Paul Graf, President and COO or Atlas, announced on the Atlas forum that the station wagon version of the Ford Fairmont would follow at a later date. More variety to fill up those open autoracks. If they would go back to pre-World War II autos, they would not need to worry about licensing. How about some Cords, Auburns, Duesenbergs, Hupmobiles, Pierce Arrows and the like? How about postwar Packards and Studebakers? Willys, Nash and Hudson became AMC, which Chrysler bought out, so licensing might still be required for them. :cat:
While I love the Atlas autos (they did an outstanding job!!) What about free lanced prototypical cars?? A model not actually of that of a real car but close enough to believable? Seems like a good idea to me.
[FONT=""Trebuchet MS""]That's kinda where we started in N scale. Many early vehicles were more or less generic. Even amoung frelancers it is still preferable to have a recognizable cars and trucks to add to the sence of reality. Unfortunately the generic cars only reinforces the "toy" image of our trains. [/FONT]
Never thought of it that way. Maybe a mixture would work. The problem I see is right now there just are not that many models to choose from. So one could end up with the same problem....just now everyone would drive the same car just in a differnt color.
Glenn, General Motors changed their licensing policy without warning in March of 2005. Classic Metal Works had recently completed the tooling for the 1978 Impala and they were rightly upset by this change in policy. After spending more on the tooling than what a fully loaded Cadillac would cost, they were told they could not use it to produce any more models. Needless to say that as the CMW models of the GM cars sell out, there will not be any additional production runs, unless GM once again decides to license model vehicles shorter than 2.25 inches. :angry: Carter
Ryan, They have managed to stay under General Motor's radar. If GM ever finds out about them, they will probably get a formal notice from GM to cease production or face a lawsuit. Carter
Matt, Woodland Scenics is doing this in HO, and they have promised to eventually offer N scale versions of their AutoScenes. So far, I do not believe any of the automobile manufacturers have caught on to what they are doing. Basically, they are starting with a prototype vehicle and leaving off pieces of trim or actually mixing trim from two different model years. They have a Johnny Cash inspired HO scale Plymouth that looks like it was made with parts from both a 1957 and 1958 model, so it is really neither. At least that is what they will tell the judge if Chrysler files a lawsuit. :teeth: Carter
