Tag Archives: 1/43 scale

Diecast cars

Die-cast: Replicarz’s 1990 Indy 500 winner (Luyendyk)

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Luyendyk’s 1/43 scale Domino’s Lola a winner … 

Back in the 1980s when I was covering the Indianapolis 500 for the Milwaukee Sentinel newspaper Arie Luyendyk was our hometown racer.

How’s that? Arie is Dutch.

But the likeable Indycar driver was sponsored by Provimi Veal, a Wisconsin company with a Dutch owner, so Arie was our guy. He was eager to talk to the media and it wasn’t long before he knew the Wisconsin reporters by sight. So it wasn’t a surprise when Arie and his wife gave us reporters stuck in race day traffic a friendly wave as he zipped into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on his motorbike. Continue reading Die-cast: Replicarz’s 1990 Indy 500 winner (Luyendyk) →

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Diecast cars

Die-cast: Autopioneer’s Audi Imperator and Horch 830BL Woody

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Autopioneer creates rare European cars in 1/43 scale …

We like different and that’s exactly what you get with a 1/43 scale die-cast resin model from Germany’s Autopioneer.

Autopioneer was launched in 2015 by Thorsten Sabrautzky and plans each year to issue several fine 1/43 scale models of unique autos made by the pioneers in the industry. The brand seeks to create models of rare cars that set styling and technical trends, but that are not widely reproduced by other die-cast car makers. Continue reading Die-cast: Autopioneer’s Audi Imperator and Horch 830BL Woody →

Diecast cars

Die-cast: IXO’s Citroen Dyane, 1976 Monte Carlo Rallye

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High-value 1/43 Citroen reflects early rally racers …

Ah, the dear old Citroen 2CV is an icon, at least on the other side of the pond, being what the average French car buyer drove during the middle years of last century. But as it aged, even staid Citroen had to start developing cars to meet the expanding needs of mid-1960s buyers. Remember, there was a baby boom going on overseas as well.

So, the roomier Citroen Dyane with a rear hatchback debuted in 1967, and met with good success, enough so that the car remained in the French car maker’s lineup until 1983. Continue reading Die-cast: IXO’s Citroen Dyane, 1976 Monte Carlo Rallye →

Diecast cars

Die-cast: NEO’s 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Hardtop

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Ford Fairlane 500 exudes bad boy attitude …

My brother Steve owned a black 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Hardtop with gold accent trim down the side in the late 1960s, so when I saw NEO’s 1/43 scale version, I wanted to give it a closer look.

This one is black and white, with the upper portions (hood and trunk) being a creamy white, not as bad-boy looking as my brother’s black beauty. Still, the 1957 was elegant yet sporty with its slight tail fins and jet-like round taillights. Somehow 1950s cars looked great in two- and three-tone color combos, something you rarely see these days. Continue reading Die-cast: NEO’s 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Hardtop →

Diecast cars

Die-cast: NEO’s 1959 Chevrolet Corvette XP-700

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Long-nosed Corvette XP-700 concept a mixed bag of styling …

General Motors was big into concept cars in the 1950s, many having fighter jet and missile styling, be it the nose, tail or just the model and engine names, such as the Oldsmobile’s Rocket 88 in Pontiac’s Starfire.

So, naming an experimental or concept car the XP-700 seems natural enough, and that’s what Chevrolet did with its body styling experiment for Corvette on the 1959 auto show circuit. The XP featured a wide-mouthed, low-slung Ferrari-style nose protruding from the already recognizable quad headlights in rounded fenders that Corvette introduced in its 1958 model. Continue reading Die-cast: NEO’s 1959 Chevrolet Corvette XP-700 →

Diecast cars

Die-cast: Replicarz 1989 PC18 Indy 500 winner

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Emerson Fittipaldi’s 1989 Indy 500 winner in 1/43 scale …

As a newspaper reporter I was roaming Gasoline Alley at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and watching bits of the race from inside Turn 1 when Emerson Fittipaldi won the 1989 Indianapolis 500. It was an exciting finish, but one I had to watch and re-watch on closed circuit monitors in the Indy press room. Now, of course, it’s on YouTube.

Former Formula One Champion Fittipaldi won the first of his two Indianapolis 500s with a bump and run move going into Turn 3 with just two laps remaining. Al Unser Jr. had been leading for a few laps with Fittipaldi right on his tail. Lapping slower cars they both dove for the Turn 3 apex running side-by-side. Continue reading Die-cast: Replicarz 1989 PC18 Indy 500 winner →

Diecast cars

Die-cast: NEO’s 1958 Rambler Cross Country 6

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Rambler wagon was economical, so is model …  

Station Wagons were the SUVs and crossovers of years ago, long before we knew to call them anything but wagons.

And there’s some thinking now in the car world that wagons, which behave much more like cars than trucks, may be on the verge of a comeback. Rumor has it that Millennials prefer the lower-riding wagons to the taller SUVs and CUVs of today. We’ll see. Continue reading Die-cast: NEO’s 1958 Rambler Cross Country 6 →

Diecast cars

Die-cast: NEO’s 1964 Dodge 330 sedan

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Affordable Dodge sedan stirs memories …

My uncle Clarence Winston (Wink for short) Savage had a beautiful dark metallic blue 1964 Plymouth Belvedere that I just loved as a kid. He could make that car’s tires bark several times between his house and ours, a half block away. He was a hot foot, one of the things I liked about him.

The Fury was Plymouth’s B-body coupe and sedan, while Dodge went with a more mundane name, the 330. So, when I spied NEO’s new 1964 Dodge 330 I was happy to review it for Scale Auto DC, just to see how it measured up to my memories of the oh-so-similar Plymouth Belvedere, which was a 4-door. Continue reading Die-cast: NEO’s 1964 Dodge 330 sedan →

Diecast cars

Die-cast: WhiteBox 1962 VW Karmann Ghia

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This Karmann Ghia is low cost too …

Volkswagen’s Karmann Ghia was a looker, but inexpensive, making it a perfect collectible car, if not for its propensity to rust. But in the model car collecting world we don’t have to worry about such mundane matters.

So collecting a 1962 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia now is easy. Ghia’s were the cute rounded thing that so many of our buddies drove in their teens, or early 20s. They were, like the Beetle, reliable and inexpensive, but way sportier looking. Dare we say sexy? Continue reading Die-cast: WhiteBox 1962 VW Karmann Ghia →