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Topic starter
11/04/2021 2:13 pm
Some of you may recall the Shaw Motors Ford Dealership I made last year. My newest project in 1/43 scale is an A&W Root Beer Drive-In. Many of us in our youth frequented one of these drive-ins or perhaps one similar. A great place to take a date or hang out with friends and our cars. A good time was had by all. My goal with this diorama is to bring back the feeling of that time with a visual story of the people and their cars.
A&W began in 1919 in Lodi Ca. being founded by Roy Allen with his first root beer stand. In 1922 Allen partnered with Frank Wright which is when the name A&W was coined, A for Allen and W for Wright. In 1923 they opened their first drive-in in Sacramento. It was the first drive-in in California. By 1962 A&W had over 2000 locations and this model represents a typical A & W Drive-In at that time.
It’s a Saturday evening and the teenage and young adult crowd has assembled to enjoy a root beer or a float, burgers, fries and other assorted goodies along with their friends and check out each other’s cars and share the latest gossip of who is going with who and other relationship topics. Others are talking about the newest thing they have done to their cars. There are stories of how they have just got the car together for their weekend dates. Some are talking about who is going to the drive-in movie later in the evening. It will all get sorted out in the next few hours.
Here we get a peak at the inside of the A & W. You can see the six burgers being cooked on the flattop in the reflection of the stainless steel back splash. Also seen are the two fountainheads for the root beer, sink, counters and the old National Cash Register on the counter. From L to R we see a guy contemplating what to order. The girl with the ponytail is placing her order with the waitress. The man in the building is bringing a tray of frosty mugs of root beer to the window while the carhop is carrying an order to one of the cars. The guy on the stool is busy trying to see what his girl friend is reading and why she is ignoring him. The teenage couple on the bench at the side of the building are awaiting their order and talking about relationship matters and what they are going to do that evening. He wants to go to the drive-in and she isn’t sure. The sign on the roof instructs the drivers to TURN ON LIGHTS FOR SERVICE.
The two girls have driven to the A & W in a ’54 Chevrolet four door sedan. They are high school wallflowers and decided to go to this local hang out and try to come out of their shells. They seem enamored with the young man who just rode up on the motorcycle.
Here we see a guy stretched out on the front seat of a ’55 Chevy Bel Air. He is flirting with the carhop, not knowing that his girl friend is behind him with her arms on her hips, not taking too kindly to his flirting with another girl. He’ll pay for this later.
An elevated view of the buzz around the ’32 Ford highboy roadster. A couple is admiring the engine on this car. The guy has a ’32 three window at home he is working on and is getting a few ideas from this car. The guy with the hat is coming over from his ’40 Ford pickup to check out the roadster. The young man combing his hair is the owner. He has put all the money he earns at the local Standard Station into this car. It has a hopped up flathead with aluminum 8 ½ heads, a Merc crank, mild race cam, larger valves, a two two manifold and headers. The car has a polished aluminum firewall and also sports racing slicks, a ’40 Ford dash board and steering wheel and of course a ’39 Ford transmission with Lincoln Zephyr gears. In the rear there are a pair of ’53 Pontiac taillights. He has got the attention of a young blond. The evening could be looking good for him
The guy in the sport coat and his wife have come to see their old hang out that was so much a part of life in their younger days in high school and their early twenties. They have a ’56 Chevy Nomad in stock form and a nice fit for their life style now
Seen here are a ’56 Buick Special with a guy and his girl friend and two of her friends in the back seat. They are a little late and will have to make the rounds again since there are no parking places up close at the drive-in at the moment. You can also see a glimpse of a beautiful ’36 Ford three-window coupe with a chopped top.
Now seen is a view of the newly installed A & W sign with the frosty mug logo. A & W started using this sign in 1961. New comers this evening are a teenage couple on their Vespa, they will find parking somewhere, as a Vespa doesn’t take much space. Next we can see a ’59 Olds 98 hardtop just leaving and an outstanding chopped ’49 Mercury in Candy Apple Red. The driver of this car can see that there is no space so he’ll make another round. He is not about to leave his Mercury behind the fence in the overflow.
I hope you have enjoyed our little trip down memory lane. Perhaps it has stirred up some memories not thought about for many years of a simpler time of high school and shortly there after, before the responsibilities of life got in the way. Now it’s time for some A & W Root Beer!
