I’m unsure about the first two, but I think that the PFE and IC reefers might be old Varney cars, the PFE a pre-war, and the IC a post-war when Varney changed over to metal bodies.
I know that Greenburg has a book on Varney products that covers the entire span of Varney manufacturer. Perhaps one of your LHS might have a copy you can go through.
The first car appears to be from Athearn, although the door track attachment holes for it are different than what appeared on slightly later cars. The Swift reefer is definitely from Athearn.
The IC reefer looks to me to be a Varney car, while the PFE car may be an earlier Varney, or perhaps Megow. A lot of manufacturers offered cars of similar construction, so this one may be the hardest to track down.
I know this may not be of help but, these pictures got my attention. Last week while I was looking through an ancient note book which recorded the freight cars I owned when I was about 13 ( 1953), I found a list which recorded type and manufacturer. I then dug deep into the attic and found some of them. I am looking at them as I write this post.
Varney:
Bill board Pabst reefer with metal siding and roof, plastic under frame and plastic ladders
Main Potatoes reefer with metal siding and roof and metal under frame and plastic ladders
Athearn:
PFE reefer with metal siding and roof and metal under frame with wood insert and metal ladders.
Roller Freight box car with metal siding and roof and metal under frame with wood insert and metal ladders.
I do not know when Athearn switched to plastic, but my box car and yours look very similar.
The closest match is my Varney Main Potatoes reefer and your M. D. T. reefer.
With regard to the Athearn PFE reefer that I found in the attic, I recently purchased 12 Accurail PFE wood ( Plastic construction) reefers to begin a reefer block that my AC-12 can pull at the local modular club. I was excited to find another one from the past which I repaired and weathered this week. It actually looks better than the 12 new ones which have cast on ladders and grab irons.
Peter Smith, Memphis
I am adding photos. I am sorry they are not as good as Craig’s. The third picture shows my old Athearn PFE on the left and my new Accurail PFE on the right.
The first car, NYC, is Athern from when the door guides were made of stamped metal, I still have some of these cars.
The second, Swift, is also an Athern refer. The protrutions at the doors are part of the hinge which ingages in slots in the doors. This arrangement was quite delicate. I still have one PFE car, intresting on a siding with doors open.
I think the third, PFE, is Varney all though printed paper sides were common during and pre WWII.
You stated the IC car metal but not what type. If brass, my guess is Silver Streak or Globe. If pot metal Mantua. BTW Globe was the original marketer of F7 shell Athern used for so many years.
Craig, my Varney cars are identfied by name under the frame. My Athearn cars are not because the steel frame has a wood insert under the frame. This may be of some help. If the cars are not Athearn they may like Varney be identified underneath. The Varney markings were very hard to see.