Click on any small thumbnail photograph to see a large photograph of that car.

Click on any beer name in the common name column to open that beer name page.

Please email us with any corrections or additions to this page.

The Combinations

Athearn has not kept records on their production of the different variations used when producing these cars. Information on when a  number, color scheme, or lettering variation was changed is not available. The Athearn 40ft body is packaged in two major pieces, the sides/bottom, and the ends/top. The "ends/top" were almost always either Tuscan ( brown ), or black.

These cars may appear with either the Tuscan or Black "ends/top" combination, but Athearn has not kept records on which combination was used when the cars were produced. .. Many modelers have swapped the "ends/top" with other cars for reasons of their own, and when these cars become available, a collector or seller will never be able to be certain whether the car is original, or was modified.

If the car is in a box where the parts pack has not been opened, and the roof hatches are the same color as the "ends/top", then it can be reasonably assumed that this is an all original car.  A word of caution however... I have purchased a couple of "sealed new in box" Athearn kits where the "end/tops" were Tuscan, and the hatches in the parts pack were black.

Caution must be exercised when identifying these cars as "Athearn" .. The Athearn body is the most widely used body for secondary manufacturers of custom cars. Companies like Show Me Lines, Bev-Bel, Greenway, and many others, use the Athearn body and apply their own artwork to the shells.

The Blatz Car

The Blatz car has been produced in several variations over the years. The most notable differences being in the car number, and the "Old Heidelberg" script. The older variations had the script in a black banner, and some were done in a red banner. The current variations do not have a banner. There have been many Blatz cars that were produced by secondary companies on the Athearn body shell, and caution must be taken when identifying these cars.

The Coors Car

The Coors car also has several variations. The major variations are the car number, light vs. dark lettering, and some have numbers on the car ends. To the best of my knowledge, the 5464 car was only produced using the Tuscan "ends/top" combination, but these could easily be switched by a modeler. If a 5464 car could be found with a black "ends/top" that had end numbers on it, then production of these cars with a black "end/top" could be verified.

The "Other" Cars

All of the Athearn cars have variations. Look through the table to see what these known variations are, and if you find a variation that is not listed here, please email us and let us know the details.