Varney “blister pack” cars

A case where unusual packaging makes the ordinary something uncommon. Gordon Varney was a pioneer in the field of model making, and was particularly known for model trains, having started producing them in the late 1930’s. His offerings were widely varied, including buildings, scenery items, figures, as well as a wide variety of locos and cars, with various road names. The variety came at a cost, though. It would appear that the overhead of die making, packaging, and all associated marketing, created such an overhead that sales could not overcome expenses, and the company was starting to suffer. They turned to economizing in an attempt to make ends meet. One such effort was the “blister packs”, as shown, which comprised the “Hi-Ballers” line of ready to run items. These cards meant far less materials than boxes, and doubtlessly were much more adaptable to mass production, thus saving both time a money.
These cards were cheap to make, and were made very cheap. And, unlike a box, opening them ruined the package itself, which was then thrown away. The ones that weren’t sold frequently came apart, so there aren’t a lot of these Hi-Ballers out there, in decent shape. This makes the cars, otherwise commonplace, a bit out of the ordinary, and hard to find.