What unusual autos should be done in 1/48-1/43 scale?

AMC Gremlin.   You said unusual.

John

And a Matdor, a Scrambler, a Javelin, a AMX....I'm in for all.

Steve

Here are some pics of some of my 1:43 shelf sitters and F/S models. This is only a small group of what I have.

Bob

Nice cars, Bob...especially the FM, AE, and CC stuff. I have almost every CC top-up and HT color variation.

Hudson J1e speaks for me, too. 

I would also like to see a 1950 Dodge Meadowbrook in this scale at a reasonable price.

The cars from the "Great Race"

Chitty Chitty Bang bang

The original Bat Mobile (55 Ford Lincoln Futura)

The Mark V 

BMW 2002

BMW M1

Austin Martins (all of them :-) DB5 especially.

Herbie (VW Bug)

1962 P1800 Volvo

GhostBusters Herse

Hudson,

I'll second that motion.  I really want to see the everyday cars and trucks of the immediate post-WW II era.  The car manufacturers were just getting their peace time production lines back in gear and the US populace was making do with the pre-war vehicles they had.  If someone could just focus on 1947 or 1948- what would we see on the highway?  What were the top 20 automobile makes of that time?  OK, we know GM (Chevy, Olds, Pontiac, Buick, Cadillac), Ford (Ford, Lincoln, Mercury), Chrsyler (Chrysler, Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto, Imperial), Nash, Hudson, Studebaker - who else?

Also, I'd like to see semis and trailers from that period of time and into the mid-50s as well.  White, Mack, Autocar, REO, who else?

As long as I'm wishin' , I'd like to see a 1950-53 GM bus (not the fishbowl, the "old" style).

Great thread!!!

George

I would like:

(1)  COMMON hardtop American vehicles from the 40's and 50's

(2)  Semis and Trailers lettered with logos of the large trucking compnaies of the the 40's and 50's era

(3)  40's and 50's school busses and municipal vehicles of the era such as snow plows, garbage trucks, etc.

Thanks for this thread!   

Gremlin?  Oh yeah, a Gremlin X in purple - the one that looks like a high-top sneaker.

You forgot the ultimate AMC terrarium on wheels - the Pacer!

I think I'm going to hurl!    

George

Actually, I would like regular cars from the 60's and 70's -  Station wagons, sedans, coupes, vans and pickups.  I've found a few from Dinky, Corgi, and some others.

John

Okay one poster thinks that Auburns, Duesenburgs and Delahayes are to flashy
So how bout an Essex Terraplane or a Singer how bout a Hupmobile or a Fraiser-Nash
That way only the bums will look up to you. Or maybe a Franklin with a frame made of wood instead of metal?
How bout a  Mack  AB . It actually had shaft drive not chain drive like the  AC Mack.4 cyl. engine with 5 inch diameter pistons with a 4 1/2 inch stroke( I just happened to have owned one)
Then you could do the boat car and throw in the hundreds of makes and models that didn't escape the scrappers torch during the metal drives of WW2.

Me I like flashy . I want prosperity on my layout something were not getting these days in America. Packard,Lincoln(Zephyr) Pierce Arrow, and companys like Auburn Cord Duesenburg will always have a place on my layout right next to the T's and A's and the A & B model John Deere's
Hey there's a lot of rich folks in my little town

David

That's funny,
The AMC dealership was right at the end of our street when I was a kid living in Gaithersburg,Md .We were forced to look at every new model as they came in.
I thought the Javelin and AMX were nothing less than cool.
But then you have the Gremlin. My dad said it was an ugly station wagon and when you got it paid for they'd weld on the other half.
He said the Pacer was a gremlin that an elephant had stepped on forcing the sides to bulge out.
The Matadore? the ugliest car ever built and that's taking the Edsel into consideration.

David

Did you say Ghostbusters?

Bob

I'd also buy a '38 Cadillac, '41 Buick, '42-48 Chevy  and '36 Ford sedan IF reasonably priced.

Go to the buy/sell catagory, someone has some fire cars F/S. The Caddy is worth at least $25.00.

Bob

I would like to see a 1/48 scale model of my neighbors 1958 Chrysler Crown Imperial in Baby Blue. I stops me in my tracks everytime. Or his 1930 Pierce Arrow!

Unfortunately, I like the Brooklins! Champagne taste, with a beer budget!

Lou La Salle

I agree with Hudson on his selection of cars for the future.  But in my case my problem is more difficult because I choose to place my railroad layout in a 1950 setting.  My memories of railroading usually centers right around that time period, so all the automobiles and trucks on the layout must be 1950 or earlier.   I recently brought a bunch of "late model" cars from 1955 until 1960 to York and other trains shows to sell. 

