[Power Surge]

The 1000 cars are nice if you want to be as close to an original as you get. The AC made body, as Ron already stated, has better accuracies to it, and of course carries the AC name.

I could be wrong, but I don't believe Kirkham bodies are "stamped" in any manner. According to David, they are hand made by the polish metalworkers just like all other aluminum body cars. You can't "stamp" a piece of sheet aluminum into a different shape like you can with steel, it needs to be vastly "worked" into it's new shape.

As for the Kirkham symmetry thing, they simply made the left side of the car the same shape as the right side. This is only a factor when comparing it to an original CSX, because of how out of whack and asymmetrical the originals were.

Also, you are correct about the thicker Kirkham body. It's considerably thicker than an original. I have no idea how it compares in thickness to a 1000 car.