Athearn Ford C series tractor. Suitable for 1971?

[Kisatchie]

I was wondering if I could realistically use the Athearn Ford C series tractors on my planned 1971 layout. See:

http://www.nscalesupply.com/pon/PreownedDetail.aspx?id=36266

 I have no knowledge of tractors at all, thus I come with hat in hand for info.


Hmm... Kiz comes with
foot in mouth too...

[Lemosteam]

Yup!  Ford prduced that truck into yhe mid eighties! I know because I worked on that design until it stopped production at Kentucy Truck Plant.

[Wlal13again]

They where very  popular in the 1970`s  a few would be at home on any layout of that time period. I think they were produced until 1990 or so and Roadway retired theirs a few years ago..

[MichaelWinicki]

Oh gosh yes!

Our local grocery store was located right next to a depot/warehouse for Lyons Transportation Lines... And they used a great many of those Ford tractors.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Depending if whether the blue oval or "FORD" is painted on the front, these are good from 1961/62 until the early 1990's.

[Kisatchie]

Thanks for all the replies. Now to track down some of those tractors(mass quantities).


Hmm... I prefer John
Deere tractors...

[Kisatchie]

Hmm... I meant to say,
"use a tractor beam"...

[daniel_leavitt2000]

They are starting to get expensive. They seem to sell for quite a bit on eBay now. I would try Wig-Wag. While I'm not a big fan of them, they have all sorts of stuff tacked away and had plenty of old inventory. They should have a few stake trucks.

Other trucks good for 71:
Ford LNT9000 (Atlas, CinC, GHQ)
Mack B (Athearn, Showcase)
Mack R (Athearn, Magnusun Models)
Mack DM800 (Lineside Models kit)
International Loadstar (Showcase is coming out with these)
International R190 (CMW)
Pete 359 (GHQ)
the White COE that Details Associates makes, though its a pretty terrible model.

I think the Ford 800 (Showcase MofW truck) is a late 70's version. The CinC Chevy C60/65 date to the mid 1970's. The showcase Pete COE, Con-Cor Freightliner COE and Kenworth W900 all date to the very late 1970's and early 80's.

[Kisatchie]

Other trucks good for 71:

Ford LNT9000 (Atlas, CinC, GHQ)
Mack B (Athearn, Showcase)
Mack R (Athearn, Magnusun Models)
Mack DM800 (Lineside Models kit)
International Loadstar (Showcase is coming out with these)
International R190 (CMW)
Pete 359 (GHQ)

Thank you! That's a great help.


Hmm... just as long as
the tractors can pull
my Chiquita Banana
trailers, I'm happy...

[Kisatchie]

Other trucks good for 71:
Ford LNT9000 (Atlas, CinC, GHQ)

I have a question about the LNT 9000. Atlas says it's a 1984 Ford. I hope I'm right in assuming that the body style was being sold in 1971 too. Or is it just a mistake that it was included in your list?


Hmm... I would even
settle for a roman chariot
to pull my trailers...

[Wlal13again]

The Ford L 9000 was around in 1971, that I`m sure of..the model stayed pretty much the same with the exception of the grill, the early models had FORD spelled out across the top front of the hood, the newer models has the blue Ford oval centered in the grill.kinda like they did with the C Model..

[daniel_leavitt2000]

The LNT 9000 model from all three makers is will work from 1971 to the early 1980's. At that time they changed the headlights to square and made some refinments to the grill as previously mentioned.

BTW I like the CinC model the best. The castings are a little cleaner than GHQ and it comes with a dash board!

Here is an Atlas model I modified with a scratch built dump bed. I backdated the model by using older style cast wheels. The duals are from a Deluxe container chassis. the front wheels are shrink cast from Ho scale.

[cfritschle]

As others have stated, the Ford C was a commonly seen truck in  1971.  However, here is a list of spotting features I put together nearly ten years ago when the model was first released.

Ford C Spotting Features

1957 had two headlights, F O R D spelled out and lightning bolt and gear medallion on the front.

1958 to 1960 had 4 headlights, F O R D spelled out and lightning bolt and gear medallion on the front.

1961 to 1974 had 2 headlights, F O R D spelled out and lightning bolt and gear medallion on the front.  This was also the first year of the “arrow” style nameplates on each door and external access windshield wiper motor covers.  (The Athearn model has the external access windshield wiper motor covers.)

In 1963 new nameplates were relocated to the center of each door.  These nameplates had FORD over the model number. 

In 1968 the model identification nameplates changed style to include a reflector and were moved from the center of the doors to the front of the doors (near the hinges) of each side.  (The Athearn model has the 1968 style nameplates.)

1975 to 1984 had 2 headlights and F O R D spelled out on front with no medallion.

1985 to 1990 had 2 headlights and the blue oval Ford script medallion on front.

And as for the Atlas LNT 9000, Ford introduced the L series for the 1970 model year.  The bright grille surround as depicted on the Atlas model was introduced midway through the 1972 model year.

However, I would not let any of these small detai issues get in the way of using either of these fine models on a 1971 era layout.

Carter

[nkalanaga]

The Con-Cor trucks don't look out of place for the early 70s, being rather "generic" representations.  The biggest change needed is to replace the sleeper on the conventional with an early low-roof style.  It's a separate part, so just pull it off, cut the top off, and glue a piece of plastic there. Sand the corners to round them, making the top about even with the cab roof, and it looks fine.  Or leave the sleeper off entirely and shorten or replace the frame...

[Robbman]

I backdated the model by using older style cast wheels.

Usually called Dayton wheels (kind of a misnomer, but I digress)... unless you have one with worn wedges, in which case the names aren't printable.

For the Ford LNT 9000, and this is by no means correct, just based on observations...

70-73 had no grill surround, blue oval up top, hood mounted turn signals
74 -83 had the grill surround, FORD spelled out on top of surround, fender mounted turn signals
84, same as 74-83, but the blue oval replaces the spelled out name
85, square headlights

That said... replacement grills and surrounds are a dime a dozen, so buy away on the Fords... they're great kitbash fodder.