SS Cars SS1

Here is a post Gaucho Man should enjoy. By the way, it will be the last one for the year, as I’ll be away during the Christmas season. See you back half-way through January, and advance greetings to all of you! :)

A little history

I suppose that there is no need to go through the early years of what would become Jaguar once more. How two friends, William Lyons and William Walmsley, set up the successful Swallow company building sidecars for motorcycles, then ventured into coachbuilding by fitting new sporty bodies to the plebeian Austin Seven has been told over and over again. Then, nine years into existence and carried by its initial successes, their company, Swallow, unveiled its very own car during the 1931 London Motor Show: the SS Cars SS1. Actually, Standard was responsible for a large share of the new model’s input, designing its chassis and providing its engines. Displacing 2100 or 2600cc, those couldn’t allow tremendous performance but the SS1 was in line with all previous Swallow products: it was an elegant and affordable sports car. The concept proved a winning one, 4200 copies of the SS1 being built until 1936. Among those, of particular mention is the striking Airline coupe, launched in 1934 and of which 624 were made. Interestingly, though it is the best remembered SS1 today, the Airline had been inspired by Walmsley but was disliked by Lyons. This wasn’t the only point on which the two partners couldn’t agree. Walmsley was satisfied enough with Swallow’s success, while Lyons only had expansion in mind. In the end, Walmsley gave up and sold his shares to Lyons in 1935. Under the latter’s guidance, SS would continuously develop: after a 1935 reorganization that saw the Swallow sidecars activities being separated from the SS automobile ones, then completely sold ten years later, SS changed its name to Jaguar, which would soon unveil the famous XK120 and enter the racing scene with the C- then D-Types. Lyons would remain at the helm of his company until 1972, designing most of its cars in the process, up to the legendary Jaguar XJ6. He would peacefully die in 1985.

About the model

Model: SS Cars SS1 Airline coupe
Year: 1935
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.39 of its Voitures Classiques press series
Acquired: brand new, in May 2007, in Souillac, France

A simple - not many separate parts and, in this Altaya version, wheels that are a little too thick - yet elegant rendition of the famed SS1. My rating is 13/20.

Renault Fuego

First of all, a warm welcome to C.G. Michaels, our newest follower. Many among our most recent friends come from Argentina though, so today I’d like to discuss a car they know quite well.

A little history

As the Renault 15 and 17 coupes were based on the popular saloon, the Renault 12, the French company logically decided after the replacement of the latter by the Renault 18 to introduce a brand new coupe derived from the newest car. Tastefully penned by Michel Jardin under supervision by Robert Opron, it would receive Fuego as a name.

Production of the Fuego started in October 1979, replacing the R15/17 at Renault’s Maubeuge factory. Introduction would wait until March 1980 and the Geneva motor show. Most of the critics at the time concentrated on the styling. Not that it wasn’t elegant enough – on the contrary – but some judged that the new Renault unfortunately looked too similar to the Porsche 924, noticeably sharing the same concept of a rear opening glass “bubble” hatch. Furthermore, the Fuego, a much more modest car than the German machine, suffered from the comparison. On the road, the Fuego enjoyed a safe and predictable behaviour, a characteristic unsurprisingly shared with the R18. Alas, it also shared its engines, with no performance version initially offered. But in the end, the biggest problem the Fuego had to face was the fact that it simply came too late on the market. The concept of a coupe based on a mid-range saloon, powered by a large selection of engines, had been invented by the Ford Mustang then transposed to Europe by the Ford Capri. The large success that the cars designed for that niche enjoyed throughout the Seventies was quickly vanishing due to the fierce competition offered by the compact GTIs, a concept inaugurated by the Volkswagen Golf.

Renault tried to improve the performances of the Fuego by grafting to it more potent engines: a 2.0-litre block came first for model year 1981, but the car had to wait two more years for an able 1.6-litre turbocharged engine, with which it could finally reach 200 kph. That was a pity, as the Fuego had a particularly slick body ideal for high speeds. Several of its equipments were quite advanced for the time, too. Such was the case of the onboard computer, the remote door lock system (a world first, that today probably equips any single new car sold in the world) or the turbo-diesel engine, common nowadays on coupes, but an ultra-rare choice back then.

