I have fond memories of "Buddy Long's Service Station," an urban Phillips 66 where my older brother worked while in high school. The place was redolent of hard, skilled work. The air was scented with grease and oil, and lots of cool 60s cars got worked on there. I mostly went to fill up my bike tires or get Mr. Long to grease the chain (free of charge). It is now a sandwich shop, upscale of course.

The box art evokes that station with two mechanics, looking way too clean, working on a pre-1973 Chevy Nova.

This AMT kit is destined--of all things!--for a post-apocalyptic hot-rod build of mine. It contains lots of accessories that you'd have found at Mr. Long's station: work bench, a floor jack, air compressor, engine and jack stands, shop vise, fire extinguisher, large metal gasoline can, and a cardboard box full of vintage cans (included decals let you select a brand), oil pan, oil barrel with hand pump, a paint gun. You'll need to supply a hose if you want to hook it up to the compressor.

You get two mechanics in working poses but also goodies for a diorama to show what they did at lunch hour, while my brother ran out to fill up cars at the pumps: a dartboard, two vintage calendars (one for a "Rigid" Wrench, the other a PG-rated Girlie calendar), a drink machine that looks like one for a certain Atlanta-based beverage but is marked with a generic cola brand. There is a pay phone. You might remember them.

I spotted this among the car models at Jack's Model Kits in Harrisonburg, VA (now Front Line Hobbies, with Jack helping a new and committed owner). It's a great find for 1/25 or 1/24 car builders.

The components come bagged in plastic and molded in white, with instructions that look easy to follow. The decals arrive in their own bag. You get lots of extra decals, even a peg-board decal for the work bench.

AMT promises for of these scale model shops. I mostly build 1/72 aircraft and armor but now I want to do a build of Buddy Long's with a muscle car on the lift.

Highly recommended. You can shop around and beat the price I paid, but the kit is well worth the investment if you are building a diorama. I plan to have a lot of this gear piled up in the bed of "The Wasteland Scout," a 1/25 1959 El Camino that is being treated to a full Road-Warrior makeover.