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Post by sd40dash2 on Mar 23, 2021 3:31:33 GMT -8
The inspiration for this thread originated from off-topic discussion in Christian's Taco Bell thread. I feel this hobby does a very poor job of representing the common vehicles one would typically see in 1980s North American middle class traffic. I'm not talking about hot rods, rare or oddball cars, foreign, muscle cars or showroom queens here. This is for the everyday "Big 3" stock you would see running errands in normal traffic. List below may have errors/omissions and will be WIP.
CARS
Ford
Country Squire station wagon (was this the inspiration for the family truckster?)
Escort
Maverick
Mercury Grand Marquis
Lincoln Continental Mark V
Gran Torino
Thunderbird Super Coupe Mustang (tiny fuel efficient version) LTD Taurus (1987+)
Granada First generation (1975–1980)
Granada Second generation (1981–1982)
Mercury Monarch (1975–1980)
Mercury Cougar (1981–1982)
Lincoln Versailles (1977–1980)
GM
Chevrolet Celebrity
Cadillac Pontiac Parisienne (US version Impala) Oldsmobile Cutlass/Cutlass Supreme Chevy Malibu Citation/Phoenix Z-28 Camaros Iroc-Z Buick Grand National Buick Skylark (small car 1984+) Buick Century Pontiac Fiero Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight
Chrysler
Chrysler New Yorker 1970s Fifth Avenue/New Yorker (classier '80s version with 4 front square lights) Plymouth Fury Diplomat Cordoba Dodge Valiant Dodge Dart Dodge Aspen (sedan and wagon)
Chrysler K-car
PICKUP TRUCKS
GMC Sierra Classic/Chevy Silverado Ford Ranger/F150 1979-86
Ford Ranger (smaller mid-late '80s version) Dodge Dakota (1987+ mid-sized)
VANS
Dodge Magic Wagon (1984, first fancy family minivan)
Ford Econoline
POLICE CARS/TAXICABS
Plymouth Fury Dodge Caravelle
CITY TRANSIT BUSES
New Flyer D40
Orion I and V
Gillig
GMC Fishbowl (produced by Rapido)
HIGHWAY BUSES
Grey Goose MC-9, 102DL3 (MC-7 and MC-9 now available from Iconic Replicas) Crown Firecoaches
MCI various GMC buffalo hump
TRUCK TRACTORS
Ford CL-9000
Ford L-9000 sleeper
GMC General
Newer mid-'80s Peterbilt
Pete 377 KW Brute
IH Cargo Star
Lodestar
Aeromax
Hopefully this thread can be a handy reference for mfrs considering what vehicles were the most common and therefore most needed by model railroaders. There remains a significant gap in affordable, quality RTR HO scale cars, pickups, buses and trucks from the 1970s and '80s. They should be a regular stock item, rather than just produced once and forever rare afterwards. I would also suggest models with boring colours, properly detailed and proportioned wheels (with removable hub caps, as many cars had 1-2 missing or were transported with hub caps off) and correct front grillework and lights. Atlas Ford F100 and the Ford sedan get high marks plus Model Power had some RTR VW bugs and buses around 2008 that did an excellent job with these points.
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Post by ucfknight on Mar 23, 2021 4:37:42 GMT -8
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Post by gevohogger on Mar 23, 2021 5:12:58 GMT -8
Needs more mid-size models..... Ford Granada, Dodge Dart, Dodge Aspen, Chevy Malibu, etc. Replace Parisienne with its much more familiar US version, the Impala.
