General Information

The following information has been collected from original newspapers, catalogs, and magazines, some of which are freely available for reference below. The rest can be found in the site’s gallery. No aggregate catalogs (BrickLink, Brickset, etc.) were used.

Instructions: H-2350

Advertised Part Count(s): 111 pieces

Set Box

First Year Confirmed Available: 1968(USA)

All 1967+ Model Makers are incredibly hard to track as they were not typically advertised like the larger assortments/models. The 329 can be reliably dated to 1968 using its form number(appearing before other 1968 Model Makers but after the 1968 idea book) as well as the lack of a drawer/sleeve box, characteristic of 1968+ sets.

Speaking of difficult to track, I have nothing for the Canadian version, but one did evidently exist, discussed below.

Most Likely Retirement Date: 1971(USA)

Unless other evidence arises, the set might've continued production until 1971 as it appears in 1970-1971's idea book. This is an extremely tentative date.

Last Year Seen Available: 1970

Honolulu Star Bulletin, June 10th, 1970

Aliases: Antique Car

Retail Price(s): $1.33(USA)

Note: Samsonite discontinued listing RRPs for sets in 1967. As a result, prices for Model Maker sets can vary. I've theorized this to be a reason 1968+ Model Makers include a secondary number, you can read about it here.

Rarity Score(Index): 4/7

Known Box/Packing Variants

1970 examples will have a "Some parts...produced in Denmark" sticker somewhere on the box.

The 329 has a found Canadian version, which confirms the set sold in Canada, but I currently have nothing to show when, where, and for how long. You can find the box in this large collection.

Box/Overview

Different from the 1967 Model Maker line, the 1968 line required the import of many unique pieces from Denmark to create the new vehicles. None of the sets or parts are of Samsonite's own design—they'd already been available in other countries.

The 329 inherits its box art from previous releases as well, though uniquely it also exhibits unique fonts for the set number on the front/back:

box top image

The sides are a mix of the 1967 line's design(black model maker text) and the 1968 line(eight patents), standing as a "transitional specimen" between the two lines:

The instructions even exhibit this design wise, where it has the black Model Maker text from 1967 but the full page image characteristic of 1968+ sets(as well as the European font):

The 329 is the only set in Samsonite's 1968 line to exhibit these features.