Nova Train?

I've come to the conclusion that the Hotrod Diner train route needs a freight train to go with the El Capitan passenger train. I'm thinking of recreating a Santa Fe version of this Rio Grande "Nova train" from 1973. Yep, that's a trainload of 1973 Novas!

I found this Lionel 6-9281 triple deck car hauler in Santa Fe livery that is similar to the cars pictured. It looks like this will hold 3 rows of 4 cars each. I'd like to string at least 3 of these in a row. So I'm going to need a bunch of cars!

Lionel 6-9281 triple deck car hauler box has smaller cars pictured like a typical 1:64 Matchbox.

The challenge is most of the O-scale train world generally uses 1:43 scale cars to go with O-scale trains. But the O-27 gauge trains that Lionel produces are not actually "scale" to anything.

Pictured above is a similar Lionel car in Penn Central livery with 1:64 Matchboxes. 

I'm thinking a "train load" of 1:64 Maisto Pro Rodz 1970 Novas. This Nova is the close to the 73's and the design fits my Hotrod Diner theme as I already have several 1:24 Maisto Pro Rodz on my Hotrod Diner marque.

1:64 Maisto Pro Rodz 1970 Novas come in green, blue and yellow,

Update

The Nova Train has begun. This is a Lionel 6-9281 in Sante Fe livery with three Pro-Rodz 66 GTOs and a 62 Belair mocked-up for size. In-person I feel these are just too small so I'm going to check and see if I can fit 1:55 or even 1:50 scale cars on the carrier. 

The Lionel 6-9281 triple deck car hauler with four Maisto Pro Rodz  1:64 scale cars.