ATHEARN FORD C SERIES BOX VAN 1-50 SCALE

Simply the best and only trucks made for our era for O.

I have a bunch of stock and custom versions shown on the link below.

Too bad the 60's and 70's trucks have been grossly over looked by companies.

They could make some nice $$$ on them.

Mack Model N trucks built from 1957 thru 1962 used the same cabs as the Ford C They often are confused. I don't know if they were supplied to Mack by ford or if both were outsourced to a body fabricator.

I love the Athearn Fords   I have a gaggle of them  This is one I redid

I wish Somebody would do the White Compact.  This was one of the favorites of many beer companies

Another one I would love to see is a White 3000   DeHanes made on but it is far from being detailed

It's a nice truck.  It would make a good conversion to 'Streets.

Ford C series Box Van

Here is the actual prototype for this model.  The attached Ford C series brochure is from 1980.

Are these trucks still available? A couple of them would look good on the layout.

Thanks,

Richard

I have seen them recently in Trainland in Lynbrook. There are also tractor cabs and stake beds as well.

Try the Train Stop in San Dimas, CA. Last time I looked they had seven or eight in stock at 40% or more off the original price. 909-599-2602 Wed. - Sat. 10 - 5.

Regards,

Randall

PS They also had several of the Athearn fire trucks in stock as well.

That explains a lot. I remembered seeing those C/O Macks and wondered if Ford was making them for Mack. There were a lot of them still in service in the 1970's.

Regarding the Mack 'N' and Ford 'C' cabs - the cabs were built by the Budd Company to Ford Motor Company specifications. Mack bought most of the major cab stampings from Budd and assembled them itself on a floor pan of its own design between 1958 and 1962.

FWD also used the Ford C-cab on a few of its trucks.  The New York Central had an FWD crane truck with a C-cab on it.

Also, don't forget the 1/50th scale Athearn Ford F850 fire engines.  These are some really detailed models.  Very nice, too.

I saw the revell kits but they are in 1:32 I believe

Similar with the original Ford Thunderbirds where Budd built the car bodies.

According to James K Wagner's Ford Trucks Since 1905, the cabs were designed by Ford, tooled at Ford expense and produced by the Budd Co. a major Ford supplier.  Any truck manufacturer which wanted to use this cab had to obtain Ford approval before purchasing.  An exception to this was Mack which bought the major stampings and assembled them on a unique floorpan of it's own design. 

According to Harvey Eckart's Mack Fire Trucks, 1,945 Model Ns were produced between 1958-1962.  Five of these were delivered as fire trucks, the first in 1960, the last  in 1963.

Never seen 1/32 Revell Ford COE kits. They did them in 1/87 scale, later run by Con-Cor. Revell did a series of 1/48 White COE kits which are nice.....some of them reissued in the 1990's.

I suspect that Mack did have to compensate Ford in some way regardless of them buying the stampings from Budd.  Doesn't really matter if the underpinnings are unique or designed separately; the overall cab body cosmetic design and contours right down to the overall shape of the grillwork and how it's positioned in relation to everything else would all be considered a trade dress (similar to a copyright since the design and look is distinctive), a trade dress that I'm sure Mack had to pay for since it uses the same styling cues as the Ford.  And no, doing some minor cosmetic tweaks to the overall design isn't a free pass.

Could also be that Budd actually owned the "trade dress" design in addition to the original stampings and not Ford.   Or it could be that regardless of ownership of the trade dress, they flat out didn't care what Mack did with it but I find that unlikely.

The Ford C series became an instant hit, outselling all other low tilts combined 2 to 1.

There were about 250,000 produced in a 33 year production run that ended in late 1990.

Chevrolet/GMC had a Steel Tilt that closely resembled the Ford.  That was in production from 1960 to 1980.

On Youtube, someone posted a paper model of a Russian low tilt cab that clearly had C series styling cues.  

http://www.trainworldonline.com/search.php?bymanufacturer=420&checkbox[0]=&bycategory=152&x=34&y=12&PAGEN_1=4

Trainworld has some look for O scale $20 each van and fire trucks.

Good for modifications

They look really good.

The Ford C series became an instant hit, outselling all other low tilts combined 2 to 1.

There were about 250,000 produced in a 33 year production run that ended in late 1990.

 

Which proves that just because something is popular doesn't mean that it is any good. 

The Ford C cab was short on headroom and the small engine compartment meant that they were typically underpowered.  For most of their production period they were likely the least expensive truck in their weight class.   

Not cool being up close and personal with whatever you may crash into ..... or whatever crashed into you.  

When I was driving straight jobs, I always rathered a conventional cab than our Ford cab-overs.  Though, working on the engine was a lot easier with the tilt cab.

John K .... the details/weathering of your dioramas continue to amaze me! Great work!

Ford began phasing out the C series with the introduction of the Brazilian-built Cargo in 1986.  By 1990, the Cargo was the only Ford low tilt available.

The C series was "America's favorite refuse truck" and "America's favorite fire engine chassis."  Probably why it stayed in production so long.  However, the dies were about worn out(check the body panel fit on late models) and the competition from more advanced foreign models(Volvo, Isuzu, Renault,etc.) probably sealed the C series fate.

As an aside, Ford quit the heavy truck business in 1997/1998 by selling out to Freightliner.