All these efforts were to no avail to save a car that was born too late. Though the Fuego cannot be called a failure, it was quickly withdrawn from production in Europe, being built until 1985 in France and 1986 in Spain. Due to the totally different specificities of the local market, the Fuego enjoyed a much longer career, and comparatively a much more successful one, in Argentina where the very last car was constructed as late as in 1992.

About the model

Model: Renault Fuego GTL
Year: 1981
Maker: Norev
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: M6 as no.16 of its Renault Collection press series
Acquired: second hand with neither stand nor box, in July 2006, in Brive, France

Norev offers this interesting but rather old reproduction of the Renault Fuego. It is quite correct but is betrayed by its simple and poorly adjusted wheels and simplistic front end. I’d give 11/20 to this model.





Model: Renault Fuego GTX
Year: 1982
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.89 of its Nos Chères Voitures d'Antan press series
Acquired: brand new, in October 2007, in Souillac, France

Ixo’s version of the Renault Fuego is greatly helped by the fact that it is much more recent than Norev’s version. Alas, it suffers from poor adjustment of some parts - have a look at these large black lateral pieces to see how they poorly fit. This unfortunately brings my rating down to 12/20 when it could have been much higher.

Ford Crown Victoria

Quite discreetly, Ford has recently pulled the plug on the very last of the “real” American cars, when the final Ford Crown Victoria left the assembly line. So more than a simple post, here is an homage of sorts to an era now over.

A little history

To say the truth, even when the Ford Crown Victoria and its rival the Chevrolet Caprice appeared twenty years ago, there were doubts about the future of these huge dinosaurs, still built with separate frames and fitted with transmissions to the rear wheels. Somehow, they succeeded in surviving longer than many may have thought, thanks to the faithfulness of many Floridian or Californian seniors, who have never driven anything else than this type of cars for their whole lives, but whose market was getting smaller year after year; and even more significantly due to the high demand from law enforcement agencies and taxicab operators.

In March 1991, both the Ford Crown Victoria, which dropped at this point its traditional “LTD” name, and its fancier counterpart the Mercury Grand Marquis received a brand new body, more rounded and aerodynamic than their dated predecessors, but still based on the “Panther” chassis used for full-size sedans since the late Seventies. This followed a similar move by General Motors, which had just updated its line of full-size models – Chevrolet Caprice, Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser and Buick Roadmaster, and the earlier introduction of Ford’s luxury model, the Lincoln Town Car, also based on the Panther platform. Despite its older underpinnings, the Crown Victoria enjoyed a brand new 4.6-litre “modular” engine, and optional ABS and traction-control systems. Its styling was an apt balance of modern and conservative, and this proved perfect as the bathtub-like body of the Caprice had been poorly received. Within months, the Crown Victoria led the market well ahead of its GMC rival which, after a botched restyling, disappeared following the 1996 model year. From then on, the Crown Vic’ became the only option for a traditional V8 automobile in its price range.

For the 1998 model year, the styling of the Crown Victoria was largely revised, and the car benefited from an improved suspension. While the general public was less and less attracted by the heavy car, it was still hugely popular with policemen – to whom Ford proposed the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor version – and taxi drivers. It also enjoyed a healthy following in the Middle East, which actually had soon become its only export market. At the end of the 2007 model year, the Crown Victoria stopped being available to private buyers in America, those being redirected towards the Mercury Grand Marquis, and remained only available for fleets and export markets.

In 2008, Ford decided to concentrate the production of all its Panther-based cars in its St. Thomas plant. The Canadian unions were rather anxious about the future of the car, or more specifically those of thousands of workers at this Ontario factory. Ford reassured them by announcing that large amounts of money would be invested to update the car. This was nothing but a lie. The last Mercury Grand Marquis was produced in January 2011, the brand being discontinued. It was followed by the last Lincoln Town Car in August, the car not being in conformity with new safety regulations imposed by Washington on all cars built for model year 2012. Though the Ford Crown Victoria was also affected by these new rules, it was maintained in production until September to fulfil foreign orders. On September 15, 2011, the very last Crown Vic’ left the assembly line of a factory due to close.

About the models

Model: Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor
Year: c.1997
Maker: Motor Max
Scale: 1/18
Distributed by: Motor Max, ref. 73125
Acquired: brand new, in February 2005, in Manila, Philippines

A nice surprise among Motor Max range of traditionally poorly assembled and painted die-casts. Their Crown Victoria certainly isn’t outstanding, but very few reproaches can be made to it. A rare feature for a model in this price range, it offers four opening doors. My rating is 13/20.















