In response to what earlyoelectric was saying about being at a show where you can hold in your hand what you are about to buy. I've been looking for a Lionel 1675 to match the 1673 & 1674 that I have. I saw one on EBay and the seller said it was restored. They had a picture what looked good. After I got it I saw rust on the truck side frames, wheels & axles. That's bad enough but then I saw red paint over rust.
Needless to say I was very unhappy. A couple of days later I saw a 1673, 1674 & 1675 for much less than I paid for the one car 1675. The three car set explained that there where some problems on there cars.
I needed the 1675 but had I know that it was misrepresented I would have passed..
Note the rust on the side of the trucks.. Plus they used a coupler rod for a 1701 which is much taller. You maybe able to see the rust but the worse part of the painted rust is no the roof and the top of the frame inside the car? There is also no Lionel lines on the side of the car.
If this was restored all these things would have been corrected!
I have stripped it, removed all the rust. Polished the wheels, axles & side frames. I will shorten the coupler rod so it fits in with the other two cars.