We discovered a brand of scale automobiles and P/U trucks at the local Wal Marts here in Canada. They are around $2.00 and come in several different colors of each car. I bought a bunch, including Pinto, Mavrick, Escort, Accord, Mustang, Pacer,Gremlin, Hornet, Ford and Chevy P/U. These are a pleasant change from the “Exotics” like Ferrari’s and Lambo’s etc that are so common on layouts but unrealistic for everyday life. I was surprised at the great detail on these cheap little cars. They have nice paint, and chrome around the windows and headlights and highlited details etc. Anybody else discovered these?
Those have been available here for so long that Wal-Mart dropped them in some places. I bought a bunch while the store here had them.
Same here. They have the “hot wheels” 1/87 cars now. Well for now [:-,].
So THAT"S where they all went! Grab them while you have them. Like Jeff said, after a bit they willl be gone and just a few Porsche’s will remain. Bright yellow ones at that. I didn’t find out until right before our Wally World cut back. From on this forum actually,and I do believe it was Jeff who mentioned it. Maybe not. Anyway, I should have bought them all at once. I figured I’d found a sweet spot for cars. Who knew?
I still pick up some good looking Model Power cars at Hobby Lobby once in a while. They have a beautiful Olds 442!
The Fresh Cherries are great little cars but not as good as the Model Power cars in my opinion. I’ve got lots of both.
Almost all of the Fresh Cherries cars and trucks are currently in stock at Walthers.
Agree that the Model Power cars look better, but they cost more. Another advantage is they come in later model years for more contemporary scenes. Motormax great for interiors like parking garages.
Hint - buy the set, less expensive that way, & hunt on internet for best price.
Here are some pictures and a post about these I wrote on March 19, 2009. Other forum members contributed some more info in my post about sources and history of these.
http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/p/149929/1660321.aspx#1660321
http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/p/150341/1664829.aspx#1664829
I just cruised the toy car aisle at my WallyWorld and they have some of the Hot Wheels 1:87 cars also.
Tons of Porsche’s but found a couple of VW Beetles, a 2005 Ford Rustang, 2 1960’s Rustangs, and a couple of tricked out Honda Civics. I think they are $1.00 each.
Darn, I can find Hot Wheels only in 1:64 here. Too bad. they have a great variety of interesting things in 1:64 Hot Wheels…not the little track racing thingys whith the funny looking wheel covers, but detailed classics in little dioramas and so on…even some models in rusted and primered bodies.
I found a few at a local wallyworld; mostly sports cars. Only $1 but look like the $3 (I think the Motor Max are better looking, Model Power definitely).
The current production includes the following if you hunt on-line:
’40 Ford Drag Truck (SKU# P1729)
’41 Willys (SKU# P3522)
’55 Chevy® Panel (SKU# P1724)
’62 Chevy® (New tool!) (SKU# P1743)
1966 Batmobile™ (New tool!) (SKU# P1741)
’67 Pontiac® GTO® (New tool!) (SKU# P1745)
’69 Mustang (SKU# P1737)
’70 Dodge HEMI® Challenger (SKU# P1735)
’70 Plymouth Superbird (SKU# P1736)
Custom ’64 Ford Galaxie (SKU# P1738)
Custom ’67 Mustang (SKU# P1719)
Dairy Delivery® (SKU# P1740)
Ferrari F430 Challenge (SKU# P1723)
Ford GTX1 (SKU# P1718)
Ford Shelby GR-1 Concept (SKU# P1717)
Honda Civic Si (SKU# P1726)
Midnight Otto™ (New tool!) (SKU# P1746)
Purple Passion® (SKU# P3521)
Shelby Cobra “Daytona” Coupe® (SKU# P1730)
Volkswagen Panel Bus (SKU# P1739)
My LHS in Ocala (Rob’s Hobby World) has a batch of the Fresh Cherries, as does Colonial Photo & Hobby in Orlando. They’re a little beyond my era (My focus, by necessity, is pretty narrow – I wanted to model Seaboard Coast Line passenger trains, which limits me to the period between 1967, when ACL and SAL merged, and May, 1971, when Amtrak took over SCL’s passenger service). I bought the AMC Gemlin, though, because my first car was a '74 Gremlin X.
I’m also trying to find some of the 1:87 Hot Wheels. The only one Rob’s had was the Shelby GR1 concept, which is way out of my era, but I bought it anyway. Specifically, I’m looking for the '67 & '69 Mustangs, the '62 Chevy, '64 Galaxie, '67 GTO and the '70 HEMI Challenger and Plymouth Superbird, all of which fit in the era I’m modeling.
I, too, love the Model Power cars. Atlas also has some pretty nice HO vehicles from the 1960s. And for yet another cheap alternative, there are a few 1960s American cars available from EKO of Spain (Walthers Manufacturer #265). Specifically, the Lincoln Continental, Plymouth Suburban Wagon, Ford Thunderbird, Chevy El Camino, Dodge Dart, Mercury Comet, Studebaker Hawk and Avanti, Jeep Wagoneer and Ford Falcon. Granted, out of the box, they’re nowhere near as good-looking as the offerings from Atlas and Model Power, but what I like about the EKOs is they represent plain old sedans, coupes and pickups. I don’t remember seeing a large fleet of Olds 442s or Plymouth Superbirds running around Ocala when I was growing up, by I saw a ton of Comets, Falcons, Darts and Wagoneers! I plan to pick up several of the EKOs and repaint them with House of Kolor auto lacquer paints. My guess is they’ll end up looking pretty decent.