Model: Ford Crown Victoria
Year: 1998
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.52 of its Taxis du Monde press series
Acquired: brand new, in March 2004, in Souillac, France

Altaya could hardly avoid proposing a Crown Victoria in its series about world taxies and cabs, as the large Fords have replaced the traditional Checkers as the iconic transportation of the New Yorkers. Its die-cast has been provided to the Italian distributor by Ixo. Again the rendition of the large car is accurate enough to be worth 13/20.







Model: Ford Crown Victoria
Year: 2002
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.70 of its Taxis du Monde press series
Acquired: brand new, in December 2004, in Souillac, France

In its pursuit for more money pocketed from its faithful customers Altaya has extended its taxi series by offering new decorations to models already proposed earlier in different forms. The Crown Victoria was one of those, being sold a second time as a Dubai taxi. Decoration is somewhat simpler than its New York’s counterpart’s, but overall level of quality still deserves a 13/20.

Ferguson TE-20

A little history

After refining for almost three decades his concept of a tractor’s hydraulic linkage, to which could be firmly fitted a variety of agricultural equipments, British engineer Harry Ferguson was ready to launch full-scale production. Sure enough, he had already seen tractors built under his name by David Brown, but this Ferguson Black had only seen a very limited production run. He had also entered into an agreement with Henry Ford, thanks to which the American company was able to use Ferguson’s patents for its own Fordson tractors. The deal was ended after World War Two by Henry Ford II, grandson to the company’s founder, who nonetheless continued to make use of Harry Ferguson’s inventions – this situation was uneasily settled out of court.

When Harry Ferguson had concluded his 1938 agreement with Henry Ford, he had hoped that Ford’s British subsidiary would have produced his own tractors, but this never materialized. The engineer had to wait a few more years until the end of the conflict brought a solution: many factories which had been in full swing producing armaments were now left without prospects. Ferguson approached Standard and in early fall 1946, the first TE-20 rolled out of the production line at Coventry. Initially powered by a Continental gasoline engine, the standard TE-20 was also produced as the specialized TEB-20 and TEC-20, narrow tractors designed to operate in fields and orchards which configurations would have rendered the TE-20 impractical. Later, the tall TEK-20 would be designed especially for vineyard work. Replacing the American-built Continental, the 1947 TEA-20 would introduce an advanced Standard engine, announcing the blocks used by the postwar automobiles produced by this manufacturer. A diesel engine would also be offered from 1951.

After Harry Ferguson carefully perfected its ideas over the course of many years, the TE-20 was ideally suited for all the tasks intended for it. Better, it is no overstatement to say that it announced all modern tractors. Standard was assembling thousands and thousands of the little grey machines, while a Ferguson factory opened in Detroit as early as in June 1947, and Hotchkiss secured an agreement to produce it in France from 1953. This was that very year when Harry Ferguson sold the whole of his company to the Canadian group Massey-Harris. In the process, the British engineer received shares worth sixteen million dollars from the new Massey-Harris-Ferguson (soon to become the world-famous Massey-Ferguson). He was not a man to retire, though. Through a new company Ferguson Research, he still toyed for a while with the idea of building a tractor but instead went on to design a four-wheel-drive transmission for high-performance automobiles. A Formula One car, the Ferguson P99, was constructed to demonstrate its viability. Despite the fact that this machine had mitigated results on the track, in the end the system equipped the Jensen Interceptor. Harry Ferguson wasn’t around to witness his last success, as he had died at his Gloucestershire home in October 1960. As for the TE-20, its production was stopped in July 1956, after more than half a million were built, many being exported throughout the world. An additional 60,000 had been produced as the Ferguson TO-20 in the United States while 50,000 Ferguson FF-30 were constructed in France by Standard-Hotchkiss until 1957.

About the model

Model: Ferguson TE-20
Year: 1947
Maker: Universal Hobbies
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Hachette as no.2 of its Tracteurs et Monde Agricole press series
Acquired: brand new, in June 2006, in Souillac, France

Large amounts of plastic rather than metal have been used to produce this die-cast, which despite this toy-like aspect is a good model: 13/20.