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Post by lars on Mar 23, 2021 5:16:52 GMT -8
Not quite sure what you're asking here. Are you looking for additions to the list? Might want to break it out by decade, too. It probably wasn't til the late 80's when the notion of 150,000+ mi cars you could own for 10+ years started to exist. Looking at the 80's you're missing the K-car and the Dodge minivan and a slew of GM variants. It's probably easier to break it down by platforms for the Big 3, since 3+ brands could be essentially the same car Just peruse the list of GM, Ford and Chrysler platforms on Wikipedia for a start. On the truck front, you had the heyday of big COEs through the 80s. Mack ruled the vocational front with the R, DM and U trucks. Ford had a strong hold with the L/LN platforms and International did as well with their S models. On the OTR side, besides the COE models, you had the Pete 359 (the best Pete history site is here) and the KW T600 that came out in 1984. The 80's was getting towards the end for White trucks and Freightliner was just starting to grow on their own. I also remember a lot of LTL companies back then like Yellow or Consolidated with their single axel trucks and pups. I remember a lot of GM Brigadiers, Ford LS's and Whites on those. |
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Post by lvrr325 on Mar 23, 2021 9:19:03 GMT -8
As I noted in the other thread, there exists a Maverick, as well as an early Escort and Granada. The Maverick is a 1970, but they didn't change a whole lot before being discontinued in 1976, primarily impact bumpers the largest visible change.
Busch or someone makes a first gen Dodge minivan, too. Caravan, or Town & Country, not sure what a magic wagon is.
CMW just announced 70s Chevy pickups.
The Aspen was a Dodge branded car in this era, while the Valiant was Plymouth and Caravelle was at least in the mid-80s a K-car based Plymouth (I just did the research on these because I picked a digital dash cluster out of an 86 Lebaron Turbo in the junkyard to try to sell).
I will say Chrysler products can be confusing because in 1977-78 they downsized some models by simply moving the model name down, the Plymouth Fury for instance moved from the full size platform to the mid-size. The Dodge Charger one year is identical to a Cordoba and then gets moved to a compact body by the 80s. There are two models of the sedan from this era, Williams Brothers and Praline or I forget who and I just looked at it last night. These are the police car you saw on like every TV show in the 1980s, but most prominently on The Dukes of Hazzard.
As to what cars to have on your layout in this era, try and track down some period photos of traffic jams, parking lots and the like and if you can't ID the cars post them for others to list out. People's old vacation pictures can also be a source for this (for instance, if I was modeling around Los Angeles in 1957, I just picked up some with some incredible photos showing the traffic and vehicle mix there). In 1985 most of your cars will be up to 15 years old with a small scattering of older cars, and probably 60-70% American cars. This range can extend further in the south and west; in the salt belt typically they were too rotted to drive by then.
It's also possible to cheat, for instance if you can find a 1978-ish Mitsubishi Lancer, they sold it in the US in both Plymouth and Dodge branded versions. Both the Chevette and Monza were sold as Opels in Europe, although they have a trunk the US version doesn't, you can just park them with the back facing away, or if you wanted to do the surgery to convert one you could then use it for a buck to copy it in resin.
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Post by riogrande on Mar 23, 2021 9:47:23 GMT -8
Hopefully the CMW 70's Chevy pickups will fit in the lower level of open auto racks.
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Post by gevohogger on Mar 23, 2021 10:03:57 GMT -8
Busch or someone makes a first gen Dodge minivan, too. Caravan, or Town & Country, not sure what a magic wagon is.
Magic wagon was a Canadian name (perhaps an unofficial one) for the new Chrysler minivans when they first debuted. Some (or many?) were built in Canada so they were a big deal at the time.
OP's list is very Canada focused.... For example, the Caravelle he mentions as a police car is likely the Dodge Diplomat twin, not the FWD version you mentioned.
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Post by sd40dash2 on Mar 23, 2021 10:28:43 GMT -8
Thanks for all the comments! I never realized some of those were Canadian-only. A lot of the entries on the list are from personal memories of rural Manitoba traffic back then. Those cars were super common!
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Post by fr8kar on Mar 23, 2021 10:41:30 GMT -8
Monogram Mini Exacts was a line of contemporary and classic autos produced in 1988 or 89. From what I understand the tooling was sold to Herpa. The line included a good variety of sports cars and exotic cars, but Z-28 Camaros and Ford Thunderbird Super Coupes were pretty common daily drivers for the era so a collection of these cars doesn't necessarily have to look like a car show. I'm interested most of all in the Buick Grand National, since the GM plant traffic I model produced the G platform during my modeling era.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2021 10:41:36 GMT -8
By the 1980's the Ford Maverick should have been gone.
