After reading the post on the Natty Boh reefers, I was just thinking....there were other breweries in Baltimore besides National. Would there be any interest in any of the following: American, Arrow, or Gunther?
Although not in Baltimore, an Old German car might be interesting. Old German was brewed in Cumberland, MD.
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There is probably interest, sure. The problem is, is there enough?
Also, someone has to do the heavy lifting, and I doubt there is much interest - or at least not enough, in volunteering for that. Paul (VAGolfer . . . ) can tell stories, I'm sure, of what was involved in getting the Natty Boh made, but having watched the whole thing unfold here on the forum at it happened, I was impressed with how much work it was: someone is going to have to do that ton of work and put up with a lot of frustration to make it happen. Maybe it is you? I know absolutely, I would't want to be the person who makes it happen.
I worked through a hobby shop to get one Atlas beer reefer made....wanted to do more but could not find good candidates or that Atlas had not identified or was making. The shop went on to do several other Atlas car models of actual cars of
industries in their region. I found a great number of defunct, mostly small, breweries, but little recorded evidence that they had operated their own logoed beer cars. Spent time in libraries, and small town historical societies researching regional
breweries and meat packers. Some rather large and well known breweries did not use
their own leased or owned reefers, although they shipped beer out on railroad provided reefers. One meatpacker with a plant in the area had reefers lettered with
their HQ address in another state but I could not find a photo of a car citing the
local plant. A lot of IF's involved.....
MTH has already done a couple of Old German modern reefersand at least one American Beer modern reefer, so they might be your best bet, if you could somehow show them there is sufficient interest in these other brands. Their Premier 36' woodsided reefers are just as good as Atlas' IMHO. I know that I would be interested in more good-looking Premier woodsided reefers (their recent offerings have been rather bland).
A LHS might also be interested in sponsering a custom run, again, if they thought there was sufficient interest to recover their investment quickly (remember that in most cases, these cars, if done by anyone other than a manufacturer, have to meet minimum production run criteria and have to be paid for in advance - before production is started).
A big problem with this type of thing is getting permission or licensing to use the brand and logos.
As for an individual to attempt something like this, well, after following, from the beginning, Paul's experience getting the Natty Boh cars done, I don't think you will find someone with the guts to try it as a solo project, and the perserverance necessary to see it through to completion.
Andy
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