Anyone know a source of 1:48 or 1:50 1950s buses?

Did you try Diecast direct? They sure look bigger than 1:50 scale Lee, may just be the wheels.

Does look bigger than 1/48

Did they put "22's" on it?

Corgi makes a lot of the 1:50 scale buses. I have several in my collection. Some are 1950-60's era. In my opinion the Corgi models are a lot more detailed than the MTH ones.

I think that the problem is that the Greyhound bus is 1/50, which is what we need, but most of our cars and trucks are 1/43. That makes the bus look too small. As an example, I love the New Ray semi's, but they are 1/43 and way too large compared to everything else.

Art

I have been looking for a school bus model for 1940 and prior, but later than the model T Ford school bus model that was produced for the school bus company in the South.  I saw a Tootsietoy school bus toy once, that had the rounded back on the body (all the modern schoolbus models have square bodies in the back)  but when I went back to get it in the show, naturally, somebody had already glommed it.  As noted above, I mostly see Corgi buses but they are too modern for my use.

For buses you might try:

www.royalcoachbuses.com

www.aawesometoy.com

www.policecarmodels.com

I do not know if they have 1950s style buses though.

Paul Goodness

I'm going ahead with using the Corgi and MTH buses I have.  For one thing I have about a dozen of them already.  I have used the Corgi as the bodies for my 'Streets city buses and intend to power the Greyhound in the phot above.

But I'm convinced they are not exactly 1/50, at least not most, and not even all of the same scale exactly.  Buses in the 1950s (like now) varied in the length the manufacturer would make but most of them were right around 96 inches wide (GM-3751, 4103 models, etc.).  The Corgi and MTH GM buses are right at 1 and 25/32 to 1 and 13/16 wide which makes them about 1/53 to 1/54 scale if 96 inches width.  They are closer to scale in height, the  Greyhound bus in the photo above is right at 1/50 in height but about 1:54 in width.  Anyway, they look okay when not around 1:43 stuff so I can get by with them.   

This person is a bus collector that has some nice older buses. Perhaps he could assist you with some sources. The cool buses seem to be resin.

1948 Mack model C-33DT  Schenectady Railway Company  Schenectady NY

Schenectady Railway Schenectady NY O Scale cast resin painted by Dave Dearstyne          Mold made by Dave Robberts

Corgi no longer makes the die cast American buses because they were mediocre sellers even though they were limited editions. Expect to pay $50-150 for a bus. Any bus from New York,Jersey or Philly might be more. They did a lot of NYCTA,Green Bus,Triboro,Public Service,Fifth Avenue,Surface and PTC to name a few. Good luck.

I vote for a plastic Flexible Bus in kit form 1/48 scale!!! If your going to dream....go big!!

I live the look of those Flexible's Dave.  Really a cool look to them.

Here are three of my buses. The Corgi is on the left and I may have paid $40, the MTH in the middle was about $30 and the Superior which is a pull back friction toy was about $7. The Superior is 1:45.

You can sure see the difference in scale on the Superior, can't you. All of them are good models. I did not know about this company - going to try to find some.

Hello Lee.  A few years ago, I found the following site which has an amazing array of buses and tram models from all over the world including 50's USA.  You may find this interesting:  http://www.sptc-spb.ru/about.htm.  This company is in St. Petersburg, Russia but appears to have everything.  Hope this helps.

Thanks to everybody. I am always impressed with the amount of creativity and thoughfulness that goes into what people here know.  I will definitely look at that website. 

I didn't know there was a bus museum at Hershey, and I have a brick outside the car

museum just like at the TCA Museum in Strasburg!  I need 1930's-1940 bus bodies to

kitbash into railbuses per the Keilty books.  That must be recent...will have to check that out...

Its not a kit, but apparently this Corgi Flixble Clipper will be out in October 2013.

General Motors made their Old Look transit and suburban buses from 1941 to 1959 when they introduced the Fishbowl. Up to 1942 they were the Yellow Coach Division after 1942 they became GMC. Through WWII the windows were spaced evenly with square corners. after the war the windows were in pairs and curved corners  The 35 passenger old look with square windows was continued until 1968.

FYI John D Hertz founded the Yellow Cab Co in Chicago. He later started the Yellow Manufacturing Co to Manufacture Taxi Cabs  Then he created the Hertz Rent A Car Co.

General Moters  gained control of Yellow Manufacturing Co in 1925 and  Continued producing buses and started making trucks for GMC. .

 A square window Yellow or GMC bus

A round cornered window GMC bus

A late '40s Fageol Twin Coach

I wish someone would produce these, They were common from the late'40s to the early '60s

Here is an old look GMC suburban bus. It has Taller windows and no standee windows.They also had more comfortable seating and usually didn't have a rear door.

The aluminum fluting was likely applied by the bus co to modernize the look