Also, during the '70's there were large numbers of Ford Gran Torino/Mercury Montego automobiles. The Ford Granada did not come until AFTER the mid-size Ford Gran Torino's were dropped, if I recall, circa 1978 or 1979. Ford offered Gran Torino's from 1968 through at least 1977, if not 1978. That was their mid-size car. The Starsky and Hutch car in bright red with the white stripe is a 1976 Gran Torino. Years 1974 through 76 are identical, rear quarter (side) windows changed in 1977, but the distinctive flared rear quarter panels lasted from 1972 through 1978. Oh--there also were fastback Torino's during '72 and '73 (Clint Eastwood Movie Gran Torino has a 1972 with the reflective striping package on it).
The re-designed Ford Thunderbird debuted during 1986, if I recall correctly, and won Motor Trend Car of the Year.
I believe the Ford Escort debuted during 1984.
The horrible Mustang II's were sold from 1974 to 1978. The redesigned Mustang came in 1979, was the Indy Pace Car that year, and continued in production till 1993, with good numbers sold throughout the '80's and '90's. In 1994, the next generation Mustang came along, much different.
(My family had a '73 Gran Torino, a '74 Gran Torino, and my first car was a '79 5.0 liter Mustang, driven from CA and traded in, rust free, in PA). |
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Post by peoriaman on Mar 23, 2021 16:54:33 GMT -8
Nothing is more "80s" than the Pontiac Fiero.
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Post by GP40P-2 on Mar 23, 2021 17:19:36 GMT -8
New Flyer D40 Orion V diesel and CNG Grey Goose highway coaches Truck tractorsFord CL-9000 Ford L-9000 sleeper GMC General Newer mid-'80s Peterbilt [/p]
[/quote] The Ford CL have been done by Lindberg in their second incarnation of HO trucks, but they haven't been seen for a while, and who knows where the molds are. The conventional/Aeromax would be good to see. The GMC General (and Chevy Bison) have been done by Herpa, and are relatively good (better than their Pete). The Pete 377, KW Brute, good choices, but IH Cargo Star and Loadstar would be good for local P/U trucks, with things like garbage bodies (rear load and front load are needed). So many more White, Brockway, Mack (hey Athearn!!), CCC, Marmon, Diamond Rio, and for the Canuks, Western Star, Hayes, Pacific. Buses, we need some west coast schoolies from Crown and Gillig. Throw in some Crown Firecoaches as well. We need far more MCI over the road buses, and a GMC buffalo would be useful as well. City buses could benefit from some Gillig Phantoms, GMC RTS, and Orions. Crown was a local Los Angeles company, so right up Athearn's alley, and seen all over TV and the movies. |
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Post by lvrr325 on Mar 23, 2021 17:41:12 GMT -8
By the 1980's the Ford Maverick should have been gone.
Also, during the '70's there were large numbers of Ford Gran Torino/Mercury Montego automobiles. The Ford Granada did not come until AFTER the mid-size Ford Gran Torino's were dropped, if I recall, circa 1978 or 1979. Ford offered Gran Torino's from 1968 through at least 1977, if not 1978. That was their mid-size car. The Starsky and Hutch car in bright red with the white stripe is a 1976 Gran Torino. Years 1974 through 76 are identical, rear quarter (side) windows changed in 1977, but the distinctive flared rear quarter panels lasted from 1972 through 1978. Oh--there also were fastback Torino's during '72 and '73 (Clint Eastwood Movie Gran Torino has a 1972 with the reflective striping package on it).
The re-designed Ford Thunderbird debuted during 1986, if I recall correctly, and won Motor Trend Car of the Year.
I believe the Ford Escort debuted during 1984.
The horrible Mustang II's were sold from 1974 to 1978. The redesigned Mustang came in 1979, was the Indy Pace Car that year, and continued in production till 1993, with good numbers sold throughout the '80's and '90's. In 1994, the next generation Mustang came along, much different.
