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Converting die cast banks to regular die cast race cars


Vietnam Vet67

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Picked up the pictured 4 die cast 2000 model year NASCAR cars at a show this weekend. Three of them are banks (black window cars). Would like to covert them to regular die cast cars with interiors and clear windows. Any idea where I could get interiors or clear glass windows to  do this. I wouldn't mind using current interiors to update the cars. If I wrote Lionel do you think they would help????????

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I'd check eBay for scratch & dent cars to use for the interiors. Even clean cars can be bought for just a few bucks if they're damaged or not particularly popular. I'd be surprised if Lionel could do anything...odds are they only get the finished cars (no extra parts) from the factory, and any damaged returns are probably thrown out

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You might have to keep your eyes open at toy shows, thrift stores and swaps...you might not find Lionel cars, but I do remember other manufacturers doing 1/24 diecasts for mass market, being available for $10-$20 at toy stores back then. I would figure any NASCAR diecast from 1995-2005 era could work. I have a few of the Dodges from that era (which would have used a similar engine to the one in your profile pic!) that I remember picking up for not a lot of $$$...I think they were made by "Winner's Circle", maybe Hasbro or General Mills? Generally, they were available at Wal-Mart, Toys R Us, etc. back before the bottom fell out of NASCAR replicas completely.

There are one or two used toy stores around where I live, I would bet that they might sometimes have "played with" cars like these that you could use to raid for the chassis & interiors. You could always check to see if you have any used toy stores in your area.

When you get into replacing the windows, you might have to be more specific to find the Ford or Chevies that you will need. Also- there are several vendors on eBay that part out older (1990-present) Revell NASCAR kits, you might be able to buy glass sets for a few of these cars that you might be able to adapt.  

I'd stick to using chassis intended for diecasts, as I think the Revell model stuff would be too fragile under diecast bodies, although windows and other small parts might work from model kits.  

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