RAIDERS COACHES: GEORGE BARRIS AND CO.

The stage coach was a horse-drawn passenger vehicle, carrying fare-paying passengers on a fixed route, with one or more changes of horses along the way. Then someone decided to replace the horses with an engine (or two).

It has recently struck me that there have been a number of model and toy versions of these motorised stage coaches, or Motor Stages. At least some of them were based on real-life Custom Cars.

I am sure these are not the only models, but here is a quick look at those I am aware of. Two plastic kits; one wood and plastic hybrid kit; and one die-cast.

Paul Revere and the Raiders were an American band of the 1960s. Their gimmick was to sometimes dress up in Revolutionary War uniforms.

Their Raiders Coach was a George Barris design, which made its TV debut in 1969. It had two Pontiac GTO engines, mounted side by side, in the tractor unit.

MPC released a 1/25th scale kit (copyright date 1969), which included figures of the five band members.

 The kit was re-issued by AMT/Ertl (copyright date 2001), but without the figures. 

It was recently re-issued again, under the MPC name.

Laramie Stage Ghost was a 1/16th scale plastic kit by Pyro, copyright date 1970. This had an engine at the front, while the crew comprised skeletons in cowboy gear, fighting off an Indian attack.

The kit was moulded in several colours of plastic - the main body parts were in fuchsia pink, including the skeletons, which is a bit of a shock. The interior and fittings were sand, with lots of chrome, a small clear sprue, and black 'rubber' tyres.

This kit is sometimes described as a copy of the real Stage Fright car, with a few tweaks, but the Pyro kit appeared several years before Stage Fright.

After Pyro left the model kit business, their moulds went to Life-Like. The Laramie Stage Ghost was certainly shown in the 1973 catalogue (which can be found on the Box Art Den site), but I have not found any listings for a Life-Like version of this kit.

Sticks and Slicks was a range of Wild West Hot Rod wagon kits, which used a mix of wood, plastic, and fabric parts. I have already covered these kits, but here is a quick re-cap.

The three kits were released under the Craft Master name, with MPC providing the plastic components. Both companies being owned by General Mills at the time.

All were designed by Harry Bentley Bradley, best known for his early Hot Wheels designs. The copyright date on the boxes is 1971.

Power Stage "8" was a custom stagecoach, with an eight cylinder engine, and eight wheels. It does not appear this kit has ever been re-issued.

Stage Fright was a custom car design by Jack Keef, which first appeared in 1975. The engine was inside the stagecoach body, which tilted up at the rear for access.

Hot Wheels released a die-cast version in 1978, which lasted until 1983. All versions were brown, like the real thing, but the shades did vary.

Six photographs from Worthpoint.

What do you think?

Paul Adams from New Zealand