The cars used in this diorama are: '56 Chevy Nomad by Franklin Mint, '55 Chevy Bel Air by Sunstar, '36 Ford chopped 3 window by USA Models, '32 Ford Highboy by Testors heavenly modified by me, '54 chevy four door by USA Models, '41 Ford Pickup by USA Models modified by me, '49 Mercury chopped lead sled by Design Studios, '56 Buick by Conquest and a '59 Olds by Neo Models. Figures are pewter buy Arttista some colored by me, Vespa and motor cycle by Arttista.
11/04/2021 2:27 pm
Totally cool, Curtis. Great work!
11/04/2021 3:44 pm
Awesome!!! Thanks for posting.
11/04/2021 3:56 pm
I love diorama imaginations... this is super cool!
13/04/2021 4:39 am
Hello Curtis, it's some days without visiting the forum and I found that wonderful thread. Really impressed with the effect you got on your pics. Despite the nice models displayed, the building diorama, figures and accesories caught my attention. Excellent composition.
Keko Romero Sánchez
Cádiz, Spain
http://kekomovil.blogspot.com
13/04/2021 7:32 am
Very cool. A great display. I spent a lot of time in an A&W similar to this one as a teenager. I worked at one in Indian River, MI for five summers. Lots of fond memories. Too bad it is long gone now.
John Merritt
South Lyon, Michigan - USA
13/04/2021 8:38 am
Very cool. A great display. I spent a lot of time in an A&W similar to this one as a teenager. I worked at one in Indian River, MI for five summers. Lots of fond memories. Too bad it is long gone now.
Yes it reminded me of the amount of time my friends and I spent socializing in our cars while downing the "Burger Family", fries and a chocolate shake or mug of the best root beer ever. Great memories!
13/04/2021 8:59 pm
I’m still not entirely sure how to post here, but in case this works, kudos to Curtis for the great diorama. Love the story and the details. And your photography really captures the eye-popping color of the era!
14/04/2021 2:42 pm
@rrader And for Curtis' great diorama, another '32 Ford hot rod plus an Omen miniatures car hop on skates and a customer.
John F. Quilter
Eugene, Oregon USA
Topic starter
14/04/2021 10:14 pm
@john-quilter Good John. I really like the girl with roller skates. The roadster looks like the Testors '32 Ford that I used as the base for the roadster in my diorama.
John Quilter and John Quilter reacted
14/04/2021 10:35 pm
This is an excellent diorama with the building, cars, and people. I have a question about the A&W structure. Is this the O scale kit from Twin Whistle Sign & Kit Co? I do not think I missed that in your description. I apologize if I did. If yes, I would like to know how easy it was to assemble. I am currently building their S scale Auto Parts store for my train layout, but the one I am building is a resin kit, and I believe their A&W structure, available in both S and O scale, consists of plastic parts.
As stated by others, we do not always respond to post quickly.
Ed Davis
Inverness, Illinois, USA
15/04/2021 11:07 am
A great 1/43 hot rod, but the Omen car hop figure impresses me even more! I like these figures and often display them with my models, both on display and in photos. However, they can become fairly expensive, especially good ones by Omen, Arttista, and other quality figure firms. It's also difficult to find figures to fit behind/under steering wheels. That's one reason I often buy unpainted plastic models in packets, usually meant for train layouts. The plastic can be ground away to make figures fit under steering wheels, and why pay for painted figures when they're going to be repainted anyway. It's fun, too!
Topic starter
15/04/2021 11:34 am
@ed-davis Ed, Yes the building itself is the O scale Twin Whistle kit. It's a little tricky to assemble. The kit is styrene plastic. I have added parts to the building that aren't in the kit like the sign on the roof, the roof vents, sidewalk and some of the interior parts. Glad you enjoy the diorama.
15/04/2021 3:54 pm
In spirit with Curtis, I just thought I would throw in 2 "action shots" from the local Sinclair station highlighted by a tire change by Mazy on a Studebaker and a check-up on an Aventador. If this is not the type of
material that should be submitted - no problem, just let me know.
Roger Kerr
15/04/2021 4:12 pm
@rogerkerr Very cool! I am curious when I see these as to what model/brand cars are displayed.
Frank Reed
Chesapeake, VA
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