(My family had a '73 Gran Torino, a '74 Gran Torino, and my first car was a '79 5.0 liter Mustang, driven from CA and traded in, rust free, in PA). Maverick was sold through 1977 although the Granada was intended to replace it; those were sold 1976-1982 (and sold as an LTD in 1983). The 9th-gen Thunderbird, the rounded aero style, debuted in 1983. The North American Ford Escort debuted in 1981. Walthers, in the Magnuson line of cast vehicles, offered a 1978-ish Olds Omega, which is a dolled up X-body Chevy Nova; they're not too hard to find yet. Life-Like's initial auto offerings, while one piece cast with no underframe or interior, do fairly accurately represent a Chevy Citation and a Ford pickup both about 1979-80; the same Ford pickup Atlas has done, but the LL version has the later rectangular headlights. These were replaced with so-so examples of a 56 Ford pickup and 53 Chevy hardtop, but retained the same wheels, giving you a good source for 13-inch wheels to replace the oversize tires on some of the Motor Max Fresh Cherries cars. GM cars of this era are sorely lacking but I believe they consider these toys and only the largest full size cars will pass a choke tube test so that is all they have allowed to be made. I think it's Onyx who does the very high end, highly collectible HO autos; they offered a 1976 Chrysler New Yorker wagon which if you get real lucky you might find under $30. Pricey, but these cars need nothing and look great out of the package. |
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Post by GP40P-2 on Mar 23, 2021 18:13:39 GMT -8
Oh, two more. If any manufacturer really wanted to PRINT MONEY, the USPS delivery Jeep and Grumman ULLV are just sitting there waiting to be done. Model railroaders, auto hobbyists, and postal employees would buy them.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2021 19:13:59 GMT -8
My bad on the Escort intro and Tbird revision dates. I do think the 86' bird won awards...
All of this is unfortunately why my fully enclosed 'racks tend to move empty. Besides, depending upon the model, it's pretty hard to see the cars.
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Post by lars on Mar 23, 2021 19:29:12 GMT -8
Oh, two more. If any manufacturer really wanted to PRINT MONEY, the USPS delivery Jeep and Grumman ULLV are just sitting there waiting to be done. Model railroaders, auto hobbyists, and postal employees would buy them. Both have been done in 1/64 by Geeenlight so the market might be a bit smaller. |
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Post by Frank on Mar 23, 2021 19:36:17 GMT -8
Oh, two more. If any manufacturer really wanted to PRINT MONEY, the USPS delivery Jeep and Grumman ULLV are just sitting there waiting to be done. Model railroaders, auto hobbyists, and postal employees would buy them. Saw both in HO on the auction site going for a few hundred each recently. I believe they may have been built resin kits. Not sure. But the detail was impressive. Geography helps my vehicle cause, the rural south had a pretty strong bias towards pickups instead of cars in the 70’s and 80’s. Once the CMW Chevy’s come around it should allow me to fake variety until more of the real deal comes around. Maybe Oxford Diecast will keep moving their line to include some 70’s/80’s models. |
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Post by lvrr325 on Mar 23, 2021 20:55:12 GMT -8
Best I can do is the Lindberg Mini-Lindy Studebaker postal truck from like 1963. No idea how close to scale those are or how long they lasted. I know the model was run a couple times, I think the 80s era Lindberg kits that came with a plastic garage had it in the line.
Would think the Jeep would be pretty easy, make a standard Jeep and then cast the top and doors as a second piece that goes right over the tub, and maybe you have to decal some stripes and generic-ish logos on there yourself. The Grumman, who knows, given they're USPS only it depends who owns the rights to the design. Although all they are is an aluminum body on an S10 Blazer frame, underpowered with a 4 cylinder engine.
