1970's HO scale autos

[m a y o r 79]

Does anyone have any ideas where I could find some decent looking auto's that would fit a 1970's era? I'm trying to fill up four open auto racks that I have but I cant find anything in the right price range that would work for the early to mid 70's. I have found some cars but they're $5-6 each which adds up to a pretty penny per autorack.

So far I haven't had any luck , I was hoping someone here might have an idea or two.

[kcs1967]

I hit up walmart when they had some, the actually had fresh cherries, mavericks, gremlins, ET AL. I would try local train shows some vendor are very proud(expensive) but come Sunday afternoon prices drop, sell it or pack it, you may not fill up an auto rack but you'll get a start.

[kcs1967]

Something else I have heard of is getting a few and making either molds, or actually forming from aluminum foil. personally I was thinking making molds and forming some cars in that metal stuff that EAstwood sells, but I have not investigated actual cost, I was thinking that stuff because the parts would have weight, and the chrome color would be the base, I have no idea if it would acutally work though.

[ChessieFan1978]

Well the era of cheap autos is gone with the wind. Before the big toy debacle (lead in the paint, etc...) Wal-Mart had lots of Malibu International and Fresh Cherries cars along with Reel Rides. All for around $1.50-3.00 each. I have not seen any of those for at least 2 years now. You still can find some of those cars at train shows for inflated prices. I recall one dealer asking 150% of the price that Wally land sold them for. I'm glad I loaded my racks when I did. I sure would like to have some of those Chevy's made by Brekina but at $19.99 a pop I'll pass.

[m a y o r 79]

Someone should come out with some decent looking plastic cars/trucks/vans that are generic to different eras that we could use to fill these cars up. I believe a tri-level holds what 12 -16 autos? Thats $40-50 per car just for the load. Plus if you go the Malibu/Fresh Cherries cars your adding considerable un-needed weight to the cars.

I dont know, seems a little too expensive to me. I guess I'll just keep running them as empties on the rear of my trains for now.

[cbq2bn]

Acually if we stop and think about this for a a minute, is 3-5 bucks for a car that bad?
I mean look at rail car prices right now, Rapido, Exact Rail, Walthers and Athearn RTR stuff,
20.00 plus a pop... 30 or more at LHS...
Junk stores is a good places to look, good will, ect ect,
OR...... what you could do, check into the.... ummm, darn it I forgot the names, lol, let me go look,
Oh yeah, the HO (slot car) Thunderjet cars, you can find the pull back action ones in Lots of Mid 70s cars in Ebay...
Not saying buy this, but you get the idea. and they have some good looking cars to,
cgi.ebay.com/12-JL-GOLD-CHROME-slot-cars-Aurora-Thunderjet-500-TJET_W0QQitemZ280483758810QQcmdZViewItemQQptZSlot_Cars?hash=item414e2282da

[m a y o r 79]

I guess the point I was trying to make is that one car with a 16 auto load (don't know if thats accurate for a tri-level) would cost $80 for just the load! I've got four cars to fill, so thats $320 just for loads for four cars, plus the $20 I paid per kit. Thats absolutely ridiculous. I can think of thousands of better things to spend $300+ on aside from loads for an autorack.

So yeah, I guess in my mind 3-5 per car is that bad when all I'm really looking for is something that looks reasonably good for a load. I dont need superdetailed autos for a load, but maybe I'm in the minority.

[cbq2bn]

Hey, who makes them bulk packages of cars you see at places like Dollar General and the like, don't they come in like 30 car packs?
Majisto or something like that aint they?

[m a y o r 79]

I dont know, I guess I'll have to make a trip to a store like that and see what they've got. That could solve my problem if the cars look decent.