Peugeot 309

A little history

At first sight, the Peugeot 309 could have appeared as a slightly larger variant of the successful 205. Actually, it wasn’t even intended to be part of the Peugeot range. After the takeover of all of Chrysler’s European operations by the PSA group, and the subsequent renaming of Simca to Talbot, plans were drawn regarding the replacement of the Horizon. The engineers at the Talbot plant in Poissy designed the Arizona for this purpose, basing their car on the Peugeot 205. Its passenger compartment was retained, but its front end was modified, while the all-new rear was lengthened. Indeed, this rear end was designed to cleared identify the car as a Talbot and, once it became a Peugeot, made it look rather odd among the rest of the range. As for its engines, the Arizona would have enjoyed the very same blocks as the 205, that is to say its noisy Simca 1100-inherited gasoline engines and its advanced small Peugeot diesels.

This, as we know, never happened. Talbot’s sales were crumbling, partly due to the reluctance of Peugeot’s salesmen to sell anything else than Peugeots. The PSA group hence decided to scuttle Talbot in 1985, putting an end to the company’s hectic half-century history, during which it had borne four different names.

Nevertheless, a prototype of the Talbot Arizona had already been built. Unwilling to waste the money spent in its development and, a tribute to the work of Poissy’s engineers, acknowledging its qualities, Peugeot chose to start the production of the car under its own name. Here was for the brand’s, but the model’s moniker was a little more arduous to determine. In Peugeot’s range, the ex-Arizona would be squeezed between its cousin the 205 and the older and larger 305. I remember wild speculations about the car’s christening at the time, until Peugeot surprised everyone by calling it the 309. At the time, it was given as a rather deceptive explanation that the company’s notchbacks would from then on receive a “-09” name.

Based on the excellent 205, the 309 could hardly be a bad car and, from its introduction in October 1985, enjoyed a well-deserved success. Comfortable, aerodynamic, economical when fitted with a diesel engine, enduring with a gasoline one, reasonably elegant for the time, the 309 was offered in a wide variety of models that included an automatic transmission variant and a GTi fitted with the same potent engines as the famous 205 GTi. Production lasted until 1993, when it was replaced by the 306. The 205 survived it and carried on for six more years. But was the 309 really gone? Not completely. A few more cars were unexpectedly assembled in India around 2000, following an agreement with the local manufacturer Premier, but this venture came to naught.

About the models

Model: Peugeot 309 GTi
Year: 1987
Maker: Norev
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Hachette as no.58 of its Collection Peugeot press series
Acquired: brand new, in December 2008, in Souillac, France

An extremely poorly assembled model, as only Norev knows to make when catering for press series. The fitting of the rear “bubble” window is particularly disastrous. The paint is no better. Norev earns a 7/20 here for thinking its customers are just a bunch of idiots who don’t deserve better than this in return for their money.







Model: Peugeot 309 SR
Year: 1988
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.99 of its Nos Chères Voitures d'Antan press series
Acquired: brand new, in January 2008, in Souillac, France

Very correct rendition of the 309 by Altaya/Ixo, well worth 13/20.

Maserati A6 road cars

Welcome to juanh, for whom I had in mind to make a Formula One post today... but I completely forgot about my initial plan, so here is something quite different.

A little history

Though its road cars are probably more renown today than its racing cars are, Maserati basically remained focused on competition for the first four decades of its history. Even if this dramatically changed after the introduction of the 3500GT in 1957, some road cars, closely related to the machines raced by the little factory, had already been produced in very small numbers since the end World War Two. This all started with the A6/1500, a small 1.5-litre car usually bodied by Pinin Farina. Though its six-cylinder engine was based on the machinery of the pre-war Maserati single-seaters, its power was down to a modest 65 hp, mostly due to the mandatory low-grade gasoline that was available – hardly easily, still – in the country at that time. Following its introduction at the 1947 Geneva motor show, the A6/1500 was produced in sixty-one copies until 1950, when the company seemed to distance itself from road-going automobiles to concentrate again on racing cars. This situation didn’t last and, at the Turin motor show in 1951, Maserati presented the A6G, based on the A6’s chassis, but fitted with a 100-hp 2-liter engine again based on a racing block. Unfortunately, the A6G’s design was too much dated and its engine still too modest despite its larger displacement to compete with Ferrari’s models, resulting in abysmal sales – no more than sixteen A6G were produced until 1954. For the anecdote, a Maserati light truck, the 550 cc or electrically-powered TM15, was also introduced at Turin in 1951 and didn’t really fare better, with only fifty-one being built until 1956 when the utility market was abandoned without regrets.