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Post by runs2waynoka on Mar 23, 2021 21:14:52 GMT -8
Oh, two more. If any manufacturer really wanted to PRINT MONEY, the USPS delivery Jeep and Grumman ULLV are just sitting there waiting to be done. Model railroaders, auto hobbyists, and postal employees would buy them. Both have been done in 1/64 by Geeenlight so the market might be a bit smaller. Showcase Miniatures makes kits for those Grumman mail trucks in HO. I need to build mine. I remember occasionally seeing these or whatever they were buying at the time shipped in open top auto racks with side panels as late as the early 2000s. |
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Post by champagnetrail on Mar 24, 2021 10:53:18 GMT -8
Most of all, I'd like a Ford LTD and all its variants, because they were the main vehicle being made at Mahwah (NJ) Assembly. I could use at least 72 of them. As I understand it, the Ford Granada was made beginning in 1975, but maybe that was for the 1976 model year.
-pat
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Post by bdhicks on Mar 25, 2021 6:54:59 GMT -8
I'd like to see the Ford Econoline done. Mostly I'd like the first generation model, but second generation would be good, too.
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Post by Frank on Mar 25, 2021 17:47:42 GMT -8
There was a discussion some time ago about vehicles, specifically, and fixing the Motormax/Fresh Cherries cars. I ran all of the undercarriages on mine over a belt sander, there’s a built-out notch on the bottom for attaching to the base they come in. Usually fine and dandy, but if you replace the wheels to correct height some will sit on the display build out and not the tires. If you really want to help this line you need to strip and repaint them, some have thick thick paint hiding details.
Replacing the tires on the Atlas F-100’s is critical too, throw on some of the Plano mirror and window details and you end up with a fine product.
Classic Metal Works is wildly hit or miss. I was bitterly disappointed with their most recent trucks. Especially the ones that came with boats and trailers as a set. Yet, the Buick station wagons were sharp. The Chevelle models they made need the hood removed and filed down at the edges so the hood sits flush. I don’t remember if that was a problem with their Impala or not too.
For the longest time I thought manufacturers were doing a poor job of getting basic dimensions correct, but once you standardize wheels/tires and match the detail they blend so much better. I think the Neo models stuff were the only ones I measured as truly oversized in terms of hard dimensions. Not too noticeable until placed next to other cars.
During my searches, I stumbled upon the Model Power stuff from long ago.. probably the best out of the box. I believe these are shared models with the Schuco brand and the same folks who made those may now be doing things for Oxford Diecast as well.
As you can see there truly is not a lot of consistency with vehicles unless you do the corrections yourself. My main issue is people who view my layout much more closely relate to the cars and road detail than they ever do trains. So, it is a detail we need to have mostly correct if we expect them to assume our train research is also mostly correct.
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Post by lvrr325 on Mar 25, 2021 19:57:30 GMT -8
Yes, I'm glad CMW got away from opening hoods because almost all of them don't fit the vehicles properly. The 48 Ford F1 pickup/van looks pretty bad. The latest ones aren't even metal, the Buick wagon for instance, has a plastic body.
I had the 54 Ford Coke truck and the cab is based on their 1-ton so the fenders do not fit large truck wheels properly and it doesn't look right either. Somebody bought it though.
They have instead gone into resin cast accessories now and those leave something to be desired. The garbage truck looks okay but the sides are all wavy between the ribs, it looks like you took the body off an old Greg's Garage cast resin vehicle and put it on there - except I think the GG body was a better casting. The boats and trailer are more of that resin stuff.
Model Power's cars were made by High Speed in Hong Kong; there was a dispute because the company sold some that were supposed to be Model Power exclusives to others and MP quit using them, which resulted in that Reel Rides series appearing at Wal-marts instead of being sold by Model Power. At some point MP discovered they couldn't do better with someone else and went back on a limited basis with a new contract outlining what was specific. Of course that's all long since moot with MP going bankrupt and being bought by MRC who has since sold a large portion of the assets to Lionel.
The '69 Cutlass they did is excellent.
Oxford diecast seems to be following this same model, I agree it may be even having the same company make the cars, although most of theirs are older stuff. The Dodge Charger they did is pretty nice (and cries out for orange paint and a certain no longer PC flag decorating the top). Not sure why they did a Charger Daytona too other than it was easy to do both; it's sort of like some of the wilder exotics in the old Monogram Mini Exacts line, great if you collect cars, but kind of useless on 99% of train layouts because it's something you never see, or if you do you see one. I had to go to the Petty Museum in Randleman to see one in person. Lamborghini, in traffic, every day? I think I saw one last week here and was shocked, might be the first one I've ever seen in pothole infested upstate NY.
