Common road vehicles in 1984 - cars and commercial

[43110andyb]

Whilst waiting to book our Transit into the fleet repairer today out of the blue this pulls up with a Nov 1980 Coles crane on the back! reg- HYN 397W.

 

An unexpected leap back to the 80's

[ianmacc]

Husky made a few models there or thereabouts that I and others used in the barren years of the 1980s! (Younger folk may not realise the total lack of 1:76 cars for about two decades). Their earlier jaguar saloon cannot have been far off. Be aware they made a later larger one if buying on eBay. Also their Mercedes 220 and Lancia looked ok on a 00 roadscene. An admittedly H0 Scale Commer Walk Through that found a home on many layouts until the Oxford one arrived too.

 

I’ve seen nice jobs on the zephyr estate. Any pics of folks’ attempts at improving husky and Lesney cars always appreciated

[PhilJ W]

Husky made a few models there or thereabouts that I and others used in the barren years of the 1980s! (Younger folk may not realise the total lack of 1:76 cars for about two decades). Their earlier jaguar saloon cannot have been far off. Be aware they made a later larger one if buying on eBay. Also their Mercedes 220 and Lancia looked ok on a 00 roadscene. An admittedly H0 Scale Commer Walk Through that found a home on many layouts until the Oxford one arrived too.

 

I’ve seen nice jobs on the zephyr estate. Any pics of folks’ attempts at improving husky and Lesney cars always appreciated

The Husky Zephyr estate and forward control Landrover were spot on 1/76 scale. Efsi also made a Commer walk-through van that was also spot on for 1/76.

[ianmacc]

Ah yes I remember that one. I actually think a table would be useful reference. Matchbox did a Mercedes 207D van and there was Corgi’s Mercedes minibus and mobile shop.

 

Also lesney made the Thames minibus and I had their Commer radio rentals and ice cream van that seemed ok

Edited November 30, 2018 by ianmacc

[PhilJ W]

Ah yes I remember that one. I actually think a table would be useful reference. Matchbox did a Mercedes 207D van and there was Corgi’s Mercedes minibus and mobile shop.

 

Also lesney made the Thames minibus and I had their Commer radio rentals and ice cream van that seemed ok

All the Matchbox light commercials were 1/76 or very close to that scale so that it didn't notice. The J2 pick-up and the Trojan and Volkswagen vans were 1/75 scale for example.

[ianmacc]

Yes. Huge shame matchbox went larger scale in the later 1960s. It seems hard to believe all through the 80s and 90s you couldn’t get 00 gauge contemporary cars!

 

I took the H0 route with Herpa and Wiking.

[PhilJ W]

Yes. Huge shame matchbox went larger scale in the later 1960s. It seems hard to believe all through the 80s and 90s you couldn’t get 00 gauge contemporary cars!

 

I took the H0 route with Herpa and Wiking.

One thing you had to look out for though was the proportions, some are obvious like the VW van being to wide, not as bad as it seems as it can be overcome by careful placing. Interestingly the J2 pick-up has a couple of less obvious errors, the cab is about a millimetre or two too short and the back axle is too far forward by about the same amount.

[PatB]

One thing you had to look out for though was the proportions, some are obvious like the VW van being to wide, not as bad as it seems as it can be overcome by careful placing. Interestingly the J2 pick-up has a couple of less obvious errors, the cab is about a millimetre or two too short and the back axle is too far forward by about the same amount.

Not too unprototypical. Where I grew up there was a local bloke with a liking for both J-type commercials and fermented beverages. The latter ensured that the cabs of the former were frequently several inches too short.