With its placid engine but excellent tubular chassis, the A6 soldiered on for a few more years. The A6G was succeeded at the 1954 Paris motor show by the more potent 150-hp A6G/2000. Just before this, five copies of the A6GCS/53 sportscar had been converted to a 170-hp Gran Turismo coupe fitted with a muscular Pinin Farina body, but these were the result of a private initiative rather than a venture from the factory. The A6G/2000 gave way to the much more ambitious Maserati 3500 GT in 1957, by which time its production number had reached the staggering figure of sixty...

About the model

Model: Maserati A6GCS/53 Berlinetta
Year: 1954
Maker: Ricko Ricko
Scale: 1/18
Distributed by: Ricko Ricko ref. 32151
Acquired: brand new, in March 2006, in Manila, Philippines

Ricko has tastefully reproduced one of the four coupes Pinin Farina built out of the A6GCS for Maserati’s dealer in Rome and occasional racing driver, Guglielmo Dei. My point of view is certainly debatable, but I’d like to think this is one of the most striking car ever penned by the famous Italian coachbuilder, allying in equal proportion feline beauty and brutal strength. The die-cast model is well worthy of the original, and deserves a good 14/20 rating.

Auburn Speedster

So I’ve been silent during the last eight weeks, except when answering the numerous – yet always clever – messages of our new follower Gaucho Man. Persistent problems with my computer(s) got the upper hand on my good habit of writing a new post every Saturday. Laziness soon settled in afterwards. In addition to this, my trusted old camera asked for a well-deserved retirement. As of now I still don’t know if it can be repaired, but fortunately I have pictures left for a few more posts.

Now for the good news: unlike previously announced, ALL of your comments that had disappeared are now back. Where were they then? Well, er… they were here all the time, actually. When Blogspot added its new “spam” feature, about one-third of all the comments, though already approved, were randomly removed from this blog and placed without any warning into the spam folder… which I never had a look at.

So, to end a long period of silence, I chose an exceptional automobile today. But before we start, as per tradition, welcome Gaucho Man (I can only advise you all to visit his own, very nice blog!) and Tunning66 (interesting blog too).

A little history

Auburn was just one among the dozens of minor automobile manufacturers that had spread across America and were lucky enough to somehow remain in business for some reasonable amount of time. From its founding in 1909 in the small Indiana town after which it was named, the existence of the little company was essentially a tale of survival. Fifteen years later, amid a dire recession that struck hard at the American car industry, Auburn seemed to have met the end of the road.

That was at this exact time that a saviour entered the scene, in the improbable guise of a twenty-nine-year-old man. His name was Errett Lobban Cord. The young folk boasted that he had already twice made a fortune worth a million dollars – and lost it in both occasions. Now he had the opportunity to succeed a third time, and have his name written in all automobile history books in the process.

When Cord was offered to manage the company by its Chicagoan owners, Auburn’s coffers were as empty as its factory was full of unsold cars. The daring young man struck a deal which would actually give him control of the company if he could save it – it took only four years until, by 1928, Auburn became his. How did he succeed? By considering styling an important factor in the power of attraction a car can have towards its potential customers. Though it seems commonplace today, styling was virtually non-existent back then. Cord’s genius resided in a very simple idea: to repaint all the unsold cars with a striking two-tone paint job – all soon found owners. Thanks to this fresh input of cash, Auburn was ready to introduce new models and, once again, styling would be seriously considered. Though a complete range was made available, it was the Boattail Speedster, also launched in 1928, that caught most of the attention – so much that this particular model seems to typify Auburn as a whole. Production increased dramatically, allowing E.L. Cord to form a new Cord Corporation in 1929 in order to manage the many companies he now controlled. For Auburn was just one among one hundred and fifty concerns he owned by then! Checker, the well-known taxi builder, was another one. And so was Duesenberg, which would acquire immense prestige as a luxury brand under the Cord Corporation’s guidance. And obviously, technologically advanced automobiles would also be built under Cord’s name. Most engines were provided by Lycoming, another member of the group. Indeed, its activities extended well beyond automobile to cover all forms of transportation, including a shipyard and several aviation-related concerns (among the latter was the future American Airlines). Alas, though many they were, most of these companies were of too limited a size to survive in a highly competitive environment. And a few months after the Cord Corporation had been formed, the Wall Street crash announced renewed hardship.

