Brian Austin

Sometimes I have the felling that some people (often on FB) have a rosy picture of the horse-drawn era, particularly whenever gas prices spike. If you dig enough through Google Books and such you can find editorials from the 19th century bemoaning the treatment of commercial horses and the state of the urban street.

Round radiators: https://www.prewarcar.com/round-radiators-revisited

Horses needed constant upkeep, and you still had to deal with their "emissions". And then when horses died on duty they were left to rot where they had stood. It took resources to dispose of them. Not exactly environmentally friendly. ?

There have been numerous fiberglass replicas of the Batmobile and the Futura made over the years. There have also been been a replica or two of the Futura made in metal.

The Gypsum plant line was narrow gauge, so Hy-Rail trucks wouldn't have worked there.

I know of that car. According to a book of unusual railroad equipment, this car shuttled workers along a 26-mile line between the US Gypsum plant and its mine. This blog entry has another image of the car. http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/06/plaster-city-1947-but-what-heck-is.html

An entertaining and informative video of a Ford Econoline that once served the West coast. There's even a brief history of the graphic design elements.

Background info on the Canadian FP-7 locos used in the filming of the movie. https://cinetrains.wordpress.com/tag/silver-streak/

Driving along a highway just south of Boston, I saw a regular small sedan of some sort off the right-hand shoulder missing a front wheel. Then up the road a little I spotted a wheel against the left-hand barrier, missing a car. That must've been one scary ride.

It's kind of a shame someone didn't do a train set tie in with this movie at the time. HO Amroad locos would have been a hoot! ?

What kits are there of the earlier version, without the flares and wings and such?

Steeleye Span - Alison Gross

Barry Dransfield - The Werewolf (1972 cover of song by Michael Hurley)

Banthrico does appear to have done a diecast promo/coin bank/toy Tucker. That may have been the source for the metal model mounted on the ashtray/cigarette holder posted earlier.

It appears photoshopped, as I hinted in my comment above. I think someone copied the car in the image I posted and edited it into a two-door body, which never existed. They then dropped the modified image into the race action scene.

In the early 1900s some manufacturers offered gasoline-electric trucks. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89053821666&seq=321&q1="gasoline-electric"

I meant in terms of sharing pictures of shows and such, when we tend to take hundreds of pictures.

Interesting.

There's a fun scene in one of the Men In Black films where the title characters' car rides the ceiling of a tunnel in New York City to avoid traffic. (Filmed using 1/8 scale miniature set. Several Monogram car kits are evident in the stalled traffic background plate.)

How about some vintage ashtrays/cigarette holders? Car itself is around 8" long. https://www.ebay.com/itm/185745133278 https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/decorative-objects/boxes/decorative-boxes/1948-tucker-automobile-promotional-cigarette-box-ashtray/id-f_5758923/ https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/tucker-maroon-ashtray

Compare this image with the "action" shot a few replies up...

There's something wrong with the #12 in that picture. ?

MPC was purchased by General Mills in the 1970s, along with Lionel Corp. Both brands were often marketed together. From Wikipedia: "In the late 1970s, General Mills created a separate identity for its toy and hobby arm, CPG Products Corporation. During this time, MPC kits were marketed as part of CPG's Fundimensions Division. General Mills's ownership lasted until 1985 when it sold off its hobby companies. ..." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_Products_Corporation Is there no MPC branding on the Firebird kit?

On the other hand, posting several dozen pictures in at a time here can seem a bit overwhelming. ?

I recommend muting the audio...