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Post by Frank on Mar 27, 2021 6:42:15 GMT -8
I checked my ‘78 Impalas from CMW and they don’t seem to have the same noticeable hood issues like the Chevelle. The Impala isn’t terrible, I can’t remember if I changed those wheels over to the Busch ones or left on the stock set. Those station wagons indeed had plastic bodies, which is ironic coming from Classic “Metal” Works. I do hope their new trucks coming this summer are indeed metal.
The Model Power line had the awesome Oldsmobile mentioned, a 1968 El Camino, and a 1970 Barracuda. I tried to find others but I think that is it for their higher quality vehicles. Reel Rides seems hit or miss too, the 1972 C-10 just seems awkwardly out of proportion. There was of course Bandit’s ‘77 Firebird, a 1970 GTO, and a early 80’s Cadillac in that line too.
I do hope Oxford keeps moving forward in era with their line. The Charger is great, I bought several. But they weren’t exactly at every stop sign in rural America.
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Post by idgara on Mar 27, 2021 8:57:23 GMT -8
CMW vehicles seem to all plastic and resins now. It does make them easier to drill to add mirrors. The larger trucks all have double saddle fuel tanks, a detail I wish they’d eliminate, wheels seem cheaper too. Also note that a lot of cabs don’t fit right on chassis, you have to remove and file some and refit. The new release International tractors have fifth wheel glued in backwards. The 40’s through 60’s beer trucks shouldn’t be refrigerated either.
On another note, Walthers , used to sell a decent International loadster feed truck back in the nineties, those loadsters were everywhere, box trucks, fuel oil, dumps, etc..
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Post by riogrande on Mar 27, 2021 14:31:16 GMT -8
It doesn't bother me they aren't metal. In fact plastic is probably lighter so I'd you use them for open auto racks so light is better.
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Post by lvrr325 on Mar 27, 2021 19:20:34 GMT -8
With the Reel Rides cars, the C10 seems to be based on a Blazer and someone mid-way through decided it should be a pickup.
The 1981 Eldorado side windows are not tall enough, it looks awkward.
The rest are okay, although the modern Mini-Cooper is too big, it's slightly larger than HO scale.
Somewhere I picked up a badly painted International Loadstar that has a very nice, hollow resin casting. It either came in a collection or I fished it out of a junk box, so no idea who made it. IIRC the Walthers one is a solid cast from the Magnuson line. Most of those are two piece and you can swap cabs to bodies around.
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Post by idgara on Mar 27, 2021 19:45:55 GMT -8
The second run of walthers internationals were hollow cabs, they came as feed trucks, they also did a Mack R 10 wheel dump truck with a hollow cab, about mid- nineties. I wish I bought more.
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Post by fr8kar on Mar 27, 2021 22:17:54 GMT -8
With the Reel Rides cars, the C10 seems to be based on a Blazer and someone mid-way through decided it should be a pickup. The 1981 Eldorado side windows are not tall enough, it looks awkward. The rest are okay, although the modern Mini-Cooper is too big, it's slightly larger than HO scale. Somewhere I picked up a badly painted International Loadstar that has a very nice, hollow resin casting. It either came in a collection or I fished it out of a junk box, so no idea who made it. IIRC the Walthers one is a solid cast from the Magnuson line. Most of those are two piece and you can swap cabs to bodies around. I bought a Loadstar cab with interior from a seller on Shapeways. It looks great. I've got an Athearn Ford C chassis to put it on if I can ever scare up some modeling time. |
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Post by Funnelfan on Mar 28, 2021 4:27:15 GMT -8
Probably would be more helpful to list what is available. Wish we could see more stuff like the Fresh Cherries line of diecast vehicles that gave a lot of common cars of the 70's and early 80's
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