Auburn was the “volume” car manufacturer among the company – that is to say that all the automobiles Cord produced were rather exclusive. Sales were plummeting, though E.L. Cord and his team made them more attractive than ever. Tastefully penned, well appointed, fitted with powerful eight or even twelve-cylinder engines (the company advertised its models as the only V12s below $1000) the Auburns of this era are the best remembered nowadays – but still, they didn’t sell well in these difficult times. The most extraordinary of all would appear shortly before the final collapse of the group: it was the 1935 Auburn 851 Speedster, soon followed by the identical 852, boosted by a supercharger and graced by Gordon Buehrig’s elegant styling. The number of replicas mimicking this extraordinary car says it all about its place in automobile history.

Nineteen thirty-seven marked the last year for all of Cord’s automobiles – except, ironically, for the less flamboyant, the Checker, which regained its independence and survived for almost half a century. Gone were the Auburns, the Cords and the Duesenbergs. The aviation companies were in much better shape, allowing E.L. Cord to sell his corporation for a hefty sum that he soon had fructified by investing, wisely enough, in Californian real estate and the nascent television network.

A personal note

Driving once through Indiana I decided to stop in Auburn to see the famous Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg museum, installed in what were Auburn’s headquarters. Unfortunately by the time I arrived there it was evening, so I would have to wait until the morning for the opening. After checking two of them, I found that motels in Auburn were terribly expensive for my limited budget, so in the end I got back to the highway and continued towards Detroit. I ended up sleeping in my car - yep, obviously it was winter. Anyway, drooling at three of the company’s models through the building’s window was well worth stopping by. But I still hope that one day I’ll finally have the opportunity to visit this museum!

About the models

Model: Auburn 12-161 Speedster
Year: 1933
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.20 of its Voitures Classiques press series
Acquired: brand new, in June 2006, in Souillac, France

Though the 852 is probably the most famous Auburn, Ixo chose this slightly older Speedster for Altaya’s series about classic prewar cars. I have to praise the Chinese company for its original choice, and for the good quality of its model. Despite this, I saw a little paint defect when I took these pictures, but to be frank it’s hardly noticeable. My rating is 14/20.







Model: Auburn 851 Supercharged Speedster
Year: 1935
Maker: Ertl
Scale: 1/18
Distributed by: Ertl
Acquired: second hand with neither stand nor box, from the estate of a late fellow collector, in December 2006, in Manila, Philippines

Who could guess that actually the beautiful 851 Speedster was nothing else than a stopgap, masterfully designed by Buehrig by combining the front end of the year’s Auburns with the Boattail bodies that remained unsold from the previous year? Far from its usual muscle cars, Ertl has made a very elegant rendition of this car, well worthy of the original. My rating is 15/20.

ACL-Teilhol Rodeo

First of all, welcome to our newest follower David Sery!

A little history

The success enjoyed by the Méhari soon enticed Citroën’s archrival Renault to produce a competitor to this little off-road vehicle. In fact, Renault already had something in its range that was close enough, the Plein-Air. It had been actually developed by the Sinpar company, but less as a true off-road as the Méhari was than as a fun beach car in the spirit of the Ghia-designed Fiat 600 Jolly.

During the spring of 1970, Renault unveiled the Méhari’s true rival, the Rodeo 4. Once again, this wasn’t a genuine Renault design, its development having been outsourced to a little company from central France, Ateliers de Construction du Livradois or A.C.L. It was originally sold under the ACL name through Renault’s network.

The Rodeo 4 was again based on the Renault 4, more precisely its tougher van version, but received a totally original plastic body. Its engine was the R4’s traditional water-cooled 845cc, 34 hp four. Though more powerful than the Méhari’s, it had to propel a substantially heavier vehicle than its rival did, even if at 640 kilos, it could hardly be called overweighed. In October 1972, a new model was added to the Rodeo 4. Designed with a lucrative army market for a light off-road vehicle in mind, the Rodeo 6 was based on the Renault 6’s chassis and powered by its stronger 1.1-litre engine, and later by the 1.3-litre of the largest R5s.

