O Scale Motor Vehicle Chronicle Nov. 21

This thread is one of my favorites, keep it going.  Here are pictures from the ATHS convention in 2010 at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, CA.  The stud in the first picture is my son, there are lots of old truck photos in the album, and toy train picts and vids in the other albums.

Those original Eldorados were really fantastic cars!

There isn't one. A pal of mine owns one of those touring cars and I confirmed with him that nobody makes one in 'our' scale or close to it. I was looking for one for my layout to stick into a garage...

Brian - That is a really nice car.  Who makes it?  I love convertibles with the tops up and it has a continental kit.  Very nice.  I know an executive in my town of Spencer that would like to drive one like that. 

Art

Art:

It is by Vttesse and I purchased it from Die Cast Direct at York. I love this model as well.

Just think of the alternate history and timeline scenarios if Alco had succeeded in the auto and truck industry and eventually began producing heavy trucks to compete with the railroads.

The first transcontinental motor fright shipment was by Lyons Transport Limited in an Alco truck

This '53 Eldorado, plus the '53 Buick Skylark and Olds Fiesta are the only production cars that I know of with a "chopped top". The Eldorado, Fiesta, and Corvette were the first with a wraparound/panoramic windshield.

Numbers of makes of trucks, like number of makes of cars, made in America, were once many and varied.  Some survived later than a variety of cars, after WWII, and were once familiar names like White and Reo. I think there are still some small specialty truck builders such as FWD that are under the radar.  I don't know the current status of Mack, a very long truck maker that once had Otto Mears, Colorado's

famous narrow gauge RR pioneer, in its company management.  (he had a Mack rail vehicle built, but apparently it never made it into service on any of his railroads)  From my library I  pulled out three books on vintage trucks, with one listing over 300 American trucks,  from Ace to Yellow Truck. I  found that there was a Baldwin truck. 

I was aware of Alco automobiles but have never heard of a Baldwin vehicle.  Wonder if this came from the Baldwin Locomotive Works?   Trucks included the three P's, Packard, Peerless, and Pierce-Arrow, Stanley (steam), and Stutz, known

for fire engines.  Pre-war truck models, like pre-war car models, of interesting, often

defunct makes, are of interest here.

Was the Baldwin truck made by Baldwin locomotive works?  It would be fascinating it it was.  I can find nothing about it. 

Great stuff, Richard and all.  I look forward to this link every week.  I had heard of Alco automobiles, was not aware of trucks, although it makes perfect sense, considering the companies heavy duty RR products. 

Interestingly, (to me, anyway) is that neither an Alco nor the '53 Eldo would be a candidate for my layout.  I stick, pretty seriously to 1950, and fairly common stuff that you would have seen around you in 1950.  IF you would have seen an Alco car around, by that time, it certainly would have been in a museum.  And, of course, the 1953 model was just in somebody's imagination in 1950.

Paul Fischer

One thing you can always use an anachronistic or other out of context vehicle for is a flat car load. It can be on its way to a museum. Same for oddball European cars and foreign military equipment. Of course, that only applies to things older than your time frame.