O scale Motor Vehicle Chronicle Feb 27

My latest purchases.

Welcome back..not nice weather to come home to, for sure! Us car and train nuts

missed these postings.

Two of my favorite cars of all time were fastback hatchbacks.  I camped/slept in, all over the west in two of them, in 1966 and 1969...a 1966 Dodge Charger (this style was made only two years...I was the only person who liked them...I would buy a modern one with a fuel efficient four, and a six speed).  It was incredibly practical and a great tow car for loaded car trailers, which it would not be with the four, but times (gas prices) have changed.  I hope Brooklin or somebody has not made a 1966-67 Charger

model, as it is 27 years beyond my model era and I have no business buying one.

The second, of which two were owned and both later sold to collectors, were 1967 Plymouth Barracudas.  One was certainly used as a tow car, with its 383 V-8, but was really too small a platforn for that use.  After that came a couple of AMC Spirits, again fastback hatchbacks, and then '87 and '93 Mustang hatchbacks.  The '93 was a leftover

tracked down out of state when Ford foolishly dropped the four and the hatchback

for the Mustang in '94.  (after these, I was forced to go to Japanese makes)  Detroit just does not now get fuel efficient and practical, with style. (not that the AMC's or

the Mustangs had much "style")

Cool topic Richard.  I missed you while you were away!

I have a bunch of fastbacks on my layout.

 Including that '49 Cadillac . . . 

And some fastbacks that are newer than we are really talling about, and fastback for technical reasons, but cool nonetheless . . .

Some of those I really would like to own . . . 

Some are elegant and expensive but I wouldn't want to own then . . . 

Some I definately would not want to own (early Bristol)

And of course, there is this . . . 

Some weren't ugly, but weren't really pretty either. 

Some were really ugly . . .

Well, maybe a lot of them were . . . 

and then there is my favorite . . . 

Some of my favorite fastbacks were dad's 1977 280z, mom's 1980 280zx, my 1981 200sx (made modifications virtually identical to the Car and Driver project car with similar results), my 1987 200sx V6 (a lot of fun but not as fun as the 1981), then my son's ("Mr. Drift") 1991 240sx.

My all-time favorite was my 1986 Porsche 928. It's making me nuts that Porsche built the Panamera instead of a new 928 and they've been dangling the new 928 carrot in front of us for the past give years. Prices of used 928's have gone through the roof which makes me kick myself even more for selling mine more than 10 years ago.

Mention of the 928 reminds me of the time I almost bought a 928 that had belonged to John Denver. It was some kind of "Champagne Edition" with a special paint job. It really was John Denver's car; the guy selling it had been Denver's accountant or financial manager or something like that. He had title records showing the car titled in Denver's real name (Henry J. Deutschendorf). The price was right, it was pretty cheap, but I didn't buy it for three reasons. First, there was something wrong with the electrical system that was going to cost a fortune to fix. Second, while it drove great on the freeway, around town it was a tank. And third, I hated the color. I wound up buying a 944, which was a much more practical car and easier to maintain, but if I had that 928 now it would probably be worth a fortune.  And it sure was fast.

Here are two fastbacks that could hardly be more dissimilar:  A 1935 Fiat 1500 and a  Cadillac from a Lionel Evans Auto-Loader.

Yes, they had their quirks. Drank fuel in traffic, but sipped it on the highway (16mpg in stop&go; 28mpg on a 70mpg road trip); quirky AC control system; but they were fast. Cruised along I-15 to Vegas at 100mph just as smooth as silk; at 140 on a closed course it was very stimulating.

This week's contribution.

1948 Chevy Aerosedan Fleetline in civilian & police trim.  1:24 diecast.

Tom B

Spence, those are handsome funeral vehicles.

Passenger Train Collector, nice Desoto!

Boxcoupler, that's a gorgeous red Aerosedan.  How I wish someone would make one in 1/48 or 1/43 at a reasonable price.

Here is another of my favorites, an Ertl 1961 Ferrari SWB.

My parent's first car was a '47 Ford, which looked more like a "humpback". I bought a new Mustang fastback in '67. Some of the 1940s GM fastbacks looked great in 2-tone paint combos.

One of the Country Club wood kits we reproduced a few years back.  Patterns for the kit were taken from an extremely original installation on a former Dick Kughn car.  We no longer produce the kit.

Bruce