Despite being a success in its own right, the Rodeo series always suffered from being an imitator of the Méhari, which it was never able to dethrone. Sold from model year 1977 under the Renault logo, the Rodeo was produced two years later by a renamed Teilhol company (from the name of ACL’s director, and though the Teilhol name was unofficially but commonly used from the very beginning of the car).

In September 1981, the Rodeo 4 and 6 were replaced by a single car simply called the Rodeo, even if a Rodeo 5 moniker was sometimes used to avoid any confusion. More compact and fitted with a modern body, the new offer failed to seduce its potential buyers and was withdrawn in May 1986, when it disappeared without any successor.

About the model

Model: ACL Rodeo 4 Coursière
Year: 1971
Maker: Universal Hobbies
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: M6 as no.4 of its Mythique R4 press series
Acquired: brand new, in October 2007, in Souillac, France

The Coursière was one of many models offered by Teilhol in the Rodeo range, and Universal Hobbies has proposed a very accurate and tasteful die-cast of this car. My rating is 15/20.

McLaren M19 - Ford

A little history

Nineteen seventy was a terrible year for McLaren. True, the team renewed its traditional success in the CanAm championship, but not only it ended the F1 season without a single win, which had never happened since the team’s burgeoning, it above all lost its founder Bruce McLaren, killed in a practice crash in June. Thereafter Teddy Mayer led the team, while the faithful Denny Hulme remained as number one driver.

The first task for 1971 was to replace the disappointing M14 by a brand new design. McLaren’s chief designer Gordon Coppuck electing to concentrate on Indycars, the work entirely rested upon his assistant Ralph Bellamy, who produced the M19A, a rather conventional single-seater powered by the ubiquitous Ford-Cosworth V8 engine. Its only original trait resided in its advanced suspension system. Structure was monocoque, built in aluminium, and hidden under a fibreglass body. Fully stressed, the exposed engine was an integral part of this structure.

The 1971 season seemed to start well for the M19A. At Kyalami for the South African opener, the car was indeed fast. With four laps to go, Denny Hulme was ahead of the field – then disaster struck as his exhausted machine refused to do more than coast to the finishing line. Though this could have looked promising, the car had already shown its limits as the behaviour of its “revolutionary” suspension had proved rather unpredictable during the whole event. The entire season would reflect this dual character: the M19A was swift, but fragile. Continuously tuning the suspension or adding a new nose or airbox didn’t help. Much blame was put on the team’s number two driver, Peter Gethin, who got the boot after the German Grand Prix. Two races later, the Brit won an epic Italian Grand Prix at the wheel of a second fiddle, the BRM – the first McLaren was seventh during the very same event, a clear demonstration that, after all, the M19A alone was the cause of McLaren’s misfortunes… Best result of the season finally came from a privately-entered M19A, when Mark Donohue placed third at the Canadian GP with a Roger Penske / Kirk F. White car. No more than ten points were earned during the year, the worst result since the team participated to the full F1 season.

In 1972, the M19A rapidly gave way to the M19C. The troublesome suspension arrangement was a thing of the past, and the car was now conventional all-around, but what had been lost in originality was largely compensated by increased reliability. Gone too were the last remnants of the southern hemisphere origins of the team, as the traditional orange livery and team logo were replaced by the colours of its new sponsor, Yardley. Now seconded by Peter Revson, Denny Hulme took a great start, finishing second in the new Argentinean GP, then taking his revenge in South Africa, the team’s first victory since 1969. This remained a lone success, but McLaren was regularly on the podium that year. Finally, the M19C opened the 1973 season before retiring in favour of the new M23, which was to become one of the most important Formula One cars McLaren ever built. Refitted with a Chevrolet V8, the M19 ended its career as a F5000 racer.

About the model

Model: McLaren M19A - Ford Cosworth
Event: 1971 Canadian Grand Prix, driven by Mark Donohue (finished 3rd overall)
Maker: Minichamps, “McLaren Collection” ref. 48
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Minichamps, limited edition
Acquired: brand new, in May 2006, in Manila, Philippines

A nice Minichamps model. The works cars look nice, but I instead settled for the great Sunoco livery of Donohue’s M19. My rating is 15/20.