Motor Vehicle Chronicle April 22

I will be looking for the '37 Dictator coupe, some time in the future when maybe it is discounted.  Brooklin does choose, as with the Willys above, some obscure vehicles that might be forgotten.  Not obscure is the Olds, which may have begun the OHV V-8 horsepower race, and a car I  can wish my family had first owned, vs. the '51 Chevy, soon traded for a new '54 Chevy.  (I owned a '52 Super 88 convertible, but it was used and abused), and a bigger and "bulkier" car)

I picked up a flyer on a diecast show at York, (am not immediately making THAT return trip) and wonder where diecast show listings might be published?  Since not much is happening in the train world, maybe I could hit a a few diecast car shows and find a few models to stick on my roads?  I did not see much of interest to me in model cars at York.

Ditto for me on the '37 Studebaker coupe.  Pictures of late 30's traffic and parking lots show a lot of them.   Brooklin list prices won't be reasonable...but I'll keep watching auctions and with patience maybe will score one.

As Colorado HiRailer mentioned, I'd be interested in knowing about diecast shows.  Maybe this column would be a good place for a list of locations and dates as a feature some week.  Never been to one, but if it wasn't too far I'd certainly like to.

          Logan

That '50 Olds is nice...could I ask what it costs? I did buy 3 NEO/AE models at York...a '57 Ford HT, '54 Jeep Wagon, and a '56 Lincoln HT. I saw a few others I liked, but I'll wait for more interesting color combos (pale green and white just doesn't do it for me).

colorado hirailer posted:

wonder where diecast show listings might be published?  Since not much is happening in the train world, maybe I could hit a a few diecast car shows and find a few models to stick on my roads?  I did not see much of interest to me in model cars at York.

 

Diecast car shows are few and far between. The big one is held in Chicago once a year. However, the models for sale are very expensive...like $150. to $2,000. each. Other so-called model car shows are mainly larger scale vintage kits for sale. For actual shows, check the "Forum43" website.

In addition to that '37 Stude coupe pictured above, there is a new list of interesting releases due from Brooklin on the DiecastDirect website.  One of which I was surprised to see was that for a 1933 Graham sedan.  But there are SEVERAL, including 1938 Chryslers.  Current with that Graham would be a cycle fendered Hupmobile for that year, but it is sadly not offered.  Too bad these models are $100+.   If Brooklin keeps at it, it will be possible to model a Depression era street, and fill your station parking lot of viewers down to see the Burlington Zephyr roll through.

colorado hirailer posted:

In addition to that '37 Stude coupe pictured above, there is a new list of interesting releases due from Brooklin on the DiecastDirect website.  One of which I was surprised to see was that for a 1933 Graham sedan.  

A more interesting year would be the 1938 Graham Sedan.  Vol 93 of The Keystone Modeler makes a historical case that these were the original styling inspiration for the Baldwin Sharks and not the PRR T1 as originally thought:

I went to the drag races a couple of Saturdays ago and a guy there had a booth set up of die cast and model cars. Not one 1:43rd though

Been done.  Brooklin has long offered a model of the 1941 Graham two door, which is, certainly at 1/43rd scale,  indistinguishable from the 1938-40.  Those can be picked up sharply discounted, and I have two, in the two available colors, on the grounds of my model Graham dealer.  Since there is a Brooklin 1937 Graham Supercharged,  and this 1933 forthcoming, if I can pick those up less expensively, this Graham dealer will also have some used cars in inventory.  Given that Graham is kind of an obscure make, out of business in 1941, it is interesting that Brooklin has made this many Graham models.  Now if they will just make the 1934-36 "ugly Hupp" Hupmobile (they've made the Cord-bodied 1941) these forgotten makes will be honored.  Except for the Model A Ford, Brooklin has not seen to go back beyond 1932 into the exposed radiator years (and dozens of makes), perhaps because many can't tell one from the other without reading the radiator emblem. (and there are late '30's Chrysler products similar to the 1938-41 Graham.

Brooklins are "very expensive" in my opinion....not what I found in the glass squares at Woolworth's as a kid.    But so are many trains at York, but many go to look.  I would like to look at that Chicago show, if I knew when and where it was.  Most of the very expensive stuff, as with trains, are of no interest to me anyway.  (of course, there is the Third Rail L-131)

Joe Hohmann posted:

That '50 Olds is nice...could I ask what it costs? I did buy 3 NEO/AE models at York...a '57 Ford HT, '54 Jeep Wagon, and a '56 Lincoln HT. I saw a few others I liked, but I'll wait for more interesting color combos (pale green and white just doesn't do it for me).

Joe: The '50 Olds coupe cost $70. It is offered in two colors, but so far, that is the only model from Dark Horse Models.

Joe Hohmann posted:

colorado hirailer posted:

wonder where diecast show listings might be published?  Since not much is happening in the train world, maybe I could hit a a few diecast car shows and find a few models to stick on my roads?  I did not see much of interest to me in model cars at York.

 

Diecast car shows are few and far between. The big one is held in Chicago once a year. However, the models for sale are very expensive...like $150. to $2,000. each. Other so-called model car shows are mainly larger scale vintage kits for sale. For actual shows, check the "Forum43" website.

In western New York you will usually find 1/43 diecast vendors at collectable toy shows.

John Sethian posted:

colorado hirailer posted:

In addition to that '37 Stude coupe pictured above, there is a new list of interesting releases due from Brooklin on the DiecastDirect website.  One of which I was surprised to see was that for a 1933 Graham sedan.  

A more interesting year would be the 1938 Graham Sedan.  Vol 93 of The Keystone Modeler makes a historical case that these were the original styling inspiration for the Baldwin Sharks and not the PRR T1 as originally thought:

 Another uniquely '30s styled car was the 1934 Hupmobile Aerodynamic It had a 3 section wraparound windshield and the headlights were flared into the sides of the hood.

One of my earliest auto memories is standing out on the highway (it was then but has been bypassed) waiting for the schoolbus and watching an old farmer tool by in his Hupmobile coupe of that era shown above.  I think I only saw it twice.  That is a version I would buy a model of.  The independents were trying anything to survive the Depression, including streamlining.  Neither Chrysler nor Hupp were successful.  I guess Packard with its 110 and 120 medium price series was the only one with success at the time, in introducing a new model that would get the marque through the Depression and WWII.