OO Gauge Vehicles for 1970's/80's/90's Era

You are right.

For the 80's theres not much at all. Plenty of buses and the carkit 4 range but other than that.

Oxford Dicast's fx4 taxi is good but needs a few mods to the bumpers. Also



left to right - Langley models Seddon 401, Base toys Leyland Roadtrain and Knightwing Volvo (they do a Merc tractor too)

Dont forget the Corgi Ford cargo is 4mm scale too but needs a lot of work

Cheers

Jim

I have the odd vehicle dating back to the 70's..[meaning, when I first got it]....specifically aSunbeam Alpine/Tiger sports. Also have a [wrecked] Ford Corsair......plastic, with shiny chrome bumpers and wheels [including the tyres].....were they Minix?

make not important...they were SOLD as suitable for 4mm scale, YET,.....I have a strong suspicion they're more 3.5mm scale.....they look darned weeny next to a 4mm scale bus.

70's/80's/90's covers a very broad church as regards to road vehicles.

The 70's saw huge numbers of vehicles from the 50's and 60's still....VW beetles still around en masse, for example.

the 80's saw the arrival of the hatchback, to stay........although in the early 80's I could be found driving mk 1 Transit minibuses.......for more rural areas modelled, then the early to mid 80's would see many of the non-heavyweight buses and coaches from the very early 60's, still in very active use [school contracts, for example]...I drove VAL Bedfords into 1984....D-series Ford wagons were still very much alive and kicking.....as was the TK-type Bedford [later, the AWD].
Major bus companies in the 80's were still operating buses/coaches made as far back as the late 60's....[white window-rubbered Bristol VR?].......indeed, the Leyland Atlantean was very popular as a school bus with rural proprietors...cheap-as-chips to run.
The Leyland Olympian decker was the new kid on the block.

All these types are, or have been available from our trade....so would still be in period right up to the end of the 80's.
What we didn't see too many of in the 80's was the likes of the BMC 1100, Minor, etc.......or even the Mk1 Escort {I had a 1967 Escort 1300 GT for a while.....in the mid 80's...it was a banger by then]

The 90's really saw massive changes in appearance, both with wagons as well as buses......the older buses, once 'front line' in the 80's, were quickly relegated to contracts, works runs ,etc.

so in my experience, really there are two distinct eras....70's/80's.......then the 90's.

QUOTE (BRITHO @ 31 Aug 2008, 10:57) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>They certainly sound like Minix, they were made by Tri-ang and if memory serves right there were also the following available:- Austin Cambridge, Hillman Minx and Imp, Vauxhall Cresta, BMC 1100, Ford Anglia, Triumph 2000. Simca 1300 (confession - I had a '72 version of one of those!), a caravan and a Ford Thames 15 cwt van.

Regards

Yes, those are MINIX, made by Triang initially for their car carrier (the one with the lift-up centre section). They made a total of 17 models, all but the single deck bus being 4mm scale (the bus was about the same scale as the Matchbox buses). Most cars do look pretty small next to buses; most bus passengers are above roof level even when on the lower deck. See [url="http://uk.geocities.com/minixcars/"url] for more details. Basically quite good models, particularly the later ones with seats, but they benefit from improved wheels, seats, reglazing (especially the rear window of the unseated models) and a decent repaint. Being styrene plastic they are amenable to conversion, so if you fancy a Ford Corsair convertible or an 1100 estate they are eminently hackable.