The California Dreamin' Collection
consists of Athearn 40' wood ice bunker reefers, decorated with
colorful adaptations of some favorite orange and lemon crate labels
from the 1920s. It started with a customer request for a car for
Redlands Foothill Groves. It was a case of "try it, you'll like it,"
and this fascinating collection grew and grew, with cars mainly
representing California fruit packers, but also growers from
Texas and Florida. The most recent additions to the collection
are our colorful "Fruit Salad" cars~ celebrating labels for apples
and pears, bananas and cherries. Selected for broader geographical
origins, these cars represent growers from the eastern and northern
states, as well as from Hawaii.
Please 'click' the thumbnail for larger pictures of the cars.
 SATX 1427 / 1431 $15.00 CG01 / CG02 |
 ECCX 806 / 872 $15.00 CG03 / CG04 |
 FCX 147 / 149 $15.00 CG05 / CG06 |
 MODX 2742 / 2744 $15.00 CG07 / CG08 |
 TCX 683 / 692 $15.00 CG09 / CG10 |
 UCX 214 / 228 $15.00 CG11 / CG12 |
 MODX 2709 $15.00 Out of Stock |
 FCX 162 $15.00 GC13 |
 CLAX 2209 $15.00 CG14 |
Presenting...
The Ladies of the Groves.
These "ladies" are all completely respectable, just the kind of girl
you'll want to take home. While most are Californians, we've
added a charming Texas belle and an irresistible beauty from Florida.
Wait a minute, what's a Tom Cat doing with these beautiful ladies?
Well, who do you think that smart old boy should hang out with?
 PFGX 3309 $15.00 CG22 |
 BBX 2224 $15.00 Out of Stock |
 POGX 2863 $15.00 CG22 |
 AOLX 107 $15.00 CG23 |
 AFGX 3125 $15.00 CG24 |
 OCX 3624 $15.00 CG25 |
 IFCX 21026 $15.00 CG27 |
 LCX 78 $15.00 CG28 |
 OTX 1557 $15.00 Out of Stock |
Delightful designs and vivid colors are the special features of the
Fruit Salad cars. Though Blue Flag Pears and Old Mission Grapes
are California labels, we've travelled to Georgia for our peaches,
Virginia for the apples, New York State for grapes, and
Washington for cherries. Dole Pineapple is from the old line Hawaiian
firm of Castle & Cooke, while Chiquita is United Fruit's label.
You'll want all of these beautiful cars to add to your citrus train.
 DGFX 88 $15.00 CG41 |
 LOX 1206 $15.00 CG42 |
 HVX 2781 $15.00 CG43 |
 WFGX 442 $15.00 CG44 |
 OPX 324 $15.00 CG45 |
 CCX 414 $15.00 CG46 |
 UFCX 21726 $15.00 CG47 |
 RFX 1217 $15.00 CG48 |
 SFGX 1929 $15.00 CG49 |
 GNGX 2043 $15.00 CG50 |
|
(Hoosier Gold)  NOX 1037 $15.00 CG51 |
Want more selections?
Tell us what labels would be most attractive to you,
and we'll see what we can do.
E-mail charlie@showmelines.com
If you are interested in learning more about orange and lemon crate labels, we recommend
California Orange Box Labels, An Illustrated History and Fruit Box Labels
by Gordon T. McClellan and Jay T. Last. Both fascinating books are loaded with full color
reproductions of actual labels, and served as the primary source for the adaptations on our cars.
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Page updated 06/10/03