Another childhood memory !!!!!!
As a child, my grandparents took me and my sister on road trips into the USA. We always stayed at Howard Johnson's hotels (Ho Jo). They were the staple for roadside comfort and quality for a reasonable price. My grandfather would stay no where else. I believe they had almost 1000 locations across Canada and the USA. They are still around today but in few numbers and not the same empire from back then. They were so large they in housed their own trucking and product.
Winross, an American diecast manufacturer, made and still makes, wonderful scaled and detailed models. They are only sold as commissioned by their clients. They do no sell their models commercially at a retail level. They supply clients with trucks and then their client distributes as per their needs. Their models are well built and solid.
Ho Jo, had gift shops in their hotels and sold various versions of their actual trucks made by Winross. My grandfather bought me one of their ice cream transports. It is long gone but I just got this exact model (missing one rear door) off ebay. It is about 8" long
I love that this hobby of mine re-finds childhood memories.
Here is a picture of the model and a picture of the other Ho Jo models they did. You can search Winross and see the vast product line have/had.