1952 Desoto Firedome by Franklin Mint

Thanks for posting! This is one of my favorite FM 1/43 cars. 

Perhaps a dumb question, but why wasn't it possible for cars that were produced in 1:43 to be produced in 1:24 or 1:18 scale?  Or maybe a better question, why didn't the mints do cars in all of the scales?  

The '52 DeSoto above would have been a spectacular 1:24 model, and I'm sure equally as great as 1:18.  

I liked this Franklin Mint one so much I created additional variations.

@georgeschire

George, FM did make several of the same cars in 1/43 and 1/24. The '51 Hudson Hornet, '55 Packard Caribbean, '56 Lincoln Continental, '57 Plymouth Fury, and '58 Edsel come to mind; there are probably several more.

But yes, it seems to me that it would be very cost efficient to make the same car in several different scales.

@georgeschire

It would have been something had FM brought all of the 1/43 scale models to 1/24. The DeSoto would have been at the top of my list, along with the '63 Eldorado, '59 Ford Galaxie, '50 Rambler and a couple more.

They did do a few others other than what was mentioned. The '55 Ford Crown Vic, '56 Chevy Nomad, '56 Mark II, '53 Corvette, '58 Edsel, '63 Avanti, '64 1/2 Mustang

and same car, but different colors, '55 Bel Air, '56 T-Bird, '59 Eldorado, '61 Lincoln, '63 Corvette, '64 GTO

@jcarnutz,

Didn't Franklin Mint also do a '56 Oldsmobile in 1:43?  I seem to call my cousin had one when he had that FM display of 1:43 cars that have been mentioned above.  For sure I'd loved to have had all the 1:43's that they didn't do in 1:24.  

Oh miss those days of getting new releases on (it seemed like) a weekly basis.  They say we should never say never, so maybe, just maybe someday 1:24 will live again.  Dreaming I know, but hey with this Pandemic going on, what else have I got to do. 

I believe that GM, Ford, Chrysler, etc. limited their licensing rights by scale. In other words, if you could produce a 1/43rd 1952 DeSoto that doesn't mean you can produce it in 1/24th. Pretty sure they could also limit rights to body style and series. I guess if you're the manufacturer you could set any limit you want.

@georgeschire

yes they did blue & white. Forgot that one.

@georgeschireI miss those days too.  I have the FM 1/43 Chrysler Town and Country and Ford Country Squire.  Shut lines and other details are pretty good.  I wish I had bought the little Rambler.

@marmon16

Alan, it's pretty easy to find this cute little beauty on that auction site.

@moe-parr

What auction site are you speaking of?  

Posted by: @georgeschire

@moe-parr

What auction site are you speaking of?  

The one that we're not supposed to talk about here as it competes with our D4C auction;)

@moe-parr,

Well I don't know about that one, so there would be no competition from me on it.  I've bought cars ONLY from the D4C Auction site and will continue to do so when they finally get it up again here on the new website.  I miss it.  

This was my first car (in light blue.)  Bought it for $150 in 1961..It had been owned by a teacher and had 12,000 miles on it.  Wish I had kept it!