The other problem that was mentioned is that so many die-cast manufacturers choose top of the line cars, convertibles and roadsters, etc.  You can only have so many Packards and Cadillac convertibles, or Auburn Speedsters and the layout looks pretty contrived.  So, I have carefully selected and rejected from the available selection of cars and I have over 150 different cars on the layout.  Some of these companies offer a certain make and model in a couple of colors and then discontinue production of those cars.   So you have to make your move quickly; purchase the cars now or they will disappear, soon.

A year or so my loving wife bought me a Brooklyn Models 1935 Nash sedan.  it probably cost her over $100 bucks, but it looks so good on the layout, there among the more mundane $5 and $10 cars, that it improves the whole effect.  So I began looking for deals on these expensive models, Brooklyn, Franklin, Solido and others, and have found bargains at around 1/2 price.  These cars all go towards making the parking lots and thoroughfares on the layout look far more realistic, without costing too, terribly much money.  But, I would love to buy a few more cheap but good models of "ordinary" cars for the layout.

Paul Fischer

Check out http://www.scaleartmodels.com/reatrucks.html We make a resin kit and also do custom-built cowl-length delivery trucks in O scale. 

Thanks,

Scott

I like many of you would like to see more of the common cars of the 40's and 50's. One thing I would love is not a car but a lumber carrier. The hyster that as a kid you would see in every lumber yard. I'd love one for a lumber yard. 

Impala was a '58 introduction; the '57 was a Bel Aire. 

But why only the top of the line?  Why not 150s and 210s? 

I figure I'd throw a little heresy into the topic:  how about a 1/43 Auto Carrier?

Yea!  I had one like this.

Scott those trucks look good. Maybe next month I'll get some and I have the link saved.

Bob

Art wake up and smell the diesel burning. I have mentioned many times before go to ebay and search 1:43 cars & trucks.

Bob

At OCIR in the mid 70's there were a few Gremlin 401XR's that would run. Fun to see that thing pull the front tires and turn a 12-13 second run.

Steve

I had one of those, except it was orange. They actually weren't bad little cars.

I want some hot rods from the 50's and 60's with correct colors and wheels from that era, a Crown Supercoach school bus and a couple of Texaco semi's with tank trailers that aren't decorated for "water service". I don't think these are unusual, but they are either very difficult to find or not produced.

Great thread. It's good to see so much interest in scale sized ordinary autos from different eras.

I loved that movie "The Great Race" and would purchase the cars from that movie even if I was not looking for cars for my train layout.

George (G3750) made a good point about trucks and trailers from the postwar era. These are needed badly too. The few that I've seen were expensive (around $60). That isn't bad if you only need one but if someone wanted to model a freight station that could get expensive really fast. At least for my budget it would.

I hope that someone takes notice of the trend that the interest in scale sized oridnary autos is growing and maybe just maybe does something about it.

Waiting for 1/48 autos is like waiting for the Rules of Chess to change!

I use 1/53 scale trucks and trailers from Tonkin; 1/50 scale Conrad trucks and keep them both away from the 1/43 autos.

Can you name this car? It's actual name only. It isn't what you may think it is but close.

Bob

I agree with those who want to see "everyday" cars. I like to model the '70s-80s, so I'd like to see cars like Pintos, Fairmonts, Caprice Classic, Datsun 280Z, LTD, and other cars you could see near the end of the "rear wheel drive" era.

I believe BK's illustration may be an English Ford (Anglia?) about 1950, as Colorado mentioned.

BK’s model is a 1950 English Ford Pilot.    G3750 Corgi Dose an Old Look (1940 to 1958) GM transit bus in many configurations.
 Many of the requests seem to be driven by nostalgia, but if you want cars for your layout, models of everyday vehicles like 4 door sedans and station wagons would be in order. My personal wish list includes a post war Twin Coach and an International Harvester Metro delivery van. I also wouldn’t mind seeing an early 1950s limousine a hearse and an ambulance.
Most model makers almost certainly will produce new items in 1/43 scale as there is a large collector's market in that scale.

The car shown is an English Ford Pilot made by Dinky/Matchbox with a bit of enhancement by adding whitewall tires .  They usually sell between $5.00 & $10.00.

Bob

I was born in Los Angels and remember the Helms Bakery trucks and the whistle the driver blew to let the Moms know he was in the area. I know there is one company making them but they are a bit pricey. Don

I was born in Los Angels and remember the Helms Bakery trucks and the whistle the driver blew to let the Moms know he was in the area. I know there is one company making them but they are a bit pricey. Don

Don,

These are available now. They  are made by McKenzie Iron & Steel

http://mckenzieironandsteel.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=23

I bought two of them last year for my BTS Coon Gap Mill .

I was going to say that if the Hyster was too modern for you, as it would be for me, somebody was making an early Fordson, but here it is shown above.  If you are into

logging, the magazine you need to search for this stuff, in additon to OGR, is the

Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette.  The odd ball structure and kit builders show

up there, and still, there is stuff being made that it is really hard to learn about...

some are well kept secrets.