Re: Ertl #9500 1939 Texaco Dodge Airflow tank truck

Ertl #9500 1939 Texaco Dodge Airflow tank truck

Although this model is not to O scale dimensions it is an interesting diecast model nonetheless. The model is 8-3/8 inches overall. The scale is approximately 1:38 which makes it too large for O scale. However this truck will be used in a "display track" that will include the classic (but oversize) Lionel 132 lighted passenger station.

Prototype truck data:

1939 Dodge Airflow Tank Truck

This streamlined tank truck connected local Texaco service stations to a larger national distribution network. Each of America's competing oil companies had a branded fleet of trucks that took gasoline from refineries to its retail service stations. Even independently operated stations had to buy gasoline from a big oil company's refinery. This truck's capacity is 1175 gallons. (75 built for Texaco in 1939-1940)

In 1935, Dodge began building a series of trucks that used styling cues from Chrysler and DeSoto Airflow automobiles. They had waterfall grilles similar to Airflow cars, and most seem to have been made for major petroleum producers, among them Esso (Standard Oil of New Jersey) and Texaco.

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