Auto Service Dioramas

Vintage Auto Service Memorabilia Collection

1953 Buick Dealership Scale Diorama

1/25 scale Buick showroom, parts department, service shop and used car lot. The Alemite mechandiser work bench, the oil drain cabinet, fan belts, air meter and billboards were built from scratch. Most of the other pieces were modified from existing items or kits. The Buick sign over the showroom entry door is actually a radiator badge from a 100 year old Buick car.
– Click on images to see a larger picture –

1969 Zephyr Station & Body Shop Diorama

1/25 scale Zephyr gas station with a Chief frame rack and Binks spray booth. The parts stand, lubester, driveway bell, fan belts and oil can rack were built from scratch. The building was modified from G-scale model railroad diner and gas station building kits. Other items were found or are modified kits. I spent a good part of my life working with a Chief EZLiner frame rack and Binks spray booth like the ones in the diorama.
Click on this link for a “flyover” short video of this diorama:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CmMrOGttzCX/

1960s Junkyard Diorama

My 1/24 scale model salvage yard with scratch built barn, fence, batteries, battery charger, creeper, pallets, trees and toolbox. I plan on “rustifying” and “junkyardizing” additional cars and trucks to swap them in/out of the diorama over time. Currently the salvage yard includes a 1963 “split window” Corvette, 1955 Thunderbird, 1961 Lincoln, 1939 Willys pickup, 1955 Cadillac, 1954 Mercedes “gull-wing” 300 SL, 1930 Model A Ford pickup, C-600 Ford rollback and a 1964 Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt.
Video of a “walk around” the junkyard:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CpINSaYDLJ-/

More Scale Models & Toys

Here’s a 1/24 Ford C-600 rollback tow truck. I took a Coca-Cola stake bed kit and built just the cab & chassis and grafted an aftermarket rollback kit with a sheet of scale aluminum diamond plate. It’s a little newer that the era of my dioramas, but I love the look of it.
I never had a Johnny Service toy gas station when I was a kid, but I would have loved it, I’m sure. I was lucky to find this Johnny Service set on eBay years ago with pieces of both the gas station set and collision repair shop set mixed together. The Johnny Service tow truck was busted up, so I took off the good wrecker module and grafted it onto a flea market find toy trash truck. It was approximately the 1/18 scale of the play set. I was able to use scale aluminum diamond plate to fabricate a tow bed to accommodate the wrecker.