This ad is from the January 67 issue of Car Model:
And here's the real car, in the February 67 issue of Model Car & Track, which had a feature article on the Can-Am Challenge Cup:
That same issue highlighted the WILD new RTR cars, in which the Blue Monster shared the cover with another pseudo-Thingie, the silver-plated MPC Lola T70, plus five iconic Thingies... with a short, and not very critical review of each car.
But, at the same time, same issue, they were also announcing a brand new and much more modern car, with a 26D motor (Jaguar) and sponge tires (Hells Bells - who got paid for thinking up these great names?).
The next month, Model Car & Racing also joined the crowd with a cover story on the new RTRs, and the Blue Monster made its second cover in a row. Once again, a not very critical review... even tho K&B didn't buy an ad anyway...
Don
