Fador's "Smallster" Scale Model Kit from 1949

(Click on image to enlarge)

M Y  C O L L E C T I O N — Balsa wood, cast metal, wire and paper comprise the materials included in this odd, vintage car model kit. The instructions are typed on a large piece of paper, with diagrams showing exactly how every piece fits, BUT, the majority of the body is plain, thin balsa wood. It's the same thickness and weight as those childhood model airplanes propelled by elastic bands. I have no idea how the person making the kit could form the delicate curves seen on the photograph on the box, lol. There are some small pieces of dowels that must need to be whittled as well. This was NOT a snap-to-fit model! 

Kit is dated September 1949, and was produced by the Fador Mfg Corp, of Elmira, New York. Other "Smallster" models listed inside as available were the 1909 EMF Single Rear Seater,  1909 EMF Touring, 1909 EMF Roadster, and a 1905 4-passenger Reo Runabout.

From the Introduction on the instructions sheet:

The 1909 Hupmobile

In the year 1909 everybody from coast to coast was saying the same thing about the "Hup," "The smartest and best little car marketed in America at anything like the money, $750.00" This little car was four cylinder, twenty horsepower, sliding gears, and had a Bosch magneto. This sturdy little auto had a wheelbase of 86" and weighed 1100 pounds with all standard equipment.

NOTE—I was prompted to post this vintage scale model today because of an article I read this morning at Hemmings.com about the 1909 Hupmobile. Click here for that blogpost.

$1.19 Car of the Week: CTS Sport Wagon

After a long stretch of really boring and mundane Matchboxes, my grocery store selection perked right up with this 2011 Cadillac CTS Sportwagon model. Painted red, with a nicely detailed exterior, this tiny representation of GM's design mojo coming back. Ed Welburn is on his way to becoming one of the most important VPs of design for GM since Harley Earl and Bill Mitchell.

To see the real car, click over to Caddy's website for the CTS Sport Wagon. There's a "build your own" function for those rainy-day livingroom window shopping trips.

Tiny Oases of Colors

Trees and shrubs still look like they did in winter, but there are small pockets of color emerging at Pink Gardens.

White hyacinths bloom for the third spring and seem to have become nicely naturalized.

Jonquils keep the Lounge Gnome company.

Grape Hyacinths have found a new home.

I grew up with hundreds of Daffodils and Jonquils in our gardens. There was nothing like the aroma of a hundred freshly blooming bulbs from the genus Narcissus. 

Colors Adding to Spring Makeover

Neighbor Rick's yellow ranunculus soaking up the afternoon sun.

The violet froggie is in the shade garden this spring. The remains of a vintage push mower in the background. Day lilies, sedum and jack-in-the-pulpits grow here. It's so nice seeing something besides white snow, gray trees and woods and black ice everywhere. The burgeoning colors of spring!

My Lounge Lizard gnome sits on his toadstool this year in front of a flat rock peppered with shiny mica facets. From upstairs it looks like he's sitting at Liberace's baby grand piano. I have a lounge lizard singing gnome in my Dead Treestump Garden. "Catch his act, he'll be here all summer, folks!"

Spring Fords, 1920s-30s Style

My grandmother, right, and friend, sitting on her mid teens Model T runabout, ca 1920. Great dresses! This is the car I own bits and pieces of to this day.

Gloria Isabel would grow up at the wheels of hot Fords for the most part, and become known as Hoohoo. Here's the 4-5 year old Baby Gloria barely able to see over the steering wheel of the family's new 1929-30 Model A tudor sedan.

Here Comes the Sun Again

Actually, this textured glass vase was photographed last summer, but I wanted to see this study in orange next to the studies in red glassware below. Orange you glad to see them together, lol? Vase was a gift from Mary last year.

April Photo/potpourri

Cranberry glass vase in afternoon sun.

More cranberry glass glowing with the sun shining through.

Original Elvis 33 rpm LP, and old lace in vintage wicker baby carriage.

New flagstones, ebony mulch and smaller mesh wire fencing in the vegetable garden.

Reflections in the birdbath.

Day lilies, Iris, Sedum, and daffodils slowly come to life.

Attic-bound begonia has bloomed all winter long.

Some blossoms are flamingo-colored, others are more of a pure pink. When put out for the summer, the flowers turn darker and richer.

Black wrought-iron patio table, chairs, and shadows on early spring lawn.

Another view of black wrought-iron patio table, chairs, and shadows on early spring lawn.