1950's HO vehicles

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MilesWestern

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Sep 20, 2005
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Where's my Hudson Hornet?

I really don't want to pay "hobby shop" price for my vehicles right now, tight budget. Where else can I find 1930's/1940's/1950's cars, trucks, and busses?

I heard you can find them at Wally World, but what vechicles exactly? Even though I'd rather not shop at WAL-MART I suppose. If anybody can find a good deal I might as well venture there...:D

Where else? What are close? any other places? :confused:

Please help! :confused: :)
 
I dunno what scale your lookin' for but I can't seem to find any HO stuff, lotsa stuff thats close but just a tad big. I can remember when there used to be scads of hot wheels type stuff that was modeled after 40's to 60's cars 'n' trucks , now it's just silly lookin' junk, stuff that would give Big Daddy Roth nightmares
 
There is a company making model power rip-offs and selling them at Wally world. I believe they are called Malibu and there are a 1955 chev and a gull-wing mercedes available in the 50's. These are about $1.50 if you can find them.
I have also found a john lightning 1956 GMC bus that is really close to 1/87 scale (school bus)
All of my other vehicles on my layout are swap meet picks, ranging from: alloy forms, Busch, Wiking, Roco, Walther/magnuson, and woodland scenics. These are generaly higher in price and some (alloy forms and woodland scenics) require painting and assembly.
 
Glen Haasdyk said:
There is a company making model power rip-offs and selling them at Wally world. I believe they are called Malibu and there are a 1955 chev and a gull-wing mercedes available in the 50's. These are about $1.50 if you can find them.
I have also found a john lightning 1956 GMC bus that is really close to 1/87 scale (school bus)
All of my other vehicles on my layout are swap meet picks, ranging from: alloy forms, Busch, Wiking, Roco, Walther/magnuson, and woodland scenics. These are generaly higher in price and some (alloy forms and woodland scenics) require painting and assembly.
Click to expand...

I suspect it is Model Power repackaging their product and giving it another name and lower price due to Wally World's high volumn. Much like the "Wrangler" jeans made without the stitching on the back pocket and sold by Wally World under the "Rustler" name.
 
I also use OOOOLD match box trucks on my layout, they're REALLY close (if a teensy bit small, but unnoticeably so.) and because they're sooo incredibly old they fit my era, and they have the old scale tires, not those ugly fat ones! :thumb:
 
There is a company call IHS which has regular ads in Model Railroader that has 50's and 60's cars in HO scale for around 3.00 each. You might check them out. Also I have found HO and O scale cars at WalMart and Target for less than 5.00 each.
 
There's always ebay, you can usually find a good deal if you're patient. Don't overlook the plastic Life-Like cars, if they're not right at the edge of the layout they look pretty good. In like a parking lot I'll maybe use a CMW or Busch etc. car or two where they're clearly visibile, and fill in with a couple of Life-Like autos.
 
That Malibu and Jhonny Lightning stuff at wally mart, how close to HO is it? I got a 80 mile round trip to the nearest WM so I'm not about to make a special trip with gas 95cents a quart. But it's goin' on 200 miles to the nearest "hobby shop" poor me :cry:
 
Okay, My Dad And I Are Into International Harvester Tractors And Thought It Might Have Something To Do With That. I Know It Is A Liitl Eextreme But When You Are Into Cub Cadets You Get A Disease Called Yellow Fever And My Dad And I Both Have It.
 
I read in another forum that the Malibu cars at WalMart are a product that Model Power used to offer. When their contract with Model Power ended, Malibu (a China-based company) dumped them at clearance rates to Wally World. They are, as others have pointed out, dead on 1/87 scale. These seem to have hit the stores in November or so, and the boxes I've seen at local stores (and yes, I actually went specifically looking for them) have been pretty picked over.

Does anyone have any opinions about the eKo vehicles offered through Walthers? They are reasonable in price ($2 or $3) but the Walthers catalog does not show photographs, which makes me suspicious...
 
Here's a couple of vehicles out there for real cheap. The first pic shows a Harley 'Glide made by Micro-Machines some time back, modified and painted. The two '55s are from the aforementioned Malibu line at Wally World for $1.69 each and are shown in two of the four colors released so far. The truck is a Matchbox Collectables series issue of a 1939 Peterbuilt, certainly within reason for the '50s that can be had for $5 at most flea markets and yard sales. They run about $10 on Ebay with shipping. The lower pic shows another Matchbox Collectables issue, this time a '59 Mack that can be had for around the same as the Peterbuilt.

Jac, ECO vehicles are pretty coarse in detail and slightly larger in scale, 1/86, I think. I used one on my goose bash for which it was perfect. I wouldn't use them as a foreground vehicle but, after carving off the flash, I would choose them over Bachmann for filler stock.
 

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There is also a VW micro bus and beatle in the HO cars sold at wally world,I have two different colors of the buses and I have only found the beatle in black. Jeff
 
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